3Rd Reich

The Third

Reich

World War I had come to a close, and Germany was in ruins. Not just physical ruins, but also in mental ruins. Germany’s government and economy had been destroyed.

Confusion had engulfed Germany’s people, and every citizen was desperately looking for something to grab on to, something to belong to, something or someone to soothe the agony of defeat. World War I produced such a man, a man that is probably the most infamous person to ever walk the face of this earth. His name…Adolf Hitler…a name that even fifty years after his death strikes fear into the hearts of people world-wide.

As you can tell the book I read was about the “empire” Adolf Hitler created literally out of ruins. The book The Third Reich talks about Hitler’s rise to power, the flexing or his power, and his bitter defeat. The book contains 114 pages and is written by Michael Berwick which on one occasion found himself face-to-face with the Fuhrer.

The year is 1918 and Germany surrendered to the Allies putting an end to World War I. Even though the war was over Germany’s victors wanted to further crush them. The Allies completely disgraced Germany with the Versailles treaty, which wouldn’t even allow them to have an air force. This treaty utterly humiliated the once proud people of Germany, and sent them looking for a person that could restore Germany to its past glory. Low and behold a honored veteran that held the rank of lieutenant would come to their rescue. October 16, 1919; Adolf Hitler would give his first electrifying speech in a Munich beer hall. From this moment on Hitler started growing a following. Even though not everyone agreed with Hitler on all of his points his extreme patriotism won over the nation. (also any German listened to him because of his promises of becoming a great nation again). By 1933 Hitler had worked his way up in power to becoming the leader of Germany (Furher). How did he manage to do this? Well because of the German “chaos situation” made the spot ripe for the picking, but anyone who opposed his would suddenly vanish. (Example: February 27, 1933 The German Parliament building mysteriously burnt down)

Now that Hitler had seized power, he needed to fire up his country. (keeping in mind his rule is now totalitarian) To do this he used a number of different methods. First he called upon one of his friends Dr. Josef Goebbels; his job was to create Nazi (National Socialist German Workers’ Party) propaganda. Secondly to unite the German people he needed a scapegoat. For this he blamed all of Germany’s problems on the Jews (the reason I use the Jews is because they were the majority; because I also know that Hitler “weeded out” Gypsies and others that didn’t conform to the Aryan race) Thirdly Hitler destroyed ANYTHING that was anti-German, and yes I mean everything from literature to people. All of these plans plus the fact that Hitler was one of the greatest public speakers of all time made him an excellent yet demented leader. I quote Rudolph Hess (one of the hierarchy in the “German Empire”) “Hitler is always right, and he will always be right. The National Socialism of all of us is anchored in uncritical loyalty, the surrender to the Fuhrer, in the silent execution of his orders. We believe that the Fuhrer is obeying a higher call to shape German History. There can be no criticism of this belief.” If this doesn’t show the total devotion to Hitler then I don’t know what does.

Now that Hitler had Germany completely under his control it was time for the rest of the world. Hitlers first move was to “annex” Austria. This of course was accomplished with ease. In fact the majority of Austrians greeted Hitler with parades down their city streets. To keep Germany and Austria ideals straight Hitler created the S.S. (Schutzaffel (bodyguard)) To keep it short this was Hitlers secret police that were told to enforce Hitlers “laws” by USING ANY MEANS NECESSARY. And believe me they did just that. If you were to even think an anti-German thought you were likely to be killed on the spot. So as you can see…terror reigned supreme. (to become an S.S. officer here is the oath:

“I swear to thee Adolf Hitler. As Fuhrer and Chancellor of the German Reich Loyalty and Bravery. I vow to thee and to the superiors of your choosing Obedience unto death. So help me God.” Scary isn’t it.

Now back onto Hitlers dream of world domination. After gaining Austria, he went after a small strip of land that was part of Czechoslovakia known as the Sudeten Land. After a few negotiations with various other countries he was given the Sudeten land without having to fire even one bullet. However he was far from finished. On March 15, 1939 Hitler took over the rest of Czechoslovakia. Now the entire continent of Europe was preparing for war. Then on September 1, 1939 Germany invaded Poland which officially started World War II. After Poland came Luxembourg, Holland, Belgium, Norway, Denmark, then most of France. England was the only threat left (at the time Germany and Russia had a non-aggression pact) The German forces had the English troops backed up to the English channel (northern France) (October 12, 1940) Here Germany could have crushed England, but for some unknown reason Hitler stopped the advance. This gave the English troops enough time to return to England. Possibly a very costly mistake on Hitlers part. Everything appeared to be going Germany’s way; then Germany broke the non-aggression pact with Russia in 1941, so Russia entered the fight on the side of the Allies, which meant Germany was waging a war on both its Eastern and Western borders. Still the German war machine moved on. At one time German troops were only 200 miles from Moscow, but maybe by an act of God the Russian winter hit hard, and spoiled the plans of the unprepared, unequipped Germans. Next came in the Royal Air Force from England which started bombing Germany relentlessly. Now it was apparent that the tide was turning.

The book doesn’t really say much about America entering the war, it just says that very slowly the Germans started losing. Then finally with defeat inevitable Adolf Hitler and his mistress Ava Braun committed suicide on April 30, 1945. Then not far from then on May 7, 1945 The European Theater of War for World War II was over, the Allies were once again victorious. Hitler’s “Third Reich” ended 988 years early.

For my opinion I thought the book was very interesting. I think it really shows that Hitler only became the supreme leader due to the circumstance of post-WWI Germany. Nevertheless, even though Hitler used his power for unspeakable evil; I believe he was a genius. Who else do you know that could go from a prison inmate convicted of high treason to a totalitarian leader within a decade? However his genius does not even come close to excusing him from his atrocities.