One of the challenges of studying Germany from the end of the First World War to the end of the Second World War is remembering and then navigating the intense and dramatic changes that took place throughout the era. As with previous blog posts helping students to master topic areas, the trick with Germany isContinue reading “Understanding Democracy and Nazism: Germany, 1918–1923”
Category Archives: Nazism
Lebensraum, Genocide and Nazi Racial Colonial Utopianism
Hitler, a cautious dictator for the first couple of years of his rule, had become reckless by 1941, and had gambled everything on a swift victory in the USSR. If Stalin’s regime could be crushed and thirty million Russians starved to death as a result, then there would be enough living space for Aryan GermanContinue reading “Lebensraum, Genocide and Nazi Racial Colonial Utopianism”
Interview: Dr Alex Kay on The Making of an SS Killer
Most of the writing on individual perpetrators of the Holocaust focuses on senior figures (Hitler, Himmler, Goering being obvious examples) and the tier below them (Hans Frank, Reinhard Heydrich, Adolf Eichmann) as well as camp commanders such as Rudolf Hoess and Franz Stangl. Colonel Alfred Filbert is a name that will probably be unfamiliar toContinue reading “Interview: Dr Alex Kay on The Making of an SS Killer”
Joseph Goebbels and Total War
By early 1943, Adolf Hitler was an increasingly remote and reclusive figure in Germany. His health had declined due to the stresses of the war and he had begun to suffer from Parkinson’s disease. The Nazi government attempted to suppress the defeat at Stalingrad of the German Sixth Army (which had marched triumphantly into Paris threeContinue reading “Joseph Goebbels and Total War”
The origins of the Gestapo: Study notes
This is a quick post for history students focusing on Nazi Germany. I’ve created some notes to download on the origins of the Gestapo (Geheime Staatspolizei), the Nazi Secret State Police. Secret political police forces in Germany existed before Hitler came to power and were amalgamated into the Gestapo, which fell under the auspices ofContinue reading “The origins of the Gestapo: Study notes”
Explaining History Podcast 