Happy Campers of the Third Reich
Shorpy dug up this Heinrich Hoffmann photo of Hitler Youth on a camping excursion from 1938. Smiles and swastikas are an uneasy mix at best. Hoffmann, incidentally, was Adolf Hitler's…
No. Hitler Was Not A Genius
Over last weekend, I became embroiled in a conversation about Adolf Hitler--an occupational hazard--that included this question, directed at me, "Do you think Hitler was a genius?" No. To revise…
Dear Ben Carson,
Dear Ben Carson, When I get mad, I tell myself I shouldn't post on the blog. I should take a walk, hum a little tune, think of 2001: A Space…
Nazism and Conspiracy Theory
Our lords and masters became our lords and masters through conspiracy...and the odd murder. The only way they can justify that to themselves, since they don't want to think of…
The Day Hitler Became Chancellor
80 years ago yesterday, Adolf Hitler, the strange Austrian who headed a movement that combined violent thugs with some of Germany's leading industrialists, was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany.…
The Wannsee Conference
Yesterday wasn't just Martin Luther King Day. It was also 51st anniversary of the Wannsee Conference. A lot of people lazily describe this event as the meeting at which the…
Manifesto By Strange, Sullen, Hectoring Twit Is An International Bestseller
Yes, we're talking about Mein Kampf, apparently one of the bestselling political books of the year. B-School grads in India are expected to have devoured its lessons in business management. (Curious,…
Moringen Concentration Camp
While Dachau was the most famous of Germany's concentration camps--its name became synecdoche for the entire camp system--many others sprang up during the 1930s. One that was important in Summer…
Christmas Under the Swastika
The Nazi calendar had its own set of holidays, including the anniversary of the seizure of power (January 30th), Hitler's birthday (April 20th) and the anniversary of the Beer Hall…
Emmy Göring: First Lady of the Third Reich
In the middle 1930s, Adolf Hitler was romantically involved--inasmuch as he was capable of romantic involvement--with Eva Braun, the former assistant to his court photographer, Heinrich Hoffmann. But Hitler's relationship…