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The rationale for this study is Albert Speer's unique value as a source of information concerning the Third Reich and Adolf Hitler. Although there is a wealth of information available on Nazi Germany and Hitler, the observations of this intelligent man who was an important official of the regime and a close associate of Hitler himself carry weight that no other report can match. He was a well-educated, intellectual, and articulate man who left behind three comprehensive books and many articles and interviews. In addition to such publications, there are, in the National Archives in Washington, D.C., many records of interviews with Speer conducted by Allied personnel immediately following the war. Those documents have been used extensively in this study.There is no attempt either to indict or to vindicate Speer, as many authors have done, but rather the purpose is to present in narrative form an analytical study of the relationship between the two men. The central focus throughout examines Speer and Hitler in juxtaposition and forms conclusions on the nature of their complex and compelling attachment. In the process, historical events form the backdrop as Speer describes them for us. It is always Speer, not Hitler, with whom the primary interest lies.The question of how anyone of Speer's background and intelligence could have given his life to a regime devoted to gutter politics, conquest of a continent, and genocide always arises in any study of Speer. The strange hold the Nazis exert on the world's imagination seems to ebb and flow, but does not die out, nor does the awful suspicion that something similar could happen again. Speer used his writings to describe the process and warn against its resurrection, especially in light of the tremendous leap in technology we have seen. Do not look for monsters, he counseled, for monsters are easily identified and avoided. Beware the manipulators who orchestrate on a national scale those policies which bring harm to whole populations, men who loudly proclaim their humanness and ordinariness.This inquiry is not an attempt to prove a predetermined hypothesis, since it embodies a historical approach rather than an experimental one. Information is drawn from the books and papers of Speer, as well as official documents, but secondary works to corroborate the basic sources are cited at times. There is still no definitive biography of Speer, although he appears as a central figure in many works. Perhaps one of the reasons for this is that the Speer family has put his personal papers in Heidelberg beyond the reach of anyone until 1999, probably as a result of his negative treatment in various publications.The technical papers from the Ministry of Armaments and War Production are housed in the Bundesarchiv at Koblenz, but were not pertinent to this study. The Institut fur Zeitgeschichte in Munich houses official papers, as does the Berlin Document Center, while the Washington has the transcripts of Library of Congress in Hitler's Table Talks, some parts of which are used in this study. Speer's books and published material give an extensive look at his part in the Third Reich, his relationship with Hitler, and his own feelings and observations concerning both. The International Military Tribunal records from Nuremberg are both extensive and enlightening. One may also view the collection of Heinrich Hoffmann, Hitler's personal photographer, in the Special Collections section at Bracken Library.Chapter I deals with Speer in the pre-war years as he rose to fame and became part of Hitler's inner circle, while Chapter II views the war years through Speer's experiences. In Chapter III the early relationship between Speer and Hitler is developed, and in Chapter IV the war, the collapse of the Third Reich, and the attendant disasters are covered.

For almost sixty years the Reichstag fire of 27 February 1933 and the events that followed have been the subjects of historical inquiry. The criminal trial against those accused of starting the fire was held before the German Supreme Court, the Reichsgericht. / This thesis examines the conduct of the Reichsgericht during the Reichstagsbrandprozess of September to December 1933. It shows that the trial was conducted by an independent but conservative Supreme Court which managed the proceedings according to its own historical antecedents and precedents. The evidence is based on published government documents and other primary and secondary sources.

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This is a study of the causes of the rise of the Third Reich, and its attitude toward the Treaty of Versailles.

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Thesis (MTh)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Although Bonhoeffer is hailed by some as a type of Protestant saint, there is certainly also a plea for the realisation of the paradox in his story; Bonhoeffer consciously associated himself with a plot against the life of another man. What lead this young theologian, known for pacifistic ideals and full of promise, to participate in such a violent plot? How did Bonhoeffer, and the scholars who studied his life and work, justify his decision? How should we, as theologians and Christians in the twenty-first century, attempt to understand Bonhoeffer’s resistance and its relevance for us today? According to Bonhoeffer himself: “Christianity stands or falls with its revolutionary protest against violence, arbitrariness and pride of power and with its apologia for the weak. I feel that Christianity is rather doing too little in showing these points than too much. Christianity has adjusted itself to the worship of power. It should give much more offence, more shock to the world, than it is doing. Christianity should take a much more definite stand for the weak than to consider the potential moral right of the strong.” (Bonhoeffer, DBWE Vol 13, 2007:403) By outlining the life of Bonhoeffer and selectively focusing on his resistance with both theological and sociological lenses, aided by his own writings, as well as the work of Bethge, Mataxas, Schlingensiepen, Rogers and an array of other authors, this thesis attempts to move towards understanding this remarkable man’s steadfast struggle to not sit passively in the midst of the reign of the Third Reich in Germany and be blinded to the inhumane treatment of fellow Germans, regardless of their race or religion. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Alhoewel Bonhoeffer deur sommige as ‘n soort Protestante heilige beskou word, is daar verseker ook ‘n pleidooi vir die besef van die teenstrydigheid in sy verhaal; Bonhoeffer het homself bewustelik geassosieer met ‘n komplot om die lewe van ‘n ander man te beeïndig. Wat het aanleiding gegee dat hierdie jong teoloog, bekend vir sy pasifistiese ideale en potensiaal, in so ‘n geweldadige komplot betrokke geraak het? Hoe het Bonhoeffer, en die geleerdes wat sy lewe en werk bestudeer het, sy besluit regverdig? Hoe sou ons, as teoloë en Christene in die een-en-twintigste eeu, Bonhoeffer se verset en die relevansie daarvan vir ons lewe vandag verstaan? Bonhoeffer sê self: “Die Christendom staan of val met die revolusionêre protes teen geweld, willekeur en magstrots, en met sy voorspraak vir die swakkes. Ek voel dat die Christendom eerder te min as te veel doen om hierdie aspekte te weerspieël. Die Christendom het tot die aanbidding van mag aangepas. Dit moet baie meer aanstoot gee, die wêreld meer skok, as wat dit tans doen. Die Christendom moet ‘n baie meer defnitiewe standpunt vir die swakkes inneem, eerder as om die potensiële morele reg van die sterkes te beskerm.” (Bonhoeffer, DBWE Vol 13, 2007:403) Deur Bonhoeffer se lewe uit te lê en selektief, met beide teologiese en sosiologiese lense, op sy verset te fokus, bygestaan deur sy eie geskrifte, asook die werk van Bethge, Mataxas, Schlingensiepen, Rogers en ‘n verskeidenheid ander outeurs, poog hierdie tesis om tot ‘n verstaan te kom van hierdie merkwaardige man se standvastige stryd om nie slegs passief tydens die strikbewind van die Derde Ryk te bly nie, maar ook om nie blind vir die onmenslike behandeling van mede-Duitsers nie, ongeag hulle ras of godsdiens, te wees nie.

This dissertation examines the political writings and speeches of Baldur von Schirach, a leading figure of the National Socialist German Worker's Party, and the means by which he chose to transmit his beliefs in totalitarianism, racism, and militarism. Schirach's activities serve as a case study of the Third Reich's artistic and cultural programs and the means by which these programs served as conduits for propaganda and public education. Throughout his career as the leader of the National Socialist Student's League, Reich Youth Leader, and Gauleiter of Vienna, Schirach promulgated a political theory which interpreted the rise of the Third Reich as an expression of an innately superior German culture. He put this theory forth through the use of artistic means, including his own poetry and prose, and theoretical exegeses of artistic and literary works that explained them within a fascist, totalitarian idiom. The dissertation discusses Schirach's personal adherence to Nazism and its roots; the ways in which he interpreted fascist philosophical tenets, symbols, messages, and archetypes; his concepts of youth and adult education; his attempts to mold the artistic community of Vienna into an aesthetically progressive, yet politically coherent, means of propaganda; and his role in the destruction of the Jews of Vienna and his explanation of this act as a cultural contribution to the Third Reich. The dissertation is based upon Schirach's own speeches, poems, and published writings dealing with education and politics, as well as unpublished archival sources housed in the Österreichisches Staatsarchiv in Vienna and the National Archives in Washington, DC.

Doctor of Philosophy / This regional study documents the life and the destruction of the Jewish community of Magdeburg, in the Prussian province of Saxony, between 1933 and 1945. As this is the first comprehensive and academic study of this community during the Nazi period, it has contributed to both the regional historiography of German Jewry and the historiography of the Shoah in Germany. In both respects it affords a further understanding of Jewish life in Nazi Germany. Commencing this study at the beginning of 1933 enables a comprehensive view to emerge of the community as it was on the eve of the Nazi assault. The study then analyses the spiralling events that led to its eventual destruction. The story of the Magdeburg Jewish community in both the public and private domains has been explored from the Nazi accession to power in 1933 up until April 1945, when only a handful of Jews in the city witnessed liberation. This study has combined both archival material and oral history to reconstruct the period. Secondary literature has largely been incorporated and used in a comparative sense and as reference material. This study has interpreted and viewed the period from an essentially Jewish perspective. That is to say, in documenting the experiences of the Jews of Magdeburg, this study has focused almost exclusively on how this population simultaneously lived and grappled with the deteriorating situation. Much attention has been placed on how it reacted and responded at key junctures in the processes of disenfranchisement, exclusion and finally destruction. This discussion also includes how and why Jews reached decisions to abandon their Heimat and what their experiences with departure were. In the final chapter of the community’s story, an exploration has been made of how the majority of those Jews who remained endured the final years of humiliation and stigmatisation. All but a few perished once the implementation of the ‘Final Solution’ reached Magdeburg in April 1942. The epilogue of this study charts the experiences of those who remained in the city, some of whom survived to tell their story.