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 Hitler, Adolf

(НіІІег), (1889-1945), politician of Germany, in 1933-45 Fuhrer (leader) and Chancellor of the Third Reich. Coming from a peasant family, Austrian by origin. After World War I, on the wave of European fascism, he created a regime of tyranny in Germany that had no equal. He achieved unprecedented success, identifying his own painful state with the needs of the German nation, carried out the rearmament of Germany, largely destroyed the European structure, unleashed the 2nd World War, putting European civilization on the brink of destruction.

Childhood.

Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889 in the small town of Braunau on the Inn River, on the border of Austria and Germany. His parents were 52-year-old Austrian customs officer Alois Schicklgruber and 20-year-old

b Zak.1871

Adolf Hitler

Photograph of the class in which Hitler studied. School in Linz, 1901. Far right in the top row - the future Fuhrer

peasant woman Clara Poelzl.Both branches of his family hailed from the Waldviertel (Lower Austria), a remote hilly region where communities of small farmers worked hard. The unfriendly people were as rough as the land they cultivated and suspicious of the townspeople. Little is known about Hitler's ancestors. His grandfather Johann Georg Hiedler, who worked for hire in mills, met a peasant girl, Anna Maria Schicklgruber, who at that time was a housekeeper in Graz. In 1837, Anna gave birth to a son, Alois, and only five years later, Johann Giedler and Anna Maria got married. Alois bore the surname Schicklgruber until 1876, when he officially changed it - since he was brought up in the house of his uncle Johann Nepomuk Hiedler - to Hitler. Alois was married three times. His third wife, Clara Pölzl, was 23 years younger than him and bore him five children,

Adolf Hitler's mother was a quiet, hard-working woman with a serious, pale face and huge attentive eyes. She neatly ran the household and tried her best to please her husband. Adolf loved his patient mother, and she, in turn, considered him a favorite child, even though he, in her words, was "crazy." She assured him that he was not like other children, but despite all her love, Adolf grew up as a disgruntled and touchy child. Psychologically, she subconsciously shaped him, as if compensating for her own unhappy family life. Adolf was afraid of his strict father, a despotic and quarrelsome man who subordinated the children to his own cruel outlook on life. Unhappy and lonely, three times unsuccessfully married Alois Hitler sought solace in drinking. More than once, young Adolf had to lead his tipsy parent home. He later recalled his father as a drunken sadist who squandered family money. This sullen and quick-tempered despot constantly made the children feel the power of his stick or belt. Alois growled at his son, humiliated him and constantly punished him. Huge tension reigned between the two irreconcilable characters. Probably, Hitler's subsequent fierce hatred came from hatred for his own father. He learned very early that the right is always on the side of the strong. Probably, Hitler's subsequent fierce hatred came from hatred for his own father. He learned very early that the right is always on the side of the strong. Probably, Hitler's subsequent fierce hatred came from hatred for his own father. He learned very early that the right is always on the side of the strong.

In 1895, at the age of 6, Adolf entered the public school in the town of Fischlham, near Linz. Two years later, being a very religious woman, his mother sent him to Lambach, to the parochial school of a Benedictine monastery, after which, as she hoped, her son would eventually become a priest. But he was expelled from school, caught smoking in the monastery garden. The family then moved to Leonding, a suburb of Linz, where the young Adolf immediately excelled in his studies. He stood out among his comrades for his perseverance, turning out to be a leader in all children's games. In 1900-1904 he attended a real school in Linz, and in 1904-1905 in Steyr. In high school, his progress was very mediocre. “I taught what I liked,” he later wrote. - And above all, what could, as it seemed to me, be useful to me in the future as an artist. items,

In October 1907, 18-year-old Adolf left his terminally ill mother for cancer and went to Vienna to find his way in life. But he suffered a terrible setback - he failed the entrance exams to the Vienna Academy of Arts. It was a terrible blow to his ego, from which he never recovered, considering "these stupid professors" to be guilty of what had happened. In December 1908 his mother died, which was another shock in his life. For the next five years, he worked odd jobs, alms, or sold his sketches. “Five years of poverty and sorrow in Vienna,” he later recalled, “five years, during

Portrait of Adolf Hitler by his school friend Sturmlechner in 1905

whom I made a living first as an apprentice and then as an unknown artist. Hunger was my constant companion. He never left me for a moment." Every day he went around the cafe, made sketches and tried to sell the drawings in order to buy food. Unshaven, in a dirty black bowler hat and a long overcoat that almost reached the ground, he looked like a downtrodden tramp.

In Vienna he learned to hate. Having rejected the theory of Karl Marx, he remained faithful to anti-Marxism for the rest of his life. Influenced by the writings of Karl Luger, the young Adolf began to hate the Jews as "rats, parasites and bloodsuckers." One day, on a Viennese street, he met a Jew in a caftan and asked himself: “Could this be a German?” What followed was what he called a spiritual quest, a struggle between feeling and reason. The Jews, he decided, were teaming up with the Marxists to destroy the world. “If the Jews, with the help of the Marxists, triumph over the world, then this will mean the death of mankind.” In addition, he began to despise democracy and found relief only in dreams of a great and glorious Germany, which would become a great country after the overthrow of the weak Habsburg. By this time, he became interested in mysticism and the occult. In tiny cafes, Adolf made political speeches against those he hated. The audience began to listen to the sickly annoying young man with a hypnotizing look. He left Vienna in May 1913 and moved to Germany, to Munich. But here, too, he remained depressed and embittered, lonely and alien in the midst of a cheerful and bustling metropolitan city.

Military service.

In February 1914, Adolf Hitler was called to Austria to undergo a medical examination for fitness for military service. But, as “too weak and unfit for military service,” he was released. When the war broke out in August 1914, he turned to the King of Bavaria with a request to enlist in his army. His definition

Adolf Hitler - soldier on the Western Front, November 1914

divided into the 16th Bavarian Infantry Regiment, recruited mainly from student volunteers. After only a few weeks of training, he was sent to the front. Hitler proved to be a skillful and brave soldier. At first he was an orderly, and then for almost the entire war he performed the duties of a messenger, delivering reports and orders from the headquarters of the regiment to the front line. During the four years of the war, he participated in 47 battles, often finding himself in the thick of it. Was wounded twice. On October 7, 1916, after being wounded in the leg, he was admitted to the Germis hospital near Berlin. Two years later, 4 weeks before the end of the war, he was struck by gases and spent three difficult months in the infirmary. He received his first award - the Iron Cross of the II degree - in December 1914, and on August 4, 1918 he was awarded the Iron Cross of the I degree, which was a rare award for a simple soldier in the imperial German army.

The war left a deep mark on his life. She finally gave him the goal to which he had always striven. He recognized cruelty and learned to use it. Later, he spoke about his feelings from the gas attack at the very end of the war. When, terrified at the onset of blindness, he began to weaken, an unknown voice thundered over him: "Pitiful fool, you are going to cry at a time when thousands are much worse off than you." Hitler said that the more he tried to realize all the greatness of this moment, the more the color of shame flooded his face. "I knew that all was lost. Only fools - liars or criminals - can hope for the gratitude of enemies. During these nights, my hatred grew for those who allowed this crime. But in spite of everything, I decided to devote myself to political activity."

Rise to the heights of party power.

After a humiliating defeat for Germany in the war, Hitler returned to Munich. Enraged by the revolution in Germany and the rise of the Weimar Republic, he turned to politics to simultaneously oppose both the Versailles Treaty of 1919 and the new German democracy. Since he was still on the staff of his old regiment, he was assigned to spy on political parties. In September 1919, Hitler was ordered to inquire about a small group of nationalist veterans from the German Workers' Party. This party had neither a program nor a plan of action (it opposed only the government), its treasury consisted of several marks, but Hitler was unusually struck by some of its certain ideas, which coincided with his own. He joined this party as No. 55, and later became No. 7 of its executive committee.

Finally, he found a worthy use for his abilities of political agitation and no longer missed the opportunity to speak to the crowd, wherever it gathered. “I could talk! After 30 minutes, the people in the tiny room became electrified!”

In less than two years, Hitler was promoted to the leadership of this small party. He came up with a new name for it - the National Socialist Workers' Party of Germany (NSDAP). This is also where the term Nazism was born, a derivative of the words National Socialist. Hitler left the army in order to devote all his time to the formation of a new party. The conditions for this in Germany at that time were the most favorable: extreme dissatisfaction with the economic situation and fierce hatred for the victorious enemy. The ideas that he hatched back in Vienna and to which he attached particular importance, Hitler expressed in the 25 points of his program, promulgated on February 24, 1920, anti-Semitism, extreme nationalism, the superiority of the Aryan race, contempt for liberal democracy and the principle of the Fuhrer.The program was designed in such a way that it could attract anyone who had even the slightest reason to

Hitler sometimes honed his oratorical skills on bystanders. Munich, 1920

Hitler in Landsberg prison awaiting trial after the failure of the "Beer putsch"

discontent. Most of Hitler's ideas were not new, but he was able to present them extremely spectacularly and eloquently. He gave the Nazi Party a symbol, the swastika, and the greeting "Heil!", borrowing both from his ancient historical predecessors. He was looking for ways to acquire the newspaper "Folki - Cher Beobachter" in order to widely promote party views. To protect the party gatherings, he organized brownshirt assault detachments - SA (Sur- tayleiiiiipd), under the command of his closest friend, Captain Ernst Röhm. Another organization - SS(ZsbIgvIaGTeI), the Blackshirts, became Hitler's personal guard, based on the strictest discipline, whose members swore to fight for their Fuhrer to the last drop of blood.

By the end of 1923, Hitler was convinced that the Weimar Republic was on the verge of collapse, and that right now he could carry out the “march on Berlin” he had promised and overthrow the government of “Jewish-Marxist traitors”. With the support of the army, he was going to bring Germany under Nazi control. Hitler initiated General Erich Ludendorff, a veteran of World War I, an extreme reactionary and militarist, into his plans, well-known among the people and the army . Hitler and Ludendorff tried to take advantage of the uncertainty of the political situation and organized an attempted coup d'état in Munich on November 8, 1923 (see "Beer Putsch" 1923) in order to put pressure on the Bavarian government and force the commander of the local units of the Reichswehrproclaim a national revolution. Taking the patrons of the beer hall hostage, Hitler in wild excitement jumped up on a chair, fired his pistol at the ceiling and announced the revolution: “Either tomorrow a national government for Germany will be found, or we will be found dead!” The next day, the Nazis marched through the streets of Munich, heading for the building of the War Ministry, but they were met by police cordons, opened fire on them and dispersed the column.

On February 26, 1924, Hitler was tried on charges of treason. He seized the opportunity and turned the process into a propaganda triumph. Hitler demonstrated brilliant oratorical skills, taking on the role of a lawyer: “My position is this: I would rather be hanged in Bolshevik Germany than die under the French sword.” The moment came when the crowds standing in the streets under swastika flags began to unite with those who had recently shot at them. Companies turned into battalions, battalions into regiments, regiments into divisions. “Even if you find us guilty a thousand times, the eternal court of history will acquit us and throw out the verdict of your court with laughter.” Hitler was sentenced to 5 years in prison. His behavior in the courtroom made a strong impression on all Germans, who began to revere him as the greatest national hero. He learned an important lesson from the failed coup: it is imperative that his movement come to power through legal means.

Hitler spent only 9 months in Landsberg prison. He was provided with a comfortable cell where he could reflect on his mistakes. He ate breakfast in bed, spoke to his cellmates and walked in the garden - all this was more like a sanatorium than a prison. Here he dictated to Rudolf Hess the first volume of Mein Kampf,became the political bible of the Nazi movement. In this noisy, pompous, disordered book, Hitler reflected his life story, his philosophy, and the blueprint for the program he intended to carry out in Germany. The theme of the book was social Darwinism: both individuals and nations are subjects of an ongoing struggle for survival. Morality is stupidity, superiority is strength. The racial superiority of the Germans was threatened by the Jews - "the flexible demon of the decline of mankind", Marxists, Bolsheviks and liberals, as well as humanists and philanthropists of all stripes. Germany can become great again if she wages a ruthless war against her internal enemies. Only with the help of a popularly supported dictatorship and renewal will a strong Germany gain “lebensraum”, “living space”,wresting it from external enemies. The new Nazi movement must lay down a strategy for future world domination. Despite the fact that "Mein Kampf" was a tedious and verbose work, it soon gained wide popularity. By 1939, this book had been translated into 11 languages, and the total circulation was more than 5.2 million copies. The fee made Hitler a rich man.

Restructuring of the Nazi Party.

The failure of the putsch of 1923 caused a temporary disintegration of the Nazi party, but released under an amnesty from Landsberg prison in December 1924, Hitler again set about rebuilding his movement with stubbornness. With the support of his closest associates - the virtuoso propagandist Paul Joseph Goebbels and the hero of the 1st World War, the ace pilot, Captain Hermann Goering - Hitler set about a very thankless task - winning the support of the masses. He faced an urgent problem - to choose between his supporters in Berlin - the left socialists, led by Gregor Strasser, and the right-wing nationalists in Munich. At a party conference held in February 1926, Hitler outwitted Strasser, depriving him of any influence on the growing Nazi movement (see.Bamberg Party Conference). Possessing a rare poly-

Hitler wearing an SA cap in 1929

With his intellectual insight and the use of his oratory, he won over to his side both the right and the left. His speeches were addressed to the low-income sections of the population, who were especially hard hit by the economic depression. At the same time, the persistence with which he advanced to power, moreover, using legal methods from now on, which gave rise to the nickname "Adolf the Lawyer", all this brought him popularity among the military, nationalists and conservatives. An amazing insight into mass psychology and a willingness to cooperate with right-wing conservatives served as a powerful factor in Hitler's rise to the heights of political power. Gradually, he regained the ground he had lost after the failure of the Beer Putsch. By 1930, Hitler had become the undisputed leader of the nationalist movement. Funds flowed into the party treasury from wealthy Rhineland industrialists, who saw in Hitler a reliable guarantee from annoying trade unions and communists. The new leader gained ever-increasing support both from the bourgeoisie and from the discontented workers; to both, he firmly promised liberation and protection from robbery by the Jewish financial magnates.

Rise to political power.

In the elections to the Reichstag in 1928, the Nazis won only 12 seats, while the Communists - 54. In 1929, with the onset of the economic depression, Hitler formed an alliance with the nationalist Alfred Hugenberg,to counter the reparations "Jung Plan". Through the Hugenberg-controlled newspapers, Hitler was able from the start to reach out to a wide national audience. In addition, he had the opportunity to communicate with a huge number of industrialists and bankers, who easily provided his party with a solid financial foundation. In the 1930 elections, the NSDAP won over 6 million votes and won 107 seats in the Reichstag, thus becoming the second largest party in the country. The number of Communist representatives rose to 77. Hitler's scandalous tactics could not fail to attract the attention of German voters to him.

After Braunschweig joined Germany on February 25, 1932, Hitler decided to test the strength of his party in the struggle for the presidency. The aged Paul von Hindenburg had support among socialists, Catholics and Labor. There were also two other candidates; army officer Theodor Duisterberg and communist leader Ernst Thalmann. Hitler ran a powerful election campaign and won over 30% of the vote, thereby depriving Hindenburg of an absolute majority. At the final stage of the elections, April 10, 1932, the popular war veteran still managed to regain victory with 53% of the vote (Hindenburg - 19359650; Hitler - 13418011; Thalmann - 3706655). In the Reichstag elections in July 1932, the Nazis

Election poster addressed to children calling for support for Hitler

won 230 seats and became the largest political party in Germany. In November, Hitler suffered a brief setback when the number of Nazi deputies dropped to 196, while the number of Communists in the Reichstag rose to 100. It was at this time that the bloody clashes in the streets between the Brownshirts and the Rot Front reached their peak.

Meanwhile, the political situation in the country was slowly deteriorating. Chancellor Heinrich Bruening, despite the fact that he was free from prejudices and soberly looked at the future, was forced to resort to strict government. This, as it turned out, was an erroneous decision that cleared the way for dictatorship. On May 30, 1932, Hindenburg removed Brüning from his post.

A fierce behind-the-scenes political struggle erupted between the

"front-line soldier" Adolf Hitler - this is how the NSDAP election poster presents him

exact junkers, wealthy industrialists of the west and the officer corps of the Reichswehr. Representatives of these three groups occupied key positions in the government, which was headed first by the shrewd intriguer Franz von Papen, and then by General Kurt von Schleicher,supporter of military dictatorship. Von Papen made a political alliance with Hitler. They met secretly on January 4, 1933, and agreed to fight together for the formation of such a cabinet, where Hitler would be chancellor, and von Papen's allies would occupy key ministerial posts. They also agreed to eliminate social democrats, communists and Jews from the political arena. Hitler promised to abandon the socialist part of his program, and von Papen assured that he would obtain large subsidies from industrialists to support Hitler. It remained only to win the favor of the aged president, who more and more resembled a rude corporal of the First World War who rushed into the attack.

Both the president's son, Oskar von Hindenburg, who was worried about his family estate in Neudeck, and the big banker Kurt von Schroeder strongly advised the president to continue cooperation with von Papen. On January 30, 1933, with great reluctance, Hindenburg proclaimed Hitler Chancellor of Germany in the coalition government, but denied him emergency powers. It was the greatest moment in the life of the little man, once a dirty vagabond from the streets of Vienna. He achieved his goal without coups and revolutions, in a constitutional way, which he counted on.

Beginning of the Third Reich.

Hitler assured that the Third Reich, which began in 1933, would last a thousand years. Once in power, he zealously set about creating and strengthening an absolute dictatorship in the country. Since Hitler did not yet have an absolute majority in the Reichstag, he secured Hindenburg's consent to new elections. In an effort to strengthen his own position at the expense of the Communists, his first concern was to warn the country about the danger of the Red Terror. The burning of the Reichstag on the night of February 27, 1933 became the necessary pretext for eliminating their political opponents, which strengthened the ground for the establishment of a totalitarian system in Germany. Although formally the arson was the work of the feeble-minded 24-year-old Dutch tramp Marinus van der Lubbe,who at one time was a member of the communist club in Holland, but it was obvious that the Nazis themselves set the fire, blaming the communists. It was established that a group of stormtroopers entered the Reichstag building, using the tunnel leading from Goering's headquarters, doused the curtains and carpets with some kind of flammable liquid, and then brought in a dumb ex-Communist Dutchman who set the fire. The question of responsibility for the burning of the Reichstag is still the subject of controversy among historians.

Be that as it may, the Nazis or someone else set fire to the Reichstag, it only benefited Hitler, as it provided an excuse to defeat his opponents. The March 5, 1933 elections allowed the Nazis to increase their representation in the Reichstag from 196 to 288 deputies, and the total number of votes received from 11,737,000 to 17,277,200, or up to 44% of the total number of voters. And taking into account the nationalists who supported him, Hitler received a 52% majority. On March 24, 1933, the Reichstag passed the Emergency Law for the Protection of the People and the Reich.(bezeіg gyr EgGіеbіnd bіg yоі voop voіk ipd Be-ісіі). Five brief points contained the abolition of the legislative powers of the Reichstag, including control of the budget, constitutional amendments and the ratification of treaties with foreign states, and transferring them to the imperial government for a 4-year period. In less than a few months, every other party was banned, the Nazi stadthalters were in control in the German states, the trade unions were disbanded, and the entire population became involved in countless unions, groups and organizations under Nazi control.

Hitler consolidated his power through an elaborate system of brutality and terror. Those who tried to protest against such rule were beaten or killed, arrested and thrown into prison. Trying not to offend influential people, Hitler cunningly pushed the conservatives aside, while at the same time roughly placing his own people in the government. With great skill, he pursued a Machiavellian policy, ruining, arresting and depriving his opponents of the rights and life itself. He created a government obedient to him, subordinated legislation, education and religion to the interests of National Socialism. Like Mussolini, he sought to oversee his compatriots from the cradle to the grave. "Heil Hitler!" - became a mandatory form of greeting, the swastika became a symbol of the Nazi state, “HorstWessel”received the status of the official anthem, and bread and circuses were declared the primary need of the German nation. Under the leadership of Goebbels, the cult of worship of the Fuhrer was planted. In 1934, having united the posts of chancellor and president, Hitler became the sole ruler of Germany.

Consolidation of the dictatorship.

On the way to absolute dictatorship, the only obstacle remained - radical elements within the party itself, grouped around the SA and their leader, Captain Ernst Röhm. Hitler was forced to maintain cooperation with industrial magnates and the generals of the Reichswehr, who paid for and paved the way for him to political power, and until now he tried to avoid radical actions in solving internal German problems. But Rohm and his impatient supporters called for the "continuation of the revolution." "Altekaempfer",old comrades-in-arms, demanded from Hitler a more important role for themselves in army affairs. The German generals made it clear to Hitler that he would lose their support if he did not call out the stormtroopers. Hitler faced a choice between the nationalist and socialist directions of his movement. He survived only because he chose a firm and tough decision. Enlisting the support of party and army leaders, and above all the SS led by Heinrich Himmler, he dealt a crushing blow to the leadership of the SA on June 30, 1934 ( “Night of the Long Knives”).Hitler flew to Bad Wiessee in Upper Bavaria, where Rohm and several of his supporters were in the private sanatorium Ganselbauer. Rem was arrested. Two days later, Hitler suggested that he commit suicide. Ryom, who did not believe such an offer, refused, after which he was shot dead in his cell.

Meanwhile, about 150 senior SA leaders were arrested in Berlin, most of them were immediately executed; they were shot in groups. The exact numbers of those executed that night are not known. Six men broke into the villa of former Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher and shot him dead. In Munich, 72-year-old Gustav von Kahr, who ten years earlier ordered the suppression of the Hitler putsch, was dragged out of the house, shot, and his body was thrown into a swamp. “In those hours,” Hitler recalled, “I felt like the highest judge of the German nation.” Hitler emerged from this massacre as the undisputed dictator of the Third Reich.

The rule of law is now over. After the death of Hindenburg on August 2, 1934, Hitler assumed the title of Fuhrer and Chancellor, abolishing the post of Reich President. Without exception, all army officers were required to swear allegiance, but not to the constitution, but personally to Adolf Hitler. From this point on, internal affairs were of little interest to Hitler; his main concern was only to carry out a policy of complete subjugation of the highest officials who carried out the system of terror, which he considered necessary in order to maintain the existence of his regime. Each of the top leaders - Goering, Goebbels, Himmler - exercised despotic power within their own sphere, each establishing a special position for himself. The Führer watched them carefully and made sure that none of their subordinate organizations became powerful enough to challenge his own authority.

Hitler and Röhm at the Sportpalast, March 1933

Various poses of Adolf Hitler during a speech, taken by his personal photographer Heinrich Hoffmann

onny camps to fight internal enemies. The Nuremberg Citizenship and Race Laws of 1935 were passed , which stripped Jews of their citizenship and forbade marriages between Aryans (Germans) and non-Aryans (Jews). Hitler put forward laws that pushed Jews, socialists and intellectuals to emigrate, which allegedly created difficulties for life in the limited space of the Third Reich.

Germany has become one continuous prison camp. Gestapo agents broke into houses in the middle of the night. Some of those arrested disappeared forever, many were thrown into basements, where they were beaten and tortured to extract confessions. Crimes ranging from robbery to murder were called "politics" in the name of "national revolution". University professors were removed from their posts, and incompetent Nazi officials were appointed in their place.In order to raise the emotional state of the people, huge mass rallies began to be held in Nuremberg (see Nuremberg Party Congresses).Columns of thousands marched in a riot of colors from flags and standards, filled a huge stadium to hear the words of the dictator, while overhead, through many loudspeakers, the chief propagandist of the Third Reich, Goebbels, praised the Fuhrer with might and main: “We are witnessing the greatest event in history. Genius creates the world! We heard his voice when Germany was asleep. His hands made us a nation again! He is never wrong! He is always like a star above us!” etc.

Preparation for war, 1935-1939.

Having strengthened his position within the country with the help of terror, Hitler set about reviving the former German power in Europe, embarking on the implementation of the goals outlined in Mein Kampf. First secretly, and then openly, he violated the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, which essentially deprived Germany of an army. Thanks to large state subsidies for armaments and the unemployed who poured into the army, the economic situation in the country improved somewhat.

After becoming chancellor, Hitler began to pursue an aggressive foreign policy. Treaties with the Vatican (see Concordat 1933) and Poland (1934) were designed to mask his true intentions. In October 1933 Germany withdrew from the League of Nations. In the summer of 1934, Hitler made an attempt to invade Austria, but after Mussolini sent his troops to guard the Austrian borders, he had to abandon his intentions. In March

1935 Hitler announced the creation of a peacetime armed force of 36 divisions of 550,000 men, in direct violation of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. The great powers protested hesitantly. A year later, in March 1936, Hitler sent troops to the Rhine demilitarized zone, having by this time annulled the Locarno Treaties of 1925, and again met no resistance from the West.

When the Spanish Civil War broke out in July 1936, Hitler helped General Francisco Franco and the Spanish Falangists. The Condor legion was sent to Spain , and the German pilots gained their first combat experience, which came in handy later during the 2nd World War. On October 25, 1936, a military-political alliance was concluded with Italy (“Pact of Steel”), which Hitler considered as an opportunity to win “living space” for the “poor” nations. During the period of military preparations and the associated economic reorientation aimed at self-sufficiency ( Autarky),Hitler adopted the tactic of discreet lying in order to lull his future victims into a deceptive sense of security. In fact, he made public statements about the desire for peace, while seriously preparing for war. And the more significant and obvious the lie was, the more people preferred to believe it.

By the end of 1937, Hitler's expansionist policy was in full force. On November 5, 1937, i.e., almost two years before the attack on Poland and the outbreak of World War II, he convened a conference of the military leadership, known since then as the Hossbach Conference, where he made it clear that he was going to solve the problem of "living space "for Germany no later than 1943-45. He cunningly got rid of two members of the High Command - Field Marshal Werner von Blomberg and Colonel-General Werner von Fritsch, who were present at this meeting and opposed his aggressive plans (see Blomberg-Fritsch case). In March 1938, Hitler, manipulating the difficulties in Austro-German relations, carried out the Anschluss .Austria, bringing troops there and forcibly annexing it to the Third Reich. In a Nazi-dictated plebiscite, 99.59% of the Austrians approved the Anschluss. “This is the greatest hour of my life,” Hitler declared.

A more serious test of his own policy was made by Hitler in late 1938 by launching a campaign to "liberate" the Sudeten Germans in Czechoslovakia, a sovereign state whose independence was guaranteed by the Western powers and the Soviet Union. After the Nazi-inspired riots inside Czechoslovakia, Hitler promised the Sudeten Germans that he would not leave them. Frightened by the military threat, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and French Prime Minister Edouard Daladier arrived in Germany and signed the humiliating Munich Agreement of 1938.This bloodless victory raised Hitler's prestige in the eyes of the Germans. In less than a year, territories with a population of 10 million people were annexed to the Reich. After each victory, Hitler declared that he did not intend to make further territorial claims. The former impoverished adventurer from Vienna is now the most powerful dictator in Europe since Napoleon. The Germans considered him an unsurpassed statesman, even greater than Bismarck, and Western diplomats feared him as an aggressor.

Hitler chose Poland as the next victim. Now he laid claim to the Polish Corridor and Danzig, the loss of which he associated with the Treaty of Versailles. The Western powers, in response to Poland's appeal, guaranteed

September 15, 1938 Hitler won the first round in the game around Czechoslovakia: British Prime Minister Chamberlain came to him in Obersalzberg to negotiate

whether to maintain independence. Realizing that it was vital to avoid a war on two fronts, which he wrote about in Mein Kampf, Hitler began negotiations with Moscow. , divide Poland among themselves (see Non - Aggression Pact 1939).Such was Stalin's response to Western diplomats, whom he suspected of trying to turn Hitler against him. Shaken by this diplomatic bombshell, Chamberlain informed Hitler that Great Britain would fulfill its obligations to Poland without hesitation. An enraged Hitler left this statement unanswered, but in a private conversation he said: "I am 50 years old, and I prefer to wage war now, and not when I turn 53 or 60."

The beginning of the 2nd World War.

From that moment on, Hitler's life and work were swallowed up by the waterfall of events of the 2nd World War. He put on a military tunic and announced that he would not take it off until the complete victory of Germany. In the very first weeks of the war that began on September 1, 1939, Poland was divided between German and Soviet troops. In an emergency address to the Reichstag on October 6, 1939, Hitler proposed that Britain and France conclude a peace treaty - his "last offer". But now it has become obvious that his word cannot be trusted. A month later, on the anniversary of the Beer Putsch, Hitler announced that he was giving the order for a 5-year war that would end in the complete victory of the Third Reich.

Then the time came for the so-called. The Sitting War, which lasted the entire winter of 1939-40, during which neither Hitler nor his opponents in the West took any action. France hoped to sit behind the "Maginot Line", and British pilots "bombed" Germany with leaflets.

Hitler in the Reichstag during the declaration of war on the United States of America

Mussolini's ally at the Brenner Pass in order to reveal his intentions to him. On April 9, 1940, German troops invaded Denmark and Norway. Hitler stated that this was due to the fact that the UK was allegedly laying minefields in Norwegian territorial waters. A month later, a “blitzkrieg” was carried outto Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and France. “This battle will decide the fate of Germany for a thousand years,” Hitler declared. On June 22, 1940, the triumphant Hitler demanded that the French agree to a cessation of hostilities, and in the same passenger car in Compiègne in which the Germans were forced to sign an armistice in 1918. The Fuhrer returned to Berlin a victorious hero. The events of the preceding weeks had strengthened the belief of the Germans in the genius of Hitler. He gained special confidence in the strategic planning of brilliant military operations.

Hitler's next step was a massive aerial bombardment of Great Britain with the further implementation of Operation Sea Lion " - the landing of ground forces on the British Isles. But the pilots of the Royal Air Force, without thinking about surrender, launched a powerful retaliatory strike against the Nazi air armada. Only on August 15 The British shot down 180 German aircraft in 1940. Without gaining air superiority, there was no point in invading the islands. From that moment, Hitler turned his strategy to the East. Mussolini, irritated at being in the dark about Hitler's immediate plans, attacked Greece, but the failure that befell him here forced Hitler to turn his attention to the Balkans and North Africa.On April 6, Hitler sent troops into Greece and Yugoslavia, and later sentAfrika Korps to Libya and Egypt. The neutrality of the Soviet Union contributed to the initial success of this event.

At this point, Hitler made a turning point in his life. With 250 German divisions and about 100 satellite divisions at his disposal, he decided to attack the Soviet Union, confident that he would conquer it within six weeks. He also hoped to split the USSR and its Western allies by carrying out a "crusade against Bolshevism." On June 22, 1941, German troops crossed the border and invaded the Soviet Union on the front from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Initial success accompanied Hitler, his troops covered two-thirds of the distance to Moscow in 26 days. Soviet troops, using defense in depth, retreated. “Today,” Hitler said on October 2, 1941, “the last, decisive battle of the war begins.” In part, he was right - it was decisive for the USSR. Despite his boastful assurances that Russia was destroyed, the last desperate assault in the Caucasus completely failed. After the catastrophic defeat near Moscow, on December 19, 1941, Hitler removed his commander-in-chief, Field Marshal Walther vonBrauchitsch and assumed command of all the fighting. By this time, the United States of America had entered the war, and four-fifths of the world had united against Nazi Germany.

The New Year's address of 1942 shows a noticeable decrease in Hitler's euphoric and arrogant mood, although his troops still won victories in the Ukraine and in the North. Africa, but the “blitzkrieg” no longer worked effectively. Hitler retired to his field headquarters, constantly picking on military advisers about tactics and strategy, and continued to make erroneous decisions. On the Eastern Front, he rushed from one target to another, gave orders to his troops to stop their retreat and fight when their position was already hopeless. He neglected the Mediterranean, when a relatively small additional effort could have led to positive results.

Meanwhile, Hitler paid less and less attention to political and diplomatic activities. He ordered Himmler to develop a "new order" structure in Europe: transfer control of the annexed territories - Czechoslovakia, Poland, France and Belgium - to Nazi governors, and include Norway and Holland in a free union. Powerful pockets of resistance arose in all the occupied countries, which Hitler tried to suppress by the same methods of terror that he successfully used in Germany. To supply the army, a huge number of foreign workers were imported into Germany. To combat dissidents, to destroy Jews and other "lower" elements that pollute the Aryan race, on the orders of Hitler, the network was significantly expanded concentration camps and extermination camps.

The turning point was the autumn of 1942. By this time, the troops of General Rommel had been defeated near El Alamein . In November, General Friedrich von Paulus ' 6th Army became stuck and began to fail at Stalingrad. “I'm not going to leave the Volga!” shouted Hitler and ordered the encircled 6th Army to fight to the last soldier. In February 1943 von Paulus capitulated. This tragedy meant losing the war. Hitler, who promised the whole world to capture Stalingrad, was forced to accept the death of a huge army,

Emil Scheibe. "Hitler at the front", 1942-43

The Fuhrer in the background of the landscape of Upper Bavaria. photo of Heinrich Hoffmann

bleeding and trying to fulfill the oath given to him. Up to this point, Hitler had been able, as a rule, to achieve his intended goals. Now, instead of talking about victory, he began to talk about the inability of the enemies to defeat him. He retreated into the world of his own fantasy and avoided those who warned him of imminent defeat. His health began to deteriorate, and he became more and more dependent on the drugs administered to him by Dr. Theodore Morell. Hitler's glory days were drawing to a close.

Military final.

Unwilling to admit defeat, Hitler announced a general mobilization of the German economy, hoping for this last effort. But one failure followed another. In July 1943, Mussolini's regime collapsed in Italy, and Hitler had to take responsibility to restore it. He calculated that the threat of Allied bombing of German cities would rekindle the morale of the nation. Germany will never capitulate; “We will fight to the last!”.

Blows rained down on Hitler from everywhere. The allies defeated his troops in the North. Africa. On the Eastern Front, his soldiers left one settlement after another, retreating to the borders of the Reich. Anglo-American troops landed in Sicily, and soon occupied the rest of Italy, reaching Naples by October 1, 1943, and on June 4, 1944 they entered Rome. On June 6, the most important event of 1944 took place - the Allied landing in France, Operation Suzerain (Overlock). One of the most outstanding operations in military history, it was prepared and carried out completely unexpectedly. Soon, the million-strong Allied army drove the Germans east, presenting them with their own version of the “blitzkrieg”. Hitler found himself in a gigantic trap as the Allied troops crossed the Rhine and the Soviet troops inexorably advanced from the east. Göring's Luftwaffe proved unable to defend German cities and industrial centers from the devastating Allied bombing raids. The operations of the submarine fleet also did not bring the desired results (see.Submarine fleet in the Third Reich).

The desperate martial law galvanized a small anti-Hitler movement within Germany and spurred it into action. The range of opposition to the Fuhrer was extremely wide: from sabotage to secret conspiracies. Several small and scattered opposition groups were never organized into a powerful mass movement. Apparently, they did not have the significant power that the underground in the occupied countries, who waged a real war against the Nazis, had. However, the German resistance movement still made several attempts to eliminate Hitler. July 20, 1944 several senior military and civilian officials, including Field Marshal Erwin von Witzleben, Karl Friedrich Gördeler, Mayor of Leipzig, and 37-year-old Colonel Klaus Schenk Graf von Stauffenbergtried to carry out a long-planned assassination attempt on Hitler during a meeting at his eastern front-line headquarters in Rastenburg. Having escaped with minor injuries during the explosion, Hitler inflicted terrible revenge on the conspirators (see the July conspiracy of 1944).

The Last Days of Hitler.

Hopelessly losing the war, Hitler moved his headquarters to Berlin. Here, in an underground bunker built under the chancery garden, he spent his last days. Surrounded by a few people loyal to him, he spent many hours over giant war maps, moving colored pins, locating units that no longer existed. By this time, Hitler was in a state of extreme nervous exhaustion; although he was only 56 years old, he moved like a decrepit old man. Despite all the efforts of doctors, his health was rapidly deteriorating. With the exception of Goebbels, Martin Bormann, the secretaries and a few others, all his deputies began to leave him. He accused Goering of seeking to usurp power, and Himmler of behind-the-scenes negotiations with the Allies. Albert Speerrefused to follow his scorched earth order. Having finally admitted defeat, the Fuhrer decided to leave this world in the Wagnerian style, sacrificing himself. Germany, he said, must also commit suicide, because the Germans were not worthy of his genius and were doomed to lose in the struggle for life. He had two more things to do. Early in the morning of April 29, he married Eva Braun, his mistress, and immediately after that he dictated his last will and political testament, in which he justified his life and work (see Hitler's political testament-, Hitler's last will). The next day, he retired to his apartment and shot himself, and Eva Braun took poison. In accordance with his will, their bodies were thrown into a pit in the garden of the office, doused with gasoline and burned. see also"Twilight of the Gods".

Personality and character.

Hitler's personality is typical for every German layman. Practical, arrogant, self-taught, a typical German who looks down on every subject under the sun—from food to politics, from music to racial purity. Pompous, omniscient, he refuses to perceive thoughts, instead pouring sayings and orders. Presumptuously trusting his own intuition, he rejects scientific facts. He knows all the answers to the purpose of history. Living in a strange world invented by himself, he rejects as nonsense any idea that does not correspond to his ideas and his own slurred monologues.

Tedious, night-long revelations, table conversations (see Hitler's Table Talk) provide clues to Hitler's personality and character. About the race: "Our duty is to constantly awaken the forces dormant in the blood of our people." self-praise; “Once upon a time there was only one Prussian in Europe, he lived in Rome. Then a second one appeared, in Munich. It was me". Megalomania: "Everyone entering the Reich Chancellery must feel that he has visited the ruler of the world." Suspicion: "I have not yet met an Englishman who did not say that Churchill was out of his mind." "There is no doubt that Roosevelt is an imbecile."

Hostility: “There are no dumber people than Americans. They will never be able to fight like heroes."

Hitler's mental abilities have long been of interest to psychiatrists, psychoanalysts, psychologists, and historians. Usually, most of them agree that Hitler suffered from a lack of mental stability, and some even claim that he was subject to certain manifestations of insanity. His character was formed in his early years under the influence of disappointments, hostility and hatred, the source of which was the obscurity and failure that haunted him in his youth. The British historian Trevor-Roper describes Hitler's mental abilities in very damning terms: “A terrible phenomenon, making a strong impression with its truly granite rudeness and endlessly varied wretchedness; he resembles a primitive stone idol - the personification of monstrous strength and ferocious genius, surrounded by a purulent garbage heap - old tin cans and dead parasites,

Historical meaning.

Unbiased researchers agree on the importance of Hitler's role not only for the history of the Third Reich, but also for the history of the 20th century as a whole. He went to political power with the help of cruelty and lies, using any means to conquer other peoples. By the time of his suicide, he had destroyed the fabric of the world he lived in and paved the way for even more opportunities for destruction. The enormous power he wielded was unprecedented, especially with regard to the industrial resources he controlled. His ideas were old and worn, but his methods - in the spirit of Machiavelli - were adorned with the trappings of modern technological advances. And onpath to power, and during his reign he used lies, terror and extreme cruelty, but all this did not save him from collapse. In the eyes of the whole world, Hitler became the personification of the devil.

His legacy is the memory of one of the worst tyrannies in the history of civilization.

There are three main points of view regarding the life and work of Hitler. For German nationalists of all stripes, he was the greatest national hero who fought against the unjust order of the world and managed to once again raise Germany to the pinnacle of world domination. For a small group of revisionist historians, Hitler was a unique political genius who proved able to effectively use the mistakes of others and diplomatic blunders in the spirit of Frederick the Great. To the largest group of researchers, however, Hitler appears to be a morally devoid diabolical genius who brought Western civilization to the brink of an abyss, nearly destroying it beforehand. Only on him, they argue, lies the entire responsibility for the horrors and barbarism of the Third Reich. As a mentally disturbed person, he found in the tormented state of mind of the German people, who survived the shock of defeat in World War I, a reflection of their own unhealthy psyche, extreme frustration and hostility. All his life, being an Austrian, he stubbornly personified himself with the German people and, exciting them with his hypnotic oratorical abilities and vicious propaganda, found in this an outlet for his own hatred and ambition. His intuitive understanding of the German spirit was extraordinary. Hitler was remarkably successful—something no one before him or since—to instill a monstrous tyranny in a people who in the past had made such a huge contribution to European culture. A combination of circumstances elevated him from a street speaker to the pinnacle of power in Germany. To overthrow him, it took the unification of all the forces of the world. who survived the shock of defeat in the 1st World War, a reflection of his own unhealthy psyche, extreme frustration and hostility. All his life, being an Austrian, he stubbornly personified himself with the German people and, exciting them with his hypnotic oratorical abilities and vicious propaganda, found in this an outlet for his own hatred and ambition. His intuitive understanding of the German spirit was extraordinary. Hitler was remarkably successful—something no one before him or since—to instill a monstrous tyranny in a people who in the past had made such a huge contribution to European culture. A combination of circumstances elevated him from a street speaker to the pinnacle of power in Germany. To overthrow him, it took the unification of all the forces of the world. who survived the shock of defeat in the 1st World War, a reflection of his own unhealthy psyche, extreme frustration and hostility. All his life, being an Austrian, he stubbornly personified himself with the German people and, exciting them with his hypnotic oratorical abilities and vicious propaganda, found in this an outlet for his own hatred and ambition. His intuitive understanding of the German spirit was extraordinary. Hitler was remarkably successful—something no one before him or since—to instill a monstrous tyranny in a people who in the past had made such a huge contribution to European culture. A combination of circumstances elevated him from a street speaker to the pinnacle of power in Germany. To overthrow him, it took the unification of all the forces of the world. All his life, being an Austrian, he stubbornly personified himself with the German people and, exciting them with his hypnotic oratorical abilities and vicious propaganda, found in this an outlet for his own hatred and ambition. His intuitive understanding of the German spirit was extraordinary. Hitler was remarkably successful—something no one before him or since—to instill a monstrous tyranny in a people who in the past had made such a huge contribution to European culture. A combination of circumstances elevated him from a street speaker to the pinnacle of power in Germany. To overthrow him, it took the unification of all the forces of the world. All his life, being an Austrian, he stubbornly personified himself with the German people and, exciting them with his hypnotic oratorical abilities and vicious propaganda, found in this an outlet for his own hatred and ambition. His intuitive understanding of the German spirit was extraordinary. Hitler was remarkably successful—something no one before him or since—to instill a monstrous tyranny in a people who in the past had made such a huge contribution to European culture. A combination of circumstances elevated him from a street speaker to the pinnacle of power in Germany. To overthrow him, it took the unification of all the forces of the world. His intuitive understanding of the German spirit was extraordinary. Hitler was remarkably successful—something no one before him or since—to instill a monstrous tyranny in a people who in the past had made such a huge contribution to European culture. A combination of circumstances elevated him from a street speaker to the pinnacle of power in Germany. To overthrow him, it took the unification of all the forces of the world. His intuitive understanding of the German spirit was extraordinary. Hitler was remarkably successful—something no one before or since—injecting monstrous tyranny into a people who had made such a huge contribution to European culture in the past. A combination of circumstances elevated him from a street speaker to the pinnacle of power in Germany. To overthrow him, it took the unification of all the forces of the world.

The true monument to Hitler was the ruin of the German people, to which he led them with the help of cruelty and terror. His words addressed to Herman Rauschning sound like an involuntary epitaph. "We should 

be prepared for the hardest struggle the nation has ever faced. Only through perseverance will we be able to ripen for the dominance that is destined for us. It is my duty to continue this struggle, regardless of losses. The sacrifices will be enormous... We will have to give up much of what was valuable to us and today seems irreplaceable. Cities will turn into ruins, wonderful architectural monuments will disappear forever. This time will not spare our sacred land. But I'm not afraid of it."

Hitler, political testament

On the morning of April 29, after his marriage to Eva Braun, having stated his last will (see Hitler's last will), Hitler dictated a political testament in which he explained and justified his life and work. It consisted of two parts. In the first part, Hitler claimed that he had no intention of starting a war in 1939 and blamed "international Jewry" for starting it. In the second part, he expelled from the party those whom he considered traitors to his cause, including Goering and Himmler, who had previously been appointed his successors.

The true authorship of the political testament has been questioned several times. The will was considered a propagandist parting word to the world and subsequent generations, created by apologists for the Nazi movement. However, the British historian Trevor-Roper, using the conclusions of experts who conducted textual research, and the testimony of Hitler's secretary Gertrude Junge, who printed the text of the document, came to the conclusion that it was authentic.

The first part of the political testament

More than thirty years have passed since I made my modest contribution in 1914 by becoming a volunteer during the 1st World War imposed on the Reich.

During these three decades, I acted solely out of love and loyalty to my people in all my thoughts, deeds and life. It gave me the strength to make the most difficult decisions a mere mortal has ever faced. During these three decades I have wasted my time, work energy and health.

It is not true that I or anyone else in Germany wanted war in 1939. It was sought and provoked precisely by those statesmen of other countries who either themselves were of Jewish origin or acted in the interests of the Jews. I have made too many proposals for arms limitation and control that future generations will never be able to discount when it is decided whether I am responsible for starting this war. Moreover, I never aspired to ensure that after the first fatal world war, a second one would break out against England, or even more so America. Centuries will pass, and hatred will grow from the ruins of our cities and monuments against those who are ultimately responsible, whom we must thank for everything - international Jewry and its minions.

Three days before the start of the Germanopol war, I again proposed to the British ambassador in Berlin a solution to the German-Polish problem—similar to that in the case of the Saarland—international control. This proposal cannot be denied either. It was rejected only because the leading circles of British politics wanted war, partly for business reasons, and partly under the influence of propaganda organized by international Jewry.

It was also quite obvious to me that if the peoples of Europe become a bargaining chip, then it is the Jews, as the true criminals in this bloody struggle, who will be responsible for this. I had no doubt that during this time not only millions of children of the European Aryan peoples would die of starvation, not only millions of adults would find death, not only hundreds of thousands of women and children would burn and die under bombing in cities, and the true the criminal will not atone for his guilt, even with the help of the most humane means.

After six years of war, which, despite all the failures, will one day sink into history, like most of the glorious and valiant manifestations of the vital aspirations of the nation, I cannot leave the city that is the capital of the Reich. Since there are too few forces left to offer further resistance to the enemy advance in this place, and our resistance is gradually weakening, as the soldiers, misled, lack initiative, I would like to remain in this city and share my fate with those millions of other people. who voluntarily chose to do the same. Besides, I don't want to fall into the hands of an enemy who wants a new spectacle organized by the Jews to satisfy the hysterical masses.

Therefore, I decided to stay in Berlin and voluntarily choose death at the moment when I realized that the post of Führer and Chancellor could no longer be maintained.

I die with a happy heart, recognizing the immeasurable deeds and exploits of our soldiers at the front, our women in the rear, the exploits of our peasants and workers, and the unprecedented contribution of our youth, bearing my name.

By this, from the depths of my heart I express gratitude to all of you, as my only wish that you, in spite of everything, do not want to give up the fight, but continue it further against the enemies of the fatherland, no matter where, true to the conviction of the great Clausewitz. From the sacrifice of our soldiers and from my own unity with them until death, in any case, the seeds of a radiant rebirth of the National Socialist movement and then the realization of the true unity of the nation will rise in the history of Germany.

Many of the bravest men and women have chosen to join their lives with mine to the very end. I asked and finally ordered them not to do this, but to take part in the further battle of the nation. I ask the commanders of the army, navy and air force to strengthen in every possible way the spirit of resistance of our soldiers in the National Socialist consciousness, especially mentioning the fact that I myself, as the founder and creator of this movement, preferred death to cowardly renunciation or even capitulation.

Perhaps in the future, it will become part of the code of honor of the German officer - as it already happened in our fleet - that the surrender of a district or city is impossible and that, above all, commanders should lead the way as a brilliant example, honestly fulfilling their duty until death.

The second part of the political testament

Before my death, I expel the former Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring from the party and deprive him of all the rights he enjoyed by virtue of the decree of June 29, 1941, and also thanks to my statement to the Reichstag on September 1, 1939. I appoint Grand Admiral Dönitz in his place as President of the Reich and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.

Before my death, I expel from the party and remove from all government posts the former Reichsführer SS and Minister of the Interior, Heinrich Himmler. Instead, I appoint Gauleiter Karl Hanke as Reichsführer SS and head of the German police, and Gauleiter Paul Giesler as Reichsminister of the Interior.

Goering and Himmler, quite apart from their betrayal of me personally, inflicted 

immeasurable damage to the country and the whole nation, conducting secret negotiations with the enemy, which they carried out without my knowledge and against my desires, and illegally tried to appropriate power in the state ...

Although many people, such as Martin Bormann, Dr. Goebbels, along with their wives, joined me of their own free will and did not wish to leave the capital of the Reich under any circumstances, but wished to die here with me, I must nevertheless ask them to submit to my demand and in that case put the interests of the nation above their own feelings. Thanks to their work and comradely loyalty, they will be even closer to me after death, I hope that my spirit will remain in them forever. May they always be steadfast, but never unjust, and above all, may they never allow fear to shroud their actions, and may the honor of the nation be above everything in the world. And in the end, let them realize the fact that our task, which is to continue building the National Socialist state, means the work of the coming centuries, which requires every common man always to serve the common interest and to subordinate his own advantage to this until the full accomplishment of this task. I demand from all Germans, all National Socialists, men, women and all soldiers of the armed forces, that they be faithful and obedient until death to the new government and their president.

First of all, I instruct the leaders of the nation and those who obey them to carefully observe the laws of the race and ruthlessly resist the world poisoner of all peoples - international Jewry.

Done at Berlin, April 29, 1945, at 4 o'clock in the morning.

Adolf Gitler.

[Witnesses] Dr. Joseph Goebbels, Martin Bormann,

Wilhelm Burgdorf, Hans Krebs

Hitler's last will

On the morning of April 29, on the eve of the surrender of Berlin, Hitler married Eva Braun in the underground bunker of the Reich Chancellery . After that, he summoned his secretary, Frau Gertrude Junge , and dictated two documents to her: a political testament and his last will. Hitler announced his marriage, disposed of personal property, and announced his impending death. The next day he and his wife retired. Their bodies were burned in the garden of the Reich Chancellery.

The text of Hitler's last will read:

“Since during the years of my struggle I thought that I could not take on the responsibility associated with marriage, now, before my earthly existence ends, I decided to take as my wife a woman who, after many years of devoted friendship, voluntarily came to this a city already practically surrounded to share its fate with me. Of her own free will, she will die with me, like my wife. This will reward us for everything that we both have been deprived of because of my work for the benefit of my people.

Everything I possess - if it has any value - belongs to the party. If it ceases to exist, then to the state. If the state is also destroyed, there is no need for any further decision on my part.

My collection of paintings, which I have acquired over the years, cannot be intended for private collections, but only to complete the gallery of my hometown of Linz-on-the-Danube.

My most sincere desire is that this legacy may be properly used.

I appoint as my executor my most loyal companion in the party, Martin Bormann.

He is endowed with full legal authority to carry out all decisions. He is allowed to use everything that is of any value or is necessary to support the modest simple life of my brothers and sisters, and above all my wife's mother and my devoted employees who are well known to him, such as my long-time secretary Frau Winter it .d., who supported me with their work for many years.

My wife and I, to avoid the shame of collapse or surrender, choose death. We want our remains to be burned immediately at the place where I did most of my daily business for 12 years of my service to the people.

Carried out in Berlin, April 29, 1945, 4 o'clock in the morning.

[Signed] A. Hitler.

[Witnesses] Dr. Joseph Goebbels, Martin Bormann, Colonel Nikolaus von Below.

Hitler-Stalin pact

See Non-Aggression Pact 1939.

Hitler salute

The Nazi form of greeting, which became one of the manifestations of the exaltation of the Fuhrer. On August 4, 1933, the Hitler salute, which had previously been used only by members and sympathizers of the NSDAP, became mandatory for all citizens of the Reich. This was supposed to testify to “national unity and obedience to the leader.” The obligation to raise the right hand during the performance of the state and party anthems was also introduced.

The directive on the Hitler salute stated: “When meeting persons belonging to the same social group, it is recommended to raise the outstretched right hand at such an angle that the face can be seen from under the palm. This gesture should be accompanied by the words “Heil Hitler!” or at least "heil!". If someone greets a friend from a greater distance, just raise your hand

Hitler's salute

in the manner described. If a person is encountered who, from a social or other point of view, is lower, one should raise the right hand vertically at eye level and at the same time say: “Heil Hitler!”.

“Gitl eryugen d”

(NIІetsideps! - “Hitler Youth”), a Nazi youth organization of a paramilitary type, the main personnel reserve of the NSDAP. It was created by a decree of December 1, 1936. Reichsugendführer Baldur von Schirach was placed at its head,reporting directly to Hitler. Youth membership in the Hitler Youth was mandatory. Hitler, who believed that the existence of a thousand-year-old Reich could only be ensured through the appropriate education of the younger generation, declared: “An unusually active, powerful, cruel youth - that's what I will leave behind. In our knightly castles we will raise young people before whom the world will shudder... Youth must be indifferent to pain. There should be no weakness or tenderness in it. I want to see in her gaze the brilliance of a predatory beast...” The law of 1936 stated that German youth must be brought up “physically, spiritually and morally in the spirit of the National Socialist

ism, service to the people and the national community”. All previously existing youth clubs and unions in Germany became part of the Hitler Youth, which covered about 60% of German youth.

On March 25, 1938, a decree was issued regulating the structure of the Hitler Youth. The organization covered German youth aged 10 to 18 and was divided into age categories. Junior group: boys from 10 to 14 years old - “Deutsche Jungvolk” (“German Youth”); from 14 to 18 years old - the Hitler Youth itself. Women's organization within the Hitler Youth: girls aged 10 to 14 - "Jungmedelbunde" ("Girls' Union"); from 14 to 18 years old - "Bund Deutscher Medel" (see "Union of German Girls").

The admission and education of members of the Hitler Youth was carefully regulated. Every year on March 15, every boy who reached the age of ten was required to register at the Imperial Youth Headquarters. After a thorough study of the information about the child and his family, where special attention was paid to his "racial purity", he was considered "free from shame" and enrolled in the younger age group - Jungvolk. Then followed a solemn reception ceremony dedicated to the Fuhrer's birthday (April 20 ), in the presence of high party leadership.The transition to the next age group took place also solemnly and pompously.

Young people who had reached the age of 18 could join the National Socialist Party and then the SA or SS. From the age of 19, young Nazis carried a mandatory 6-month labor service in special labor camps, where they mastered any profession and were accustomed to strict discipline. Then followed a two-three-year army service in the ranks of the Wehrmacht. Thus, German youth aged 10 to 21 were constantly under vigilant Nazi control.

The leadership of the Hitler Youth tried by all means to attract young people by organizing sports competitions, hiking trips, youth gatherings, international meetings with members of youth fascist associations in Italy and other countries. There were regular pilgrimages to Braunau, Hitler's homeland. Any young man could find something interesting for himself in the activities of the Hitler Youth: art or folk crafts, aircraft modeling, journalism, music, sports, etc. With the outbreak of World War II, members of the Hitler Youth were collecting blankets and clothes for the soldiers, sending packages to the front. Every hour was busy to the limit, and the youth barely had time for their families. Most parents did not mind such a routine, and as a result, teenagers did not form other than Nazi,

Hitler surrounded by young people from the Hitler Youth

As early as September 6, 1935, speaking at the Nuremberg Party Congress, where 54 thousand German youths marched in front of the stands, Hitler formulated the educational criteria for Nazism: “We do not need intellectual exercises. Knowledge is destructive to my youth... In our opinion, the young German of the future should be slender and agile, frisky like a greyhound, flexible like skin and hard like Krupp steel.”

From August 8, 1940, the Hitler Youth was headed by Arthur Axman. The organization was dissolved after the defeat of the Third Reich.

Reich Security Main Office (RSHA)

It was created a few weeks after the start of World War II - September 27, 1939. It was one of the 12 main departments of the SS. From September 1939 to May 1942, the RSHA was headed by SS Gruppenfuehrer Reinhard Heidrich, and after his death, by Ernst Kaltenbrunner.

The main task of the RSHA in the conditions of the outbreak of war and the prospect of expanding the territorial dominance of the Third Reich was to coordinate the actions of the zipo and the SD.

At the first stage of its existence, the RSHA consisted of several departments dealing with various problems:

I—administrative and legal issues (supervisor Werner Best).

II - systematic political analysis of the content of publications in order to conduct psychological warfare (Dr. Franz Sieke).

III - (SD-Inland) control over especially important areas of the internal life of society and the party (Otto Ohlendorf). In turn, it was divided into four departments: culture, population, social life and economy. Twice a week she prepared reviews of the situation in the country for the top leadership of the NSDAP.

IV - the state secret police of the Gestapo (Heinrich Müller). His task was to identify the enemies of the Third Reich and fight them.

V is the criminal police of the Reich (ArthurNebe), whose task was to fight crime.

VI - SD Foreign Intelligence Service (Ausland-SD) (it was led by HeinzJost until June 22, 1941, then until the end of the war - by Walter Schellenberg).

In the autumn of 1940 there was a further reorganization of the RSHA. I management took over personnel matters, the system of study and organization of the SD and zipo. A new department II was created, which dealt with economic and administrative affairs and supplies. The former II Directorate was transformed into the VII Directorate, which, headed by Franz Sieks, was engaged in a “scientific information service” - an analysis of the situation in a particular area. It published a bulletin containing an analytical review of information from the German and foreign press and acted as a censor of publications published in the Reich.

The central office of the RSHA was located in Berlin in a complex of buildings on the Prinz-Albrechtstrasse, but many services were scattered throughout the city, occupying 38 buildings.

Glagau, Otto

(Oiadai), (1834-1892), German journalist, anti-Semite, forerunner of National Socialism. In his articles, Glagau, together with Wilhelm Marr, sought to stir up anti-Jewish sentiments in the country and preached extreme nationalism.

Glaser, Ernst

(bezeg), (1902-1963), German writer, representative of the so-called. "generations without a homeland". Author of the novel Year of Birth 1902 (1928). After Hitler came to power, he emigrated, but soon returned to Germany, putting his work at the service of the Nazis.

Gleiwitz Incident

A provocative attack on a radio station in the small town of Gleiwitz on the Polish-German border, developed and carried out on August 31, 1939 by the German special services.

At the beginning of August 1939, Reinhard Heydrich instructed one of his subordinates, Alfred Naujoks,prepare the details of this operation in order to attribute the attack on the radio station to the Polish side, thus providing a pretext for the invasion of German troops into Poland. For this, several criminals were selected, who were promised release for participating in a “patriotic” action. They were dressed in Polish military uniforms and staged the takeover of the radio station. Then an appeal was broadcast in Polish: “Citizens of Poland! It's time for war between Poland and Germany. Unite and kill all the Germans." After that, the subordinates of Naujoks shot dead all the “Polish invaders”. The next day, Hitler addressed the German people, declaring that Poland had carried out an attack on German territory and that from that moment Germany was at war with Poland.

Glyden, Lilo

(OІöben), (1903-1944), German housewife, executed by the Nazis for providing shelter to a senior army officer accused by the authorities of treason. Born December 19, 1903 in Cologne in the family of a doctor. In 1938 she married an architect and settled with her husband and his daughter in Berlin. As opponents of the fascist dictatorship, she and her husband did everything possible to help those who were persecuted by the Nazi authorities. Dr. Carl Friedrich Goerdeler, one of the leaders of the Resistance movement, took refuge in their house. Knowing that the Gestapo promised 500,000 Reichsmarks for the head of General Fritz Lindemann , who was also accused of treason , the Gleiden couple hid him after the July conspiracy of 1944within one and a half months. Both Glayden and her mother were arrested and subjected to interrogation and torture. On November 30, she, her husband and her mother were beheaded one by one in the Plötzensee prison. The Nazi authorities said that a similar fate awaits anyone who tries to shelter the traitors of the Third Reich.

Globke, Hans

(Cloecke), (1898-1973), Prussian official who wrote the official commentary on the law placing German Jews outside German society. Born in Aachen, the son of a cloth merchant. He studied law and in early 1925 began serving as deputy police commissioner in his hometown. In 1929 he became an administrative adviser to the Prussian Minister of the Interior, and in the late 30s. headed the department of citizenship of this ministry. A skilled organizer, Globke served Hitler with the same fidelity and prudence that he displayed while working during the Weimar Republic. Although Globke was never a member of the NSDAP, he was accused of having played a major role in creating anti-Jewish legislation in the Third Reich.

After World War II, Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, being a firm opponent of Nazism, kept Globke as Chancellery Secretary of State from 1953 to 1963 and rejected Globke's five resignations. Nevertheless, the campaign against Globke continued. In East Germany, a court charged him in absentia with being a key figure in the campaign against the Jews and sentenced him to life imprisonment. A few months later, Globke resigned his position in the Chancellery. Adenauer argued that Globke's involvement was nothing more than "an unbiased interpretation of racial laws" and that he should have actually found a way to soften the bill's blow. Globke retired in 1963 and left for Switzerland, but kept a house in Bonn.

Globocnik, Odilo

(Ciobospik), (?-1945), SS Brigadeführer (major general), head of all “death camps” in Poland during World War II. First declared himself in early 1938 during the Anschluss of Austria. Was was appointed Gauleiter of Vienna, but his behavior in this post was so scandalous that he had to be demoted to the SS In occupied Poland, he headed the police of Lublin, was the founder of Belsen, Majdanek and Sobibor - extermination camps in the vicinity of Lublin, as well as Treblinka. In 1941, he headed all the "death camps" on the territory of Poland.Arrested in Austria by the allied forces in early May 1945, he committed suicide.

Gluke, Richard

(SІeskz), senior inspector of concentration camps, successor to Theodore Eicke. Born in 1889. Member of the 1st World War. Early joined the Nazi movement. In 1936 he was appointed to Eicke's department. On February 21, 1940, Glucke informed Himmler that he had found a suitable place to organize the Auschwitz camp. Glucks was last seen in May 1945 at a naval hospital near Flensburg. His further fate is unknown.

Gleichshaltung

(ВІеісІізсІіаІіпд), the Nazi political concept of subordinating all spheres of German life to the interests of the National Socialist regime.

Gobineau, Joseph Arthur de

(Eolipeai), (1816-1882), French sociologist, writer and publicist, one of the founders of racist theory and the racial-anthropological school in sociology. Born July 14, 1816 in Paris. In 1849-77 in the diplomatic service. In his main work “On the inequality of human races” (1853-1855), he tried to justify the need for the existence of a ruling elite and put forward a theory according to which inequality associated with racial differences and the resulting struggle of races are the driving force behind the development of peoples. According to Gobineau, the most capable of cultural development is the white (Aryan) race, especially its Germanic branch. In an effort to expand its influence, the Aryan race mixes with other races, which leads to a decrease in its abilities and culture. This leads to the loss of the dominant position by the superior races and the emergence of democracy,

Hitler and other ideologues of Nazism borrowed and adapted many provisions of Gobineau's theory to their own ideological concepts in order to justify the "right" of the Germans to dominate the world.

Hitler: “All human culture, all the achievements of art, science and technology, which we are witnessing today, are the fruits of the creativity of the Aryans ... He [the Aryan] is the Prometheus of mankind, from whose bright brow sparks of genius flew at all times, kindling the fire of knowledge , illuminating the darkness of gloomy ignorance, which allowed man to rise above other creatures of the earth...”

Himmler: “We believe that as long as people live on earth, the law of history is the struggle between people and subhumans. The right of a strong race is the determinant of justice.”

Hitler: “If we divide humanity into three categories: the creators of culture, its bearers and its destroyers, then only the Aryans should be considered the representative of the first ... The German people are the embodiment of the virtues of the Aryan race, 

it is called upon as a race of masters to subjugate less valuable peoples, resorting to any means of coercion ... Let those who want to live enter the struggle, and those who do not want to fight in this world of eternal struggle do not deserve the right to life ” .

G otterdemmerung

(Ooyegsialtegipd), a characteristic of the last days of Hitler and his inner circle in the Führerbunker in Berlin in April 1945, adopted in German historiography. See "Twilight of the Gods".

Gottchalk, Joachim

(OoPzsbaik), (1904-1941), German film actor. Born April 10, 1904 in the family of a doctor. In his youth he was a sailor. Becoming an actor, he gained fame in Leipzig and Frankfurt am Main. In 1938 he was invited to Berlin, where he gained wide popularity with his work in cinema. However, his future career was in doubt because his wife was Jewish, and Gottschalk refused to leave her despite pressure from the Nazi authorities. He turned down an offer to work with Strength in Joy.The tension became so great that Gottschalk and his wife decided to commit suicide. They committed suicide by poisoning their child before that. In his last letter, Gottschalk cites the words of the poet Heinrich von Kleist, which he said before committing suicide: “The truth is that there is no one to help me on this earth.”

See also Cinematography in the Third Reich.

Hoffmann, Heinrich*

Hoffman, (NoTTapp), (1885-1957), Hitler's personal photographer. Born September 12, 1885 in Fürth, Bavaria, in the family of a wealthy owner of a photographic studio, where he learned the craft of a photographer. During World War I he was a photographer for the Bavarian army. In 1919 he published his first photo album, The Bavarian Revolution.

Hoffmann's first contact with Hitler began in Munich at the dawn of the Nazi movement. Hoffmann sensed a promising future for the young politician and became his constant companion. Hitler often visited Hoffmann's house in München-Bogenhausen, where he managed to relax after hectic political activity. Hoffmann introduced Hitler to Winifred Wagner, the widow of the son of the composer Richard Wagner , and later to Eva Braun, who worked as an assistant in his photo studio. Hoffmann's daughter Henriette married the leader of the Hitler Youth, Baldur von Schirach, but they divorced on the eve of World War II.

Over time, profitable business cooperation was added to their personal relationship. Hitler's rapid rise in popularity was in no small part due to Hoffmann's photographic skill. For a long time, Hoffmann was the only one who was allowed to photograph the Fuhrer in an informal setting. After postcards with portraits of the Fuhrer made by Hoffmann began to circulate in huge numbers throughout Germany, Hitler's personal photographer became a millionaire. Hoffmann released a whole series of albums: "Woke Germany", "Brown House", "Unknown Hitler" and others. In 1933 he was elected to the Reichstag, and in 1938 Hitler awarded him the title of professor.

In 1947, a West German court sentenced Hoffmann to 10 years in prison for illegally acquired wealth during the Nazi period. His property was confiscated, and he himself was stripped of his professorship. However, a year later the sentence was reduced to 3 years, but then, in 1950, again increased to 5 years. Hoffmann died on December 16, 1957 in Munich at the age of 72.

Count, Herbert

(Crai), (1903-1973), German theater director. In 1925 he graduated from the University of Vienna, where he defended his thesis "Richard Wagner as a stage director". He began his theatrical career in Munster, then staged opera performances in Breslau, Frankfurt am Main, Basel and Prague. After the Nazis came to power, Graf emigrated to the United States in 1934, where he directed opera performances in Philadelphia. In 1936 he was invited to work at the Metropolitan Opera, where he staged many performances, for which he received worldwide recognition. His last production was Strauss' Elektra (1967-68). Graf died in Geneva on April 6, 1973.

Count, German

(SgaT), Luftwaffe fighter pilot. Born in 1920. In his youth, he worked in a factory and was a passionate football player. In 1939 he entered the flight school in Wildpark. In a short time he mastered flying skills and showed himself as a talented fighter pilot. From 1941 he fought in Romania and Greece. In 1944, Graf became the last commander of the 52nd Fighter Air Group, the most famous flying unit in the history of World War II. By the end of the war, Graf was among the most famous aces in Germany. On his account there were 202 downed enemy aircraft. He was awarded the Knight's Cross with oak leaves, swords and diamonds. On April 4, 1945, he was shot down on the Eastern Front and spent five years in Soviet captivity. After returning to Germany, he worked for an electronics company in Bremen.

Graf, Ulrich

(SgT), one of Hitler's closest associates in the early years of the Nazi movement. Born July 6, 1878 in Bahhagel. He worked as a miller and butcher. He was one of the founders of the National Socialist Workers' Party of Germany. During the "Beer putsch" in 1923 in Munich, he was seriously wounded. In 1925, Graf became a member of the Munich City Council, and in 1936 he was elected to the Reichstag from the Nazi Party. During World War II he served in the VSS with the rank of SS Brigadeführer (major general).

"Count Spee"

(“SgT Bree”), a battleship of the German navy, a symbol and pride of the growing power of the Nazi fleet. Named in honor of Count Maximilian von Spee (1861-1914) who died on the flagship Scharnhorst during World War I in a battle with an English squadron near the Falkland Islands. Built at the shipyards of Wilhelmshaven and launched in 1934 in violation of the terms of the Versailles Treaty of 1919. She was armed with 6 11-inch guns, 8 6-inch and eight torpedo tubes. The speed reached 26 knots. Crew - 1107 people. For its time, Graf Spee was the pinnacle of design and technological thought and was considered practically unsinkable.

With the outbreak of World War II, the Graf Spee, under the command of Captain Hans Langsdorf, went to the South Atlantic to intercept English merchant ships. Hitler was not embarrassed by the fact that no military operations were conducted in this area of ​​​​the globe and not a single Allied warship was here In a few months, the Graf Spee sank at least 8 English ships.In early December 1939, the British Admiralty demanded that the Brazilian authorities sell English oil to German tankers exclusively through Brazilian ports, since there was reason to believe that this fuel was used for refueling German destroyers in the South Atlantic.

December 13, 1939 three British cruisers - "Exeter", "Achilles" and "Ajax" - blocked the "Count Spee" off the coast of Uruguay. On board the German battleship were about sixty English sailors captured from British merchant ships sunk earlier. During the fifteen-hour battle, the largest English cruiser, the Exeter, was seriously damaged. The crew of the "Graf Spee" also suffered significant losses: 30 people were killed and about 60 wounded. Despite the persecution, Captain Langsdorf managed to escape from 

fight and take refuge in the bay of Montevideo. The wounded and dead were transferred to the shore, and the rest of the crew began to repair the badly damaged ship. Langsdorff asked for fifteen days to restore the battleship, but the Uruguayan authorities demanded that the Graf Spee leave the territorial waters of Uruguay no later than two days later, threatening to arrest the crew otherwise. Meanwhile, British cruisers were on duty at the exit from Montevideo Bay, waiting for reinforcements .

At 6 pm on Sunday, December 17, the Graf Spee weighed anchor and left the bay in tow. Thousands of spectators on the shore were waiting at dusk for the start of the battle. Suddenly, the huge ship stopped and the tugs accompanying it retired. the sky. The artillery magazines were bursting. Three minutes later, the Graf Spee sank. Captain Langsdorff, his entire crew and captured English sailors reached the shore and were interned by the authorities. Three days later, Captain Langsdorff, wrapping himself in an imperial naval flag, shot himself. How it turned out later that Hitler personally gave the captain the order to flood the Graf Spee so that it would not fall into the hands of the enemy.

Greze, Irma

(bgeze), (1921-1946), guard of the Auschwitz camp. For her extreme cruelty towards prisoners and her extraordinary beauty, she received the nickname “Angel of Death” or “Blonde-haired Devil.” Her sadistic inclinations were manifested in the fact that she beat prisoners with incredible cruelty and loved to watch the progress of medical experiments for hours. It was rumored that she was the mistress of camp commandant Josef Kramer and at the same time the chief doctor of the camp, Josef Mengele.After the war, she was court-martialed and sentenced to death by hanging.

Greim, Robert Ritter von

(Creit), (1892-1945), general of the Luftwaffe; the last to be honored by Hitler with the rank of field marshal. Born June 22, 1892 in Bayreuth. During World War I he was a fighter pilot. In 1935, Hermann Goering appointed him commander of the first squadron of the newly created new air force. In 1939, von Greim became chief of the Luftwaffe. In the first battles of the 2nd World War, he led various fighter units. Since February 1943, he commanded the air fleet (LuchioNe) on the Eastern Front and personally proved himself to be one of the best pilots of the Luftwaffe.

On April 24, 1945, Hitler sent a telegram to von Greim, then commander of the VI Air Fleet in Munich, to the bunker, ordering him to report to the Reich Chancellery. Breaking into Berlin was a very difficult task, but von Greim and Hanne Reitsch, an instructor pilot accompanying him, managed to do it. Early in the morning of April 25 they arrived in Rechlin, where they were going to transfer to a helicopter to land in the garden of the office or somewhere

General Robert von Greim

somewhere nearby. Since the only helicopter was damaged, they requisitioned the Focke-Wulf-190 and ordered their chief pilot to take them to the bunker. Frail little Hannah Reitsch squeezed herself into the tail of the plane. Accompanied by cover fighters, the plane slipped through the anti-aircraft fire of Soviet batteries on a strafing flight and landed safely at the Gatov airfield. From here, von Greim tried to get through to the office, but to no avail. Taking an old Arado-60 training aircraft, the two pilots took off towards their target, narrowly missing the treetops. They were met by Soviet anti-aircraft artillery over the Tiergarten, and von Greim was wounded in the leg. Hanna Reitsch took control and landed the plane on the highway near the office.

Hitler met his guests in the bunker and immediately called a doctor to attend to the wounded von Greim. When he was bandaged, Hitler said: “I had to call you because Hermann Goering had betrayed both me and the fatherland. Behind my back, he was establishing contacts with the enemy. I am obliged to arrest him as a traitor, strip him of all positions and dismiss him from all organizations. That's why I called you." Hitler appointed the astonished von Greim the new commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe and promoted him to the rank of field marshal.

Despite the wound and the strongest artillery fire of the advancing Soviet troops, von Greim flew to Captivity at the headquarters of Admiral Karl Dönitz. He told Himmler, who was there, that Hitler had accused him of high treason. Von Greim committed suicide on May 24, 1945 in Salzburg.

"Greif"

("Creit" - "Capture"), the code name for a tactical operation in the Ardennes in December 1944, carried out by the SS in order to support the hopeless offensive of General von Rundstedt. The operation, led by Otto Skorzeny, involved over 3,000 SS men dressed, in violation of international rules, in American military uniforms. The team was equipped with Sherman tanks, American trucks and jeeps. She was tasked with wedging into the enemy’s battle formations, sowing panic among the allies and committing acts of sabotage. The ultimate goals of Operation Greif were not achieved.

See also Ardennes operation 1944-45.

Grenzpolitsay

(Sgepgroiigei), units of the border police, which were under the jurisdiction of the Gestapo.

Grimm, Hans

. (Sgіtt), (1875-1959), one of the most famous writers of the Third Reich. Born March 22, 1875 in Wiesbaden. He studied political science in Lausanne, Munich and Hamburg, and later headed the Colonial Institute in Hamburg. He spent 15 years in the German colony of South West Africa and in South Africa, where his interest in the colonial expansion of Germany was revealed. Consumed by the "German dream of world domination," Grimm was a zealous proponent of "popular nationalism" and racial doctrine.

Grimm came to public attention in 1926 with the publication of the political novel A People Without Space (Voik oGipe White). This book instantly gained popularity and sold half a million copies. The secret of its success lay in Grimm's ability to give literary expression to a feeling that had not previously been clothed in a popular form. Using traditional conservatism and defending social imperialism, Grimm argued that Germany was doomed to starvation and extinction if it did not expand its borders. It became an obsession for him, which he carried through all his work. He argued that the former ruling classes were not viable and therefore did not have the opportunity to improve the situation of the Germans with the help of reforms.

Grimm's position towards the Nazi regime was uncertain. He agreed with Hitler's diagnosis of Germany's "devilish encirclement" and his calls for the purification of the German race. At the same time, he expressed doubts about Nazi revolutionary radicalism, petty-bourgeois leadership and the idea of ​​mass followers. Declaring creative independence, Grimm nevertheless supported the rise of the Nazis to power, welcomed the first successes of Hitler, such as the Anschluss of Austria. The Nazis, in turn, hailed Grimm as the leading "literary prophet of the German transformation" and widely used as a slogan the title of his book, A People without Space. Hitler emphasized not the artistic merit of this work, but its political usefulness.

After the defeat of the Third Reich, Grim began to write about "new penetration" into the historical significance of National Socialism, which was tantamount to a consistent justification of Hitler and Nazism. In his “Reply of a German” (1949) to the radio address of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Grimm put forward the following argument: European peoples from the arbitrariness of communism". Grimm died in Lippoldsburg on September 27, 1959.

Gropius, Walter

(Sіgorіus), (1883-1969), an outstanding German architect, architectural theorist, one of the founders of functionalism, who consistently developed the principles of rationalism in architecture. Left Germany after the Nazis came to power. Born May 18, 1883 in Berlin, great-grandson of Martin Gropius, a famous classicist architect of the XIX century. He studied at the Higher Technical Schools in Berlin and Munich (1903-07), was influenced by Peter Behrens, whose assistant he was in 1907-10. Gropius sought to identify the functional purpose of buildings in their external appearance, which led to the novelty of architectural forms: for example, glazing strips encircling the building of the Fagus shoe factory in Alfeld (Lower Saxony, 1911, together with A. Mayer), emphasize the lightness of the curtain wall . In the administrative building at the German Werkbund exhibition in Cologne (1914), brick walls are expressively contrasted with light metal structures and glazing. In 1918 Gropius headed the schools of applied and fine arts in Weimar, uniting them in 1919 under the name "State Bauhaus". During workat the Bauhaus,he was one of the first to master the possibilities for creating new forms in modern architecture and design, which are inherent in industrial production. Being also engaged in the social problems of architecture, Gropius saw in the mass production of things, in industrial housing construction, a means of democratizing architecture and the material and living environment surrounding a person. After a clash with the conservative authorities of Weimar, Gropius transferred the "Baucha uz" to Dessau, where he built a new building for him (1925-26), which became a manifesto of the principles of rationalist architecture put forward by him; here the task of organizing functional processes dictates the asymmetric placement of the masses of the building. In 1928 Gropius moved to Berlin, devoting himself to the problem of the so-called. cheap dwellings. Developed the technique of "line building", in which standard buildings are arranged in parallel rows (settlement Dammerstock near Karlsruhe, 1927-28), created several prototypes of economical apartments that are widely used in the West. Europe. In 1934, after the Nazis came to power, Gropius left Germany, worked for two years in London with Maxwell Fry, created a number of buildings, for example, Impington Country College (1936-39), which contributed to the spread of functionalism in British architecture. In 1937 he moved to the USA, where he became professor (1937-52) of the architectural department of Harvard University in Cambridge. In 1946 he designed the educational buildings of Harvard University (1949-50) and the University of Baghdad (1961). He built the neoclassical building of the US Embassy in Athens (1957-61), the skyscraper of the Pan American Airlines in New York (1963).

Gross, George

(Crozg), (nast, name and surname Georg Ehrenfried, EngepTgies!) (1893-1959), German graphic artist and painter. Born July 26, 1893 in Berlin. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden (1909-11) and at the art-industrial school in Berlin (1911-13). After World War I, imbued with the revolutionary ideas that were widespread among German artists, he joined the Communist Party of Germany in 1918. In 1924 he became the organizer of the "Red Group" of artists, and since 1928 a member of the Association of Revolutionary Artists of Germany. For some time he joined Dadaism and Expressionism, painted acute psychological portraits in the spirit of “new materiality”. His favorite theme of creativity was satirical portraits of Prussian junkers, big magnates, generals. The graphic cycles of Gross gained wide popularity: “The Face of the Ruling Class” (1921), “Behold the Man” (1922), "Payback to come!" (1922-23), “The New Face of the Ruling Class” (1930), whose sharply grotesque manner was inspired by a naive street pattern. General attention to his work was attracted by the work "Esse Noto", where the crucified Christ is depicted in a gas mask and army boots - a vivid and tragic anti-militarist manifesto that caused the author to be accused of blasphemy. Anticipating the onset of the Nazi dictatorship in Germany, in 1932 Gross emigrated to the United States.

Most of his works have not been exhibited in Germany, with the exception of a few presented at the famous 'degenerate art' exhibition”,in whose catalog the work of Gross and Otto Dix was characterized as "depicting German soldiers as idiots, sexual degenerates and drunkards". Until 1959, Gross lived in the United States, moving away from political activity, but creating a number of sharp socio-critical paintings ("The World", 1946). Towards the end of his life, he wrote in his autobiographical book "A Little Yes" and a Big "No" (New York , 1946): "We were like boats on the sea with white, red and black sails raised against the wind. Some wore the emblems of the United Front, others of communism, Nazism or the Steel Helmet." But seen from a distance, all these flags looked the same.” Georg Gross died in West Berlin on July 7, 1959

Gross, Nikolaus

(Sgozz), (1898-1945), German trade union activist, participant in the July 1944 conspiracy against Hitler. Born September 30, 1898 in the Ruhr. After graduating from school, he worked in the mines, became secretary of the trade union organization of miners and editor of the Westdeutsche Arbeiterzeitung. From the very beginning he was a resolute opponent of Nazism. and executed January 23, 1945.

gross rosen

A small concentration camp in the Stregau region of Silesia Gross-Rosen was established in addition to the system of three main camps: Dachau in the south, Buchenwald in Central Germany, and Sachsenhausen in the north. In January 1942, a medical commission visited this camp to select prisoners for special experiments.

Grossdeutsche

Volksgemeinschaft”

(

C0V6 - “Great German people- 

Union”), one of the first Nazi organizations that carried out its activities in the southern regions of Germany in 1924-26.

Trossdeutscher Bund

(Groszgіeiіzsііeg Vipsі — “Great German Union”), an association of nationalist youth organizations during the period of the Weimar Republic. At the head of this alliance was a friend of President Paul von Hindenburg , Admiral Adolf von Trotha (1868-1940). Young German patriots held an annual 1~adeg at which they sang patriotic songs and listened to nationalist speeches. On June 17, 1933, the police and SS surrounded one of these gatherings, sent the youth home, and disbanded the organization itself. On the same day Baldur von Schirachwas appointed leader of the imperial youth. When Admiral von Trotha tried to protest, his house was ransacked and he himself was put on a list of untrustworthy people who opposed the Nazi Gleichschaltun policy. However, in 1936 he was assigned to lead the naval training of members of the Hitler Youth.

Grossdeutsche Reich

Should Germany become great (dgosssiissss) or should it be a small German settlement (kieipsiisssii)? The latter would mean Prussian hegemony. The unification of Germany took place under Otto von Bismarck in 1871 in accordance with the concept of keipsieussii.

For Hitler, an Austrian by birth, the Third Reich did not make sense without the inclusion of Austria; moreover, Greater Germany could not exist without the annexation of Czechoslovakia. Hitler embodied the idea of ​​expansion from the first days of his regime: Germany returned the Saarland, left the League of Nations, remilitarized the Rhineland, annulled the Locarno agreements, carried out the Anschluss of Austria, captured Czechoslovakia. Greater Germany included most of Western Europe already in the early years of World War II. By 1944, Germany was issuing postage stamps on which, instead of "Oei- sseyez Veissii", "Oross-geiisssss Veissich" was printed. Hitler put into practice the aspirations of many German nationalists.

"Grun"

(“Stop”), the code name for the plan for the occupation of Czechoslovakia by German troops. In a directive dated June 18, 1938, Hitler stated: “I will make the final decision to launch a military campaign against Czechoslovakia only if I am firmly convinced, as was already the case with the occupation of the demilitarized zone [Rhineland] and the entry of troops into Austria, that France will not will oppose us and this will not entail the intervention of England.

The draft of the operation "Grun" was developed by the German General Staff on May 20, 1938. On May 30, Hitler approved a new version of the directive on the unified preparation of the German armed forces for war: "My unshakable decision is the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia in the near future by conducting a military campaign." The implementation of the directive was supposed to begin no later than November 1, 1938. Parallel to the military preparations, intense activity began to undermine the internal stability of Czechoslovakia (see Sudeten German Party; Sudetenland).

Grundgens, Gustav

(Sgppsidenz), (1899-1963), theater and film actor popular in Nazi Germany. Under the patronage of Hermann Göring, Gründgens headed the Prussian Theater in Berlin. Despite his communist sympathies, he refused to leave Germany after the Nazis came to power. Committed suicide in 1963.

Hugenberg, Alfred

(HidenBerg). See Alfred Hugenberg .

Guderian, Heinz Wilhelm

(Oibegiap), (1888-1954), colonel-general of the German army (1940), military theorist. Along with de Gaulle and Fuller, he was considered the founder of motorized methods of warfare. Born June 17, 1888 in Kulm (now Chelmno, Poland). He graduated from the military school (1907) and the military academy (1914). During the 1st World War he was on the staff

General Hans Guderian, 1940

posts, after the war - in the Reichswehr, since 1922 - in the automobile troops. In 1935-38 commander of a tank division and an army corps. During the Anschluss , Guderian commanded the newly created 16th Corps, which made a rush to Vienna, during which at least a third of the tanks got stuck on the way. In 1939, Guderian's tank units participated in the invasion of Poland, successfully carrying out the blitzkrieg tactics,which earned Hitler's admiration. In his books “Attention - Tanks!” and “Armored Troops and Their Interaction with Other Arms” (1937), Guderian assigned a major role in the outcome of modern warfare to the massive use of tanks. At the beginning of 1940 he commanded a tank corps in France, from June 1940 he commanded the 2nd Panzer Group (from October 1941 - the 2nd Panzer Army). In December 1941, for the defeat near Moscow, Guderian was removed from his post and expelled to the reserve. From March 1943 he was inspector general of tank troops.

Participants in the July conspiracy of 1944 unsuccessfully tried several times to win Guderian over to their side. After the unsuccessful attempt on the Fuhrer, Guderian, along with Keitel and Rundstedt, on the orders of Hitler, investigated the cases of army officers who were involved in the conspiracy. They were deprived of their military rank and handed over to the People's Tribunal, which meant certain death. As a reward for his loyalty, Hitler appointed Guderian in July 1944 as Chief of the General Staff of the Ground Forces, a post he remained until March 1945. At the end of the war, Guderian made several timid attempts to convince Ribbentrop, Goering and Himmler of the need to stop hostilities against the Allies; he refrained from making such recommendations to Hitler.

Guderian was taken prisoner by the Americans, but soon released. In the 50s. he advocated the restoration of pre-war borders and the military power of Germany as a bulwark in the fight against communism. Author of memoirs (Russian translation "Tanks - forward!", 1957). Died in Schwangau, Bavaria, May 15, 1954.

Gundolf, Friedrich

(OipsioT), (1880-1931), poet, professor at Heidelberg University, literary historian. Goebbels studied with him in his younger years. Born June 20, 1880 in Darmshi adt. Half-Jewish by origin, Gundolfinger. From 1899 he was a member of the so-called. "Stefan George's circle" of a group of aesthetes who considered sublime poetry the only form and pinnacle of fiction (see GeorgeStephen). Tall, attractive, but unusually private, he began teaching at the University of Heidelberg in 1911. In 1920, he headed the department of literary history. He believed that the artist and his work are inseparable from each other and form a single whole. His calls for absolute aestheticism had a noticeable impact on German literary criticism. His works on the works of Shakespeare and his attitude to the classics of German literature have won wide recognition. Gundolf held the position of a firm German nationalist. He justified the 1st World War, portraying Germany as the only one having the right to speak of the Germans as a "ruling nation". He characterized the enemies of Germany as "ordinary braggarts", like "blind mob". "The culture of the future is predestined to be created by the German mind" . He did not consider culture either as material goods or as pleasure: “Culture consists in existence, in action, in change; it is creation, destruction, transformation, and Attila is much closer to culture than all these Shaws, Maeterlincks, d'Annuncias and the like.

Such ideas captivated his student Goebbels, who entered the University of Heidelberg after World War I. Goebbels was fascinated by Gundolf's lectures on the vanished world of German romanticism. He hoped to join the members of the "Stefan George's circle" through Professor Gundolf, but he, knowing the young Rhinelander very superficially, refused him. Goebbels wrote his doctoral dissertation "Wilhelm von Schuitz: a contribution to the history of romantic drama" with the support of Professor Waldberg. Gundolf quarreled with Stefan George and was expelled from the circle.He died July 12, 1931.

Gunter, Hans

(Sypibeg), (1891-1968), German anthropologist and ethnologist, publicist, professor at Jena, Freiburg and Berlin universities. Born February 16, 1891 in Freiburg. He studied at the universities of Jena, Berlin and Freiburg. His numerous writings on race, in addition to obvious scientific intuition, rested on an exaggerated heroic-creative mysticism. Günther's book A Brief Ethnology of the German Nation (1929) sold over 275,000 copies and went through many reprints. Günther's theory played an important role in providing the ideological foundations of National Socialist racism. In 1931, despite strong opposition from the teaching staff, he was appointed professor of ethnology at the newly opened chair of racial studies at the University of Jena.

According to Gunther, there are 5 European races: Nordic, Mediterranean, Dinaric, Alpine and East Baltic. Among them, the greatest creative force in history was the Nordic race. The Jewish race did not even belong to the European race, it was an outside race, "a product of fermentation and disturbance, a wedge driven by Asia into the European structure." The Jews were one of those non-Nordic races that were responsible for such destructive movements as democracy, parliamentarism and liberalism. The task of the creative Nordic race was to expand their own useful hereditary tendencies.

stay. “We must always adhere to the thought that if we do not want to perish as a race, then the question is not only the preference for a Nordic spouse, but, first and foremost, the need to help our race through marriage to ensure a victorious result at birth. The youth, he warned, must orient themselves towards the organic philosophy of life that springs from the people and the native land. This philosophy must comply with the laws of life and resist any manifestation of individualism. She must constantly look for models for spiritual guidance in the proto-Germanic world, "which was the expression of the Nordic essence."

Gunther viewed World War I as a truly civil war, comparable to the Peloponnesian War, with its racially devastating results. He offered the world the Nordic idea on the edge of the abyss. If roots are put down in a perfect nation, Günther said, the Nordic theory will lead to an era of harmony and peace. “The Nordic idea must expand into a general Nordic ideal. In its essence and nature, the ideal of all representatives of the Nordic race will inevitably be at the same time the ideal of holiness and inviolability of peace among all Germanic-speaking peoples. The will of the Nordic-minded people must span the centuries, cut short the illegitimacy and impure bloodlines that threaten true civilization, and must eugenically purge the Nordic ranks of all destructive elements. The Nordic movement ultimately seeks to define the spirit of the age and extract it even more from itself. If you do not cold-bloodedly master this firm confidence, then there will be no point and need in further understanding of the teachings of Gobineau.

Günther's racial theory gradually became the foundation upon which the Third Reich rested (see Racial Doctrine). His views, similar to those of Arthur de Gobineau and X. S. Chamberlain, became the doctrine of National Socialism, and he himself was considered the official tribune of Nazi ideology. He died in Freiburg on 25 September 1968.

Gürtner, Franz

(Sygіpeg), (1881-1941), Reich Minister of Justice in Hitler's first cabinet Born August 26, 1881 in Regensburg in the family of a railway engineer. Studied law at the University of Munich. Member of the 1st World War, first fought in France, then served in Palestine, was awarded the Iron Cross I and II degree. After the war, he practiced law. In 1919 he joined the German Nationalist Party. As Minister of Justice of Bavaria in 1922-32, he defended Hitler, who seemed to him a consistent nationalist. Although Gürtner was not a member of the Nazi Party, he was always sympathetic to the Nazi movement. It was he who achieved a relatively lenient punishment for Hitler after the failure of the "Beer putsch" in 1923,facilitated his release from Landsberg prison and persuaded the Bavarian government to legalize the Nazi Party and allow Hitler to speak in public.

In June 1932, Gürtner was appointed to the post of Minister of Justice in the von Papen government, and in 1933 he took the same post in Hitler's first government . to the defense of the state". He was responsible for the dismantling of the old legal system, for the provision of politics to and gleichschaltung and the creation of Nazi courts. At the very beginning of the 2nd World War, Gürtner established special courts-martial (ZiapRdegisPie),who perpetrated the massacre of Jews and Poles in the occupied territory of Poland. Gürtner died suddenly in Berlin on January 29, 1941, after which there were suggestions that, as an old-school lawyer, he did not fully agree with everything he ordered to be done, and there was a version that his death was violent.

Daladier, Edward

(Oaiabieg), (1884-1970), statesman and politician of France, prime minister. Born June 18 in Carpentras in the family of a baker. He was a school history teacher. Participated in the 1st World War. Even in his youth he joined the radical socialists. In 1919 he was elected to the department of Vauclos. In 1921-24 Daladier opposed the French government's policy of occupying the Ruhr area. In 1924 he was appointed Minister for the Colonies in the government of Edouard Guerrier. In January 1933 he became prime minister. In July 1933 Daladier, on behalf of France, signed a quadripartite agreement between Great Britain, France, Germany and Italy - the so-called. "Pact of Four".

From October 1933 to January 1934 Daladier served as Minister of War. In 1935, having joined the Popular Front, Daladier became Minister of Defense in the first government of Léon Blum (June 1936 - June 1937), then in the government of Camille Chautomp (June 1937 - March 1938) and in the second government of Blum (March-April 1938). Daladier again became prime minister on the eve of the outbreak of World War II (in 1938). Contrary to the opinion of the socialists, Daladier signed the Munich Agreement of 1938, which essentially predetermined the outbreak of World War II.

After France declared war on Germany (September 3, 1939), Daladier banned the activities of the French Communist Party, which meant the collapse of the Popular Front.

Daladier served as prime minister until March 1940, when he was replaced by Paul Reynaud, who promised to take more active action against Germany than his predecessor. Germany's victory over France (June 1940) led to Reynaud's resignation and the establishment of a puppet regime in the country, headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain. On September 8, 1940, Daladier was interned by the Vichy government and stood trial in February 1942. Then he was deported to Germany. Daladier was released on April 8, 1942, and in 1946 he was elected to the Constitutional Assembly, in 1947 to the National Assembly, in which he was until 1958. At the same time, Daladier was mayor of Avignon from 1953 to 1958. He died in Paris on September 10, 1970.

Dulles, Allen Welsh

(OoIIez), (1893-1969), head of the American secret services in Europe. Born April 7, 1893 in Waterloo, New York. After graduating from Princeton University, he was in the diplomatic service. 

first in Vienna and then in Bern, Switzerland. In December 1918, Dulles participated in the work of the American Commission for Peace Negotiations in Paris. In 1919 he was in Berlin, and then was transferred to work in the State Department, where in 1922-26 he headed the department of Middle East policy. After the outbreak of the 2nd World War, Dulles was appointed to the post of head of the secret intelligence services in Europe. Beginning in November 1942, he maintained constant contacts from Switzerland with various groups of the German resistance movement. His activities helped force Italy's surrender on September 8, 1943.

German counterintelligence officer Hans Bernd Gisevius, who worked in Switzerland, recalled: “Allen Dulles was the first intelligence officer who had the courage to extend his activities to the political aspects of the war. He tried to establish contact with resistance groups operating in Europe.”

The headquarters of Dulles in Bern became the center where, in addition to the Germans, oppositionists from many European countries occupied by Nazi Germany met.

From 1953 to 1961 Dulles headed the US Central Intelligence Agency. He died in Washington on January 29, 1969.

Gave south, Kurt

(Oaiiede), (1897-1946), Deputy Imperial Protector of Bohemia and Moravia. Engineer by profession. Born September 15, 1897 in Kreuzburg. After the 1st World War, he joined one of the many far-right organizations of the “Volunteer Corps" (Egeikogrz) - a group of militants under the command of Rossbach (see Rossbach group). He was one of the first members of the NSDAP and initiated the creation of the first formation of the SA in Berlin. Since 1928 by 1933 Dalyuge headed one of the SS units.In 1932 he became a member of the National Socialist faction in the Prussian Landtag. After Hitler came to power, Dalyuge received a number of high posts. At the end of 1933 - a member of the Reichstag from the electoral district of East Berlin. He was the head of the police of the Reich. He also held the post of imperial representative and state secretary of Prussia. In 1936, Dalyuge was appointed head of the secret police in the central administration of the SD. In 1942, after the death of Reinhard Heydrich, Dalyuge became deputy protector of Bohemia and Moravia and was promoted to the rank of SS Oberstgruppenführer (colonel general). Hanged in Czechoslovakia on October 24, 1946.

"Danzig"

Code name for "continue offensive in the West". In a military directive dated November 20, 1939, Hitler ordered the ground forces to be ready for an offensive on the Western Front. The password "Danzig" meant an immediate offensive, the password "Augsburg" meant "postpone the offensive."

Darre, Richard Walter

(Oagge), (1895-1953), Reichsleiter, head of the Central Office for Agricultural Policy of the NSDAP. Born July 14, 1895 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He studied at a real school in Heidelberg and an evangelical school in Bad Godesberg. In 1911 Darre was sent to Wimbledon, England as a student exchange student. During World War I he served as a lieutenant in a field artillery regiment. After the war, he began to engage in agriculture and, on the instructions of the Nazi Party, set about creating an organization of agricultural producers. Shortly after Hitler came to power, on April 4, 1933, Darra was instructed to lead the "Union of Reich Supporters".Hitler appointed him Reichsbauernführer (Head of Reich Agriculture) and Reichsärnerungeministr (Reich Food Minister). As an SS Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General), he was also Chief of the SS Central Office for Race and Resettlement. Darre was the author of numerous

Göring, Darre and Hitler at the NSDAP congress in Bückeburg, 1934

written works on issues of racial doctrine, Marxism and agriculture. He died in Munich in September 1953 from a liver disorder.

Dawes plan

Reparation plan for Germany, developed by an international committee of experts chaired by the American banker Dawes. It was approved on August 16, 1924 at the London Conference by representatives of the victorious powers in World War I and adopted by Germany. This plan was to ensure that Germany continued to pay reparations to the victorious powers and facilitate the penetration of American capital into Germany to seize key sectors of the German economy with the aim of obtaining high profits for American monopolies in the form of interest on loans and dividends from direct investment in industry. It was aimed at restoring the military-industrial potential of Germany. Provided for the provision of a loan of 200 million dollars to Germany (including 110 million from American banks) to stabilize the brand. He set the size of payments by Germany in the first five years at 1-1.75 billion marks per year, and then at 2.5 billion marks per year. It provided for the establishment of Allied control over the German state budget, money circulation and credit, and railways.

Dachau

(BasGiai), one of the first concentration camps in Germany. Founded in March 1933 near Munich. It became the first "experimental testing ground" where a system of punishments and other forms of physical and psychological abuse of prisoners was worked out. Until the outbreak of World War II, political opponents of the Nazi regime were kept in Dachau, primarily communists, socialists, clergymen opposed to the regime, etc. During World War II, Dachau gained ominous fame as one of the most terrible concentration camps in which medical experiments were carried out over the prisoners. Only in 1941-42 there were carried out about 500 experiments on living people. Heinrich Himmler and other high-ranking Nazis made regular inspection trips to Dachau, where they observed these experiments."IG Farbenindustri".

After the end of the 2nd World War, the camp commandant and members of the guard appeared before the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg. Carried out in the camp medical

Himmler at Dachau, May 1936

doctors' experiments were also put on trial (see Doctors, process). With the support of the Bavarian government and the International Committee of Former Prisoners of Dachau, a memorial complex was opened in the camp.

"Degenerate Art"

(Epіagіеіе Kipzi), a definition used by Nazi propaganda, reflecting the personal point of view of the Fuhrer, to various types of modern fine art. Being a failed artist, Hitler, who had sympathy for realistic areas of art, completely rejected any modern forms and trends from expressionism to cubism, regarding them as"degenerate art". In 1936, he instructed the president of the Imperial Chamber of Fine Arts, Professor Adolf Ziegler, to head a special commission that was supposed to purge more than 100 museums in Germany in order to requisition all examples of decadent art. The commission collected 12,890 works of fine art, of which 700 were sold in Lucerne, bringing solid foreign exchange dividends for Germany, which had begun military rearmament. The canvases of 112 artists were expropriated, including works by Emil Nolde, Max Beckmann, Oskar Kokoschka, Georg Gross. The paintings of the greatest European masters - Picasso, Gauguin, Matisse, Cezanne, Géricault, Van Gogh and others - also came here.

On March 31, 1936, the confiscated canvases were shown at the Exhibition of Degenerate Art in Munich. It turned out to be the most popular exhibition ever exhibited in the Third Reich. Despite the scathing captions proposed by the Nazi “art critics”: “This is how a sick mind sees nature” or “German peasants in Jewish style”, etc., over 2 million people visited the exhibition. Later, in March 1939, about 5,000 of the exhibited works burned down in a fire at the Central Ministry in Berlin.

The concurrent exhibition, called the Exhibition of the Greatest German Art, was composed of canvases approved by the authorities. It took place nearby in a specially built according to the design of the court architect Paul Ludwig Troostand Hitler's personal participation in the premises - the "House of Art" in Munich. About 900 works were exhibited here, selected mainly by Hitler from 15 thousand submitted for approval. On the opening day, the authorities organized a propaganda visit to the exhibition by members of the Nazi Party. It featured pompous heroism, monumentalism, sugary scenes from rural life, marching stormtroopers with flags, harvesting naked “Nordic” girls. Nazi critics glorified the new Spartan beginning in a healthy German art, "purified from pretentiousness and insane rubbish" to the point of hoarseness.

Degrell, Leon

(BedgeIIe), Belgian pro-Nazi politician. Born June 15, 1906 in Bouillon in the family of a Jesuit priest. In the 20s. Degrel was influenced by the French nationalist Charles Maura and became a member of the reactionary organization Action Français. He was convinced that law, order and responsibility rested on one general principle - the monarchy. Professing the theory of racial purity, he attacked the Jews "who never wanted to be loyal citizens of any country." In 1930, heading a small publishing firm in Louvain, Degrel founded the fascist organization "Nex" - the Belgian analogue of Mussolini's movement.in Italy. Extremely anti-communist, anti-socialist, anti-Semitic and anti-bourgeois, he launched a movement that copied in miniature the external attributes of Nazism: huge mass rallies, parades, banners and gangs. Flattered by imitation, Hitler spoke out: "If I had a son, I would like him to be like Degrel."

Belgian voters had no sympathy for the Rexist movement. He lost a key election in February 1937 when all other political parties united against him. Rexism revived in 1940 with the beginning of the German occupation of Belgium. In 1941 Degrel joined the Legion of Walloon Volunteers to fight for the Germans on the Eastern Front. The legion, which originally numbered 850 people, was almost completely destroyed after three years of fighting.

In 1945 Degrel fled to Spain. The Belgian Supreme Court sentenced him to death in absentia for treason. In 1946 he left for Argentina and then returned to Spain. In April 1973 a Dutch television group

Pa discovered him in Madrid, where he lived in a luxurious apartment. Degrel praised Hitler as the greatest statesman of his time. “I regret that I did not manage to achieve what was planned, but if I had a chance, I would repeat everything from the beginning,” Degrel said, “but much more effectively.”

Léon Degrel, leader of the Belgian Nazis, with his son and daughter in Brussels, May 1944

Delp, Alfred

(Oeip), (1907-1945), member of the Kreisau group. Converted to Catholicism at 15, he joined the Jesuit order three years later and was ordained a priest in 1937. Joining the Resistance in 1942, he devised a utopian plan to replace the Nazi regime with a Christian social order. Delp was arrested at the end of July 1944 after the failure of the assassination attempt on Hitler during the July Plot of 1944. He appeared before the People's Tribunal presided over by the sinister Roland Freisler.Freisler showered insults on Delp and accused him of giving his apartment to the conspirators. “You knew well that there had been a betrayal. But, of course, a saint like you might be concerned and keep your toned scalp out of harm's way. So no, you went off to pray that the conspiracy would work out in the way the Lord wanted." Delp was sentenced to death and hanged on February 2, 1945.

Denazification

Measures taken after the collapse of the Third Reich, to cleanse the state, socio-political and economic life of Germany from the consequences of the Nazi regime.

By the decisions of the Potsdam Conference of 1945 and by the decision of the Control Councilin Germany (October 1945), denazification provided for: the destruction of the National Socialist Party, its branches and organizations controlled by it; disbanding all Nazi institutions and ensuring that they do not re-emerge in any form, preventing all Nazi activity and propaganda; bringing to justice those guilty of war crimes against peace and humanity, as well as active Nazis; removal of Nazis from all posts; repeal of Nazi legislation; the elimination of Nazi doctrines from the system of public education, etc. The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg convicted (the verdict was announced on September 30-October 1, 1946) the main war criminals; declared criminal organizations the leadership of the National Socialist Workers' Party of Germany, the Gestapo, the SD(security service), SS.

“Der Schöne Adolf”

(“Yer zsbope AboIT” - “Beautiful Adolf”), so called Hitler enthusiastic girls and women in the Third Reich. Many considered the Fuhrer an unusually fine person and an attractive man.

Dönitz, Carl

(Ooepiig) (1891-1981), grand admiral, commander of the naval

Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz

German Navy since 1943, Hitler's successor (May 1945), creator and leader of the German submarine fleet. Born September 16, 1891 in Grünau, near Berlin, in the family of an optical engineer who worked in the firm of Carl Zeiss. After graduating from the gymnasium in Weimar, Dönitz entered the naval school in Kiel in 1910, after which he was assigned to the light cruiser Breslau as a signal officer. During the 1st World War, the cruiser on which Dönitz fought, along with the cruiser Goeben, was blown up in July 1915 by a mine in the Mediterranean Sea.

In 1916, Dönitz was retrained for submarines and for a barely - blowing year became the commander of one of them, having established himself as a capable and talented officer. Captured by the British in October 1918, he was released in 1919 and returned to the German Navy again. In 1923, Doenitz became an adviser to the submarine fleet in the Naval Inspectorate. Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles 1919Germany was forbidden to have a submarine fleet, but preparations for its construction were in full swing, and Dönitz was standing at the origins of its creation. In 1924 he was sent to the High Command of the Navy in Berlin. After further service in the Baltic as a navigator of the cruiser Nymfa, Dönitz returned to Berlin in 1930 as an officer of the headquarters of the Severomorsk region. The first months after Hitler came to power, Dönitz was on a long trip, visiting Malta, Ceylon, India, and Singapore. In 1934, Dönitz visited England, where he improved his English, and when he returned, he was appointed commander of the Emden cruiser. After the Anglo-German Naval Agreement of 1935 was signed,which removed many of the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles for Germany, Dönitz was appointed “Fuhrer of submarines” on June 6, 1935 and headed the 1st submarine flotilla. By the autumn of 1935, despite the opposition of supporters of "big ships", Germany already had 11 small submarines.

Dönitz was one of the few convinced National Socialists among the senior officers of the Navy. He praised Hitler in speeches to sailors: “Heaven sent us the leadership of the Fuhrer.” He once said to a cheering crowd in Berlin that Hitler foresaw everything and made no wrong move. “We are worms compared to him!” Hitler, in turn, had great confidence in Dönitz By 1938, Dönitz developed the tactics of group underwater attacks (“wolf packs”) and was appointed commander of the submarine fleet in 1939. In this post, Dönitz had full responsibility for the sinking of not only military, but also commercial Allied ships (see Battle of the Atlantic).In August 1942, Dönitz moved his command post to Paris. His self-discipline and efficiency, in addition to the talent of a naval commander, earned him universal respect among the officers of the Navy, who, to a lesser extent than officers of other branches of the military, were infected with Nazi ideology. Dönitz personally met each boat returning to the base, was present at the graduation of each course of the submarine school, and organized special sanatoriums for personnel to rest after exhausting campaigns. The sailors called their commander “daddy Karl” or “Lion” behind their backs.

After the British improved the protection of their own convoys and developed methods of anti-submarine warfare, the losses of the German submarine fleet began to increase, and Dönitz had to move the zone of operational operations further west, to the area between the coast of Canada and Iceland, where Allied anti-submarine aircraft strikes did not reach. After in the fall of 1941, on the orders of Hitler, 10 submarines from the Atlantic were transferred to the Mediterranean, Dönitz was forced to curtail large-scale operations in the North Atlantic. And after the US entered the war, despite the increase in the number of submarines (by 1942, 20 submarines left the stocks every month), their effectiveness began to decline.

In March 1942 Dönitz was promoted to the rank of admiral. After the resignation of Erich RaederOn January 30, 1943, Dönitz was appointed his successor as Commander-in-Chief of the German Naval Forces with the rank of Grand Admiral. In March 1943, German submarines sank 120 Allied ships with a total displacement of 623 thousand tons, for which Hitler awarded Dönitz the Knight's Cross with oak leaves. However, in general, the actions of the German submarine fleet became less and less successful, and losses exceeded their production. In May 1943, Dönitz was forced to withdraw submarines from the Atlantic, which angered Hitler: “There can be no question of ending the participation of submarines in the war. The Atlantic is my first line of defense in the west.” By the fall of 1943, for every torpedoed freighter, there was one submarine sunk. Dönitz wrote in his diary: “The enemy holds every trump card, covers all areas with long-range aviation and uses detection methods that we are not ready for. The enemy knows all our secrets, but we know nothing about their secrets'” From 1939 to 1945, out of 820 submarines participating in the “Battle of the Atlantic”, 781 were lost, and many of the remaining ones were damaged.

Before committing suicide, Hitler appointed Dönitz President of the Reich, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and Minister of War. Martin Bormann informed Dönitz about this by telegram. Being sure that the Fuhrer was alive, Dönitz, accepting the appointment, answered Hitler: “My Fuhrer! My devotion to you is boundless. I will do everything in my power to come to your aid in Berlin. If, however, fate commands me to lead the Reich as your appointed successor, I will follow this path to the end, striving to be worthy of the unsurpassed heroic struggle of the German people. Grand Admiral Dönitz.

On May 2-5, 1945, while at a command post on the Baltic coast near Flensburg, Dönitz appointed a government chaired by Lutz Count Schwerin von Krosig. Hoping for a speedy end to the war, Dönitz wanted to allow as many Germans as possible to surrender to the British and Americans in order to keep them safe from the Russians. He became convinced of the failure of Hitler's policy and urged the Germans to start rebuilding the country in order to withstand the paralyzing horror of defeat. May 23, 1945 the new head of state was captured by the Allies.

Dönitz, along with 22 other Nazi leaders, appeared before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg on October 20, 1945 (see Nuremberg Trials).He tried to “disown” the accusations on the grounds that he had nothing to do with Nazi crimes. The prosecution came to the conclusion that, although Dönitz was the organizer and educator of the German submarine fleet, he was not involved in a conspiracy to unleash a war of aggression, did not prepare and did not start this war. He was forgiven for the murder of sailors from military and civilian ships shot down by his submarines, but was charged with responsibility for Hitler's order of October 18, 1942, according to which the captured crews of allied torpedo boats were to be transferred to the SS and shot. Dönitz was found guilty on counts 2 (crimes against peace) and 3 (war crimes) and sentenced to 10 years in prison. He served time in Spandau Prisonin West Berlin and was released on October 1, 1956. He always kept a folder with letters from allied naval officers who expressed their sympathy and understanding to him. Freed and procured for himself an Admiralty pension, Dönitz devoted himself to literary work. He wrote books of memoirs: “10 Years and 20 Days” (1958), “My Exciting Life” (1963), “German Naval Strategy in World War II” (1968). He died in Aumül in January 1981.

Dibelius, Friedrich Karl Otto

(OіѕІіnz), (1880-1967), German evangelical theologian, opponent of the Nazi policy of the Gleichschaltun. Born May 15, 1880 in Berlin. From 1915 he was a pastor in Berlin. In 1921 he became a member of the Coordinating Council of Protestant Churches, in 1925 he headed the Lutheran Church of Prussia. For resistance to Nazism, he was removed from his post after Hitler came to power in 1933. Dibelius made it clear that he would not tolerate state control over spiritual and preaching activities. In an open letter to Dr. Hans Kerrl, Nazi Commissar for Religious Affairs, published in March 1937, Dibelius wrote:

“Let me ask you one question, Herr Reichsminister. If, during the morning religious instruction, the children say that the Bible is the word of God with which He speaks to us in the Old and New Testaments, and when in the afternoon the young people should memorize “What is our Bible? Our Bible is Hitler's Mein Kampf, who will change his teaching? This is the decisive moment. When you demand that the evangelical church should not be a state within a state, any Christian will agree. The church should be a church, not a state within a state. But the doctrine that you put forward gives reason to believe that the state interferes in the affairs of the church to the extent that it is facilitated by the repressive bodies that support this state ... This is the root of the struggle between the state and the evangelical church ... As soon as the state tries to replace the church and seize power over the souls of people, ... then we, being bound by the word of Luther, will resist in the name of God. I assure you that we will do it.”

Dibelius was brought before the Sondergericht, a special military tribunal, on charges of treasonous attacks on the government. Dibelius' acquittal caused great alarm among Nazi officials. Hitler personally asked the tribunal for a copy of the protocol with the arguments of the court, but still did not intervene.

After the fall of the Third Reich, Dibelius was appointed bishop of Berlin, a position he held until 1956. From 1949 to 1961 he was chairman of the board of the Evangelical Church in Germany, and from 1954 to 1961 one of the five presidents of the World Council of Churches, the first among Germans to hold this position. His criticism of any absolute outside influence on the Protestant Church was also directed against the communist regime of East Germany: since 1960 he did not allow the Bishop of Brandenburg to serve in the GDR. Dibelius died in Berlin on January 31, 1967.

"Wild Camps"

(VIIICie Ladeg), not officially sanctioned concentration camps, established by individual high-ranking Nazis. One such camp was founded by Edmund Heines , a police commissioner in Breslau, the other by Karl Ernst, one of the leaders of the SA in Berlin, who were killed during the events of the Night of the Long Knives. camps.

Diels, Rudolf

(Eіeіz), (1900-1957), head of the political department (1A) of the Berlin police, the first chief of the Gestapo. Born December 16, 1900 in Berghaus. He studied at the University of Hamburg, where he was a member of a very popular student union (fraternity). He was known for his ability to drink beer, enjoyed a reputation as a ladies' man, a joker and a merry fellow. Then he went to work in the police, in department 1 A, which during the period of the Weimar Republic was very active in persecuting members of various Nazis.

sky organizations. Diels' insight and unscrupulousness allowed him to soon feel that the political situation in Germany was changing and the Nazis would soon become masters in the country. Entering into the confidence of Goering, who by this time had become chairman of the Reichstag, Diels became his closest assistant, getting him secret dossiers containing information that could discredit his opponents. In addition, Diels, who had good connections on the stock exchange, helped Goering to speculate on it and make up for the funds missing for his status. After the Nazis came to power, Diels was appointed head of the secret police, and after a special decree of April 26, 1933, which created the Gestapo, he was appointed deputy head (that is, Goering himself) of this police. In June 1933 Göring appointed Diels head of Section 1A of the Prussian State Police. In September 1933, after a series of scandals related to the cruelty of the Gestapo, Diels was removed from his post, but on the same day he was appointed deputy chief of the Berlin police. In his new position, Diels was embroiled in a struggle between his patron Göring and Heinrich Himmler, both of whom wanted to lead a unified secret police. As a result, Diels was forced to flee to Czechoslovakia in order to observe further developments from there. When Himmler seized control of the Gestapo in 1934, he made sure to fire Diels. Diels, married to Göring's niece, was forced to take up other business. Thanks to his patron, he held positions such as deputy police commissioner of Berlin (1934), executive president of Cologne and manager of coastal shipping in the Hermann Goering concern (1934-1940). After associated with the cruelty of the Gestapo, Diels was removed from his post, but on the same day he was appointed deputy chief of the Berlin police. In his new position, Diels was embroiled in a struggle between his patron Göring and Heinrich Himmler, both of whom wanted to lead a unified secret police. As a result, Diels was forced to flee to Czechoslovakia in order to observe further developments from there. When Himmler seized control of the Gestapo in 1934, he made sure to fire Diels. Diels, married to Göring's niece, was forced to take up other business. Thanks to his patron, he held positions such as deputy police commissioner of Berlin (1934), executive president of Cologne and manager of coastal shipping in the Hermann Goering concern (1934-1940). After associated with the cruelty of the Gestapo, Diels was removed from his post, but on the same day he was appointed deputy chief of the Berlin police. In his new position, Diels was embroiled in a struggle between his patron Göring and Heinrich Himmler, both of whom wanted to lead a unified secret police. As a result, Diels was forced to flee to Czechoslovakia in order to observe further developments from there. When Himmler seized control of the Gestapo in 1934, he made sure to fire Diels. Diels, married to Göring's niece, was forced to take up other business. Thanks to his patron, he held positions such as deputy police commissioner of Berlin (1934), executive president of Cologne and manager of coastal shipping in the Hermann Goering concern (1934-1940). After Diels was removed from his post, but on the same day he was appointed deputy chief of the Berlin police. In his new position, Diels was embroiled in a struggle between his patron Göring and Heinrich Himmler, both of whom wanted to lead a unified secret police. As a result, Diels was forced to flee to Czechoslovakia in order to observe further developments from there. When Himmler seized control of the Gestapo in 1934, he made sure to fire Diels. Diels, married to Göring's niece, was forced to take up other business. Thanks to his patron, he held positions such as deputy police commissioner of Berlin (1934), executive president of Cologne and manager of coastal shipping in the Hermann Goering concern (1934-1940). After Diels was removed from his post, but on the same day he was appointed deputy chief of the Berlin police. In his new position, Diels was embroiled in a struggle between his patron Göring and Heinrich Himmler, both of whom wanted to lead a unified secret police. As a result, Diels was forced to flee to Czechoslovakia in order to observe further developments from there. When Himmler seized control of the Gestapo in 1934, he made sure to fire Diels. Diels, married to Göring's niece, was forced to take up other business. Thanks to his patron, he held positions such as deputy police commissioner of Berlin (1934), executive president of Cologne and manager of coastal shipping in the Hermann Goering concern (1934-1940). After In his new position, Diels was embroiled in a struggle between his patron Göring and Heinrich Himmler, both of whom wanted to lead a unified secret police. As a result, Diels was forced to flee to Czechoslovakia in order to observe further developments from there. When Himmler seized control of the Gestapo in 1934, he made sure to fire Diels. Diels, married to Göring's niece, was forced to take up other business. Thanks to his patron, he held positions such as deputy police commissioner of Berlin (1934), executive president of Cologne and manager of coastal shipping in the Hermann Goering concern (1934-1940). After In his new position, Diels was embroiled in a struggle between his patron Göring and Heinrich Himmler, both of whom wanted to lead a unified secret police. As a result, Diels was forced to flee to Czechoslovakia in order to observe further developments from there. When Himmler seized control of the Gestapo in 1934, he made sure to fire Diels. Diels, married to Göring's niece, was forced to take up other business. Thanks to his patron, he held positions such as deputy police commissioner of Berlin (1934), executive president of Cologne and manager of coastal shipping in the Hermann Goering concern (1934-1940). After As a result, Diels was forced to flee to Czechoslovakia in order to observe further developments from there. When Himmler seized control of the Gestapo in 1934, he made sure to fire Diels. Diels, married to Göring's niece, was forced to take up other business. Thanks to his patron, he held positions such as deputy police commissioner of Berlin (1934), executive president of Cologne and manager of coastal shipping in the Hermann Goering concern (1934-1940). After As a result, Diels was forced to flee to Czechoslovakia in order to observe further developments from there. When Himmler seized control of the Gestapo in 1934, he made sure to fire Diels. Diels, married to Göring's niece, was forced to take up other business. Thanks to his patron, he held positions such as deputy police commissioner of Berlin (1934), executive president of Cologne and manager of coastal shipping in the Hermann Goering concern (1934-1940). After he held positions such as deputy police commissioner of Berlin (1934), executive president of Cologne and manager of coastal shipping in the Hermann Göring concern (1934-1940). After he held positions such as deputy police commissioner of Berlin (1934), executive president of Cologne and manager of coastal shipping in the Hermann Göring concern (1934-1940). AfterIn the July 1944 conspiracy against Hitler, Diels was arrested and imprisoned by the Gestapo. He was lucky, and he survived the collapse of the Third Reich. After the 2nd World War he was a governor in the province of Lower Saxony.

Dimitrov, George

(1882-1949), Bulgarian communist accused by the Nazis of setting fire to the Reichstag. Born June 18, 1882 in Radomir, Bulgaria. He worked as a printer. Even in his youth, he joined the communist movement and joined the Bulgarian Social Democratic Party. Repeatedly arrested by the authorities. In the 20s. lived in Moscow, Vienna and Berlin. Shortly after the burning of the Reichstag on February 27, 1933, Dimitrov, Popov and Tanev were arrested by the Nazi authorities and brought to trial. Despite all attempts to falsify evidence and manipulate facts, the court had to acquit Dimitrov. His dramatic confrontation at the trial with Hermann Goering spread around the world. In 1935 Dimitrov was elected General Secretary of the Comintern. After the Soviet troops liberated Bulgaria, Dimitrov headed the Bulgarian government on November 6, 1946. In 1948 he became General Secretary of the Communist Party of Bulgaria. He died in Moscow on July 2, 1949.

"Dynamo"

Conventional name for the operation to evacuate allied troops from the Dunkirk area. See D / Onkerk operation 1940.

Directive 21

An order signed by Hitler to carry out a military invasion and start a war against the Soviet Union. On December 6, 1940, by order of Hitler, Lieutenant General Alfred Jodl , Chief of the Operations Department of the Supreme High Command of the German Armed Forces (OKB) , ordered his deputy, Major General Walter Warlimont , to prepare a general plan of operations against the Soviet Union. A few days later the plan was approved (originally called Operation Fritz) and signed by Hitler on December 18 (see “Barbarossa”).

The preamble to Directive 21 read:

“The German armed forces must be ready to defeat Soviet Russia in a fleeting campaign even before the war against England is over.

The army must use for this purpose all the formations at its disposal, taking into account the fact that the occupied territories must be protected from unexpected attacks ...

Of particular importance is that the intended attack must be kept secret.”

Directive 39

An order signed by Hitler on December 8, 1941 ordering the German armed forces in Russia to go on the defensive. Expecting to complete the blitzkrieg against the USSR during one devastating summer campaign, Hitler intended to "wipe Leningrad off the face of the earth" and then destroy the enemy near Moscow. Despite the fact that the Wehrmacht command insistently warned him to suspend the offensive with the onset of winter and regroup and replenish troops, Hitler demanded the strict implementation of the Barbarossa plan.at any cost, as a result of which the German troops, having encountered desperate resistance from the enemy, were bled and stopped on the outskirts of Moscow. The failed attempt to take the Soviet capital on the move forced Hitler to admit that the war in the East was going to be long, and in the end to sign the order to go over to the defensive.

Newsletter Directive:

“Severe winter weather, which came unexpectedly early in the East, and the resulting difficulties in the delivery of food and ammunition, force us to immediately suspend all main offensive operations and go on the defensive.

The conduct of all defensive operations must be decided on the basis of the purpose they are intended to achieve, namely:

1. hold areas of great operational and economic importance to the enemy,

2. give the troops in the East the opportunity to rest and recuperate as much as possible;

3. thereby providing suitable conditions for the resumption of large-scale offensive operations in 1942.”

Dirksen, Herbert von

(Oigkwep), (1882-1955), German diplomat. Born April 2, 1882 in Berlin. He graduated from the Gymnasium of Emperor Wilhelm in Berlin, then studied law. In 1907 he traveled around the world, visiting Vost. Africa, India, China, Japan, North. America, Brazil and Argentina, which later became the basis for his diplomatic career. Served as a lawyer. In 1910 he visited the German colonies in East and South. Africa. Member of the 1st World War, lieutenant, was awarded the Iron Cross II degree. After the war he entered the diplomatic service. In 1923-25 ​​he was German consul in Danzig. In 1928, Dirksen headed the Eastern Department of the German Foreign Ministry. In the same year he was appointed German ambassador to Moscow (1928-33).

In September 1933, Dirksen became the German ambassador to Tokyo, and in 1938, the ambassador to London. After the outbreak of World War II, Dirksen returned to Germany and retired.

In 1950 in Stuttgart he published the book Moscow-Tokyo-London: Memories and Reflections. 20 Years of German Foreign Policy, 1919-1939”, in which he gave very unflattering characteristics to many high-ranking representatives of Nazi diplomacy, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Third Reich, Joachim von Ribbentrop, whom he contemptuously called “an upstart and useless comic figure”. Dirksen recalls his diplomatic career in the Third Reich as "full of humiliation and disappointment." His first meeting with Gitle

rum lasted no more than three minutes, while “Hitler fidgeted restlessly in his chair, now and then apologizing and suddenly disappearing. I was amazed and furious when I left him.” As an old school diplomat, Dirksen never managed to come to terms with the "hypocrisy, superficiality and inefficiency" of the Nazi Foreign Office. After the signing of the Munich Agreement of 1938 , he finally abandoned attempts to return German diplomacy to a "prudent policy." Dirksen admitted: "Despite the fact that I was not involved in the lies of this period, it would have been much more honorable not to serve the Hitler regime at all."

Dietl, Edward

(ОіеіІ) (1890-1944), colonel-general of the German army. Commander of the 20th Mountain Jaeger Army operating in the Arctic.

Ditmar, Kurt

(Oygpar) (1891-1959), military radio observer. Born March 5, 1891 in Magdeburg. Personnel officer, participant of the 1st World War. In 1941, with the rank of general, he was appointed commander of the 169th Infantry Division. In 1942, Dietmar became the official radio observer for the German armed forces. Died April 20, 1959.

Dietrich, Joseph

(ОіеІгісИ), (1892-1966), Sepp, a prominent political and military leader of the Third Reich, whom Wilhelm L. Shirer called one of the most cruel people. Sepp Dietrich was born on May 28, 1892 in Hawangen near Memmingen. A butcher by trade, he served in the Imperial Army in 1911 and was treasurer during World War I. After the war, he changed many occupations, was a laborer on a farm, a waiter, a policeman, a foreman at a tobacco factory, a customs officer, an employee at a gas station. Portly and strong, he was a dispute for reprisal. One of the first members of the National Socialist Workers' Party of Germany, he won the favor of Hitler and in 1928 became the head of his guard. Nicknamed by his patron “Chaufereska”, he accompanied Hitler on his car trips around Germany. Satisfied with his strong Bavarian, Hitler found him various activities,Ehera (see Ehera publishing house) in Munich, and also trusted many positions in the SS. In 1930, Dietrich was elected to the Reichstag from Lower Bavaria. By 1931 he had received the rank of SS Gruppenführer (lieutenant general).

After the Nazis came to power in 1933, the former butcher began to quickly climb the party hierarchy: Oberstgruppenführer, commander of the "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler" - Hitler's bodyguard regiment; general of the SS troops; member of the Prussian Landtag. He took an active part in the events of the "Night of the Long Knives"in 1934. Hitler instructed him to compile a list of conspirators and sent him to the Ministry of Justice in Berlin to shoot the traitors. One exclaimed, "Sepp, buddy, what's going on? We're not guilty of anything." Dietrich replied, "You've been sentenced to death by the Fuhrer. Heil Hitler!" Here is an illustration of Sepp Dietrich's philosophy of life: “Human life is of little importance to the SS.” He considered it his first duty to protect only Adolf Hitler.

During the 2nd World War, Dietrich, noted for his fighting qualities, commanded a tank corps advancing on Paris, and later the SS army on the Eastern Front. He was awarded many orders. In the autumn of 1943 he was sent to Italy with the task of returning Clara Petacci, Mussolini's mistress, to the Italian dictator. In December 1944, Hitler, distrustful of most members of the High Command, placed Dietrich in command of the 6th Panzer Army in the hope that he could rely on his own SS troops. In a venture, the Fuehrer entrusted him with his last reserves in the Ardennes to cut off the Allied northern flank from their lack of supplies and to disrupt the Allied preparations for a spring offensive. With Dietrich's army stuck, Hitler's offensive failed.

In April 1945, an enraged Hitler, frustrated by the performance of his troops on the Eastern Front, ordered Dietrich's men to remove their armbands. Enraged by this, Dietrich declared in the presence of officers that he could return all his awards or shoot himself. “Let him take a chamber pot, put all our medals in it, and tie it with the ribbon of the Totz von Berlichingen division.” (Here Dietrich turned to the knight from Goethe's drama Totz von Berlichingen," who said to the Bishop of Bamberg: "You can kiss my ass!") This incident vividly characterizes the personality of Sepp Dietrich.

In early 1946, Dietrich appeared before an American military tribunal, where he was charged, along with 42 other SS officers, with responsibility for the murder of 71 American prisoners of war near Malmedy on December 17, 1944, during a battle in Belgium. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison. After serving 10 years, he was released and then sent to Munich, where he appeared before a German court. On May 14, 1957, Dietrich was sentenced to 19 months in prison for participating in the "bloody purge" of 1934. He died in Ludwigsburg on April 21, 1966.

Dietrich, Marlene

(ОіеІгісИ), famous German film actress, singer. Born December 27, 1901 in Berlin. She began her career as an actress in 1922 and gained worldwide fame in 1930, starring in the film The Blue Angel with Emil Jannings. In 1933 she emigrated from Nazi Germany, refusing to return there. From 1937 she lived mainly in the USA, where she starred in many American films. Her immediately recognizable voice, more theatrical than musical, brought her worldwide fame and especially for her performance of the instantly popular song “Lili Marlene.” She died on May 5, 1992 in Paris.

Dietrich, Otto

(Oieigisch), (1897-1952), Reichsleiter, head of the NSDAP press department, SS Obergruppenführer, publicist and journalist. Born August 31, 1897 in Essen. Participated in the 1st World War, was awarded the Iron Cross I degree. After the war, he studied economics, philosophy and political science at the universities of Freiburg, Munich and Frankfurt am Main. In 1928 he became the manager of the Augsburger Zeitung newspaper, where he met many famous Nazis. He married the daughter of the owner of the Rheinisch-Westfalische Zeitung, the mouthpiece of heavy industry, and through this acted as an intermediary between Hitler and the Rhineland industrial magnates, and above all Emil Kirdorf.In 1931, Dietrich was appointed press secretary of the Nazi Party. December 24, 1932 he became a member of the SS (number 301349). In 1933 Dietrich began to coordinate the German press. July 30, 1934, during the events of the Night of the Long Knives, accompanied Hitler to Bad Wiessee, where the massacre of SA stormtroopers was staged, and the next day gave a monstrous report about it to the press. He wrote that Hitler experienced a sense of shock from moral decay their old comrades.

In 1938, Dietrich was appointed press secretary of the Reich and state secretary of the Propaganda Ministry. His main duty was to represent the Nazi Weltanschung (worldview) to the German public, for example: "The individual has no right to exist." With the outbreak of World War II, Dietrich daily sent directives to German newspapers on how

how to present news from the front. He made sure that the German public received “quiet food”, victorious reports, even when it was already clear to everyone in Germany that the end of the Third Reich was close. Upon learning of the flight of Rudolf Hess to Scotland on May 10, 1941, Dietrich was quick to state that Hess had been the victim of an accident over enemy territory. When Goebbels strongly opposed this version, Dietrich immediately changed his position and called Hess crazy. “He was driven by pacifism,” Dietrich added. “He is not a traitor, because there was actually nothing to extradite.”

The German attack on the Soviet Union, against the background of how Soviet-German relations were covered in the media of both countries, turned out to be a complete surprise not only for the Soviet people, but also for the Germans. Otto Dietrich and his entire information machine were faced with a difficult task. Hitler said about him: “Dr. Dietrich, although small in stature, is nevertheless an outstanding specialist and expert in his field. He writes badly, but his speeches are often simply magnificent. I am proud that together with these people I was able to turn the steering wheel 180 degrees on June 22, 1941. No other country would have been able to do this.”

Dietrich's messages were not accurate. On October 8, 1941, when the Germans took Orel, Hitler sent Dietrich to Berlin to announce that the last Russian armies were being squeezed into a German steel vise. “Militarily,” Dietrich said, “Soviet Russia is over. The British dream of war on two fronts is dead.”

In January 1943, when the troops of Friedrich von Paulus were on the verge of capitulation at Stalingrad, Dietrich suffered a nervous breakdown. During the assassination attempt on Hitler in 1944, Dietrich was at the Fuhrer's headquarters near Rastenburg (see the July plot of 1944) and was the first to tell Goebbels by telephone in Berlin that the Fuhrer was alive. After the defeat of the Third Reich, Dietrich appeared before military tribunal No. 4 in Nuremberg and on April 11, 1949 he was sentenced to 7 years in prison. He was released in 1950. He died in 1952. In 1955 his book “12 Years with Hitler” was published in Munich.

"Volunteer Corps"

(Egeikogrz), paramilitary formations created after the defeat of Germany in World War I, which, under the terms of the Versailles Treaty of 1919 , were allowed to have a land army, numbering no more than 100 thousand people. The “volunteer corps” was replenished with nationalist-minded officers, demobilized soldiers, adventurers, and unemployed youth. The first detachments were formed by the captain of the Kaiser's army, Kurt von Schleicher.The purpose of their creation was the fight against the "traitors to the fatherland" - the Social Democrats, Jews and Marxists, as well as the revival of the "German spirit". Many high-ranking politicians in Germany viewed the formation of the "Volunteer Corps" with approval. Members of the corps fought in 1919 against the Bolsheviks in Latvia and Lithuania. The divisions of the corps later formed the core of the Reichswehr, from which the detachments of SA attack aircraft were created.

Non-aggression pact 1939

Non-Aggression Pact, an agreement concluded between Germany and the USSR on August 23, 1939.

The agreement read:

1. Both Contracting Parties undertake to refrain from any violence, from any aggressive action and any attack against each other, either separately or jointly with other powers.

2. In the event that one of the Contracting Parties becomes the object of hostilities on the part of a third power, the other Contracting Party

The secret additional protocol to the non-aggression pact between Germany and the USSR predetermined the division of Poland. The way to attack Poland was now clear.

Cartoon captions:

Hitler.-Subhuman, if I'm not mistaken? Stalin: A bloody murderer of the working class, I presume?

the opposing Party will not support that power in any form.

1. The Governments of both Contracting Parties shall remain in future contact with each other for consultation, in order to inform each other of matters affecting their common interests.

1. None of the Contracting Parties will participate in any grouping of powers which is directly or indirectly directed against another power.

1. In the event of disputes or conflicts between the Contracting Parties on issues of one kind or another, both parties will resolve these disputes or conflicts exclusively by peaceful means through a friendly exchange of opinions or, if necessary, by creating commissions to resolve the conflict.

Simultaneously with the agreement, on the night of August 23-24, a secret additional protocol was signed in Moscow. The original protocol was not found in Soviet or other archives. But the studies carried out at the present time have confirmed the authenticity of the text of the surviving copies.

The project brought by Ribbentrop was taken as the basis of the protocol.

Additional secret protocol:

At the signing of the non-aggression pact between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the undersigned plenipotentiaries of both parties discussed in strict confidentiality the question of delimiting the spheres of mutual interests in Eastern Europe. This discussion led to the following result:

1. In the event of a territorial and political reorganization of the regions that are part of the Baltic states (Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), the northern border of Lithuania is simultaneously the border of the spheres of interests of Germany and the USSR.

At the same time, the interests of Lithuania in relation to the Vilna region are recognized by both parties.

1. In the event of a territorial-political reorganization of the regions that are part of the Polish State, the border between the spheres of interests of Germany and the USSR will approximately run along the line of the rivers Nareva, Vistula and Sana.

The question whether the preservation of an independent Polish State is desirable in the mutual interest, and what the boundaries of this State will be, can only be definitively clarified in the course of further political development.

In any case, both Governments will resolve this issue by way of friendly mutual agreement.

1. Regarding the south-east of Europe, the Soviet side emphasizes the interest of the USSR in Bessarabia. The German side declares its complete political disinterest in these areas.

1. This protocol will be kept strictly secret by both parties.

Moscow, August 23, 1939.

By authorization of the government of the USSR V. Molotov.

For the Government of Germany I. Ribbentrop.

It should be noted that Stalin and Molotov did not have authority from state or political authorities to develop an additional protocol. Neither the government, nor the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, nor the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks were informed about the existence of the protocol. The protocol was withdrawn from the ratification procedures. In a legal sense, the protocol expressed the intentions of the individuals who signed it.

Dodd, William

(Oosіgі), (1869-1940), US Ambassador to the Third Reich in 1933-1937. Born in Clayton, North Carolina. Graduated from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and received a doctorate from the University of Leipzig for a dissertation on the return to the political activities of Thomas Jefferson in 1796 (“Senersops Wiskkebg gig Poiiik”) Studied at Randolph-Macon College for 8 years, then, in 1908, was invited to the University of Chicago where he began a distinguished career in the study and research of American history. Among his major works were: The Life of Nathaniel Macon (1905), The Life of Jefferson Davis (1907), The Statesmen of the Old South (1911), The Cotton Kingdom (1919), Woodrow Wilson's 'Public Papers' (with Ray Stankard Wacker, 1924-26), and The Struggle for Democracy (1937).

President Franklin Roosevelt chose Dodd to be the American ambassador to Berlin during the early years of the Hitler regime. The knowledgeable, well-trained, capable Dodd was among other American historians posted to the embassy in Berlin, including George Bancroft and the journalist Bayard Taylor.

Deutsch, Ernst

(ОеиіБсІі), (1890?), German theater actor. Born September 16, 1890 in Prague. He worked in the theaters of Vienna, Prague and Dresden, in 1920 he moved to Berlin and began to collaborate with the famous German director Sir Max Reinhardt. He played the roles of Hamlet, Don Carlos, Mephistopheles and others. After the Nazis came to power, Deutsch left Germany and settled in the United States. After the end of World War II, he returned to Europe.

Deutsche

ansiedlungsgesellschaft

(OeiLeskie ApeiesiIipdedeeeiIesIpaJ;

□AS), “German Resettlement Society”, an organization that encouraged the resettlement of Germans as colonists in the occupied eastern territories in the early years of the 2nd World War.

Nazi doctors in the dock

“Deutschland, Deutschland über allee...”

(“Oeiіzssyapsi, Oеіізсіапгі djer аІІ- ez...” — “Germany, Germany above all...”), “Song of Germany”, which became the national anthem of united Germany after the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71. Written in 1841 by the German poet Hoffmann von Fallersleben (1789-1874). During the Third Reich, Nazi propaganda used this anthem as a call to expand "living space" for the Germans.

Doctors, process

Held in Nuremberg from December 9, 1946 to August 20, 1947, the trial of 23 SS doctors and medical scientists who were accused of carrying out medical experiments on concentration camp prisoners. 16 defendants were found guilty and 7 acquitted. Seven were sentenced to death by hanging, five to life imprisonment, and four to various prison terms (see overleaf).

Dollfuss, Engelbert

(OoіIizz), (1892-1934), Austrian politician. Born October 4, 1892 in Texing, Lower Austria. He began his career as secretary of the Lower Austrian farmers' union and in 1927 founded the Lower Austrian Chamber of Agriculture. In 1931 he became general director of the Austrian railway network, then minister of agriculture in the Austrian government. May 13, 1932 elected Chancellor of Austria and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Aware of Hitler's intention to carry out the Anschluss between Austria and Germany, Dollfuss made no secret of the fact that he was opposed to this. In order not to provoke the Nazis, Dollfuss decided not to convene the Austrian parliament for an emergency session and established a regime in his own country that was tantamount to a clerical-Nazi dictatorship. On February 12, 1934, government troops and the Nazi militia ("heimwehr") turned artillery on the workers' quarters of Vienna under the pretext of preventing a social democratic uprising. At least 1,000 people were killed and

Table 3. Results of the process of doctors

Name	Professional Status	Military rank	Prigoi) p
Beigelböck, Wilhelm	Professor; University Hospital, Vienna	medical captain	15 years
Becker Frazing,	M.D; aviation medicine specialist	medical captain	20 years
German Blome, Kurt	Professor; Deputy Reich Minister of Health	—	justified
Marriage, Victor	head of the Reich Chancellery	SS Standartenfuehrer	the death penalty
Brandt, Carl	Professor; Hitler's personal physician; Reich Commissioner for Health and Sanitary Services	Brigade Fuhrer SS	the death penalty
Brandt,	head of department of the ministry	standard	mortal
Rudolf	internal affairs	Fuhrer SS	execution
Welz, Georg August	doctor of medicine, professor; Head of the Institute of Aviation Medicine	lieutenant colonel of medical service	justified
Gebhardt, Carl	Professor; Himmler's personal physician; chief surgeon of the Reich and the SS; President of the German Red Cross	—	the death penalty
Gencken,	M.D; head of copper	brigadenfu-	for life
Carl	Qing SS troops	rer SS	new concluding
Zivers,	head of the military research institute	standard	learning
Tungsten	given	Fuhrer SS	mortal
Mrugovsky,	M.D; director nurse	standard	execution
Joachim	Institute of the SS Troops	Fuhrer SS	ridiculous
Oberhäuser, Herta Pokorny, Adolf Poppendyck,	M.D; surgical assistant urologist and dermatologist M.D; chief surgeon	standard	execution 20 years justified
Helmut	central office of race affairs and resettlement	Fuhrer SS	10 years
Romberg, Hans Wolfgang	Doctor of Medicine, Head of Department of the German Experimental Aviation Institute	—	justified
Rose, Gerhart	M.D; Professor; Head of the Department of Tropical Medicine at the Koch Institute	Major General of the Medical Service	life imprisonment
Rostock, Paul	M.D; Professor; director of the Berlin University Hospital; Head of the Medical Research Department, Major General of the Medical Service		justified
Ruff, Siegfried	M.D; Head of the Institute of Aviation Medicine	—	justified
Fisher, Fritz	M.D; surgical assistant	Sturmbannführer SS	life imprisonment
Handloser,	M.D; Professor; on the	general	life
Siegfried	army medical officer	lieutenant of medical service	conclusion
Hoven,	M.D; chief physician	stormtrooper	mortal
Waldemar	In Buchenwald	Fuhrer SS	execution
Schaefer, Konrad	M.D; Chemotherapy Laboratory Assistant, Schering Institute	—	justified
Schroeder,	M.D; head of copper	lay general	for life
Oscar	Qing Luftwaffe service	tenant of medical service	conclusion

Engelbert Dollfuss

much injured. After that, Dolfus tried to establish cooperation with the far-right Fatherland Front.

However, the Austrian Nazis, supported from Berlin, began a reign of terror, knocking out power plants, administrative buildings and railways, and beating and killing Dollfuss' supporters. The Austrians expelled earlier from the country poured in a stream from Munich to Austria. On July 25, 1934, about 154 members of the SO of standard 89 (a formation approximately equal to a regiment), dressed in Austrian military uniforms, broke into the federal chancellery. Dollfuss was wounded by a shot in the throat. The attackers did not allow him to receive any medical attention and left the Austrian chancellor to bleed to death on the couch. However, the conspirators acted ineptly, and the government troops, led by Dr. Kurt von Schuschnigg, managed to gain the upper hand for a while. When Mussolinihaving an agreement with Austria, hastily mobilized 4 divisions at the Brenner Pass, Hitler had to abandon plans for an immediate Anschluss.

“Dolshtoss”

(Ooisiiibiobv), see "Kick in the back".

Donany, Hans von

(Oobpapui), (1902-1945), German lawyer, nephew of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, participant in the conspiracy against Hitler. Born January 1, 1902 in Vienna in the family of a pianist of Hungarian origin. Having received a law degree, in May 1933 Dohnanyi began working in the Ministry of Justice. In 1934 he became close to Karl Friedrich Goerdeler and other opponents of Nazism. In 1939 Donanyi was transferred to the Abwehr. In March 1943, he took part in the failed assassination attempt on Hitler, together with Major General Henning von Tresckow and Lieutenant Fabian von Schlabrendorf. A few months later he was arrested by the Gestapo. Subsequently released, but after the July conspiracy of 1944re-arrested and sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Dohnanyi was executed at Flossenbürg on April 8, 1945.

Dorpmüller, Julius

(OogrtyIIeg), (1869-1945), Reich Minister of Communications and Railways in 1937-45. Born July 24, 1869 in Elberfeld. He graduated from the gymnasium in Munich-Gladbach, studied at the Aachen Institute of Technology. From 1898 to 1907 he worked in the Prussian railway administration, then was sent to work in China. In 1914 he left China and returned home through Siberia and European Russia at the risk of his life. After World War I, Dorpmüller continued to work on the German railways and in 1926 became director general of the Reichsbahn (imperial railways). In 1937 he was appointed Reichswerkersminister (Reich Minister of Railways) and held this post until his death in Malente, Schleswig-Holstein, on June 5, 1945.

"Plates of Shame"

Special showcases were put up in crowded places, on which they posted lists of those who “having financial capabilities”, nevertheless refused to make contributions to the Winterhilfe Charitable Foundation .

“Drang nah osten”

(“Ogapd pas Osiep” - “Onslaught on the East”), a German expansionist concept of the colonization of eastern lands that arose in the early Middle Ages, the first conductor of which was Charlemagne (742-814). In the IX-X centuries. the main direction of the aggressive policy of the German princes was the Austrian. Later, the northeastern lands of the Slavs were subjected to forced colonization. Emperor Wilhelm II (1859-1914) spread the traditions of his predecessors to the Near and Middle East, as well as to the North. Africa.

Following the geopolitical theories of Karl Haushofer, who considered the eastern direction of expansion the most acceptable for Germany, Hitler in the book "Mein Kampf"in the chapter "Orientation to the East and Eastern Politics" made it clear that in the event of coming to power, he intends to revive the ancient spirit of "D. n. about." and follow the path of the Teutonic Knights to the east. It was a mistake, he wrote, to pursue a trade and colonial policy in all directions. First of all, it is necessary to conquer new territories in Europe itself: “It would be more correct to strengthen the continental power of Germany by acquiring new territories in Europe, and then supplementing them with colonial territories within the framework of natural possibilities.” At the same time, Hitler referred to the "moral right of the Germans to acquire foreign territories and lands." As a justification for this right, he cited the following arguments: the increase in the population of Germany annually reaches almost 900 thousand people, it is becoming increasingly difficult to feed the “army of new citizens”, and this can lead to “starvation and impoverishment.” “If the German people were racially monolithic, then the Reich would already today become the ruler of the globe.” Promises that all German conquests would be carried out in the name of peace were repeated in the 1930s, when Hitler, having become Chancellor of the Third Reich, justified his aggressive policy by the need to save and strengthen the world. Hitler believed that wherever there was at least one German, the Reich had the right to enter with its army in order to “cover with its borders” this German as well. "We demand territories and colonies in order to feed our people and settle there our surplus population." Mein Kampf compulsively repeats the thesis that the struggle for "living space" is a more important task than the restoration of the pre-war borders of the Reich.Bismarck. “We National Socialists... will stop the endless migration of Germans to the south and west and turn our eyes to the lands located in the east... Speaking today about the living space in Europe, we can basically have in mind only Russia and its vassal border states. Fate itself shows us this way.”

Drexler, Anton

(Ogehіer), (1884-1942), one of the founders of the National Socialist movement in Germany. Born June 13, 1884 in Munich. He worked as a toolmaker. During World War I, Drexler joined the Fatherland Party, whose members were mainly large industrialists and military leaders, and whose goal was to achieve an advantageous peace for Germany. By this time, Drexler had an idea to create a nationalist party of workers, capable of leading the widest sections of the population. On March 7, 1918, he established the Committee of Independent Workers, which became a branch of the large North German Peace Association. In January 1919 Drexler united his small group of Art. n. political

the workers' union, headed by the journalist Karl Harrer. The association created was named the German Workers' Party. Its program was a mixture of the postulates of the Thule society, of which Harrer and Drexler were members, and slogans typical of petty-bourgeois socialism. In September 1919, Adolf Hitler was sent as an informer to one of the meetings of this party. He later wrote in Meinkampf:

“Mr. Drexler, who at that time was the head of the Hortsgrull / in Munich, was an ordinary worker, not very gifted as an orator, and even less so as a soldier. He did not serve in the army and was not at the front, and since his whole being was weak and indecisive, he was not a true leader for us. He and Herr Harrer were not so fanatical as to carry the movement in their hearts. He did not have the opportunity to use tough enough methods to break the resistance to the new idea within the party. He lacked the speed of a greyhound, the suppleness of his skin, and the hardness of Krupp steel.”

Nevertheless, Hitler was interested in Drexler's ideas, which corresponded to his own views. Drexler's concept of the need to liquidate the supposedly existing "Masonic Jewish capitalist conspiracy" fully coincided with Hitler's aspirations: on the one hand there was an ingenuous German worker, peasant and soldier, on the other side, the "flexible demon of the decline of mankind", Jewish capitalists. From this germ later the essence of Hitler's Nazism grew.Hitler joined the German Workers' Party.Drexler wrote on this occasion to an acquaintance: "The absurd little man has become the 'number seven' of our party."Drexler's attempts to keep Hitler under his control were unsuccessful—he soon took over as chairman party After the formation on the basis of the German Workers'Party of the National Socialist Workers' Party of Germany, Drexler received the formal post of honorary chairman of the NSDAP. After the failure of the 'Beer Putsch' of 1923 , he was imprisoned for a short time. In the same year, Drexler left

The NSDAP and as part of the People's Bloc was elected to the Bavarian Landtag. After the reorganization of the NSDAP in February 1925, Drexler finally went over to the opposition to Hitler. Despite a temporary reconciliation with Hitler in 1930, Drexler never again took part in the movement he had spawned. He died on February 24, 1942 in Munich.

"Dritte Reich"

(“□az OgіNe ReісІ?” — “Third Reich”), founded in March 1974 in Zap. German historical magazine, which aimed to cover the events of the period of the Third Reich. According to the magazine's publisher Alexander Jahr, Dritte Reich was supposed to shed light on the events of the Nazi regime: "It's no secret that this topic finds a very superficial interpretation in schools or does not find it at all." The journal's editor-in-chief Christian Zentner added that the journal's mission is to explain to the reader how "a nation of poets and philosophers has been able to turn into a nation of murderers and criminals."

The circulation of the magazine was 100 thousand copies. Authorities Zap. Germany was very wary of the release of this magazine, fearing that its materials would contribute to the growth of neo-Nazi sentiment in the country and adversely affect the younger generation.

Duisterberg, Theodor

(Oessiergeerd), (1875-1950), founder (1918) and leader (along with Franz Seldte) of the semi-legal paramilitary organization "Steel Helmet". Born October 19, 1875 in Darmstadt. Participated in the 1st World War, lieutenant colonel. October 11, 1931 Duisterberg and Seldte presented the "Steel Helmet" in the so-called. Harzburg Front - an unsuccessful attempt to unite all right-wing organizations into a single powerful political union. On March 13, 1932, Duisterberg was nominated as a presidential candidate by the German Nationalist Party, receiving only 2,557,729 votes against 18,650,730 votes cast for Paul von/ - Indenburgand 11.339.285 for Hitler. Moreover, during the election campaign, the Nazis accused Duisterberg of Jewish origin, which fatally influenced the outcome of the elections for him. In the repeat elections of April 10, 1932, the nationalists withdrew Duisterberg's candidacy and called on their supporters to vote for Hitler.

On coming to power in 1933, Hitler apologized to Duisterberg for his recent slander and offered him a ministerial post in the coalition government. Duisterberg refused, after which a frenzied slander rose again in the press against him. In 1934, Duisterberg, who by this time had broken with Seldte, who had gone over to the side of Hitler, was briefly imprisoned for his opposition to the Nazi regime. In 1943, he established contacts with Karl Friedrich Gvardeler, one of the leaders of the anti-Hitler conspiracy, but did not take an active part in the resistance movement. Dui sterberg died on May 4, 1950 in Hameln.

Operation Dunkirk 1940

(Conventional name - “Dynamo”}, evacuation of allied (English and part of the French and Belgian) troops from the area of ​​the French city of Dunkirk to England on May 26 - June 4, 1940.

As a result of the breakthrough of German tank formations on May 20, 1940, to Abbeville, the troops of the 1st Allied Army Group (10 British, 18 French and 12 Belgian divisions) were cut off and pressed to the sea in the area of ​​Gravelines, Arras, Bruges. From the west and southwest, the troops of Army Group “A” of Colonel General G Rundstedt (tank groups of Generals Kleist and Goeta and the 4th Army) advanced against them, from the east and southeast, Army Group “B” of Colonel General W. Leeba(18th and 6th Armies) As early as May 20, the British command decided to evacuate its troops without notifying the allies about this. The evacuation was facilitated by the fact that on May 24 Hitler unexpectedly approved the order given by Rundstedt on May 23 to stop the tank groups at the line of Bethune, St. Omer, Gravelines. The reasons for this order are still not clear. It is possible that Hitler intended to allow the return of demoralized English soldiers to England in order to cause a feeling of fear and confusion in the English people and induce the British government to surrender. However, the German command

The government sought to avoid losses in tanks in order to save them for action against the main forces of the French army, and expected to destroy most of the evacuating British troops with air forces. However, the offensive of the German infantry ran into stubborn resistance from the allies and was not successful. Then, on May 27, the German command again threw tank groups into battle, but the tanks could not overcome the strengthened defense of the British. As a result, thanks to a major miscalculation by the Nazi command, the bulk of the allied troops (over 338 thousand people) managed to be evacuated. Prior to the start of Operation Dynamo, 59.3 thousand Englishmen were transported; and from May 26 to June 4 - 278.8 thousand people, including 139.8 thousand. English and 139 thousand. French and Belgians. 860 ships of the English and French Navy, fishing, transport and sports courts. Of these, 224 were sunk and about the same number were damaged. From the air, the evacuation was covered by British fighter aircraft. From May 27 to June 4, she made 2739 sorties and shot down about 130 German aircraft; British losses amounted to 302 aircraft. The British lost over 68 thousand. people, all military equipment and weapons. On May 28, the Belgian army capitulated, and on June 4, about 40 thousand French surrendered, covering the evacuation and left without ammunition.

Thousands of British and French soldiers lined up on the beach waiting to be evacuated from Dunkirk

Dusseldorf speech

Hitler's first speech was on January 27, 1932 at a meeting with German industrial magnates in the "Industry Club", where he was invited by the famous industrialist Fritz Thyssen.In a speech of more than two hours, Hitler warned those present that if half of society adhered to a pro-communist orientation, then the creation of "a Germany based on sound and strong foundations is unrealistic." world events. The most essential factor in national life is the internal well-being of the people and its spirit. In Germany, this internal well-being has been undermined by the false values ​​of democracy and the dominance of a tiny number of those who oppose the creative striving of the individual.

“Communism is much more than just a raging mob on the German streets. This is the offensive of the absolute Asiatic kingdom. Unemployment has forced millions of Germans to look to communism as a logical and theoretical reflection of their current economic situation. This is the essence of the German problems. We cannot remedy the state of affairs by emergency decrees. There is only one fundamental solution - the understanding that the recovery of the economy can only be ensured by a healthy and powerful state. “The current government,” he said, “is incapable of taking decisive action to change a situation that threatens with unpredictable social consequences.”

This meeting marked the beginning of new negotiations between the leaders of the NSDAP and representatives of the monopolies. In contrast to the previous, irregular contacts, during which the issues of subsidizing the party were discussed, starting from 1932, the main topic at them was the possible rise of Hitler to power, in which the industrialists saw a reliable barrier against communism.

Jews in the Third Reich

In the program of the Nazi Party developed by Hitler, citizens of Jewish nationality were outlawed. They could not participate in elections, they were forbidden to hold public office, teach at universities, marry Germans, and much more. After the Nazis came to power, anti-Semitism became an integral part of official policy. Mass Jewish pogroms took place in the country (see Kristallnacht), and the expropriation of Jewish property began. The persecution of Jews reached such proportions that by 1939 over 320,000 Jews were forced to leave Germany. The Nazi leadership developed a plan for the resettlement of all European Jews in Madagascar, which was later replaced by the so-called. “final solution”—complete physical extermination of the Jews.

Chronology of anti-Semitism

1933

April

Official boycott of Jewish shops.

1935

September

Law on the reorganization of the civil service. Nuremberg laws on citizenship and race.

November

Imperial Citizenship Law; the introduction of the concepts of "Jew" and "mishling" (representative of a mixed race); obligatory Aryan origin for admission to the civil service. Law for the Protection of German Blood; prohibition of marriages between Aryans and Jews.

1936

Decrease in antisemitic activity as a result of the Olympics.

1937

Confiscation of Jewish property without legal sanctions.

1938

March

Anschluss of Austria; the spread of all anti-Jewish laws in Austria.

April

Mandatory registration of all Jewish fortunes and capitals.

June

Destruction of the Munich synagogue.

The third decree on the registration of enterprises owned by Jews.

Expulsion of a Jewish family from their home

August

Destruction of the Nuremberg synagogue.

October

Mandatory stamp with the letter “3” in the passport for Jews.

• Expulsion of 17,000 Polish Jews from Germany.

November

The murder in Paris by the Polish Jew Herschel Gryunspan of the adviser to the German embassy Ernst vom Rath.

Mass Jewish pogroms during Kristallnacht; more than 20,000 Jews were thrown into concentration camps and prisons.

Decrees on the exclusion of Jews from the economic life of the country and payment by them of the damage inflicted as a result of pogroms in the amount of 12.5 million marks.

Expulsion of Jews from schools.

December

The transfer into the hands of the Aryans of all firms and companies owned by the Jews.

1939

April

Confiscation of all Jewish valuables.

The law on the lease of premises, providing for the eviction of Jews in the so-called. "Jewish houses".

September

The imposition of a curfew prohibiting Jews from being outside after dark. Confiscation of radios from Jews.

1940

February

The first mass deportation of Jews from Germany, mainly from Pomerania.

October

Deportation of Jews from the territory of Alsace-Lorraine, Saar and Baden.

1941

March

The use of Jews in forced labor.

September

It is mandatory for Jews to wear a yellow star (“Star of David”) on their clothes.

Beginning of the general deportation of German Jews.

1942

January

Meeting in Wannsee where the "Final Decision" was made.

April

Jews are prohibited from using public transport.

September

Reducing food rations for Jews.

1943

February

Deportation of highly skilled Jews to military factories in Berlin.

1944

The transfer of concentration camp prisoners from the eastern regions to the west in connection with the offensive of the Soviet troops.

1945

January

Soviet troops liberated Auschwitz.

April

Publication of information that about 250 thousand German Jews were destroyed since 1939 (about 50% of the pre-war Jewish population).

Eshonek, Hans

(Zezsіoppek), (1899-1943), Colonel General of Aviation, Chief of the General Staff of the Luftwaffe. Born April 9, 1899 in Hohensalz (now Inowroclaw, Poland). Member of the 1st World War, first fought in the infantry, then served in aviation. In 1938, with the rank of colonel, he was among the most important assistants to Hermann Goering (along with Erhard Milch and Ernst Udet), on whose shoulders the construction and combat training of the German air force was entrusted. February 1, 1939, when he was not even forty years old, Eshonek was appointed chief of the General Staff of the Luftwaffe. In August of the same year, he received the rank of major general, and on April 1, 1942, colonel general. For unknown reasons, he committed suicide on August 19, 1943 in Vost. Prussia.

Jeshonek (in the center), General Lurzer and the Supreme Commander of the Luftwaffe G. Goering in the vicinity of Calais

8 Zak. 1871   

iron Cross

(Eizens Kgeig; EK), one of the highest military awards for heroism in Germany. It was established by the Prussian Emperor Friedrich Wilhelm III on March 10, 1813. Initially, it had three degrees: the Iron Cross of the II degree, the Iron Cross of the I degree and the Grand Cross. The last, made of gold, was awarded only to two - General Gebhart Leberecht Prince Blucher von Walstatt (after the victory over Napoleon at Waterloo, 1815) and General Paul von Hindenburg, a hero of the 1st World War (1918). According to the accepted rules, the Iron Cross as the highest award was introduced only with the beginning of any major war. Since its establishment, this has been done three times - in 1870, 1914 and 1939. September 1, 1939 Hitler by a special decree announced the restoration of this award. The status of the Iron Cross (II and I degree) was slightly changed^Knight's Cross of various denominations), appearance and ribbon added.

During World War II, 6973 people were awarded the Iron Cross. Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves - 853, Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords - 150, Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds - 27 people. Only Colonel Hans-Ulrich Rudel was awarded the Knight's Cross with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds .

According to the new status, the awarding of the Iron Cross for non-combat service was canceled. Women were also included in the number of awardees, but during the 2nd World War only one woman was awarded this award - pilot instructor of combat aircraft Hanna Reitsch. In March 1941, Hitler personally awarded her the Iron Cross II Class, and in October 1942 the Iron Cross I Class.

Hitler also held the Iron Cross, 1st Class, which he was awarded on 4 August 1918 for valor in battle. This was the only award he wore on his tunic during the 2nd World War.

"Iron Fist"

(Eizen Eauzi), a paramilitary organization created in 1919, whose members included Adolf Hitler and Ernst Röhm. Its goals were to carry out terrorist actions against supporters of the Beimar Republic and nationalist propaganda. On the basis of this organization, the German Workers' Party was later created , which Hitler joined, and which was subsequently transformed into the National Socialist Workers' Party of Germany.

"Iron Front"

(Eizen Hopi), a united alliance of democratically oriented parties (including the SPD), created to combat the growing threat of Nazism and the Nazi dictatorship. It was formed in March 1932 on the eve of the second presidential election in support of Paul von Hindenburg. April 10, 1932 Hindenburg won the election, winning 53% of the vote, while Hitler received only 36.8% of the vote. Not becoming an independent party, the Iron Front ceased to exist with the Nazis coming to power.

"Yellow Plan"

Code name for Hitler's plan to attack France. See Gelb.

"Living space"

(lebenstraum), the concept of German expansionist policy, introduced into use in the 19th century. Long before the First World War, German territorial demands concerned mainly colonies in Africa and Asia. After the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919,according to which Germany lost many territories that had come under the control of the victorious powers, the demand for “living space” began to be seen as the return of the torn territories. After the Nazis came to power, the concept of "living space" for the Germans took on a new meaning. Preparations for the 2nd World War were carried out under the slogan of the need to capture the eastern territories inhabited by Slavic and other "lower" peoples. Expansion was introduced into the mass consciousness as a natural right of the Germans, as a dominant and growing nation, to own neighboring territories for their own livelihood. The occupation of Polish, Ukrainian and other lands in the East was accompanied by the mass extermination of the local population and the resettlement of ethnic Germans to the occupied territories.

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“A task of historical importance”

(VueIdessichisMіissІіe Mіesіop), a slogan constantly used by the Minister of Education and Propaganda, Dr. Goebbels, to spread and inculcate Nazi ideology, which saw the German people as a nation destined for world domination. Using historical connotations: “the German spirit”, “the coming Reich”, “expansion of living space”, Nazi ideologists sought to inspire their own people with the idea of ​​their superiority over the rest of the world.

"Law for the Protection of the People and the Reich"

(Sezeig gig ergeblind cieg kioi voon voik ipsz ReisK), a law that “eliminated the suffering of the people and the state”, giving Hitler emergency powers and the constitutional foundations for a dictatorship regime. It was signed by President Paul von G. Indenburg on February 28 and entered into force on March 24, 1933, essentially annulling the Weimar constitution.

“The Reichstag decides on the following law, submitted to the National Assembly, which proclaims the necessary legislative changes to the current Constitution:

Article 1 State laws may be enacted by the national government in accordance with the procedure laid down in the Constitution. This also applies to laws relating to article 85, paragraph 2, and to article 87 of the Constitution.

Article 2 State laws enacted by the national government are prepared by the chancellor and published in the Reichsgazetzblatt. They shall enter into force, unless otherwise specified, on the day following their publication. Articles 68 and 77 of the Constitution have no bearing on laws enacted by the national government...

Article 4 Treaties of the Reich with foreign states that fall within the scope of national legislation do not require the consent of the legal entities participating in the conclusion of these treaties. The national government is empowered to issue the necessary regulations for the execution of these treaties.

Article 5

niya. It ceases to operate on April 1, 1937. In addition, it loses its validity if there is a change in the current national government.

Berlin, March 24, 1933. Reich President von Hindenburg Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler Reich Minister of the Interior Frick Reich Foreign Minister Baron von Neurath

Reich Minister of Finance Count Schwerin von Krosig.

"Western Wall"

A system of German fortifications along the western borders of Germany from Luxembourg in the north to Switzerland in the south, the development of which was entrusted to the chief inspector of communications, Dr. Fritz Todt. The “Western Wall” was considered as defensive fortifications from a possible invasion of French troops from the Maginot Line.Construction began in 1938 on the site of the already existing structures of the so-called. "Hindenburg line" and was conducted under the direct supervision of General Wilhelm Ddam. Hitler frequently visited the building on inspection trips and to meet with the West Wall garrison. The military directive of August 31, 1939 stated: "The army must take up positions along the Western Wall and take all measures to defend it from flank detours from the north by the troops of the Western powers from the territory of Belgium and Holland." In 1940, the Anglo-French troops on the Maginot Line were put on alert, and the so-called. "Seated War". The construction of the Western Wall continued after the start and during the 2nd World War, but was never completed.

Commandments of the members of the NSDAP

Back in the early years of the National Socialist movement, Hitler formulated some commandments for the members of the NSDAP:

"The Fuhrer is always right!"

“You are a representative of the party, equate your behavior and your actions to this! To be a National Socialist means to be an example in everything!”

“Loyalty and selflessness be your highest commandment!”

“Law is everything that is useful to the movement and thereby to Germany, that is, to your people!”

Reichsminister Albert Speer during the inspection of the construction of the Western Defensive Wall

Hitler's Table Talk

Under this title, Hitler's informal, unpublished conversations with his closest associates at the Fuhrer's headquarters and at the Berghof estate entered historiography. Transcripts of these conversations, conducted in particular by Heinrich Heim and Henry Picker, were first published in 1951 in West Germany ("HiIIIer Tibsdevrgesce іt Pub- erHairicager 1941-1942").

“Hitler was inexhaustible in speeches: speaking was the element of his existence,” Otto Dietrich writes in the book “12 Years with Hitler”.Hitler's commitment to collective feasting was an expression of his unquenchable thirst for forced preaching. Lunches and dinners at headquarters lasted, as a rule, until two o'clock, and the Fuhrer's guests got up from the table with their heads swollen from the host's self-intoxicated, often insane, manic speeches. With peremptory certainty, Hitler preaches his ideas about religion and science, about the future of rail transport and energy sources of the future, about the Renaissance and Baroque, about opera and symphony conductors and about the constitution of the medieval Venetian Republic, about the world-historical perniciousness of Christianity and about forest plantations in Italy, about archeology and anthropology, about the genius of Stalin and about nettles, which should be sown on the fertile soils of Ukraine, because nettles are an excellent raw material for the textile and paper industries, about changing the principles of ship design and about the ancient world, which was the prototype of the National Socialist state, about choreography, astrology, horoscopes, cosmogony, pan-Slavism, Eastern religions, about Dante, Charlemagne, Peter I, Joan of Arc, Schopenhauer, Schiller, Gobineau, Chamberlain, Nietzsche, Haushofer and much, much more. Having not received a systematic education, Hitler clutched at hundreds of topics, not paying the slightest attention to the objections of his listeners, often going ahead, shamelessly writing, sucking facts he liked out of his finger. The most interesting topic for him was racial. With morbid hatred, he lashed out at "international Jewry" seeking to seize world domination and enslave the rest of the peoples.. He flooded his monologues with so many unreliable or simply false facts,

Zaukel, Fritz

(ZaiskeІ), (1894-1946), politician of National Socialism, who was in charge of replenishing the forced labor force in the Third Reich. Born October 27, 1894 in Hassfurten am Main in the family of a postal employee. Having not completed his studies at the gymnasium, at the age of 15 he began working as a sailor on ships in Germany, Norway, and Sweden. After the 1st World War, he left the university and worked at a construction site. Early joined the Nazi movement, demonstrating unconditional loyalty to Hitler. An exemplary family man, Sauckel was the father of ten children, two of whom died during World War II. Thanks to tireless work in the interests of the party, Sauckel was appointed Gauleiter of Thuringia in 1927. In 1927-33 member of the Thuringian Landtag. After becoming chancellor, Hitler appointed Sauckel as Reichsstatthalter of Thuringia. In 1933 Sauckel was elected to the Reichstag.

During the period of German rearmament (1935-39), thousands of Dutch, Polish and French workers were recruited to Germany at the time of the boom in industrial activity and in order to support the Wehrmacht. After the outbreak of World War II, Hitler, on the advice of Martin Bormann , appointed Sauckel Reichskommissar to the special post of plenipotentiary for labor recruitment and distribution. The Fuhrer said that this was the work of a "real soldier", which is why Sauckel

Hitler, Brückner, Fritz Sauckel (center) and Hirl during a party congress in Weimar, 1931

was in admiration, considering this the highest praise.

By decree of March 21, 1942, Hitler called for the mobilization of German and foreign workers. Sauckel began his activities under the guise of humanity, and ordered that the workers be treated with respect. “All these people must be fed, have housing and be treated in such a way that the maximum possible results are achieved at the minimum cost.” Subsequently, having received unlimited powers from Hitler, Sauckel established an unprecedented use of slave forced labor in recent history: more than 5 million foreign workers worked at German enterprises.

November 20, 1945 Sauckel appeared among other war criminals before the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg. He was found guilty on two counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Sauckel was hanged in Nuremberg Prison on October 16, 1946 by court order.

Sauerbruch, Ferdinand

(Sauerchisch), (1875-1951), one of the most famous German surgeons during the Third Reich. Born July 3, 1875 in Barmen. Having received a medical degree, he made an unprecedented career for a young man: he was appointed chief military surgeon of the army with the rank of lieutenant general and director of a hospital in Berlin. At the end of 1933, along with 960 other professors of the country, he spoke in support of the Nazi regime. He was the attending physician to President Paul von Hindenburg, as well as to many high-ranking Nazi leaders. In 1940, he removed a tumor from Hitler's larynx. Sauerbruch tried to save Reinhard Heydrich, who was mortally wounded as a result of the assassination attempt . In April 1943 he saved the life of Klaus Schenk, Count von Stauffenberg,seriously wounded in Sev. Africa, as a result of which he lost his eye, right arm and crippled his leg.

Sauerbruch later became disillusioned with Nazism and joined the resistance movement. He was under the supervision of the Gestapo, but was not arrested. After the 2nd World War, Sauerbruch, despite the fact that he went through the process of denazification, was deprived of all ranks and positions by the East German government. He died in Berlin on July 2, 1951.

Table 4. Military and party ranks

german army	SS	NSDAP	Police
Field Marshal General	Reichsfuehrer SS	Reichsleiter	General Oberst der Polizei
Oberst General	Oberstgruppenfuehrer	Reichsleiter
General	Obergruppenführer	Gauleiter	General der Policeman
Lieutenant General Major General	Gruppenführer Brigadier General	—	Lieutenant General der Policeman Major General
He will choose	oberführer	—	der policeman Oberet der
He will choose	Standardführer	—	шуццполицай Reich Criminal
Oberstleutnant	Obersturmbann Führer	Chrysliger	Director Oberstleutnant
Major	Sturmbannführer	Chrysleiter	Gendarmerie Major Gendarme
Hauptman	Hauptsturmführer	Ortsgruppenleiter	rii Hauptmann souls
Oberleutenant	Obersturmführer	Zellenleiter	meri Oberleutenant
Lieutenant	Untersturmführer	Blockwriter	gendarmerie Lieutenant Jean
Stafffeldwebel Hauptfeldfe- bel Oberstfeldfe- bel	Sturmscharführer Staffscharführer Hauptscharführer	Gauptbereitschaftsleiter Hauptbereitschaftsleiter Oberbereitschaftsleiter	Dermer's Meister General Guard Company
Feldfebel	Oberscharführer	Bereitschaftslay- ter	twahmeister Revierobervaht-
Unterfeldfe- bel Unterofitzer corporal Obershutse	Scharführer Unterscharführer Rottenführer Sturman	Bereitschaftslay- ter Mr. Uptarbeitsleiter Oberarbeitsleiter Arbeitsleiter	Master Obervahtmeister Watchman Rottwechtmaster
Jokes	Mann	Helfer	Undermaster

anverter

Seekt, Hans von

(Zeesky), (1866 1936), commander of the armed forces of the Weimar Republic. Born April 22, 1866 in Silesia in the family of a general in the German army. At the age of 19, he joined the 1st Grenadier Regiment, commanded by his father. In 1897 he was appointed to the headquarters of the 3rd Army Corps in Berlin. He met the beginning of World War I with the rank of lieutenant colonel. January 27, 1915 promoted to colonel. In June 1916 he became Chief of Staff under the Duke of Austria, and in December 1917 Chief of Staff of the Turkish Army. He returned to Germany in 1918. During his service, von Seekt showed himself to be a capable officer who understood the political implications of military problems. Neat, punctual, almost elegant in a well-fitting uniform, he was nicknamed "The Sphinx with the Monocle" in army circles.

During the period of the Weimar Republic, von Seekt was appointed commander of the armed forces. On June 15, 1920, three months after the failure of the Kapp putsch, he became the commander of the ground oisks. Not trusting the traditional theories of mass armies and trench warfare, he began to build the Reichswehr on a new model as a mobile armed force consisting of 35 divisions with a well-trained officer corps. He maintained relations with Soviet Russia and sent tank and air crews there for training.

In September 1923, the Nazi newspaper Völkischer Beobachter attacked von Seekt, calling him "an enemy of the populist idea, a lackey of the Weimar Republic and a pawn of sinister Jewish-Masonic elements." He was even accused of being under the influence of his Jewish wife. When a message arrived about an attempted coup d'état in Munich (see "Beer putsch" 1923),President Friedrich Ebert asked von Seekt: "Tell me, please, to whom should the army obey - the government or the rebels?" "Mr. President," von Seekt replied, "the army obeys me." Although he had mixed feelings about what happened in Munich, he sent a telegram to General Otto von Lossow, commander of the Munich garrison, ordering the immediate suppression of the Nazi rebellion. Up until December 28, 1924, von Seeckt was responsible for security in the face of separatist tendencies and especially the Nazi movement. He was promoted to the rank of general, but on October 8, 1926, he was removed for issuing an order allowing duels between officers and offering Prince Wilhelm, son of the former Crown Prince Wilhelm, the post of chief of military training for the armed forces.

After the resignation of von Seekt in 1930, 32 he became a member of the Reichstag. In 1934-35 he was a military adviser to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. Von Seekt is the author of many scientific works on military issues. While not accepting the Nazi Party at its early stage, von Seekt recognized it when the Nazis came to power. He died in Berlin on December 29, 1936.

Seyss-Inquart, Arthur

(Zeuzz-Іpciagі), (1892-1946), one of the leaders of National Socialism, an Austrian. Born July 22, 1892 in Stannern, near Iglau, Bohemia. During the 1st World War he served in the Tyrolean Kaiser Regiment, was repeatedly wounded. After the war, Seyss-Inquart, although not a member of the Austrian Nazi Party, became an ardent supporter of the annexation of Austria to Germany.

In 1937, Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg, who considered Seyss-Inquart a pious person, introduced him to the State Council (statsrat) and instructed him to establish links with the national opposition. On February 12, 1938, Hitler demanded from Schuschnigg the lifting of the ban on the activities of the Austrian Nazis, an amnesty for the Nazis in prison, and the appointment of Seyss-Inquart as the Minister of the Interior of Austria. While in this post, Seyss-Inquart contributed to the Anschluss of Austria. After the resignation of Schuschnigg, Seyss-Inquart en-

Hitler salutes Arthur Seyss-Inquart, leader of the Austrian Nazis

nullified Article 88 of the Treaty of Saint-Germain, according to which Austria was an independent state.

April 30, 1939 Seyss-Inquart was appointed Reichsstathalter of Austria. After October 12, 1939, the status of a general government was introduced for occupied Poland, he became deputy to the governor general Hans Frank. In 1940-45 Seyss-Inquart was the Reichskommissar of the Netherlands. In the last days of the war, Hitler appointed Seyss-Inquart as foreign minister.

At the Nuremberg trials , Seyss-Inquart was accused of giving orders for the deportation of the population and the execution of hostages. He pleaded partially guilty and responsible for the "terrible manifestations" of the Nazi regime. A few days after he was sentenced to death, Seyss-Inquart was informed that his son, who had disappeared in the Soviet Union, was alive. Hanged in Nuremberg prison on October 16, 1946.

Selbstschutz

(Zeіbzіzsbіg — “Self-defence”), voluntary paramilitary formations, consisting of ethnic Germans living in Poland.

Zeldte, Franz

(Zeisiye), (1882-1947), Minister of Labor in Hitler's first cabinet. Born June 29, 1882 in Magdeburg. After graduating from high school, he studied chemistry in Braunschweig, traveled a lot around the world. In 1906 he volunteered for the 66th Magdeburg Infantry Regiment. During the 1st World War he was the captain of the same regiment, lost an arm in battles, was awarded the Iron Cross II and I degree.

On December 23, 1918, together with the former officer of the General Staff Theodor Duisterberg , he founded the nationalist military organization "Steel Helmet". widespread in Germany in the 1920s In the 1930s, the growing confrontation between members of the Steel Helmet and Nazi SA storm troopers caused a meeting between Hitler and Seldte and Duisterberg, during which Hitler announced that when he to power, he will immediately arm the people, and everyone who opposes him will be destroyed.

On October 11, 1931, Seldte represented the "Steel Helmet" in the "Hartsburg Front", an ultra-right association that failed because Hitler refused to share spheres of influence with anyone. In 1932, Seldte became a mini

strom of labor in the coalition government of von Papen-Hitler, which did not last long. After becoming chancellor, Hitler offered Seldte the same post in his government. He remained in this post until the end of the Third Reich. His appointment was to demonstrate the unity between the Prussian government and the central government. Seldt was charged at the Nuremberg trials, but he died a natural death in Fürth in April 1947 .

“Sieg heil!”

(“8іed NeіН” — “Long live victory!”), one of the Nazi salutes. It first came into use at the Nuremberg Party Congresses. After one of his speeches to a huge audience, Hitler paused thoughtfully for a moment, and at that moment Rudolf Hess, who was standing next to him, impressed by the Fuhrer’s speech, began to chant: “Sieg heil!”. A crowd of thousands immediately picked up this slogan.

"Siegfried, line"

An Anglo-American name for the Western Wall, the German system of fortifications along the French border. During the 1st World War, the so-called. The "Hindenburg line" was extended from the North Sea to Switzerland through French territory. Separate sections of this defensive rampart were named after the ancient Germanic gods and heroes: Wotan, Hagen, Brunhild, Kriemhild. The section from Dracourt to Saint-Quentin, in the Lille region, was called the Siegfried Line. The Germans themselves never used this name.

US Army formations slip between the "dragon's teeth" in the Rutgen area, which form part of the defensive fortifications of the "impregnable" "Siegfried Line"

Zippo

(bіsNegbeіііzroІііgeі; 8ІRO), security police. On June 26, 1936, the head of the German police, Himmler, appointed Reinhard / - Heidrich as chief of the SD and zipo.

Zip book

(ShippBusb), a special document certifying Aryan origin, "racial purity" and belonging to the SS clan. Introduced personally by Himmler in 1932 after his appeal to CT. n. "Blood Religions" When entering into marriage, the SS men had to present the Zippenbuch, among other necessary documents. By the end of World War II, the significance of this document was gradually lost.

Zitzkrieg

(8i1gkgied), see "Sitting War".

Zicheru n gsferva rte

(Zісііегіпдзѵегѵѵаіігіе; 8V), a category of prisoners of the concentration camps, who were classified as gestalo criminals. This category included recidivists who had previously served time for non-state crimes, as well as all kinds of dregs of society. In concentration camps, they were in a privileged position compared to other prisoners.

Sonderkommandos

(bopsiegkottapgoz), specially trained special SS units that performed police and political tasks in the occupied eastern territories. In addition, these units guarded concentration camps and participated in the destruction of their prisoners. Separate units were engaged in sabotage activities. In a broad sense - units for performing special tasks.

Sonnenblume

(Soppenyite - “Sunflower”), the code name for the transfer of additional forces of the German army to the Tripoli region (Northern Africa). At a meeting on January 11, 1941, Hitler ordered Operation Sonnenblum to be carried out by mid-February 1942. Additional German troops were transferred to the Tripoli area, where they encountered strong resistance from British troops. The tasks assigned to the African Corps were never fulfilled.

Sorge, Richard

(8where), (1895-1944), German journalist and resident of Soviet intelligence. Born in Baku in the family of a mining engineer, an employee of the Russian Imperial Oil Company. When Sorge was three years old, the family returned to Germany. Sorge volunteered to participate in the 1st World War, fought on the Western Front, was repeatedly wounded. During the last two years of the war he studied at the universities of Berlin, Kiel and Hamburg, where he joined the Communist Party and became an agent of the Comintern. Until 1928 he worked in Shanghai (China) as an editor of the German bureau. Then, from 1933, he was his own correspondent for the Frankfurter Zeitung newspaper in Tokyo. Here Sorge joined the Nazi Party and became a secret agent for the German embassy in Japan, while at the same time engaging in intelligence activities in favor of the Soviet Union. He had a reputation as an alcoholic.

Four months before the German attack on the Soviet Union, Sorge informed the Soviet government that it would take place on June 22, 1941. He was arrested in Tokyo on October 16, 1941 by Japanese counterintelligence. There are unconfirmed reports that he was hanged on November 7, 1944.

    ъ——

IG Farbenindustri

(ІС Eagbenipbivigіe), the largest chemical concern in Germany, controlled a significant share of the production of basic chemicals, including 100% of the production of strategically important synthetic rubber, 72% of the production of nitrogen compounds, on which the production of ammunition was based. The chairman of the concern is Georg von Schnitzler. The enterprises of IG Farbenindustry widely used the labor of concentration camp prisoners.

Visual arts in the Third Reich

German artists made a huge contribution to all the most important trends in the fine arts of the 20th century, including Impressionism, Expressionism, Cubism and Dadaism. In the early 1920s, many prominent artists living in Germany gained worldwide recognition for their works. Among them were the largest representatives of the “new realism” (О/е А/ее BasYіісІікеіі) — Georg Gross, Swiss-born expressionist Paul Klee, Russian expressionist who worked in Germany, Wassily Kandinsky. These three, along with others, worked in the famous Bauhaus association, creating wonderful works of the post-war period.

For Hitler, who considered himself a connoisseur of art and a true artist, modern trends in German fine art seemed meaningless and dangerous. In Mein Kampf, he spoke out against the “Bolshevization of art.” Such art, he said, “is the painful result of madness.” Hitler argued that the influence of such trends was especially noticeable during the period of the Bavarian Soviet Republic, when modernist approach "Pity the people who are no longer able to control their morbid condition. " Throughout the years of his rise to political power, Hitler retained a feeling of extreme dislike for modern art. In 1930 he supported Alfred Rosenberg's National Socialist Fighting League,which actively fought against “degenerate art”. Hitler's own taste in painting was limited to the heroic and realistic genres. True German art, he said, should never depict suffering, grief or pain. Artists must use colors "other than those which the normal eye can distinguish in nature." He himself preferred the canvases of Austrian romantics, such as

Ivo Zaliger. "Judgement of Paris", 1939

Franz von Defregger, who specialized in depicting Tyrolean peasant life, as well as canvases by minor Bavarian artists who painted happy peasants at work or drunken monks at play. It was obvious to Hitler that the time would come when he would purge Germany of decadent art for the sake of the “true German spirit”.

By a special decree of September 22, 1933, the Imperial Chamber of Culture (Neisgіzkiiiiigkatteg) was created, headed by Goebbels, Minister of Public Education and Propaganda. Seven sub-chambers (fine arts, music, theater, literature, press, broadcasting and cinematography) were called upon to serve as an instrument of the politics of the Gleichschaltun ((ZІеісГізсІіаІіipd). About 42 thousand cultural figures loyal to the Nazi regime were forcibly united in the Imperial Chamber of Fine Arts. The directives of this body had the force of laws. Anyone could be expelled for “political unreliability.” There were a number of restrictions for artists :deprivation of the right to exhibit; and MaІѵergoi - deprivation of the right to paint. Gesta agents made lightning - fast raids on artists' studios. The owners of art salons and shops were given lists of disgraced artists and works of art prohibited for sale.

Unable to work in such conditions, many of the most famous German artists found themselves in exile. Paul Klee returned to Switzerland, Kandinsky went to Paris and became a French subject, Oskar Kokoschka, whose violent expressionism especially annoyed Hitler, moved to England and took British citizenship, Georg Gross emigrated to the USA, Max Beckmann settled in Amsterdam. Several well-known artists nevertheless decided to stay in Germany. The elderly Max Liebermann, honorary president of the Academy of Arts, remained in Berlin (“I can't eat enough to vomit!”) and died here in 1935. All these artists were accused by the authorities of creating un-German art.

The first official exhibition of "degenerate art" (1918-1933) was held in Karlsruhe in 1933, a few months after Hitler came to power. In early 1936, Hitler ordered four Nazi artists led by Professor Adolf Ziegler, president of the Imperial Chamber of Fine Arts, to search all major galleries and museums in Germany with the goal of removing all "decadent art". A member of this commission, Count von Baudizen, made it clear what type of art he prefers: “The most perfect form, the most refined image created recently in Germany, was not born at all in the artist’s studio, it is a steel helmet!”. The commission seized 12,890 paintings, drawings, sketches and sculptures by German and European artists, including works by Picasso, Gauguin, Cezanne and Van Gogh. On March 31, 1936, these confiscated works of art were presented at a special exhibition of "degenerate art" in Munich. The effect was the opposite: huge crowds of people flocked to admire the creations rejected by Hitler. The "Great German Art Exhibition", which was held simultaneously in the neighborhood, which featured some 900 works approved by Hitler, attracted much less public attention. To encourage "true German artists" corresponding to his own taste, Hitler instituted several hundred prizes. which featured some 900 Hitler-approved works, attracted far less public attention. To encourage "true German artists" corresponding to his own taste, Hitler instituted several hundred prizes. which featured some 900 Hitler-approved works, attracted far less public attention. To encourage "true German artists" corresponding to his own taste, Hitler instituted several hundred prizes.

Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, in March 1939, thousands of art paintings were burned in Berlin. At the end of July 1939, on the orders of Hitler, a number of paintings were sold at auctions in Switzerland in order to receive currency.

During the war, Hermann Goering, who was much more eclectic in his artistic tastes than the Fuhrer, appropriated many of the most valuable works of art stolen during the Nazi occupation from the largest museums in Europe. Gradually, he amassed a collection of colossal value that he considered his personal property. For the confiscation of art treasures from the museum collections of the occupied countries, a special task force of Rosenberg (Ein-zaikhziab Rosenberg) was even created, according to which 5281 paintings, including works by Rubens, Rembrandt, Goya, Fragonard and other great masters, were taken to Third Reich. Many of the looted treasures were returned to their rightful owners after the war.

“Illustrator Beobachter”

(“Instigger Beobachner”), an illustrated supplement to the Nazi official daily newspaper , the Völkischer Beobachter. The magazine was published by the Echer Verlag publishing house from November 1926 twice a month and was the mouthpiece of Nazi ideology. The last issue was published on April 13, 1944.

"Ilona"

("Popa"), the code name for the military operation that involved the capture of the Iberian Peninsula and unoccupied French territory under the directive of May 29, 1942.

Imperial Chamber of Cinematography

(AeismiePitkattag), an organization created after the Nazis came to power that controlled the film industry of the Third Reich, membership in which was mandatory 

for creative filmmakers. Organizationally, it existed as a subchamber of the Imperial Chamber of Culture. In 1937 Goebbels, the minister of public education and propaganda, took control of the last independent film company in Germany, the UFA film studio. From that moment on, all funding for film production was concentrated in the hands of the Nazi authorities.

See also Cinematography in the Third Reich.

Imperial Chamber of Culture

(Aeisbzki Nigkatteg), established by decree of September 22, 1933, was under the control of the Ministry of Public Education and Propaganda. It consisted of seven sub-chambers: press, broadcasting, cinematography, theater, literature, music and visual arts. Membership in one of these chambers was mandatory for every creative worker in Germany. Any creative activity without the appropriate membership documents was severely punished by the Nazi authorities, up to and including imprisonment. Artists or writers who were not members of the Imperial Chamber of Culture were subject to a ban on the profession.

Imperial Labor Service

(ВеісІпзагэіІБгііепБі; VAO), compulsory labor service for all able-bodied citizens of the Third Reich. Shortly before coming to power, in one of his speeches, Hitler promised that he would be able to eliminate unemployment in the country, and in the simplest way: first, labor battalions would be formed from among the unemployed, which would then replenish the ranks of the armed forces. The law of June 26, 1935 declared compulsory labor service for all German citizens aged 19 to 25 within the framework of the created Imperial Labor Service. Twice a year, all young Germans (each group numbering up to 200 thousand people) were sent to work in labor camps, mainly for agricultural work. For 6 months, men worked on farms and fields, and women helped with the housework. The previous profession did not matter.

Hitler saw conscription as a necessary step for the successful implementation of Germany's rearmament program. In his opinion, men who shoulder shovels will also be able to carry weapons. In addition, labor service provided the labor market with a huge amount of cheap labor and reduced the unemployment rate in the country. In September 1936, at a party congress, Hitler announced that the number of unemployed in the country had fallen from 6 million to 1 million. This statement added to Hitler's popularity in a country that had been burdened with unemployment for many years.

Imperial Union of Civil Servants

(Veatenipipsi), an association of employees of state institutions, which was under the strict control of the Nazi Party. As an integral part of the Gleichshaltung policy, this union was intended to supplant the old trade union organizations. He was expected to give constant approval to any government regulations. For example, according to a decree of September 9, 1937, members of the union were to boycott those stores that the Nazi authorities had identified in the decree. The union had more than 1 million members who were required to pay membership dues, attend all sorts of meetings after work and comply with all orders of the authorities.

See also German Labor Front.

Imperial Union of Teachers

(АеісізіеІігэгүпі), an organization created in 1933 to introduce the ideas of National Socialism among German teachers and students. It was under the control of the Ministry of Public Education and Propaganda.

Imperial Air Ministry

(ReіsІіБІцШаКгІтіпіБіегіит), distributed in 1933 by Hermann Goering, the aviation administration in order to mask the upcoming denunciation of the terms of the Versailles Treaty of 1919, which prohibited Germany from having an air force. Under the control of the Ministry of Aviation, the organization and construction of the Luftwaffe was secretly carried out, the creation of which was officially announced in March 1935.

imperial labor competition

(ReisszegiІzѵѵеnkatrT), annually held since 1933, professional competitions among workers with the aim of improving their skills and demonstrating unity between the working class of Germany and the Nazi regime. Since 1938, these competitions have covered virtually all types of labor activity, from heavy industry and handicraft production to government and office employees and even students. The winners were honored as Olympic champions, invited to Berlin to meet with Robert Ley, the leader of the German Labor Front, and even with Hitler.

"Industrial Club"

(ІpsіiBіpekііb), an organization of industrial and financial magnates in Düsseldorf. Chairman Fritz Thyssen. On January 27, 1932, Hitler spoke for the first time to a meeting of club members. This speech (the so-called "Düsseldorf speech") marked the beginning of cooperation between German industrialists and the Nazis.

July conspiracy 1944

Assassination attempt on Hitler on July 20, 1944 during a military meeting at the Fuhrer's Headquarters "Wolf's Lair" near Rastenburg, Vost. Prussia.

Hitler's coming to power in 1933 and the establishment of the Nazi regime in the country gave rise to a split among the senior officers of the German armed forces. Many senior officers, such as Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Colonel General Alfred Jodl, Major General Walter Warlimont andothers remained loyal to the Führer. But the middle officers of the German army were deeply disappointed with the policy pursued by Hitler, believing that the Fuhrer was leading Germany to disaster. On October 19, 1938, Colonel-General Ludwig Bekuschel resigned as Chief of the General Staff in protest against Hitler's plan to annex Czechoslovakia. In an effort to enlist the support of senior officers in order to arrest or remove Hitler from power, Beck gathered around him a group of like-minded people who, over the next five years, went from discontent and opposition to resistance and conspiracy. At the center of this conspiracy were such military leaders as Major General von Tresckow, Chief of Staff of Army Group Center on the Eastern Front, Colonel General Erich Hoepner,former commander of the ground forces, dismissed by Hitler in December 1941, Colonel General Friedrich Olbricht, head of the army reserve supply department, Colonel General Karl Heinrich von Stülpnagel, commander of troops in occupied France, Major General Hans Oster, chief of staff of the Abwehr, and field marshal Erwin von Witzleben, who retired in 1942. In addition to these senior officers, several young officers joined the conspiracy, who were convinced that the Third Reich was a disgrace and a disaster for Germany and were ready to risk their own lives for the common good. Among them were Colonel Klaus Schenk Count von Stauffenberg,Chief of Staff of General Friedrich Fromm, Commander of the Reserve Army, 1st Lieutenant Fabian von Schlabrendorf, Headquarters

officer of General von Tresckow, and Lieutenant Werner von Hoeften, adjutant of von Stauffenberg.

In addition to the military, diplomat Christian Albrecht Ulrich von Hassel, a former German ambassador to Italy, Hans Bernd Gisevius, an Abwehr employee who worked in Switzerland, and Adam von Trott zu Soltz, an employee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs , joined the plot .

The state apparatus was represented by Karl Friedrich Gördeler, former mayor of Leipzig, Julius Leber, former member of the Reichstag from the Social Democratic Party, and Johannes Popitz, Prussian finance minister.

Among the participants in the conspiracy were clergy - Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Jesuit Father Alfred Delp.

It also included members of the Kreisaugroup - Count Helmuth Moltke, legal adviser to the Abwehr, an opponent of violent methods, and Count von Wartenberg.

In addition, to one degree or another, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, the chief of the Abwehr, Count von Helldorf, the head of the Berlin police, and several lawyers, including Karl Langben, Klau with Bonhoeffer, Josef Müller and Josef Wirmer were involved in the conspiracy.

Many other persons, although not involved in the conspiracy, were aware of it. Among them are Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, Lieutenant General Adolf Huizinger, Head of the Operations Department of the Ground Forces Command, Field Marshal Günther Hans von Kluge, Commander of the Army Group in France.

By the summer of 1938, the vague plans of the disaffected began to take shape in a coup d'état. Beck's resignation in October 1938 stimulated a movement from opposition to resistance. The ongoing state and military policy testified that Hitler was a mentally ill person and that it was necessary to remove him even before a provisional government was formed. The conspiracy of army officers in September 1938, the so-called. The Berlin Putsch failed at its most critical moment due to poor planning. The Munich Agreement of 1938 dealt a tangible blow to the conspirators, as it increased Hitler's popularity among the people. The Zossen putsch in November 1939 and the Stalingrad putsch in January 1943 were equally unsuccessful.

In March 1943, General von Tresckow and Schlabrendorf came to the conclusion that the time had come to act. In the plane on which Hitler flew from Smolensk to Rastenburg, Schlabrendorf planted a British-made time bomb disguised as a bottle of brandy. For unknown reasons, the bomb never exploded, but fortunately for the conspirators, the assassination attempt was not known. On March 21, 1943, another assassination attempt on Hitler also failed when two bombs placed in the pockets of Hitler's overcoat did not work. All other attempts were also unsuccessful.

In early 1944, Count von Stauffenberg took over the leadership of the conspiracy against Hitler. In February 1944, the conspirators received unexpected reinforcements when it became known that Field Marshal Rommel, extremely dissatisfied with the poor conduct of the war, was ready to join Beck's group. General von Tresckow agreed with Stauffenberg that a terrorist act must be committed immediately at any cost: “We must prove to the world and future generations that the participants in the German resistance dared to take this decisive step and are ready to sacrifice their own lives for this.”

Early in the morning of July 20, 1944, it became known that Hitler was convening an operational meeting of military advisers at headquarters in Rastenburg. The meeting was scheduled for 12:30 pm. The territory of the headquarters was fenced with a high-voltage fence, entangled with barbed wire, equipped with observation towers and checkpoints. The meeting was to take place in the guest house, an imposing wooden structure on a concrete base, topped with oil-soaked felt. The building had three small windows. Inside, small tables were placed in the corners, and in the center of the hall stood a huge table littered with operational maps.

Stauffenberg arrived in Rastenburg at about 10 am and was allowed inside after he gave the necessary password. He was called to report on the state of affairs in the Reserve Army. In his briefcase, among the papers, was a British-made time bomb. After installing the gamer, he entered the conference room. Having greeted the Fuhrer, Stauffenberg put the briefcase on the floor not far from Hitler and then apologized: “I have to call.” Colonel Heinz Brandt, General Huizinger's second-in-command, who was thwarted by the briefcase, automatically slid it under the card table so that it was behind the heavy table leg away from Hitler. This movement saved the Fuhrer's life.

A few minutes passed while General Huizinger gave his disappointing report on the state of affairs on the Eastern Front. It was already close to completion: “The Russians are advancing in large forces in a westerly direction. Their forward units are already southeast of Dunaburg [Daugavpils]. If we do not immediately transfer the army group from the Peipussee [Lake Pskov] area, something irreparable will happen ... ”At that moment, at exactly 12-50, a terrible explosion shook the room, the ceiling collapsed and the central table shattered into pieces. Several bodies flew off to the broken windows, and thick clouds of smoke shrouded the room.

According to the stenographer Berger, 24 people were killed on the spot, three more - Generals Günter Korten, Rudolf Schmundt and Colonel Heinz Brandt - died later from their wounds. There were several seriously wounded, many were shell-shocked. Dropped to the floor by the blast, Hitler survived. His hair was burned, his right arm was partially paralyzed, his right leg was burned, and his eardrums were damaged.

Meanwhile, Stauffenberg, confident that everyone in the room had died, deceived three security posts and at 13-00 was already on the plane bound for Berlin. Arriving at the War Office at 4:10 pm, he learned to his amazement that Hitler had not been killed by the explosion. The officers involved in the conspiracy were so frightened that, in fact, they were completely paralyzed. At 10:30 p.m., officers loyal to Hitler took control of the building of the War Ministry and arrested the participants in the conspiracy. General Fromm hastened to cover his tracks. Four of his officers (Olbricht, von Stauffenberg, von Heften and Mertz) were shot downstairs in the courtyard of the ministry. Beck committed suicide.

Hitler's revenge was terrible. Almost all of the remaining conspirators were found and arrested, tortured by the Gestapo , and brought before the sinister People's Tribunal presided over by Roland Freisler.Most died during the massacre. Some were strangled with wire, and their bodies, like meat carcasses, were hung on huge hooks. Hitler watched the film footage of the spectacle several times during the night. Cadets of military schools, who were shown this disgusting film as a warning, fainted. General Fromm, despite his belated zeal and orders for executions, still failed to escape: he was also executed. All the main participants in the conspiracy - Canaris, Goerdeler, von Hassel and many others - also accepted a terrible wild death. The execution of Field Marshal von Witzleben was no different from the others. An elderly man was pushed into the basement of the Plötzensee prison in Berlin, stripped to the waist, and placed under the nearest meat hook. The noose was tied to a hook and a noose was thrown around the neck. Then they lifted him up and let him fall with all the weight of his body.

The number of those executed as a result of the failure of the July plot, according to various sources, ranges from 180 to 200 people. The English historian John Wheeler-Bennett in his book "The Nemesis of Power" (London, 1953) provides an incomplete list of 158 names who died as a result of Hitler's revenge.

Jodl, Alfred

(, -ІosіІ), (1890-1946), head of the operational department of the Supreme High Command of the Armed Forces of Germany (OKW). Born May 10, 1890 in Würzburg in a military family. As a student, Jodl joined the cadet corps, and then, in 1910, the 4th Bavarian Field Artillery Regiment. In 1912 he received the rank of lieutenant. During the 1st World War he took part in the battles on the Western and Eastern fronts; was injured. In 1920, Jodl began his studies in an illegally created, contrary to the terms of the Versailles Treaty of 1919General Staff. He has established himself as a man "thinking, determined, energetic, well-trained, a natural leader and a suitable candidate for senior command posts." In 1935, Jodl was appointed to the command of the ground forces, and in March 1938 he took the place of the head of the operations department of the OKW. In October 1938 he became commander of the 2nd Mountain Division. In 1939 Yodl was promoted to the rank of major general. On August 23, 1939, Jodl again took over as head of the operations department of the OKW and remained in this position until the end of World War II. He participated in the development and planning of many large-scale military operations, including "Weiss" - an attack on Poland, "Weserubung" -invasion of Norway. He was one of the Fuhrer's inner circle and was unconditionally devoted to him. After the failures on the Eastern Front and Jodl's attempts to stand up for General Franz Halder and Field Marshal Wilhelm List , Jodl's relationship with Hitler deteriorated so much that the Fuhrer thought of replacing Jodl with General Friedrich Paulus when he won a victory at Stalingrad. However, Hitler did not wait for this victory, and Jodl remained in the OKW. Jodl was wounded at the Fuhrer's headquarters under

General Jodl signs the unconditional surrender of Germany. Reims, 7 May 1945

Rastenburg bombing during the assassination attempt on Hitler as a result of the July plot of 1944. Jodl remained in Berlin with Hitler until April 1945, until he moved to the command post of Grand Admiral Dönitz. On behalf of Dönitz, Jodl put his signature on the document of Germany's surrender to the Western Allies on May 7, 1945 in Reims.

May 23, 1945 Jodl was arrested and brought before the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg. As Albert Speer recalled, “Jodl's accurate and restrained defense made a strong impression. It seems that he was one of the few who managed to rise above the situation.” Jodl argued that a soldier cannot be held responsible for the decisions of politicians. He insisted that he honestly fulfilled his duty, obeying the Fuhrer, and considered the war a fair cause. The tribunal found him guilty and sentenced him to death. Before his death, in one of his letters he wrote: “He [Hitler] buried himself under the ruins of the Reich and his hopes. Let whoever wants to curse him for it, but I can’t.” At dawn on October 16, 1946, Army General Alfred Jodl was hanged. His body was cremated, and the ashes were secretly removed and scattered.

York von Wartenburg, Peter

(Varsk Gon Värіnbügd), (1903-1944), participant in a conspiracy against Hitler. Born November 13, 1903 in Klein-Yolsa (now Olesnica, Poland); great-great-grandson of the hero of the Napoleonic Wars, General Hans Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg. Graduated from the Faculty of Law of the University of Bonn. He held various government posts in Breslau and Berlin. He was a firm opponent of the Nazi regime. Participated in the Polish campaign. While working in the War Office, together with Count von Moltke , he organized the Kreisau Group. He was arrested after the failure of the July conspiracy of 1944 and, by the verdict of the People's Tribunal , was executed on August 8, 1944.

Jost, Heinz Maria Karl

(Zozі), (1904-1951), SS Oberführer, chief of the Foreign Information Service, the so-called. section Ш of the external LED. In 1928 he joined the NSDAP, in 1934 - the SD. He carried out intelligence activities during the Spanish Civil War, and later organized the Einsatzgruppen in Czechoslovakia and Poland. After the creation of the RSHA, he headed the VI Directorate - the Foreign Intelligence Service of the SD ("Ausland SD"). In this post, on June 22, 1941, Walter Schellenberg replaced him , and Jost was demoted and sent to the Eastern Front as a simple soldier, apparently due to the difficult relationship between him and Gestapo chief Heinrich Müller.Jost was one of the last war criminals to be hanged by the Americans in Landsberg Prison in 1951.

Jost, Hans

(ZoKvі), (1890-1978), German playwright, poet, president of the Imperial Chamber of Literature. Born July 8, 1890 in Seerhausen, Saxony. He began his literary career as the author of the expressionist dramas The Young Man (1916), The King (1920) and Thomas Pine (1927). Jost's play "Schlageter" (1933), which tells about a young German patriot killed by the French during their occupation of the Ruhr after the 1st World War, was imbued with the ideas of National Socialism. It is to this play that the catchphrase belongs, which was erroneously attributed to both Goebbels and Goering: “When I hear the word “culture”, my hand reaches for the gun.” In 1933 Jost succeeded Heinrich Mann .as president of the Academy of German Culture and headed the Prussian State Theater, in which he planted the spirit of Nazism. Member of the Prussian Landtag. In 1935 Yost was appointed President of the Imperial Chamber of Literature and President of the Imperial Theater Chamber. In 1949, he failed to pass the prore of durudenazification, he was found to be involved in Nazi crimes and sentenced to imprisonment with confiscation of property.

Kaltenbrunner, Ernst

(KaІіepbgippeg), (1903-1946), head of the Main Directorate of Imperial Security (RSHA) (since 1943). Born October 4, 1903 in Ried, Austria, in the family of a lawyer. Studied at the Technische Hochschule in Graz. He received a law degree in 1926, worked in the court of Salzburg, then opened his own law office in Linz. In 1932 he joined the NSDAP and the SS (since 1935 he was the leader of the Austrian SS). Participated in the putsch of 1934, during which the Austrian Chancellor Dollfuss was killed by the Nazis. Kaltenbrunner, arrested by the Austrian authorities, was released after a short stay in prison. During the Anschluss in March 1938, Kaltenbrunner was appointed Secretary of State for Security in the Cabinet of Artoo raz Seyss-In Quart.Meeting Himmler who arrived in Austria at the airport, Kaltenbrunner reported to him: "The Austrian SS are waiting for your further instructions." Since then, he began to occupy leadership positions in the SS apparatus in Austria - first SS Brigadeführer, then SS Gruppenfuehrer.

In July 1941 Kaltenbrunner was appointed commander of the SS and police in Vienna. January 30, 1943 - chief of the zipo, SD and RSHA.

The French historian Jacques Delarue describes Kaltenbrunner's appearance as follows: "... he was a real colossus. With a height of one meter ninety centimeters, he had broad shoulders and powerful arms with relatively thin hands, capable, however, of crushing a stone. His massive body he was crowned with a large head with a hard, heavy face, as if carved from a poorly hewn stump of a tree.

A high and flat forehead did not at all testify to an outstanding intellect. Small dark brown eyes gleamed harshly in their deep sockets, half covered by heavy lids; a wide, straight mouth, as if carved with a single blow, with thin lips and a huge, square, massive, roughly hewn chin, further emphasized the heavy and gloomy character of this man.

The repulsive expression of his face was reinforced by deep scars, traces of the fashionable duels in his youthful days between students, who considered scars a sign of masculinity. His face seemed inaccessible to emotion. A hollow voice with a strong Austrian accent came out of a powerful chest. Soon the voice seemed to have faded due to alcohol abuse, since Kaltenbrunner, like many other Nazi bosses, was

Ernst Kaltenbrunner

an incorrigible alcoholic, which caused Himmler's dislike. From 10 o'clock in the morning Kaltenbrunner began to swallow champagne and cognac. He smoked almost continuously, "burning" 80-100 cigarettes a day. His fingers and nails were brown from nicotine. He had disgusting yellow teeth that were chipped, which caused poor diction.”

Kaltenbrunner personally supervised the means of destruction of prisoners developed in the camps. In the autumn of 1942, even before his appointment to the RSHA, he inspected the Mauthausen camp, where, together with the camp commandant Ziereis, he watched the agony of the prisoners in the gas chamber through a small window. A year later, in the same Mauthausen, the execution of prisoners was specially organized for him in three ways: by hanging, by a shot in the back of the head and in a gas chamber.

At the end of World War II, Kaltenbrunner was arrested in Austria and brought before the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, who sentenced him to death by hanging. October 16, 1946 the sentence was carried out.

"Canada"

The term that the guards of the “death camps” called the huge warehouses for sorting property seized from newly arriving prisoners. The railway cars transporting prisoners cleaned and loaded everything of any value that was stored in warehouses. The head of the SS Main Administrative and Economic Directorate Oswald Lol reported that 781 freight cars were sent from Auschwitz to Germany in February 1943. Of these, 245 were filled with clothes, and 1 with human hair.Gold seals, extracted from the ashes of burned prisoners, were melted down into ingots and sent to the Reichsbank on a special deposit account (see. Max Heiliger account).

Canaris, Friedrich Wilhelm

(Sapagiz), (1887-1945), admiral, head of the intelligence and counterintelligence department of the high command of the armed forces of Germany - the Abwehr. Born January 1, 1887 in Aplerbeck, near Dortmund, in the family of a steel mill director. He entered the Navy in 1905. During World War I he served on the Dresden cruiser, after which he was interned in Chile in 1915. In 1916, Canaris was sent by German intelligence to Spain, where he launched extensive espionage activities and organized the supply of German submarines from the territory of Spain and Portugal. From 1918 he was adjutant of the Minister of War G. Noske. Canaris participated in the organization of the murder of K. Liebknecht and R. Luxembourg, and then headed the “investigation” in this case. In 1920 he took part in the Kapp Putsch.In the following years, Canaris served in the German Navy. In 1935 he headed the Abwehr under the Ministry of War (since 1938 - under the supreme command of the armed forces). Since 1938, he simultaneously headed the foreign department of the Supreme High Command of the Armed Forces of Germany (OKW). Created a wide espionage and sabotage network in Europe, Asia, Africa and

America. Canaris took part in the development and implementation of Hitler's aggressive plans: the Anschluss of Austria, the invasion of Czechoslovakia and Poland, etc. However, according to his subordinate, General Edwin Lahausen, Canaris possessed many human qualities that put him much higher than an ordinary Nazi official. Not accepting the frank cruelty of the regime and being an opponent of Hitler's policy, Canaris constantly experienced psychological discomfort from the need to play a double game. In February 1944 he was dismissed. With the defeat of Germany approaching, Canaris took part in the conspiracy of the military against Hitler (see the July conspiracy of 1944). After the plot failed, he was arrested and hanged on April 9, 1945 in a concentration camp.Flossenbürg.

Kapp Putsch

A failed anti-government rebellion that took place in March 1920 in the Weimar Republic, led by the reactionary journalist and landowner Wolfgang Kapp (1868-1922), Hermann Erhardt, Generals Erich Ludendorff, W. Lutwitzi, etc. Relying on units of the “Volunteer Corps” and some parts of the Reichswehr 

the conspirators set as their goal the overthrow of the coalition government headed by the Social Democrats, the elimination of the republican system and the establishment of an open military dictatorship. On March 10, 1920, volunteer units marched on Berlin, during which General Lutwitz presented an ultimatum to the government, demanding the dissolution of the national assembly, the re-election of the president, and the refusal to reduce the Reichswehr personnel provided for by the Versailles Treaty of 1919. The government, although it outlawed Kapp, did not took no decisive action against the rebels. On March 13, the putschists occupied Berlin and formed their own government headed by Kapp. President Friedrich Ebertand the government left the capital and moved to Stuttgart. The working class, as well as a significant part of the middle strata and republican-minded bourgeois circles, came out in defense of the republican system. A general strike began in the country, in which 12 million people took part, which frustrated the plans of the putschists, who were counting on the support of the population. The regular army also did not support the putsch, which was liquidated within 5 days. On March 17, Kapp fled to Sweden.

Participants of the Kapp putsch on the Parisian Platz in Berlin in 1920

Carr, Gustav von

(Kabg), (1862-1934), politician of Bavaria. Born November 29, 1862 in Weissenburg, Bavaria. Since the 90s took an active part in the activities of the local Bavarian government. In 1911 he received the title of nobility (Ritter von). In 1917-1924 he headed the government of Bavaria. After the formation of the Weimar Republicvon Kahr, being an ardent monarchist, opposed the central government for the autonomy of Bavaria. In an effort to suppress separatist sentiments, President Friedrich Ebert introduced a state of emergency in the country on September 26, 1923. In response to this, von Kahr proclaimed himself General Commissar of Bavaria, which was seen as a mutiny by the central government in Berlin. Around the separatist program of von Kahr, various monarchist groups united, led by the commander of the military district of the Reichswehrin Bavaria, General Otto von Lossow and the chief of the Bavarian police, Colonel Hans von Scheisser. Hitler, whose position and popularity in Bavaria was rapidly growing, regarded von Kahr's separatism, leading, in his opinion, to weakening the unity of the Reich, as a betrayal of national interests. Fearing the strengthening of the rival Nazi party, von Kahr banned NSDAP meetings at the end of September 1923. In this situation, Hitler decided to seize the initiative, proclaim a "national revolution" and organize a "campaign on Berlin." During the "Beer putsch" 1923Hitler invited von Kahr and von Lossow, taking them hostage, to join the "national revolution" and join the new government. Released temporarily on parole, von Kahr and von Lossov immediately began to develop a plan to suppress the Nazi rebellion. Munich was surrounded by troops, and von Kahr issued a decree banning the activities of the NSDAP. The putsch was put down, and Hitler was put on trial.

In 1924-27 von Kahr was the President of the Supreme Court of Bavaria. During the events of the Night of the Long Knives, von Kahr was killed on July 6, 1934 in his house in Munich by the Nazis, who did not forgive him for suppressing their rebellion.

Cassirer, Ernst

(Sazziger), (1874-1945), German idealist philosopher, representative of the Marburg school of neo-Kantianism. Born July 28, 1874 in Breslau, Silesia, in the family of a wealthy Jewish merchant. He studied at the universities of Berlin, Leipzig and Heidelberg. In 1919-33 Cassirer was professor and rector (1930-33) of the University of Hamburg. Author of the monograph "Philosophy of Symbolic Forms" (1923-29), in which he proposed his own original concept of the philosophy of culture.

After the Nazis came to power, Cassirer left Germany in 1933. He worked in Oxford (1933-35), Gothenburg (1935-41) and from 1941 taught at Yale University (USA). Wrote a number of historical and philosophical works on Leibniz, Kant, Descartes and others. Cassirer died in Princeton, New Jersey on April 13, 1945.

Keitel, Wilhelm

(КеііеІ), [Johann Baudouin] (1882-1946), Field Marshal General of the German Army, Chief of Staff of the Supreme High Command of the German Armed Forces (OKB).Born September 22, 1882 in the estate of Helmscherode, Braunschweig. In 1901 he joined the 46th Field Artillery Regiment with the rank of Fahnejunker. On August 18, 1902, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, he enrolled in instructor courses at the artillery school in Jüterbog. In 1909 Keitel married Lisa Fontaine, daughter of a wealthy manor and brewery owner. In 1910 he was promoted to Oberleutnant, and in 1914 to Hauptmann. During the 1st World War, Keitel participated in the battles in Belgium, was wounded in the arm, after treatment he returned to his 46th artillery regiment as a battery commander. In March 1915 he was appointed to the General Staff. After the end of the 1st World War, when, according to the conditions of Ver-

1919, the German General Staff was dissolved, and the army was reduced to 100 thousand people and had only 4 thousand officers, Keitel was included in the officer corps of the Weimar Republic andhe served as an instructor at the cavalry school in Hannover for three years, and then was enrolled in the headquarters of the 6th artillery regiment. In 1923 he was promoted to the rank of major. In 1925-27, he was part of the organizational department of the troops, which was essentially a secret General Staff. In the summer of 1931, Keitel, as part of a delegation of the German military, visited the USSR on an exchange program. In October 1933, Keitel was appointed commander of the 11th Infantry Division in Potsdam. In July 1934 he was transferred to the 12th Infantry Division stationed in Leibnitz, and on October 1, 1934 he was appointed commander of the 22nd Infantry Division in Bremen. In August 1935, on the advice of the Minister of War and closest friend, Werner von Blomberg,Keitel accepted the appointment to the post of head of the military-political department of the War Ministry. After the resignation of Blomberg and the commander of the ground forces, General fonfritsch (see Blomberg-Fricadelo) , the Wehrmacht's Supreme High Command (SKB) was created, and all power over the armed forces was concentrated in the hands of Hitler. February 4, 1938 Hitler on

meant Keitel chief of staff of the OKW. According to the memoirs of General Walter Warlimont, Keitel was “sincerely convinced that his appointment ordered him to identify himself with the wishes and instructions of the Supreme Commander [Hitler], even in cases where he personally did not agree with them, and honestly bring them to the attention of all subordinates. ". Keitel created three departments in the OKW: the operational department headed by Alfred Jodl, the Abwehr headed by Admiral Wilhelm Canaris and the economic department headed by Major General Georg Thomas. All these three departments waged a fierce struggle with each other, and the number of problems and conflicts grew steadily.

Field Marshals Keitel (left) and Rommel. The picture was taken during the meeting of Rommel in Germany after his unprecedented campaign in North Africa.

In November 1938, Keitel was promoted to the rank of general, and on July 19, 1940, after the fall of France, he became field marshal general. In an attempt to dissuade Hitler from attacking the Soviet Union, Keitel drew up a memorandum addressed to the Fuhrer, in which he substantiated his objections in detail and even submitted his resignation. Hitler gave Keitel a wild dressing and declared that he himself had the right to decide whom he should leave as head of the OKW. From that moment on, Keitel absolutely obeyed the will of Hitler and began to blindly follow the orders of the Fuhrer, for which he received the nickname “Lakeitel” among the generals.In March 1941, he signed the infamous “order on commissars,” according to which all political workers of the Red Army were subject to unconditional physical destruction. In July 1941, by order of Keitel, all power in the occupied territories in the East was transferred to the Reichsführer SS Himmler, which was a prologue to genocide. On December 7, 1941, he signed an order for the destruction of persons "posing a threat to the security of the Reich" - "Darkness and Fog". Despite his position, Keitel practically did not take any part in the development and conduct of purely military operations and was only an obedient tool in in the hands of Hitler, who, with the help of an obliging field marshal, pursued his own policy .Keitel led the measures to eliminate the participants in the assassination attempt on the Fuhrer as part of the "officers' court", issued orders for their arrest, without showing the slightest pity. In the last days of the Third Reich, having completely lost the sense of reality and not realizing that the war was lost, Keitel unleashed brutal repressions against the "terrorist activities of the enemy" - he issued orders for the destruction of partisans and saboteurs.

May 8, 1945 Keitel in the presence of representatives of the Soviet Union signed the act of unconditional surrender of Germany. He then left for Flensburg-Mürwik, the headquarters of Karl Dönitz, where a few days later he was arrested by the British military police.

During the Nuremberg Trials, Keitel pleaded guilty to following Hitler's orders. He was convicted of crimes against humanity, against peace and war crimes and sentenced to death. On October 16, 1946, he was hanged in the Nuremberg prison. His last words were: “Germany above all!”

Keutner, Helmut

(Kauipeg), German director and screenwriter. Born March 25, 1908 in Düsseldorf. In 1931-35 he worked in the Munich theatrical cabaret, from 1935 in the drama theater, from 1938 in the cinema. The political film comedy “Kitty and the International Conference” (1939), staged by Keutner, was banned by Nazi censorship. His films “Romance in a Minor” (1943) and “Street Great Freedom, 7” (1944), which did not meet the goals of military propaganda, were also banned.

Kempka, Erich

(Ketrka), Hitler's personal chauffeur. Born September 16, 1910. Member of the NSDAP. With the rank of SS-Sturmbannführer (Major), he served in Hitler's bodyguard regiment , the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler.

Königsberg speech

Speech by Hjalmar Schacht on August 18, 1935 in Koenigsberg, Vost. Prussia, in which he denounced the senseless cruelty against the Jews. Like Vice Chancellor Franz von Papen's Marburg Speech , this speech was intended to expose the most brutal aspects of the Hitler regime. However, it received little public outcry in the Nazi-controlled press, since it did not touch upon the ideological foundations of National Socialism. The text of the speech was printed in a secondary edition of the Reichsbank.

Kepler, Wilhelm

(Kerrieg), (1882-1960), German industrialist who provided significant financial support to Hitler on his path to power. Member of the NSDAP. Organizer (1931) and active participant in the pro-Nazi financial-industrial group (the so-called Kepler group), implemented. y who financed the National Socialist movement in order to obtain large privileges and profits in the future. After becoming chancellor, Hitler appointed Kepler Reichskommissar for economic affairs. As a member of the Reichstag, Kepler in 1936 became Goering's adviser on the Four Year Plan. Participated in the preparation and implementation of the AnschlussAustria, in March 1938 he was sent to Vienna as a Reichskommissar. During the 2nd World War, he served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was the head of various enterprises and funds that were subordinate to the SS. After the defeat of the Third Reich, Kepler, as a war criminal, was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but released in 1951.

Kerrl, Hans

(KeggI), (1887-1941), Reich Minister without portfolio in Hitler's first cabinet. Born December 11, 1887 in Fallersleben in the family of a Lutheran school teacher. During the 1st World War he served as a lieutenant, was awarded the Iron Cross II and I degree and the Braunschweig medal. After the Nazis came to power, Kerrl was appointed Prussian Minister of Justice and at the same time Reich Minister without portfolio. In July 1935 he was also appointed Minister for Church Affairs; pursued a policy of subordinating the evangelical church to the state. He died December 15, 1941 in Berlin.

Kersten, Felix

(Kerziep), (1898-1960), personal physician of Heinrich Himmler. Born September 20, 1898 in Dorpat (now Tartu, Estonia). He studied at the Agricultural Institute in Holstein and worked as a manager of a large firm in Anhalt. In 1919 he served in the Finnish army, took part in the war with Russia, received Finnish citizenship. In 1922 he moved to Berlin, received a medical education and took up medical practice.

In March 1939, on the recommendation of Rudolf Gessa, he took up the treatment of Himmler for gastric colic, the success of which provided Kersten with a large fortune and authority in high Nazi circles. He was also the attending physician to Robert Ley and Joachim von Ribbentrop.

After the war, he published a book of memoirs “Dead Head” and Loyalty”, in which he detailed Himmler's ideas about the future world order: the deportation to Germany and the destruction of all American Jews; a radical change in European borders; the introduction of German as an official language for all European countries; forbidding all non-Aryan races to have children; the execution of the Pope as a symbol of the destruction of Catholicism; revival of ancient Nordic beliefs, etc.

Kesselring, Albert

(Kezzeіgіpd), (1885-1960), Field Marshal of the Luftwaffe. Born November 20, 1885 in Marktsteft, Bavaria. In 1904 he joined the army and served in the artillery. For two years he fought on the Western Front during the 1st World War, after which he was

Field Marshal Kesselring leading the evacuation of German troops from Italy

declared to the General Staff. In 1936, after the death of General Wefer in a plane crash, Kesselring was appointed chief of the Luftwaffe General Staff. From February 1938 he commanded the 1st Air Fleet, in 1939 he participated in the war against Poland. In 1940 he commanded the 2nd Air Fleet in the Western Theater of Operations, which took part in the French campaign and raids on England. July 19, 1940 he was awarded the rank of Field Marshal. From December 2, 1941 to March 10, 1945, Kesselring commanded the German troops of the Southwest (Mediterranean-Italy). From March 25 to May 6, 1945 - Commander-in-Chief of the German troops of the West. Surrendered to the Americans.

On May 6, 1947, Kesselring appeared before a British military tribunal on charges of killing 335 Italian citizens in response to an Italian partisan attack on a German unit. He was sentenced to death, but in October 1947 it was commuted to life imprisonment. October 23, 1952 Kesselring was amnestied. He died on July 16, 1960 in Bad Nauheim.

Cinematography in the Third Reich

After the Nazis came to power, German cinematography, which had previously received worldwide recognition thanks to the originality and talent of German actors and directors, became an integral part of the Gleichschaltun program - the subordination of all spheres of German life to Nazi ideology. “I want to use cinema as a propaganda tool,” said Goebbels, whom Hitler entrusted with control over cinematography at all stages - from production to distribution. The first step of the authorities was to cleanse the production and creative film process of “racially alien elements” - people of Jewish nationality. caused many German filmmakers to leave the country, including film directors Fritz Lang, Wilhelm Dieterle, Ernst Lubitsch, film score composers Kurt Weil,Friedrich Hollander, Hans Eisler, Misha Shpolansky, actors Fritz Kortner, Conrad Veidt, Elisabeth Bergner, Marlene Dietrich, Madi Christiane and many others. Actress Brigitte Helm was charged with “racial pollution of the nation” on the sole ground that she was married to a Jew. The popular actor Leo Reus fled to Vienna, where, having changed his Jewish appearance, he specialized in “Aryan” roles. Beautiful German actress Renata Müller committed suicide, unable to withstand the harassment of the Minister of Propaganda Goebbels.All Germany was outraged by the case that occurred in 1940 with the country's most popular film actor Joachim Gottschalk.Being married to a Jewish woman, the actor refused to obey the demands of the authorities to divorce his wife and leave the child. Accusing the actor's wife of racial inferiority, the Gestapo gave the couple one day to leave the country. Refusing to emigrate, the couple committed suicide. After the incident, the German film studios were close to revolt.

Some cinematographers nevertheless agreed to cooperate with the Nazi regime. Actors Emil Jannings, Heinrich Georg, Werner Kraus, Gustav Goyundgens, actresses Lil Dagover, Pola Negri, Anni Ondra remained to work in Germany.

The creative level of the films being made declined sharply already in the first period of Nazi rule. Mostly propaganda films were staged: “The Flaming Soldier of the SA” (1933, Bavarian Film Studio), which sang the exploits of attack aircraft, with the participation of minor actors and a director; “НІІегіпде Оех”, which tells about the fate of the staunch Nazi Herbert Norkus, who died at the hands of the communists, whose parents were communists; “Hans Westmar” (1933) is a cinematic biography of Horst Wessel, the Nazi 'martyr' 1 ,etc. The Nazi authorities held mass screenings of these films in Berlin and other German cities. However, apart from the organized columns of stormtroopers marching to the cinemas, the rest of the public ignored such films. Nazi control over cinematography reached its zenith in 1934-35. On April 25, 1935, the International Film Festival opened in Berlin, which was attended by over 2,000 delegates from 40 countries. At this festival, the official premiere of the film "Triumph of the Will" (dir. Leni Riefenstahl), filmed during the party congress in Nuremberg in September 1934, took place. By 1937, the German film industry was actually nationalized.

In 1938, another significant documentary was released - Olympia (directed by L. Riefenstahl), a chronicle of the 1936 Olympic Games. .

During the early years of World War II, Nazi films lauded the triumphant deeds of the Wehrmacht soldier, caricaturing the enemy as weak, vile, and cowardly. German newsreels daily presented the public with reports of victories won at the fronts. Since 1943, the tone of films began to change - it was required to sub-

"Eternal Jew" - advertising poster for the anti-Semitic film by Fritz Hippler

keep the morale of the army and the nation. After the Berlin film studio was destroyed by Allied bombing at the end of the war, film production moved to studios in Amsterdam, Budapest and Rome.

In the entire history of the Third Reich (1933-45), 1363 full-length films were released in Germany. All these films, as well as short films, news releases and documentaries, were required to be screened by the Ministry of Propaganda before being shown on a large scale. Most of the feature films were not only far from life, but also from creativity in general. Only a small part of them was selected for propaganda purposes. Cinema audiences declined significantly during the war.

Kip, Otto Carl

(Kіer), (1886-1944), German lawyer, diplomat, member of the Resistance movement. Born July 7, 1886 in Scotland in the family of a German consul. Continuing the family tradition, he entered the diplomatic service. He took part in negotiations on reparations. In 1927 he was appointed adviser to the German embassy in Washington, and in 1930 he was appointed consul general in New York. In 1933, Kip was recalled to his homeland for participating in celebrations in honor of Albert Einstein. He worked in the foreign department of the OKW, in which many opponents of the Nazi regime collaborated. Falling under suspicion of the Gestalo, Kip was arrested on January 16, 1944 and sentenced to death for treason. Executed in the Plötzensee prison in Berlin on August 26, 1944.

Kirdorf, Emil

(KіgbogT), (1847-1938), a major Rhineland industrialist, "coal baron" who provided financial support to the Nazi movement. Born April 8, 1847 in Mettmann. Extreme nationalist, supporter of pan- Germanism, founder of the so-called. "Ruhr treasury" - a huge investment fund of the Ruhr coal industry. In 1929 he met Hitler, after which he began to provide financial support to the Nazi Party. He died in Mülheim on July 13, 1938.

Otto Karl Kip

Kleist, Paul Ludwig Ewald von

(КІеізі), (1881-1954), Field Marshal of the Armed Forces of Germany. Born August 8, 1881 in Braunfels in an old aristocratic family close to the Hindenburg family. In 1932-35 he commanded a cavalry division. On August 1, 1936, he was promoted to the rank of General of the Cavalry, and he was appointed commander of the 8th military district (Breslau). He was temporarily suspended from service, but in August 1939 he was again appointed commander of the 22nd Army Corps. In 1940 he commanded a tank group on the Western Front. In 1941 he fought in the Balkans, participated in the capture of Belgrade. During the invasion of the USSR, von Kleist commanded the 1st Panzer Army, which took part in the battles near Rostov and in the North. Caucasus. As part of his troops were units, entirely composed of

Field Marshal von Kleist

coming from Azerbaijanis, Kalmyks, Ossetians and other peoples of the Caucasus. On January 31, 1943, von Kleist was awarded the rank of Field Marshal for success in the Russian campaign. At the end of World War II, von Kleist was taken prisoner in Yugoslavia. In 1948 it was handed over to the Soviet Union by the British. In October 1954 he died in a prisoner of war camp in Vladimir.

Kluge, Günther Hans von

(KІide), (1882-1944), Field Marshal of the German Army. Born October 30, 1882 in Posen (now Poznan, Poland). Member of the 1st World War. In 1935, with the rank of major general, he was appointed commander of the 6th military district. In 1938, for the support of General Werner von Fritsch,retired. After the outbreak of the 2nd World War, von Kluge was again called up for service. He commanded the 6th Army Group during the capture of the Polish Corridor. In 1940 he was transferred to the Western Front. July 19, 1940 received the rank of Field Marshal. He took part in the attack on the USSR; in 1941 commander of the 4th Army, in 1941-43 commander in chief of Army Group Center. In the fall of 1943, von Kluge was seriously injured during a car accident on the Orsha-Minsk highway and was out of action for a long time. On July 2, 1944, Hitler, furious that the troops of Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt had failed to prevent the Allied landing in Normandy, appointed von Kluge as commander-in-chief of Army Group West in his place. However, he also suffered setbacks and was removed from his post in favor of Field Marshal Walter Model.In a state of depression from military defeats, von Kluge committed suicide on August 18, 1944.

Field Marshal von Kluge. Von Kluge was one of the most competent generals, for which he was nicknamed "The Wise Hans"

Knauf, Erich

(KpaiT), (1895-1944), German journalist, publicist. Born February 21, 1895 in Saxony in a working-class family. Member of the 1st World War. Then he took up journalism. After the Nazis came to power, Knauf was expelled from the Imperial Press Association for a number of articles critical of National Socialism. He spent two and a half months in the Oranienburg and Lichtenburg concentration camps. In 1944, publicly calling Goebbels a “little rat” and Himmler an executioner, “giving daily from 80 to 100 orders for executions,” Knauf was arrested again and, by the verdict of the People’s Tribunal , was executed on May 2, 1944.

Кнокплёген

(Kpokrioedep), a Dutch resistance group formed shortly after the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940. Mainly engaged in humanitarian issues, promoting its members to government positions, distributing anti-Nazi literature, etc. Later, members of the organization took part in more serious sabotage promotions.

"When the SS and SA march"

(“Vepp sііе 88 ipsі sііе 8А аутагбсі-егі”), a marching song popular in the early years of the Nazi movement, demonstrating the fraternal unity of the Blackshirts from the SS security detachments and the Brownshirts from the SA. In fact, despite the propaganda nature of this song, unity between subordinates Himmler and Ernst Röhm never existed.

Chicken, Oscar

(KokoBsbka), Austrian expressionist painter. Born March 1, 1886 in Pöchlarn. In 1920-24 he studied at the Dresden Art School. Traveled across Europe and North. Africa. His early works were distinguished by unbridled energy and expressiveness of psychological tension. The late stage of creativity is characterized by a weakening of the expressive style. In 1937, by order of the Nazi authorities, all his works were withdrawn from art galleries in Germany, and his work was declared decadent.

Koldic

(СoІсіІІх), a small concentration camp for prisoners of war in Saxony, created in October 1939, initially for the detention of captured Polish officers, then Belgian officers. It was designed to hold 200 prisoners. Since the conditions of detention in the camp were forgiving, there were frequent escapes from it, as well as frequent skirmishes between prisoners and guards. At the end of 1944, the conditions of detention deteriorated sharply, only elderly prisoners (over 50 years old) remained in the camp. In April 1945, the Colditz prisoners were liberated by the Americans.

Kolbe, Maximilian

(Ko_be), (1894-1941), Polish Catholic priest. Studied at the Gregorian University in Rome, Doctor of Philosophy and Theology. In 1939 he founded a monastery near Warsaw, which, after the invasion of Poland by German troops, became a refuge for refugees. He was arrested by the Nazi authorities, put in a Warsaw prison, then sent to Auschwitz. At the end of July 1941 he fled. The camp authorities announced that if the fugitive was not found within 24 hours, up to 600 hostages from his barracks would be executed. Having voluntarily returned to the camp, Father Kolbe was executed among 10 prisoners.

Kolwitz, Kete

(KoІІVlih), (1867-1945), German artist. She was born on July 8, 1867 in Königsberg. Born Schmidt. She studied with Karl Staufer-Bern in Berlin and Ludwig Geterich in Munich. In 1919-33 she was a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts. After the Nazis came to power, Kollwitz's work was subjected to brutal pressure from Nazi ideologists. Until 1943 she lived in Berlin. Her drawings, engravings and lithographs, dedicated to the life of the common people and distinguished by the sophistication of style and the utmost compositional expressiveness, brought her worldwide fame. She died in Moritzburg, near Dresden, on April 22, 1945.

"Commissioner Erlas"

(Kottiszag Egiazz - "Decree on Commissars"), a directive sent by Hitler in March 1941 to the German Supreme Command of the Armed Forces (OKW), regarding the rules for waging war against the Soviet Union. It stated, in part:

“The war against Russia cannot be fought like a knight. This is a war of ideologies and racial differences and must be waged with unprecedented, ruthless and unrelenting firmness. All officers must get rid of old-fashioned ideas about the conduct of war. I imagine that the need to wage such a war will overwhelm you completely, but I must insistently demand the unconditional execution of my orders. Commissars hold views directly opposed to National Socialism. Therefore, these commissars must be destroyed. Any German soldier who breaks international law will be forgiven. Russia does not participate in the Hague Convention and therefore has no right to its patronage.”

This emergency order caused confusion among senior army officers, but the will of the Fuhrer was strictly carried out. The “Decree on Commissars” figured among the documentary evidence at the Nuremberg trials.

"Committee of Seven"

Created in Austria in early 1938, a non-governmental body from among the Austrian Nazis, whose task was to interact with the federal government. In fact, he coordinated Nazi subversive activities in order to prepare the Anschluss. On January 25, 1938, the Austrian police seized the headquarters of the Committee, where they found documents signed by Deputy Fuhrer Rudolf Hess, which called on the Austrian Nazis to carry out an uprising in the country in the spring. Following the uprising, the occupation of Austria by a regular German army was envisaged.

"Committee of Three"

A government agency specially created in the Third Reich at the beginning of 1943, designed to make it easier for the Fuhrer to conduct public affairs. It consisted of the head of the Reich Chancellery Hans Lammers, Martin Bormann and Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel. All instructions and orders requiring Hitler's signature passed through the Committee. Cases relating to the Wehrmacht passed through the hands of Keitel. Administrative matters were handled by Lammers. Bormann - the internal affairs of the state, sometimes making independent decisions on behalf of the Fuhrer.

Communist Party of Germany

(KottypizІіzsye Parіei OeiTzsyapsIB; CRE), one of the largest communist parties in the world. It was founded at the founding congress in Berlin from December 30, 1918 to January 1, 1919. From 1925 Ernst Thalmann was chairman of the Central Committee of the KKE . In the late 20's - early 30's. combat detachments of the KPD waged a street war with the armed units of the Nazi Party - SA and SS. After the Nazis came to power, the KKE was banned, many of its activists were arrested and thrown into concentration camps and prisons. Until the last days of the Third Reich, the activities of the KKE took place underground.

Condor

Legion "Kondo R", a division of the Luftwaffe that took part in the Spanish Civil War 

on the side of the Francoists. It consisted of several squadrons of Junkers-52 bombers and Heinkel-51 fighters. In November 1936, Major General Hugo Sperrle was appointed commander of the legion. On April 27, 1937, the aircraft of the Condor Legion raided the Spanish town of Guernica, as a result of which many civilians were killed. In 1938, Condor units participated in the bombing of Barcelona. Spain gained their first combat experience.In November 1937, Major General Helmut Volkman was appointed commander of the Condor, and in November 1938, Brigadier General Wolfram von Richthofen.

Concordat 1933

Agreement between the Vatican and Germany, signed on July 20, 1933.

To appease the German Catholics and the Vatican, who criticized racism and the neo-pagan policy of the Nazis, Hitler, who for the time being avoided entering into open conflict with the church, constantly declared his good will towards freedom of conscience and proclaimed non-interference of the state and the party in the internal affairs of the church. In response to this, representatives of the church hierarchy at the conference of the episcopate held on March 28, 1933 called on the parishioners to support the new government. The position of the church was to become not only the basis for an internal German compromise, but also a prerequisite for the negotiations that began in April 1933 between the representatives of the Vatican and Berlin on the conclusion of the Concordat. However, the agreement reached during the negotiations did not prevent the liquidation of the Catholic People's Party of Bavaria and a number of other parties. Hitler regarded the signing of the Concordat as a success in the foreign policy of the Third Reich. First, he told a cabinet meeting, it was positive that the Vatican negotiated with the Nazi authorities, contrary to popular belief that National Socialism was hostile to the Church. Secondly, it was possible to attract the Vatican to the side of the Reich. “All this testifies to the recognition of the current regime,” Hitler said.

However, very soon millions of parishioners were able to see that the Concordat brought benefits only to the Nazis. The voices of protest of Catholic priests and evangelical pastors against lawlessness and abuse of power were qualified by the Nazis as unacceptable interference of the church in the sphere of politics. In this situation, the pope published in November 1937 the encyclical “With deep concern ...”, in which, although he stated that the conditions of the Concordat were not fulfilled by the Nazi authorities, he did not condemn them for the persecution of both Catholics and Protestants.

"Canned food"

The secret name given by the German secret services to the participants in the Gleiwitz Incident, selected from among convicted criminals. Conceived as a provocation, the plan, devised on the orders of Himmler by Reinhard Heydrich and Heinrich Müller, was to dress several German criminals in Polish military uniforms, inject them with a lethal injection and, simulating gunshot wounds, then leave the bodies on the grounds of the radio station in Gleiwitz in this way to give the impression that Polish soldiers attacked a German radio station. The participants in this operation were promised release.

Conti, Leonardo

(Sopii), (1900-1945), chief physician of the Third Reich. Born August 24, 1900 in Lugano, Switzerland. After receiving a medical education, he settled in Berlin and engaged in medical practice. In 1923 he joined the SA, became the first doctor of the assault squads. He supervised the creation of the SA Sanitary Corps. He was the founder of the National Socialist Union of Doctors. In 1932 he became a member of the Prussian Landtag.

In 1939, Hitler appointed Conti head of the Imperial Health and State Secretary of the Prussian Ministry of Health. In these posts, Conti was responsible for the destruction of a large number of the mentally and terminally ill during the campaign to "purify the Nordic race." In 1941 he was elected to the Reichstag; He was promoted to the rank of SS Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General). In 1945 he committed suicide in Nuremberg prison.

concentration camps

Specially equipped places of preventive detention for opponents of the Nazi regime. They were known for cruel treatment of prisoners and inhuman conditions of their detention. Even before coming to power, Hitler told Hermann Rauschning: “We must be ruthless!... I am not going to turn concentration camps into correctional institutions. Terror is the most effective tool. I will not pretend to be a benefactor just so as not to offend the many stupid bourgeois sissies.

The first concentration camps were created shortly after the Nazis came to power. The order on their formation stated that the purpose of their creation was "the eradication of political opponents and the conversion of anti-social elements of society into its useful members." The Nazi authorities initially tried to present the concentration camps as a legitimate means of maintaining public order and security, in accordance with Article 48 of the Weimar constitution. The law of February 28, 1933 suspended the operation of the articles of this constitution and provided for preventive detention for dissidents.

Three main concentration camps were built as early as 1933: Dachau near Munich, Buchenwald near Weimar and Sachsenhausen near Berlin. The first prisoners in them were communists and Jews. However, the dissatisfaction with the Nazi regime was so great that the prisoners of the concentration camps very soon became Social Democrats, Catholics, Protestants and even dissident Nazis. Trade union leaders, priests, pacifists ended up in camps without trial or investigation and the right to pardon.

Soon new camps were created: in Germany - Ravensbrück, Belsen, Gooss-Rosen, Papenburg; in Austria - Mauthausen; in Bohemia, Theresienstadt. In 1934-39, about 200 thousand prisoners passed through the concentration camps. After the outbreak of World War II,

SS women's unit in a concentration camp

Wobbelin concentration camp, April 5, 1945. Many prisoners of this camp starved to death before the US Fifth Army entered.

The number of concentration camp prisoners began to grow rapidly.

After the occupation of Poland , the Auschwitz, Birkenau, Treblinka and Majdanek concentration camps were created on its territory, which soon, after being equipped with gas chambers, turned into "death camps" - centers for the implementation of genocide, the consistent and purposeful destruction of entire peoples.

The conditions of detention in concentration camps, although they had their own characteristics, were generally distinguished by cruelty and inhumanity of the content.

Initially, the prisoners were divided into 4 groups: political opponents of the regime, representatives of the “lower races”, criminals and “unreliable elements”. The second group, including Gypsies and Jews, was subject to unconditional physical extermination and was kept in separate barracks. They were subjected to the most cruel treatment by the SS guards, they were starved, sent to the most exhausting work. Among the political prisoners were members of anti-Nazi parties, primarily communists and social democrats, members of the Nazi party accused of serious crimes, listeners of foreign radio, members of various religious sects. Among the “unreliable” were homosexuals, alarmists, discontented, etc.

All prisoners of the concentration camps were required to wear distinctive signs on their clothes, including a serial number and a colored triangle (“winkel”)on the left side of the chest and right knee (In Auschwitz, the serial number was tattooed on the left forearm.) All political prisoners wore a red triangle, criminals - green, "unreliable" - black, homosexuals - pink, gypsies - brown. In addition to the classification triangle, the Jews also wore yellow, as well as the six-pointed “Star of David”. A Jew who violated racial laws (“racial defiler”) had to wear a black border around a green or yellow triangle. Foreigners also had their own distinctive signs (the French wore a sewn letter “ E", the Poles - "P", etc.). The letter "K" denoted a war criminal (KgіedBѵerggesli-eg), the letter "A" - a violator of labor discipline (from German Argeii - "work"). The feeble-minded wore a patch Bob - “fool.” Prisoners who participated in or were suspected of escaping

At the trials that took place after the collapse of the Third Reich, many horrifying details of the detention of concentration camp prisoners, the atrocities of the SS guards, medical experiments on people, torture, beatings, and gassing were revealed. Many officials from the SS, which was in charge of the concentration camps, were sentenced to varying degrees of severity.

Kordt, Erich

(KogsK), German diplomat. Born in 1903. From 1934 he worked in the German Foreign Ministry under Joachim von Ribbentrop. Participated in important negotiations and meetings at the highest level. In May 1935 he accompanied Ribbentrop to London to sign the Anglo-German Naval Agreement of 1935. In 1942-45 he worked at the German embassy in Japan and China. After the war, he was rehabilitated in the process of denazification.

“Brown house”

(Vgainez Nain), since 1931 the headquarters of the headquarters of the National Socialist Workers' Party of Germany, located in Munich at 45 Brennerstrasse . parties. In 1928, with funds from Rhineland industrialists, the Barl mansion was purchased, which, at the direction of Hitler, the architect Paul Ludwig Troost rebuilt into a complex of party institutions.

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Kortner, Fritz

(Kogіpeg), German theater actor and director. Born March 12, 1892 in Vienna. He studied acting in Mannheim. In 1911 he moved to Berlin, where he worked at the German Theater with the famous director Max Reinhardt. With a group of young actors, Kortner, in rebellion against Reinhardt's theatrical techniques, developed his own expressionist staging forms. He became widely known for playing the roles of Caesar, Richard III, Othello, etc. After the Nazis came to power, he was forced to leave Germany and settled in the United States, where he acted in films. In 1949 he returned to his homeland, won a huge success by staging the plays “Waiting for Godot” (1954) and “Storm” (1968).

Koch, Erich

(Kos), (1896-1961), Nazi party and military leader. In 1928 he was appointed to the post of Gauleiter Vost. Prussia, since 1933 - Chief President Vost. Prussia, from 1941 to 1944 - Reichskommissar of Ukraine. He was distinguished by extreme cruelty even against the background of other Nazi functionaries.

Chrysleiter

(Kgeіvіеііеg), head of the district party organization of the NSDAP in the district - krais. Like the Reichsleiters and Gauleiters, the Kreisleiters were appointed directly by the Führer.

Kramer, Joseph

(Kgateg), (1906-1945), commandant of the Belsen concentration camp, who received the nickname “Belzen beast” for the extremely cruel treatment of prisoners. He began service in concentration camps in 1934. He received his first “experience” of work in Auschwitz under the leadership of Rudolf Franz Höss, later he “trained” in Mauthausen, Dachau and Birkenau. In 1940, Kramer accompanied Höss on an inspection trip to Auschwitz for the construction of a new plant for the production of synthetic coal fuel and rubber. In November 1944 he was appointed commandant of Belsen, which by March 1945 contained about 60 thousand prisoners. The Allied troops who liberated Belsen in April 1945 found the bodies of over 28,000 dead prisoners in the camp.

SS-Hauptsch-Turmführer Josef Kramer, commandant of Beläen concentration camp

After the war, Kramer appeared before the British Military Tribunal in Lüneburg, was sentenced to death on November 17, 1945, and executed shortly thereafter.

"Red Chapel"

(Boie KareIIe), a German underground organization of the resistance movement created with the help of Soviet intelligence. It consisted of about 100 members and had a wide agent network in Germany. Among its leaders were many well-known people in Germany, including the grandson of Admiral von Tirpitz Garro Schulze-Boysen, the nephew of the famous theologian Adolf von Harnack Arvid Harnack. Members of the "Red Chapel" managed to infiltrate many military and civilian departments and occupy high positions there. The organization's agent network was uncovered by the Abwehr in 1942. The case of the "Red Chapel" was led by Gestapo chief Heinrich Muller . Most of its leaders were executed by guillotine.

Kraus, Clemens

(Kgaiz), (1893-1954), German conductor. Worked at the Bavarian National Theatre. Then - in the opera companies of Frankfurt am Main and in Vienna. In 1938-45 he was artistic director of the Munich Opera.

Kreisau, group

A small group of opponents of the Nazi regime, consisting of junior officers and civil servants, created in 1933. The group was headed by Helmuth Count von Moltke and Peter Count von Wartenburg. The members of the group met at the Moltke estate in Kreisau, Silesia. Clearly realizing that Hitler would lead Germany to disaster, the group members agreed that the only way out of this situation was the revival of Christian values, ideas of humanism and ethical principles in the country. On August 9, 1943, the group distributed the so-called. The basic principles of the new order, which were proposed as the basis for the future state structure.

In 1943, the group already numbered more than 20 people. It included army officers, academicians, liberals and socialists, Catholics and Protestants. Those of them who turned out to be closely associated with the participants in the July 1944 conspiracy were arrested and executed.

"Peasant Union"

The Peasants' Front (Bapbünb), the most significant organization of agricultural producers in the Third Reich. Created in 1933. The union was headed by Reichsleiter Walter Darre.

Kripo

(Kgiro), V Directorate of the RSHA, which exercised control over the activities of the criminal police of the Reich (in the broad sense, Kripo - criminal police). Consisted of four departments: VA - criminal police and preventive measures; VB - repressive criminal police, crimes and offenses; VC - identification and search; VO - Institute of Criminalistics Zipo (Gestapo and Kripo). From 1940 until 22 July 1944 it was headed by SS Obergruppenführer and Police General Arthur

Sky, then until the end of the war - Panzinger. The central service consisted of 1200 employees.

Christian, Gerda

(Sbgіzііap), Hitler's secretary in 1933-45. Born December 13, 1913 in Berlin. Born Daranovski. She married a young officer Eckard Christian, who eventually became a general and chief of staff of the Luftwaffe. Together with Hitler's second secretary, Gertrude Junge , she was in the Fuhrerbunker during the last days of the Third Reich. She was among the few invited to the marriage ceremony of Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun. After the war, she lived in Düsseldorf, avoiding any interviews about her work with the Fuhrer.

Krosig, Lutz Schwerin von

(Kgozidk), from 1932 to 1945 - Reich Minister of Finance in the government of Hitler.

See Schwerin von Krosig.

Krupp von Bohlen, Gustav

(Khirr hop Bouyen ipb Hailac), (1870-1950), German industrialist and financial tycoon, who provided significant material support to the Nazi movement. Was born? August 1870 in The Hague in the family of a banker. In 1893 he graduated from the law faculty of Heidelberg University. He began his career as a diplomat, working in the German legations in Washington, Beijing and the Vatican. From 1906 he was a member of the board of directors of the Krupp concern. In the 20s. He opposed the Nazi movement, but after meeting with Hitler on February 20, 1933, he changed his mind and began to provide financial assistance to the German rearmament program. In May 1933 Krupp von Bohlen was appointed president of the "Adolf Hitler Foundation". At Krupp's enterprises, where tanks, artillery and other military equipment were produced on a huge scale, the labor of prisoners of war and other prisoners of concentration camps was widely used. In 1948, Krupp von Bohlen appeared before an American military tribunal as a war criminal, but was released from criminal liability due to age and health. He died in Blünbach, near Salzburg, on January 16, 1950.

Kubicek, August

(Kubigek), (1889-?), a close friend of Adolf Hitler in his youth. He was assistant draper in Linz. He met Hitler in 1904 at the local opera house and soon became his best friend. They rented one room for two, walked together, went out of town. In the face of Kubicek, the nervous, impulsive Adolf found an attentive and patient listener. “His speech was like a volcanic eruption,” Kubizek recalled. “She existed, as it were, separately from him, as something independent.” At the beginning of 1908, Kubizek left the draper shop and went to Vienna to learn to play the viola. Adolf Hitler also went to Vienna, but with the intention of becoming an artist. Together they rented an apartment at 29 Stumper Allee. Kubitschek entered the conservatory, and Adolf was rejected by the Academy of Arts - he could not recover from this blow all his life. "He was rejected by the world, he became unbalanced,” recalled Kubitschek. Soon the friends broke up, and their next meeting took place 30 years later onBayreuth Festival dedicated to the work of Wagner. After World War II, Kubitschek published a book of memoirs, The Young Hitler I Knew.

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Laval, Pierre

(1_аѵаІ), (1883-1945), French statesman, prime minister of the Vichy collaborationist government. Born June 28, 1883 in Châteldon. Lawyer by profession. In 1914-19 and in 1924-27 he was a member of parliament. Repeatedly entered the government. In January 1931-January 1932 and in June 1935-January 1936 Laval was Prime Minister of France. After the assassination in Marseille on October 9, 1934, Foreign Minister Louis Barthou held this post (until June 1935)

Laval. From the beginning of World War II, Laval sought to sign a separate peace with Nazi Germany. After the defeat of France and the conclusion of the armistice, on June 23, 1940, Laval took the post of Minister of State in the government of Philippe Pétain, where he acted as a direct accomplice of Hitler. From April 1942 to August 1944 he was prime minister of the Vichy collaborationist government. After the liberation of France in 1944, Laval fled the country, first to Spain and then to Austria.

Ryu. July 31, 1945 arrested in the Innsb hand by the Americans. In August 1945 Laval was extradited to the French authorities; tried to commit suicide. He was sentenced to death as a traitor and shot on October 15, 1945.

Pierre Laval, Prime Minister of Pétain, meets Hitler after the fall of France in the war with Germany in 1940

"Death Camps"

Special concentration camps in which the physical destruction of unwanted persons and "inferior" peoples was carried out. After the outbreak of World War II, in order to implement the Nazi program of genocide against the Jewish population of Europe (the so-called “final extermination”}, some concentration camps were equipped with gas chambers and turned into entire “death factories” in which many millions of people died Most of the "death camps" were located on the territory of occupied Poland: Auschwitz, Majdanek, Treblinka and others.

Lackeytel

The nickname of Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Chief of the General Staff of the Supreme High Command of the Wehrmacht (OKW) , who was not popular among military army officers for his obsequious attitude towards Hitler.

Lammers, Hans Heinrich

(Hammers), (1879-1962), Reich Minister and Head of the Reich Chancellery. Born May 27, 1879 in Lublinica (Upper Silesia). Lawyer by education. In 1921-33 he served in the Ministry of the Interior, in 1933-45 he headed the Fuhrer's Reich Chancellery. He was a member of Hitler's inner circle in Obersalzberg, from where he and his staff managed the chancellery for a long time. Lammers was Hitler's legal adviser. In 1937, Hitler appointed Lammers as Reich Minister without Portfolio, and in 1939 as Ministerial Adviser on Defense of the Reich. In 1940 he was promoted to the rank of SS Obergruppenführer (general).

In 1943, along with Martin Bormann and Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Lammers joined the so-called. "Committee of Three" - a specially created body designed to develop and facilitate the Fuhrer's conduct of business as head of state. An unimaginative official, Lammers liked to delve into the technical details of the jurisdiction. On April 23, 1945, when Goering sent a telegram to Hitler that he was taking over the leadership of the country, the furious Fuhrer ordered the arrest of not only Goering, but also Lammers, believing that it was he who gave Goering the idea that Hitler’s order from June 29, 1941, in which Goering was declared the Fuhrer's successor in the event of his inability to lead the country.

In 1949, at a trial in Nuremberg, Lammers was charged with preparing and legally substantiating measures to exterminate the Jews. As an excuse, he claimed that he did not know anything about the results of these events until they were announced at the Nuremberg trials. He stated: “I knew that the order of the Fuhrer to Heydrich was transmitted by Goering. This order was called the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question”. But I didn't know anything else about it." The court sentenced Lammers to 20 years in prison. New in 1951, the sentence was reduced to 10 years, and in 1952 Lammers was released. He died in Düsseldorfe on January 4, 1962.

Langben, Carl

(Landjeitn), (1901-1944), German lawyer. The rally of 1943 carried out negotiations in Switzerland with representatives of the American secret services on the conclusion of a separate peace with the Western powers. Langben tried to involve Himmler in these negotiations, with whom he was personally acquainted and who saw in these negotiations an opportunity to realize his own interests. After the Gestapo deciphered one of Langben's radio intercepts, Himmler, in order to avoid being accused of treason by his rivals Ernst Kaltenbrunner and Heinrich Müller,who could compromise him before Hitler, ordered Langben to be arrested in September 1943. Langben was under investigation for about a year, since Himmler was interested in dragging out the investigation as much as possible. Langben was executed on October 12, 1944.

Langben, Julius

(LandjeKn), (1851-1907), German writer, one of the forerunners of the theory of National Socialism. Born March 26, 1851 in Hadersleben. In 1890, he anonymously published a book that became a sensation, Rembrandt as a Teacher, the title of which he borrowed from the third part of Friedrich Nietzsche's Untimely Meditations. As a member of the younger generation, Langben was preoccupied with finding the heroic ideal and found it in the Dutch painter Rembrandt (1606-1669), whom he "adapted" for Germany. For Langbehn, the Dutch artist was seen as an integral part of German culture, which was under threat of “Americanization”. Langben extolled the imperious, enlightened German monarch, whom he believed had been enthroned by the grace of God. He regarded the Germanic Nordic race as "superior Aryans", who are destined to dominate the world. The great Germany of the future, he said, would rule Europe and, having overcome European borders, would gain world domination. The true religion of Germany has always been not Christianity, but "Aryanism". Langben rejected "one-sided intellectual education" and called for the natural and "poetic" development of the individual. He extolled conservatism in culture and folk art. His theories, like the theories of Lagarde, Stöcker.G He extolled conservatism in culture and folk art. His theories, like the theories of Lagarde, Stöcker.G He extolled conservatism in culture and folk art. His theories, like the theories of Lagarde, Stöcker.GObino and Chamberlain, later adopted and used by Hitler and Nazi ideologues. Langben died April 30, 1907 in Rosenheim.

Landbund

(Lapsibunis—“Land Union”), one of the most significant organizations of agricultural producers in the Third Reich. See also the Peasants' Union - , the Union of the breadwinners of the Reich.

landesinspector

(Lapsieepbrekieig), a representative of the central party authority in the field, an official who was subordinate to the Reichsleitung (imperial leadership of the NSDAP), who exercised control over the activities of the local administration. As the Nazi state administrative apparatus took shape, the landes inspectors were gradually supplanted by the Gauleiters, who, as a rule, were appointed by Himmler and confirmed by Hitler.

Landrat

(Lapsigai), head of the district district (kreis) of local government in Prussia. Corresponded to the regional Nazi party leader Kreisleiter.

Landsberg

(Bavaria), a city in Bavaria, near Munich, where there was a prison in which Hitler and other Nazi leaders were imprisoned after the failed "Beer Putsch" of 1923. A Munich court accused Hitler of conspiracy to commit a coup d'état and sentenced him to 5 years in prison, but nine months later he was amnestied.His stay in Landsberg prison was very comfortable: he used the library, received visitors and dictated to his colleague and like-minded Rudolf Hess the chapters of the first volume of Mein Kampf.

Landtag

(Lapsiad), local state parliament, chamber of deputies in individual states (Bavarian Landtag, Prussian Landtag, etc.) during the Weimar  period

republics. After the Nazis came to power, the functions of the members of the Landtag were transferred to the Gauleiters and Reichsstatthalters, and the Landtags themselves, as local legislative bodies, were abolished .

"Lahsfang"

("LasbzGapd" - "Salmon Putin"), the code name of the operation planned by the German command to seize the Murmansk railway in 1942. At the end of July 1942, encouraged by successful military operations in the North Caucasus, Hitler decided to intensify military operations in Karelia in order to cut into near Kandalaksha, the Murmansk Railway - a transport artery through which the Soviet Union from Murmansk received food and military aid from the United States and Great Britain. On July 21, 1942, a directive was issued, according to which the Lachsfang operation was planned to be carried out in the autumn of this year. Thanks to the countermeasures taken by the Soviet command, the objectives of the operation were not achieved.

Lebensborn

(“Lebenshorn” - “Source of Life”), developed by the Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler, a program for turning the German nation into a race of masters through selective selection. The official ideology of National Socialism emphasized that it was the duty of German women to give birth to racially healthy children, regardless of whether they were born in a family or out of wedlock. German girls, especially those who were members of the Union of German Girls, were constantly reminded of their duty to the Third Reich. Pregnancy was encouraged from members of the SS, as the most acceptable and pure racially and politically. On the eve of the birth, the girls were sent to one of 12 special maternity hospitals, where they were provided with proper medical care.

After the war, documents were released that shed light on the most terrible aspects of the Lebensborn program: in addition to breeding

“Mother and Child” is the slogan of this poster. Nazism encouraged large families and paid benefits to those who wished to have many children.

work in the Third Reich was carried out wholesale trade in abducted foreign children. During World War II, Himmler informed the Lebensborn program that it was desirable to import "racially acceptable" children from such occupied countries as Poland, France, Norway, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. In pursuance of his order, children with Aryan appearance were selected through numerous checks, brought to Germany and placed in indoctrination centers, and then sent for adaptation to "racially reliable" German families. As part of the Lebensborn program, several hundred thousand children were taken away from their families.

Lebensraum

(“Lebensraum”), see “Living Space”.

Leeber, Julius

(I_ezher), (1891-1945), one of the leaders of the German Social Democratic Party, a participant in a conspiracy against Hitler. Born November 16, 1891 in Bisheim in a working-class family. He began his career as an apprentice at a weaving factory. Even in his youth he joined the social-democratic movement. He studied at the Freiburg and Strassburg universities, studied political economy and history, earning a living by tutoring and publishing in newspapers. During the 1st World War, he volunteered for the front, was wounded, was awarded many military awards, and in March 1915 was promoted to an officer rank. In 1920 Leber graduated from the University of Freiburg and received his doctorate. Member of the Kapp putsch.In 1921 he became editor-in-chief of the Volksbote (Voikzjoie) newspaper in Lübeck. In 1924-33 he was a member of the Reichstag. An unshakable opponent of Hitler, back in the 20s. entered

Julius Leber before the People's Tribunal during the death sentence

in the fight against National Socialism. Listed by the Nazis in the list of the main enemies of the movement.

January 31, 1933, the day after Hitler came to power, an assassination attempt was made on Leber, he was wounded. After recovering, Leber returned to Berlin to take his seat in the Reichstag, but was arrested, tried and sentenced to twenty months in prison. After serving his sentence and being released, he was again arrested as a "person posing a security threat" and sent to a concentration camp, first to Esterwegen and then to Oranienburg.

Released in 1937, Leber joined the Kreisau group. He was also among the closest associates of Karl Friedrich Goerdeler, who organized a conspiracy against Hitler. In the event of the removal of Hitler, Leber was predicted to be Minister of the Interior in the future transitional government. In addition, Leber was intimately acquainted with Klaus Schenk, Count von Stauffenberg, who had been chosen to assassinate Hitler. Leber helped Stauffenberg recruit anti-Nazi officers to the conspiracy. On June 22, 1944, during one of the secret meetings, Leber was arrested by the Gestapo along with another German Social Democrat, Adolf Reichwein.Their arrest forced the conspirators to postpone the scheduled date of the assassination attempt to a later date. Both appeared October 24, 1944 before the People's Tribunal, which found them guilty of treason and sentenced to death. According to the testimony of one of the journalists present at the meeting of the tribunal, he had never seen such nobility of character and such deep conviction in his rightness that Leber showed during the announcement of his verdict. Reichwein was executed on the same day. Leber was hanged on 5 January 1945 in Plötzensee Prison.

Leev, Wilhelm Joseph Franz von

(1_eeb), (1876-1956), Field Marshal of the German Army. Born September 5, 1876 in Landsbergen-on-Lech, Bavaria, in a family of hereditary military. In 1895 von Leeb joined the 4th Bavarian Field Artillery Regiment. Having received an officer's rank, in 1900 he participated in hostilities in China. After graduating from the Bavarian Military Academy in 1903, he served on the General Staff. During the 1st World War, von Leeb commanded the 11th Bavarian Infantry Division, which took part in the battles on the Western Front, as well as in Galicia, Serbia and Romania. For exceptional personal bravery in 1916 he was awarded the Bavarian Order of Max Joseph and a knighthood (ritter). After the war, he served as head of a department in the Ministry of Defense. In 1920, von Leeb was appointed chief of staff of the 7th military district. In 1926, with the rank of colonel, he became commander of the 7th artillery regiment, stationed in Nuremberg, then commanded the 7th Infantry Division in Munich. In 1930 von Leeb, being

Field Marshal Wilhelm von Leeb

already a lieutenant general, became commander of the 7th military district.

As an officer of the old school, honest and uncompromising, a man of high moral principles, besides religious, von Leeb, after the Nazis came to power, openly expressed dislike for the new regime and its leaders. He refused to attend dinners hosted by Alfred Rosenberg on the sole ground that he was an atheist. Hitler, who called von Leeb "an incorrigible anti-fascist", put him under the tacit supervision of the Gestapo.However, von Leeb, being a sane person, did not join any groups of conspirators and conspirators, although he criticized Hitler's program for the militarization of the country. His anti-Nazi sentiments did not prevent him from taking the post of commander of the 2nd Army Group stationed in Kassel at the end of 1933. Being a specialist in defense measures, von Leeb published in 1938 the book "Defence", which went through several reprints and was translated into foreign languages, including Russian (it was used to create the field manual of the Red Army).

In February 1938, Hitler purged the high command of the armed forces and dismissed a number of generals who did not support the Nazi ideology (see the Blomberg-Fritsch case), including von Leeb. Having awarded him the honorary rank of General of the Army, von Leeb was sent to the reserve against his will on May 1, 1938. He was again called up for service on the eve of the Munich Agreement of 1938 , he was appointed commander of the 12th Army, which participated in the occupation of the Sudetenland.Soon after, von Leeb again found himself out of work, but with the outbreak of the 2nd World War he was again called to serve as commander of Army Group C on the Western Front. Von Leeb openly protested against the occupation of France and in the fall of 1939 wrote a “Memorandum on the prospects and significance of an attack on France and England”, in which he predicted that in the event of an aggression

Field Marshal von Leeb and General Hoepner at the map. 1941

and the whole world will take up arms against Germany. The memorandum left unanswered, the lack of support from other high-ranking military officers and a sense of soldierly duty forced von Leeb to abandon thoughts of resignation and take part in the French campaign, for which he was awarded the field marshal's baton on July 19, 1940.

During the invasion of the Soviet Union, Army Group C (renamed Army Group North) was tasked with destroying the main enemy forces in the Baltic states and capturing Leningrad. Despite the fact that von Leeb had only 16 divisions at his disposal, of which only three were armored and three motorized, which were opposed by up to 30 Soviet divisions that offered fierce resistance, by the beginning of September 1941 he managed to get close to Leningrad at a distance of an artillery shot and practically surrounded the city.At a time when the 6th Panzer Division, breaking through Pulkovo Heights, went to the outskirts of the city, and the 126th Infantry Division took Shlisselburg, blocking all approaches to Leningrad from land, and von Leeb was preparing for the last assault, unexpectedly on September 12, 1941, Hitler ordered not to storm Leningrad.Instead, von Leeb was ordered to begin the siege of the city, and the released panzer and motorized divisions were transferred to the disposal of Army Group Center, advancing on Moscow. Despite von Leeb's categorical protests, Hitler stood his ground, which resulted in one of his most rude miscalculations in the war.After the fierce battles for Tikhvin in November 1941, where only one 18th motorized division of von Leeb lost more than 9 thousand people killed, and the Soviet counteroffensive that began in mid-December, von Leeb began to speculate aloud that he was not whether Hitler was a secret ally of Stalin in the fight against the German army.These statements, as well as von Leeb's protests against the reprisals perpetrated by the SS and SD on the peaceful Soviet population, served as a pretext for his resignation (January 16, 1942).

At the end of the war, von Leeb was arrested by the Allies and in October 1948 sentenced as a war criminal to 3 years in prison. Von Leeb died on April 29, 1956 in Hohenschwangau, Bavaria, at the age of 79.

Leere, Johann von

(Leerz), Nazi propagandist, publicist, ardent anti-Semite. Born January 25, 1902 in Wittlubb, Mecklenburg. He studied law in Berlin, Kiel and Rostock, worked for a short time in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1929, von Leere, on the recommendation of Goebbels, joined the NSDAP. He was instructed to prepare propaganda materials for the party .. Numerous books and pamphlets on the history of National Socialism, on questions of origin and race, as well as articles stigmatizing the Weimar Republic, came out from under his brisk pen,which he called the "Jewish Republic" ("ІсІepgeriYik"). In 1933 he published the book The Jews Are Watching You, which he dedicated to "the valiant, devoted and fearless Julius Streicher". Photographs of Albert Einstein, Emil Ludwig and Lion Feuchtwanger were placed in this book under the heading: “Not yet hanged!”

During World War II, von Leere devoted himself entirely to the anti-Jewish theme. He wrote: "Jews are political assassins and creeping thieves who infiltrate the governments of other peoples and overthrow them from within so that the Jewish world can establish its bloody regime of Bolshevism."

At the end of the war, von Leere fled to Italy, and then. in 1950, to Argentina. In the mid 50s. he showed up in Cairo, where he established contacts with Arab Islamists and converted to Islam, continuing his anti-Jewish activities: “I do not believe in the greatness of death. But what I liked about Hitler was that he fought against the Jews and destroyed many of them 1

Lay, Robert

(!_eu), (1890-1945), Reichsleiter, head of the Organizational Department of the NSDAP and at the same time head of the German Labor Front. Born February 15, 1890 in Niederbreidenbach. He was among the first members of the NSDAP. Struggling for leadership in par-

Robert Lay

Tii, he was an opponent of Gregor Strasser and took the side of Hitler, who never forgot his loyalty and promoted his career. Goebbels, who was hostile to Ley, said: “To appreciate Ley's intellect, it is enough to remember that ... he is a specialist in white rabbits. As expected, all his experiments failed.” In 1928 Ley was elected to the Prussian Landtag, and in 1930 to the Reichstag. From 1931 to 1934 he was Gauleiter of the Rhineland.

Soon after Hitler came to power, Ley headed the Prussian Council of State and tried to completely subjugate it to himself. Hermann Goering stood in his way, who did not want to have rivals in Prussia. On May 2, 1933, with the approval of Hitler, Ley headed the "Action Committee for the Defense of German Labor". By his order, the premises of all trade unions were occupied and their leaders arrested. A few days later, all trade union organizations in Germany were subordinated to Ley, who became the undisputed dictator in the post of leader German Labor Front "Workers," he said, "your institutions are sacred and inviolable for us National Socialists. I myself am the son of poor peasants and I know what poverty is. I swear to you that we will not only preserve everything that you have , we will expand the rights of the working man so that so that he can enter the new National Socialist state as an equal and respected member of the nation.” In 1935, Ley declared that Nazi Germany was the first state in Europe where there was no class struggle.

In 1940, Ley's book “We all help the Führer” (“Vig aiie YeІTep sіet Gieygeg”) was published in Munich.

October 20, 1945 Ley was charged with the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg. Being an emotional and highly unbalanced person, he was indignant. “How do I prepare for defense?” he asked the prison psychologist Gilbert. “How can I expect to defend myself against all these crimes of which I knew nothing? Arrange us along the wall and shoot us - you are the winners. On October 24, Lei was found strangled in his cell. He made a loop out of pieces of a towel and tied it to a sewer pipe. In his suicide note, he wrote that he could no longer bear the feeling of shame.

Leibwache

(leіbѵѵasІіе), units created in the early years of the Nazi movement, which carried out the protection of Hitler. Later, on their basis, the Regiment of the Fuhrer's personal guard , the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, was formed.

Leibholtz, Gerhard

(leiypoi?), a German lawyer who left Germany after the Nazis came to power. Born November 15, 1901 in Berlin in the family of a member of the city council. He studied philosophy in Heidelberg and law in Berlin. He taught at the law faculties of Berlin and Göttingen universities. Sharply condemned National Socialism, in 1936 he was fired from the University of Berlin under the pretext of Jewish origin. September 9, 1939 Leibholz left Germany with his wife and two children and settled in Switzerland. From 1939 to 1946 he was on the leadership of the World Council of Churches. Lived in England. After the end of World War II, he returned to Germany, where he worked at the Federal Constitutional Court and at the same time taught law at the University of Göttingen. Leibholz retired in 1972.

"SS Leibstandarte Adolf

G itler ”

(Eiibziapsiagie-ZZ AcioIT Niiiieg), Hitler's bodyguard regiment. From the first days of his political career, Hitler was concerned about the danger of assassination by his opponents. By his order, a headquarters ~ matchmaker was formed - a security platoon consisting of members of the SA. Over time, the headquarters was transformed into a stockstruppe - a unit for the protection of Nazi rallies, and later turned into the "Leibstandarte". After the Nazis came to power, Hitler was guarded by 120 SS men who created a triple cordon around their Fuhrer. In September 1933, at the Nuremberg Party Congress , this unit was transformed into the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, headed by SS Gruppenführer Josef (Sepp) Dietrich.The regiment selected SS men who had undergone a thorough check, whose height was at least 180 cm. Two months later, on the tenth anniversary of the “Beer Putsch” of 1923, all members of the regiment took an oath of allegiance personally to the Fuhrer (previously, the military took an oath of allegiance to the Reich President as commander in chief of the armed forces ).

The Leibstandarte was used both as an instrument of terror and as a military force. He played a leading role during the events of The Night of the Long Knives. After the outbreak of World War II, the regiment took part in many military operations on the Western and Eastern fronts.

"SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler" marches in front of Hitler during his birthday on April 20, 1938

Leichenkommando

(Leiciepkottapsio), special teams in the "death camps", who collected corpses in the camp barracks and buried them. These teams were formed from among the prisoners who were given certain privileges.

Leishner, Wilhelm

(Leuschner), (1888-1944), trade unionist, member of the German resistance movement. Born June 15, 1888 in Bayreuth. Engraver by trade. As a teenager, he joined the labor movement, in which he remained until the last days of his life. Member of the Landtag of Hesse, in 1933 he became deputy chairman of the German Association of Trade Unions. At the same time, he criticized both communism and National Socialism. He was arrested by members of the SA, tortured. After his release, Leishner organized a group of trade union resistance to Nazism. To mask his political activities, he created a small trading company. During World War II, he collaborated with General Ludwig Beck and

Carl Friedrich Goerdeler to overthrow the Nazi government and form a transitional coalition government. Arrested after the failure of the July 1944 Plot, Leishner was sent to the gallows on September 29, 1944.

Leonard. Philip background

(BeparcI), (1862-1947), German theoretical physicist, professor at the University of Heidelberg, Nobel Prize winner (1905). Since 1924, he joined the Nazi movement and became an ardent supporter of Hitler, which was appreciated by the Nazi authorities. Nazi propaganda praised Lenard as "the creator of a science suitable for political struggle."

Lenya, Lotta

(Bepua), German theater actress, singer. Born October 18, 1900 in Vienna. Widespread popularity brought her performance of the title role in Bertolt Brecht's play "The Threepenny Opera". Together with her husband, Kurt Weil, she left Germany after the Nazis came to power and settled in the United States. Returning to her homeland in 1955, Lenya played in another play by Brecht - “Mother Courage and Her Children” (1965).

government. He was arrested after the failure of the July conspiracy of 1944 and, by the verdict of the People's Tribunal , was hanged on November 14, 1944.

Letterhouse, Bernhard

(KeNegbaiz), (1894-1944), leader of the Catholic trade unions, member of the German resistance movement. Born July 10, 1894 in the Rhineland. Member of the 1st World War. He was seriously wounded at the front, was awarded the Iron Cross of the 1st degree. During the period of the Weimar Republic, Letterhaus began to cooperate in Catholic trade union organizations. In 1928 he became a deputy of the Prussian Landtag, from the rostrum of which he severely criticized Hitler and his movement. After the Nazis came to power, Letterhouse was forced to go underground, where he worked among Catholics, calling for the overthrow of the Nazi regime. In the event of Hitler's removal, Letterhouse's candidacy was nominated to the transitional pra-

Bernhard Letterhaus before the People's Tribunal during the death sentence

Liebenfels, Jörg Lanz von

Josef Lantz (1874-1954), religious fanatic who considered himself the father of National Socialism. Assigned to himself an aristocratic title for the sake of raising his own authority. As a novice at the Heiligenkreutz monastery, where he stayed for six years, Liebenfels became interested in racial issues. Leaving the monastery in 1899, he founded the Order of Werfenstein (Order Verfenstein), the purpose of which was to promote the "purity" of the racial foundations of the Aryan nation. In his own magazine, Ostara, named after the Teutonic god of beauty, Liebenfels championed the concept of racial purity. Despite the fact that the magazine was published irregularly, its total circulation in Austria and Germany reached 100,000 copies.

Like Arthur de Gobineau and Houston Chamberlain, Liebenfels, using a pompous pseudo-scientific style, continued to tirelessly exaggerate his main theme of race (see Racial Doctrine). In the articles of Liebenfels, fair-haired, blue-eyed Aryans were contrasted with “monkey-like, inferior, vicious, useless and despicable subhumans.” He likened the representatives of the Nordic race to the ancient Germanic gods Azіpde, Neіbіnde or the Aryan heroes Agоbegoiker, characterizing all other races as Сbаndaіaz — a contemptuous term used in India to call untouchables - either ANIipde (monkey-like) or Zsbg'aiiiipde(goblins, devils). The whole of human history, according to Liebenfels, is a conflict between these two species, and it is impossible to elevate the Aryan race as long as there are Cbainbaias. The pages of Liebenfels' journal were full of mystical symbols borrowed from ancient German history, including the swastika.

When the 18-year-old Hitler first arrived in Vienna in September 1907, he was so fascinated by the magazine of the apostate Cistercian monk that he managed to get a personal meeting with him and begged him for some old numbers, which he had missed. Having received them from Liebenfels, Hitler began to propagate the ideas of the magazine to the public in Viennese cafes. Many of these ideas later found their way into the pages of Hitler 's Mein Kampf.

After Hitler came to power, Liebenfels confidently declared that he was Hitler's mentor and that it was he who blessed the National Socialist movement. This statement irritated Hitler, and he banned the publication of Liebenfels' work.

Lieberman, Max

(Bermerman), (1847-1935), German painter and graphic artist, called by the Nazi authorities "purveyor of degenerate art" (see "Degenerate Art").Born July 20, 1847 in Berlin in the family of a Jewish merchant. He studied in Berlin (1866-68) and Weimar (1868-72). In 1873-1878 he studied painting in Paris, where he was influenced by the masters of the Barbizon school. In 1878-1884 he worked in Munich, then moved to Berlin, where in 1898 he founded the "Berlin Secession". Professor (1897) and President (1920) of the Berlin Academy of Arts. He moved from impressionism to naturalism, acting as a successor to the traditions of German realism. In his early works, he depicted the life and life of peasants and factory workers, artisans and fishermen, and later turned to landscapes. After the Nazis came to power, Lieberman was persecuted and was forced to resign as president of the Academy of Arts. He died in Berlin on February 8, 1935.

Lidice

A mining village in Czechoslovakia, not far from Kladno, 30 kilometers from Prague, on June 9, 1942, destroyed by the SS for the murder of the Deputy Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, SS Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich in Prague.

On the morning of June 9, units of the SS division "Prince Eugene" under the command of SS-Hauptsturmführer Max Rostock surrounded Lidice. Men over the age of 16 were herded into barns, while women were locked up in the school. The next morning, mass executions began: by four o'clock, 172 people had been executed. 19 men and 7 women who worked in the forest for firewood were taken to Prague and executed there. 195 Lidice women were sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp. Executions extended to newborns and infants. 90 children were sent to the Gneisenau concentration camp. The village itself was wiped off the face of the earth: all the buildings were burned, blown up and bulldozed.

On June 11, the following report was published in the German newspaper Neue Tag: “During the search for the murderers of SS-Obergruppenführer [Heydrich], it was established that the population of the village of Lidice near Kladno helped and collaborated with the criminals. This fact was proven despite the fact that the inhabitants of the village deny it... For example, clandestine literature, weapons and ammunition depots, as well as radio transmitters and illegal storage of rationed foodstuffs were found. All the men of the village were shot, the women were sent to concentration camps, and the children to the appropriate institutions for re-education. The buildings of the village were razed to the ground, and its name was consigned to oblivion.”

The order to destroy Lidice came from Karl Hermann Frank, by virtue of the right granted to him by the Fuhrer to execute any person without trial or investigation. After that, Frank was nicknamed "the butcher of Lidice".

"Lila"

Code name for the operation to capture the French naval base at Toulon. November 27, 1942, when the German troops launched an attack on the port, the crews of the French ships stationed in the roadstead sank their ships.

Lily Marlene

(iii Magіep), the name of the song most popular among German soldiers during the 2nd World War. Poems (1923) by the Hamburg poet Hans Leip was set to music by Norbert Schulze in 1936. The first performer of the song was Lali Andersen. After the song, which tells about the love of a soldier and his girlfriend, was played on the radio for the Afrika Korps soldiers who fought in Libya, its popularity became worldwide. The text was translated into English and French. In 1944, the film “Lili Marlene” was filmed in the USA, in which this song was performed by Marlene Dietrich. In 1961, she sounded in the film “The Nuremberg Trials”.

Vog run Kazegpe

бог бет дгоззеп Тог зіапб еіпе Ьаіегпе, ітб зіеіі зіе посЬ баѵог, зо ѵѵоііп ѵѵіг іпз ба ѵѵіебегзеЬп, Ьеі бег Ьаіегпе ѵѵоііп зііг іеІп.

Iipzge Leibep Zsbiaiep

za'p ѵѵie eipeg aiz;

the base is the base of the base, the base is the base of the base. 1.

Zsjop gieT ran Roziep:

8ie Yazep Eariepzigeis;

ез капп бгеі Таде козиеп! - Kat'gab, isit kott) a dieisii.

□ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □

Деіе дегпе ѵѵоіі 'ісН тиі біг деЬп, тиі біг, ііі Магиееп!

Пе еіпе ЗсКгиеие кеппі зіе, беіпеп гіегеп Сапд, аііе Аьепб Ьгеппі зіе, тисид ѵегдазз зіе Іапд.

Ппб зоіііе тиг еіп 1_еібз дезсЬеЬп, гег гігб Ьеі бег Ьаіегпе зіеКп тиі біг, Ьіі Магіееп?

Aiz bet ziiiiep Vaite, aiz beg Egbe bgipb Kei tisii еie it Tgaite beip ѵegIieBieg Mipb.

Пепп зісЬ биє зраіеп ИеЬеІ бгеЬп, гегб ісЬ Лєі бег Ьаіегпе зіеЬп ѵѵіе еіпзі, ііі Магиееп.

List, Wilhelm

(Bізі), (1880-1971), Field Marshal General of the German Army. Born May 14, 1880 in Oberkirchberg, Württemberg. In the army since 1898. In 1912 he graduated from the Military Academy. Member of the 1st World War, then served in the Reichswehr. In 1935 he was appointed commander of the 6th military district. In 1938, when Hitler undertook a reshuffle in the highest military circles in order to subjugate the army (see the Blomberg-Fritsch case), List did not hesitate to take his side. During the occupation of the Sudetenland , List commanded an army group. During the attack on Poland, he was commander of the 14th Army. During the French campaign, List commanded the 12th Army, which in 1941 was transferred to Yugoslavia and Greece. July 19, 1940 he was among the twelve senior officers of the Rmachtwas awarded the rank of Field Marshal. In 1941, List was appointed commander of the occupying forces in the Balkans. On July 15, 1942, he took command of Army Group A, which was advancing into the Caucasus. For disagreements with Hitler on strategic planning September 9, 1942, List was fired. In 1948 he was sentenced by a military tribunal at Nuremberg to life imprisonment for war crimes in Yugoslavia and Greece. In 1952 he was released and lived in Germany. Died in 1971.

Literature in the Third Reich

After the Nazis came to power, modern German literature on

suffered the most than other art forms. More than 250 German writers, poets, critics and literary scholars left Germany, voluntarily or forcibly. Among them were Thomas and Heinrich Mann, Erich Maria Remarque, Lion Feuchtwanger, Arnold Zweig, Ernst Toller, Franz Werfel, Jacob Wasserman, Bruno Frank, Stefan George, Bertolt Brecht and many others.

From the first days of the Nazi regime, one of the world's greatest literatures was held hostage to Hitler's policy of the Gleichschaltun. The creative level of most of the writers who remained in Germany was not high, and those of them who had talent either moved away from serious modern topics or fell silent altogether. Gerhart Auptmann wrote the autobiographical novel The Adventure of My Youth (1937), a dramatic tetralogy based on the Greek legend of the Atris (1941-44), and the poem The Great Dream, in which he expressed disapproval of the Nazi regime in an allegorical form . Also, Hans Fallada, Kellermann, Ricarda Huh , who remained in Germany, practically ceased to participate in the literary life of the country. Some talented writers, such as Ernst/Onger ,the Nazi authorities still managed to win over to their side.

On May 10, 1933, at the initiative of Goebbels, Minister of Public Education and Propaganda, the Nazis staged a monstrous book-burning campaign. On the territory of almost all German universities, the works of outstanding German and foreign writers and thinkers flew into the fires. The works of Thomas and Heinrich Mann, Lion Feuchtwanger, Arnold Zweig, Erich Remarque, Bertolt Brecht, Emile Zola, Marcel Proust, Henri Barbusse, Upton Sinclair, Jack London, HG Wells, Arthur Schnitzler, Leo Tolstoy, Maxim Gorky, the works of Marx were put on fire , Einstein, Bohr, Freud and many others. During the burning of the books, Goebbel spoke: “The spirit of the German people will express itself with renewed vigor. These bonfires not only light up the end of an old age, they also light up a new age.”

The ideological control over the literary process in the Third Reich was entrusted to the 8th Directorate of the Ministry of Public Education and Propaganda (censorship), under which the Imperial Chamber of Culture was created by decree of September 22, 1933,which included the Imperial Chamber of Literature as a subchamber. By 1939, this department completely subjugated the work of 2,500 publishing houses, editorial offices, and printing houses and 23,000 bookstores. About 3 thousand. writers of various trends were required to register with the Imperial Chamber of Literature, which in 1935 was headed by playwright Hans Post. The ban on the profession extended to non-members of the House of Writers. Fifty annual national prizes in literature were established. In the pre-war period, the Imperial Chamber of Culture controlled about 1 million books on sale and more than 20,000 publications published annually.

The Propaganda Ministry set its own new standards for German literature. Special instructions ordered writers to work in 4 genres. “Front-line Prose” (Egopiegliebpis) - designed to sing of the front-line brotherhood and wartime romanticism. "Party Literature" - works reflecting the Nazi weltanschung (worldview). "Patriotic prose" (Neitaigotap) - works imbued with national color, with an emphasis on German folklore, the mystical incomprehensibility of the German spirit, nationalism and populism. "Ethnological (racial) prose” (Razzepkipbe) is the exaltation of the Nordic race, its traditions and contribution to world civilization, the biological superiority of the Aryans over other “inferior” peoples.

The writers who worked in these genres differed only in the degree of their mediocrity or mediocrity. Werner Bumelburg wrote sentimental novels about front-line camaraderie. Agnes Mögel, a novelist and poet, devoted herself to the genre of provincial “rural” literature. Rudolf Binding and Burris von Munchausen wrote clumsy epic poems about chivalry and male virtue.

Among the writers who put their work at the service of the Nazi regime, there were many gifted or capable authors. A popular writer of the Third Reich was Hans Grimm, whose novel A People Without Space was widely used by Nazi propaganda and reprinted several times. No less capable Gottfried Benn defended the aesthetic side of Nazi nihilism, while seeing in the National Socialist movement "a stream of hereditary life-affirming energy." When Benn reconsidered his attitude towards Nazism, he was expelled from the Imperial Chamber of Literature, and his works were no longer published. ErnstG Pezer, who made peace with the Nazis, worked fruitfully during this period .

A small number are writers and poets who have dared to criticize Nazism in their work. Writers such as Günter Weisenborn or Albrecht Haushofer (author of the Moabite Sonnets) were persecuted by the authorities.

In general, the period of Nazi rule dealt a heavy blow to German literature, and undoubtedly talented works were born only among émigré writers.

Lichtenburg, Bernard

(Iacchienligur), (1875-1943). Catholic priest, preacher. Born December 3, 1875 in Silesia. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1899. During World War I he was an army chaplain. After the war, he was a member of the Berlin City Council from the Catholic Center Party. On August 28, 1941, while rector of the Cathedral of St. Hedwig in Berlin, Lichtenburg sent an angry letter to the Reich's chief physician , Dr. , as from the chief physician of the Reich, so that you answer for the crimes

Bernard Lichtenburg

acts which were carried out at your command and with your knowledge, and which will henceforth bring about the vengeance of God in the hearts of the German people.” The priest sent copies of this message to the Reich Chancellery, the imperial ministers and the Gestapo. It was a courageous, but under the conditions of the Nazi regime, a very dangerous act. Lichtenburg was arrested and sentenced to two years in prison. Shortly before his impending release, he was sent to Dachau. Lichtenburg died in the camp on November 3, 1943.

Locarno Treaties 1925

A series of treaties guaranteeing Germany's western borders. They were initialed on October 16, 1925 at the Locarno Conference and signed in London on December 1, 1925. Provided for the preservation of the territorial status quo (including the Rhine demilitarized zone) and the inviolability of the German-French and German-Belgian borders, as they were determined by the Versailles Treaty of 1919, and also the obligation of Germany, France and Belgium not to attack each other and to resolve emerging disputes by a peaceful settlement method - through arbitration or a court decision. The treaty came into force after Germany became a member of the League of Nations (September 1926). In addition, Franco-Polish and 

Franco-Czechoslovak Guarantee Agreements, under which France undertook to provide assistance to these two countries in case of violation of their borders.

After coming to power, Hitler unilaterally terminated the Locarno Treaties (March 7, 1936) and sent his troops into the demilitarized Rhine zone.

Lorenz, Heinz

(І_ogepg), SS Hauptsturmführer, Deputy Head of the NSDAP Press Department Otto Dietrich and his permanent representative at Hitler's headquarters.

Lorenz, Konrad

(І_ören2), an Austrian specialist in the field of animal behavior. Born November 7, 1903 in Vienna in the family of a surgeon. After graduating from the gymnasium in Schotten, he specialized at the University of Vienna in medicine, philosophy and political science. In 1937 he was appointed assistant professor at the University of Vienna in comparative anatomy and animal psychology. In 1940 he became a professor of comparative psychology at Königsberg University. Later he oversaw military sciences. He was a prisoner in the Soviet Union.

Lutz, Victor

(Bii/e), (1890-1943), Chief of Staff of the SA. Born December 28, 1890 in Bevergern. During World War I, he rose from private to officer. Having joined the NSDAP in 1922, he began to quickly climb the hierarchical ladder of the brown shirts. In 1925 he became deputy Gauleiter of the Ruhr, and in 1928 Oberführer of the SA. In 1930, Lutze became a member of the Reichstag from the Nazi Party from the Hannover-Braunschweig constituency. In 1933, with the rank of SA Obergruppenführer (General), he was appointed Police President of Hannover and a member of the Prussian Council of State. On June 30, 1934, during the events of the Night of the Long Knives, Lutze accompanied Hitler to Bad Wiessee, where Ernst Röhm and other SA leaders were captured. After the execution of Rem, Hitler appointed in his place

SA chief V Ictor Lutze addressing his subordinates on the threshold of war in 1936

Lutze. Hitler gave Lutz a special order, consisting of 20 points, in which members of the SA were forbidden to drink alcohol, unnatural sexual intercourse, car rides, debauchery and parties. Lutze died in a car accident on May 2, 1943.

Lubbe, Marinus van der

(ІліЬэ), (1909-1934), an unemployed Dutchman who belonged to one of the communist organizations in the past, whom the Nazis accused of setting fire to the Reichstag. On September 21, 1933, he appeared before a court in Leipzig, was found guilty and executed on January 10, 1934.

Luger, Carl

(I_edeg), (1844-1910), burgomaster of Vienna, an ardent anti-Semite who had a strong influence on the young Hitler. Born October 24, 1844 in Vienna in a poor family. In 1874 he received his degree

Carl Luger

lawyer. In 1875 he was elected to the city council. He took an active part in the political life of Vienna, was one of the founders (in 1889) of the new Catholic Party of Christian Socialists. Emperor Franz Joseph at first refused to approve Luger as mayor of Vienna due to his extreme anti-Semitic views, but in 1897, under the influence of the public, he was forced to do so. Luger held this post until his death. Eloquent, domineering and extremely popular, he exploited widespread anti-Semitic sentiments among the townsfolk for his own purposes. When the young Hitler arrived in Vienna in 1907, he was simply amazed by Luger's anti-Jewish remarks and adhered to anti-Semitism throughout his life. Luger died March 10, 1910.

Ludwig, Emil

(І_isіѵvid), (1881-1948), German writer, opponent of the Nazi regime, left Germany after Hitler came to power. Born January 25, 1881 in Breslau in the family of an ophthalmologist.

He studied law, but in 1914 turned to journalism, was a London correspondent for the Berliner Tageblat newspaper. In 1932 he received Swiss citizenship, and in 1941 he emigrated to the United States. He wrote a whole series of biographies of famous people, saturated with psychological characteristics, which brought him worldwide fame: "Bismarck" (1912), "Goethe" (1929), "Michelangelo" (1930), "Schliemann" (1932), "Roosevelt" '( 1938), “Napoleon” (1939), “Beethoven” (1943).Ludwig died on September 17, 1948 in Moscia, near Ascona, Switzerland.

Ludendorff, Erich

(Ysiepsiog), (1865-1937), German military and political figure, infantry general (1916). Born April 9, 1865 in Krushevnia, near Poznan, in a landowner's family. He graduated from the Cadet Corps (1881). From 1894 he served in the General Staff. In 1908-12 he was chief of the operational department of the General Staff. During the 1st World War, he was first quartermaster of the 2nd army, and from August 23 to November 1914 - chief of staff of the 8th army, chief of staff of the Eastern Front (from November 1914) and 1st quartermaster general of the headquarters of the high command (since August 1916). As a direct assistant to General Paul von Hindenburg,From August 1914, Ludendorff actually led the actions on the Eastern Front, and from August 1916 - the actions of all the armed forces of Germany. In March-July 1918, he unsuccessfully tried to break the resistance of the Anglo-French troops on the Western Front by repeated offensives. On October 26, 1918, he retired. After the Armistice of Compiègne in November 1918, Ludendorff emigrated to Sweden. In the spring of 1919, he returned to Germany and became the leader of the most extreme counter-revolutionary circles, was an active participant in the Kalp Putsch in 1920. Having become close friends with the National Socialists, in November 1923, Ludendorff, together with Hitler, led the “Beer Putsch” of 1923 in Munich, during which he walked through police cordons, not daring-

Hitler and Ludendorff as the two leaders of the "Beer putsch". Propaganda photo montage

rushing to shoot the war hero. During the Munich trial of the participants in the putsch, Ludendorff was acquitted. In 1924 he was elected to the Reichstag from the NSDAP. Having put forward his candidacy in the presidential elections in 1925, Ludendorff was defeated. He was the founder of the Tannenberg Union, whose goals were to fight against the “internal enemies of the state”: Jews, Freemasons and Marxists. After disagreements with President Hindenburg, on the one hand, and with his former associate Hitler, on the other, Ludendorff retired from active political activity. He died on December 20, 1937 in Tatzing, Bavaria.

Luftwaffe

(LiTіѵѵаNe), the German air force during the Third Reich. Under the terms of the Versailles Treaty of 1919 , Germany was forbidden to have military and civil aviation (in 1922 the ban on civil aviation was lifted with some restrictions). With the assistance of Reichswehr General Hans von Seekt,German civil aviation was largely controlled by the military. Gliding and aviation clubs became widespread, in which many pilots were trained on commercial airline aircraft. By the mid-1920s, a highly efficient aviation industry had been created in Germany (Fockewulf plants in Bremen, Dornier in Friedrichshafen, Heinkel in Warnemünde, Junker in Dessau, Messerschmitt in Augsburg). the victorious Allies were still flying obsolete wooden biplanes, German designers developed modern metal monoplanes with cantilever wings, retractable landing gear and paddle propellers. The reorganized airline Lufthansa, having received permission for commercial flights in Western Europe, became technically the most modern airline in the world.

When Hitler became chancellor in 1933, he already had a strong base for building a new air force. Large investments were found for the construction of the Luftwaffe. Deputy Fuhrer Hermann Goering, who was a high-class pilot during World War I, was appointed Reichskommissar of the Air Force with unlimited powers. It was to him that Hitler entrusted the creation of the most powerful air fleet in the world. Unable to deal exclusively with aviation affairs, Goering invited the former director of Lufthansa, Erhard Milch, to his ministry, who turned out to be just the right person who was able to cope with this task. However, there were certain

ny difficulties when it became known that Milch's ancestors were Jews, which, according to Hitler, was the gravest sin. With the help of a clever trick, Goering, who was not so scrupulous about issues of racial purity, managed to get around the obstacle that had arisen and “Aryanize” Milch.

Göring and Milch ensured the organization of the Luftwaffe. The main tactical unit of the new Air Force was the air group (bezsіѵѵasіeg), numbering about 120 aircraft. It was subdivided into three air wings (Ogirrep) - about 40 aircraft each (some bomber units consisted of 6 or more air wings). Each wing, in turn, consisted of three squadrons (ZiaNeIp) - from 12 to 16 aircraft. During the 2nd World War, the Luftwaffe suffered heavy losses, so the actual number of aircraft in each unit was constantly changing. The Air Force included: fighter aviation (Ladsіdessііѵѵаѵег; 36), bomber aviation (Каtrіdessііѵѵасіеr; КС), night fighter aircraft (НасМТіаdsіdеssІіѵѵасІег; Ш6), high-speed bomber aircraft (ВсшнеІІКАтРІdesсІ),ѵѵҵасіег

Milch's subordinate was General Walter Wefer, Chief of Staff of the Air Force, a former infantryman, an ardent supporter of National Socialism. Under the leadership of Goering, Milch and Wefer, who worked in the strictest secrecy and with the full support of Hitler, the construction of new aircraft factories, airfields and training bases began throughout Germany. In March 1935, the Fuehrer felt that the new German air force was already powerful enough to demonstrate it to the whole world. By this time, the Luftwaffe had 1888 aircraft of various types and about 20 thousand personnel. The former gliding and flying clubs were taken over one by one by the new Air Force. Reports of the power of Nazi aircraft caused panic outside the Third Reich.

In May 1936, General Wefer died in a plane crash. He was replaced by General Albert Kesselring. In August 1936, the German air force entered combat for the first time, supporting the troops of General Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War. Initially, about 20 Yu-52 transport aircraft transferred the 10,000-strong corps loyal to Franco from Morocco to Spain. By November 1936 the Luftwaffe contingent in Spain had grown to 200 aircraft and was renamed the Condor Legion.The fighting in Spain was a dress rehearsal for the Luftwaffe on the eve of World War II. Instead of the outdated tactic of tight battle formations “screw to screw”, a new “four-by-four” formation began to be used, combining concentrated firepower and freedom of action. The news spread around the world about the destruction of the Spanish town of Guernica by the German Air Force.

During the Anschluss and the Czechoslovak crisis, the Luftwaffe was on alert, but did not take any action.

By the beginning of World War II, the German air fleet had grown from 36 aircraft in 1932 to 5,000 in 1936 and more than 9,000 in 1939.

On September 1, 1939, about 1,600 combat aircraft of the 1st and 4th air fleets invaded Polish airspace, starting World War II. Polish airfields were subjected to massive bombing. Only a few Polish pilots managed to take to the air, where they became easy prey for powerful high-speed Messerschmitts. German planes constantly attacked Polish troops from the air, helping their ground forces, crushing strongholds and artillery batteries. Then, for the entire period of the “sitzkrieg” (see “The Sitting War”), combat formations

"Heinkel-111" in a strafing flight bombs a Soviet oil pipeline

The Luftwaffe went to rest and repair. Aviation resumed action only on April 9, 1940, during the attack on Denmark and Norway, and then during the invasion of the Netherlands, Belgium and France. Having failed to prevent the evacuation of Dunkirk (see Operation Dunkirk 1940}, the Luftwaffe turned its attention to supporting the tank formations advancing on Paris. Here the German aircraft encountered fierce enemy resistance, and tired, overworked pilots began to suffer their first defeats.

After the capitulation of France, Hitler turned his attention to Great Britain. The Luftwaffe was tasked with destroying the British Royal Air Force (NAB), which prevented the landing of ground forces on the British Isles. To accomplish this urgent task, about 2,600 aircraft were concentrated in the II and III air fleets stationed on the English Channel. In mid-July 1940, the Luftwaffe began to test sorties, at the same time laying minefields from the air. On August 13, 1940, the Battle of England began.On this day, German aviation made 1000 sorties and carried out 485 bombardments of enemy ground targets, while losing 45 aircraft. After 2 days - 1266 sorties and 520 bombing, losing 75 aircraft. It became clear almost immediately that the Luftwaffe was facing a formidable enemy. In creating the air force, Hitler counted on quick results, consistent with the tactics of blitzkrieg,therefore, the focus was on high-speed fighters to the detriment of heavy bombers. Light German bombers, not equipped to carry out such tasks as the conquest of Great Britain, unexpectedly encountered fierce resistance from British aircraft. The end of August and the beginning of September 1940, the Luftwaffe continued to fight, suffering more and more losses. Only on September 15, 1940, during the largest daytime raid on London, German aviation lost over 60 aircraft. From that moment on, the activity of the Luftwaffe began to fall.

The inability of Hitler's aviation to effectively fight the enemy and even to defend its own territory from massive nighttime bombardments by Allied aircraft became more and more obvious. There were some local successes, such as a raid on Crete on May 20, 1941, but in general, the Luftwaffe, especially after the entry of the Soviet Union into the war, was significantly inferior to the Allied aviation. By the summer of 1944, the superiority of Soviet and British aviation had become absolute. The last effort of the Luftwaffe was to support the Ardennes operation of 1944-45.

By the end of February 1945, the Luftwaffe had become completely incapacitated. Although Germany still had over 3,000 aircraft, most of them remained on the ground due to lack of fuel and poor training of pilots. According to official statistics, during World War II the Nazi air force lost 44,065 aircrew killed or missing, 28,200 wounded and 27,610 taken prisoner.

According to official German data, which significantly differs from those given by the allies, 94 German aces shot down 13,997 enemy aircraft in air battles, most of which fell on the Eastern Front.

Martin Kalden (Magііp Саісііп) in the book "Me-109" (London, 1973) gives a list of German pilots who each shot down over 150 enemy aircraft:

Erich Hartmann	352
Erich Gerhard Barkhorn	301
Gunther Rall	275
Otto Kittel	267
Walter Novotny	258
Wilhelm Butz	242
Theo Weisenberger	238
Erich Rudorfer	222
Heinrich Baer	220
Heinz Erler	220
Hans Philipp	213
Walter Shuk	206
Anton Hafner	204

Helmut Lippert 203   

German Graf 202   

Walter Krupinski 197   

Anton Hak l 190   

Joachim Brendle 189   

Max Stots 189   

Joachim Kirchner 185   

Werner Brandle 180   

Günther Josten 178   

Johann Steinhof 176   

Günther Schack 174   

Heinz Schmidt 173   

Emil Lang 173   

E.V. Reinert 169   

Horst Adamite 166   

Wolf D. Wilke 161   

Gordon Gollob 160   

Hans-Joachim Marcel 158

Gerhard Tüben 157   

Hans Beisschwenger 152   

Peter Dutman 152   

Lufthansa

(Büllienza), a German civil transport airline, on the basis of which, contrary to the terms of the Versailles Treaty of 1919, the German air force , the Luftwaffe, was created.

Luftkreis

(Ginkgeize), a military district in the German air force. The Luftwaffe had six districts.

Luftflot

(BiLTІoye; ГГІ), air fleet, a large military formation in the German Luftwaffe.

Luftsportportband

(Binzrogljeghapsi), the German aviation union in 1933-35, which included numerous glider and aviation clubs, where future Luftwaffe pilots were secretly trained .

Madagascar

The plan conceived by the Nazis in 1940 for the expulsion of European Jews to about. Madagascar, then a French colony. The plan provided that France would "cede" the island to Germany by concluding a peace agreement. The German Navy was to determine the places of military bases on the coast, while the rest of the island, where it was planned to create Jewish reservations, came under the jurisdiction of Himmler's department. Madagascar Nazis was considered preferable to Palestine, "which belonged to Christians and Muslims. "In addition, the Jews evicted to the island were supposed to be used as hostages to put pressure on their "racial friends" in the U.S. All resettlement costs were to be financed through the expropriation of property belonging to Jews.

The plan was not implemented, since it was impossible to obtain French consent to the cession of the island without a peace treaty with Great Britain. The Wannsee Conference was devoted to the discussion of the Jewish question , at which the so-called. "The Final Decision".

"Magino, line"

A system of fortifications along the eastern border of France with a length of about 380 km. Built in 1929-34, improved until 1940. It was considered the most fortified border line in Europe. It got its name from the French Minister of War Henri Maginot (1877-1932). It included three fortified areas (Metz, Lauter, Belfort), the Rhine fortified front, the Saar section of the barriers and consisted of a support strip (4-14 km deep) and a main strip (6-8 km deep). It had about 5600 long-term firing structures, combined into a single system, including artillery 520, machine-gun 3200 and other 1800. In the depths of the defense there were modernized fortresses - Belfort, Epinal, Toul, Verdun. Strongholds and nodes of resistance were covered by anti-tank and anti-personnel barriers. In 1936-40, to continue the Maginot Line to the North Sea, the Daladier Line, 620 km long, was built, which included 3 fortified sections (Montmedy, Maubeuge, Scheldt) and 2 barrier sections (Flanders and Ardennes), but was not completed. About 1 billion dollars was spent on the construction of the Maginot Line.

Fortified firing point on the Maginot Line

The total number of troops on the line reached 300 thousand people. Underground multi-level forts were equipped with living quarters for personnel, power plants, powerful ventilation systems, narrow gauge railways, telephone exchanges, hospitals, rest rooms, absolutely inaccessible to shells and bombs. In the upper ground floors there were gun casemates equipped with elevators.

French military strategists considered the Maginot Line impregnable. But in 1940, German troops quickly bypassed the “Maginot Line” from the north through the Ardennes Mountains (see Telb, “Roth”) and, after the capitulation of France, forced the garrison of the “Maginot Line” to surrender.

Maidanek

(Ma)bapek), a suburb of the city of Lublin (Poland), where in the fall of 1941 the Nazis created a “death camp”. It was the central camp, had "branches" in various parts of southeastern Poland: Budzyn (near Krasnik), Plaszow (near Krakow), Trawniki (near Wiepszem). The camp commandant was SS Brigadeführer Odilo Globocnik. According to the data announced at the Nuremberg Trials, about 1.5 million people of various nationalities from many occupied European countries were exterminated in the gas furnaces of Majdanek. July 23, 1944 the camp was liberated by Soviet troops

Mayer, Helena

(Maueg), German athlete, champion of Germany in fencing. Born December 12, 1910 in Offenbach in the family of a doctor. From childhood she was fond of horse riding, swimming, skiing and fencing. At the age of 15 she became the champion in fencing among women of the Weimar Republic. In the spring of 1928 she achieved her first international success at competitions in London. In the summer of the same year, at the Olympic Games in Amsterdam, she won a gold medal (foil). At the end of 1928 she participated in the Italian championship, where she was received by Mussolini. At the international fencing tournament in Offenbach in 1929, she won in all the forms in which she competed. In 1930 she won the German foil championship in Mainz. After refusing to participate in the European tournament in 1931 due to the death of her father, she lost her title to the Belgian athlete Jenny Adams.

After the Nazis came to power in 1933, Propaganda Minister Goebbels described Mayer, who had already become a national heroine by this time, as a true model of Nordic femininity. Tall, thin and blond, she seemed to be the apotheosis of Germanic racial purity. This noisy praise stopped suddenly and quietly when it turned out that among the ancestors of the athlete were Jews.

Main Camp

(“Meip KatrG - “My Struggle”), Hitler's book, in which he detailed his political program. In Nazi Germany, Mein Kampf was considered the bible of National Socialism, it gained fame even before it was published, and many Germans believed that the Nazi leader was able to bring to life everything that he outlined on the pages of his book. Hitler wrote the first part of "Mein Kampf" in Landsberg prison, where he was serving time for an attempted coup d'etat (see "Beer Putsch" 1923) Many of his associates, including Goebbels, Gottfried Feder and Alfred Rosenberg,pamphlets or books had already been published, and Hitler was eager to prove that, despite his insufficient education, he was also capable of contributing to political philosophy. Since the stay of almost 40 Nazis in prison was easy and comfortable, Hitler spent many hours dictating the first part of the book to Emile Maurice and Rudolf / - es-su. The second part was written by him in 1925-27, after the re-establishment of the Nazi Party.

Hitler originally titled his book Four and a Half Years of Struggle Against Lies, Stupidity and Cowardice. However, the publisher Max Amann,not satisfied with such a long title, he shortened it to “My Struggle”. Loud, raw, pompous in style, the first draft of the book was oversaturated with length, verbosity, indigestible turns, constant repetitions, which betrayed a half-educated person in Hitler. The German writer Lion Feuchtwanger noted thousands of grammatical errors in the original edition. Although many stylistic corrections were made in subsequent editions, the overall picture remained the same. Nevertheless, the book was a huge success and turned out to be very profitable. By 1932, 5.2 million copies had been sold; it has been translated into 11 languages. When registering a marriage, all newlyweds in Germany were forced to buy one copy of Mein Kampf. Huge circulations made Hitler a millionaire.

The main theme of the book was Hitler's racial doctrine . The Germans, he wrote, must be aware of the superiority of the Aryan race and preserve racial purity. Their duty is to increase the size of the nation in order to fulfill their destiny - to achieve world domination. Despite the defeat in the 1st World War, it is necessary to regain strength. Only in this way can the German nation in the future take its place as the leader of mankind.

Hitler described the Weimar Republic as "the greatest mistake of the 20th century", "the ugliness of the life order". He outlined three basic ideas about the state structure. First of all, these are those who understand the state as simply, to one degree or another, a voluntary community of people headed by the government. This idea comes from the largest group - the "crazy", who personify the "state power "and force the people to serve them instead of serving the people themselves. An example is the Bavarian People's Party. The second, less numerous group recognizes state power subject to certain conditions, such as "freedom", "independence" and other human rights. These people expect that such a state will be able to function in such a way that everyone's wallet will be filled to overflowing. This group is replenished mainly from among the German bourgeoisie, from the liberal democrats. The third, weakest group places their hopes on the unity of all people, saying-

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speaking in the same language. They hope to achieve national unity through language. The position of this group, controlled by the Nationalist Party, is the most precarious due to the obvious deceitful fraud. Some of the peoples of Austria, for example, will never be able to be Germanized. A Negro or a Chinese can never become a German just because he speaks German fluently. "Germanization can only happen on land, not in language." Nationality and race, continued Hitler, are in the blood, not in the language. The mixing of blood in the German state can be stopped only by removing from it everything that is defective. Nothing good happened in the eastern regions of Germany, where the Polish elements, as a result of mixing, defiled the German blood. Germany was in a foolish position when it was widely believed in America that as if immigrants from Germany were all Germans. In fact, it was a "Jewish counterfeit of the Germans."

All three of these views of government are basically false, wrote Hitler. They do not recognize the key factor, which is that the artificially created state power is based ultimately on racial foundations. The first duty of the state is to preserve and maintain its racial foundations. “The fundamental concept is that the State has no boundaries, but implies them. This is precisely the prerequisite for the development of the highest Ko / Arc, but not the reason for this. The reason lies solely in the existence of a race capable of perfecting its own Kiiiig.” Hitler formulated seven points of the "duties of the state":

1. The concept of "race" must be put in the spotlight.

2. Racial purity must be maintained.

3. As a matter of priority, introduce the practice of modern birth control. The sick or the weak should be forbidden to have children. The German nation must be prepared for future leadership.

4. Sports should be encouraged among young people to an unprecedented level of fitness

5. It is necessary to make army service the final and highest school.

6. Particular importance should be given to the study of race in schools.

7. It is necessary to awaken patriotism and national pride among citizens.

Hitler did not tire of preaching his ideology of racial nationalism. Echoing Houston Chamberlain, he wrote that the Aryan or Indo-European race, and, above all, the Germanic or Teutonic, is precisely the “chosen people” that the Jews spoke of, and on which the very existence of man on the planet depends. “Everything that we admire on this earth, whether it be achievements in the field of science or technology, is the creation of the hands of a few nations and, probably, most likely, one single race. All the achievements of our Kiiiig are the merit of this nation.” In his opinion, this only race is the Aryan. “History shows with the utmost clarity that any mixture of Aryan blood with the blood of lower races leads to the degradation of the Kiiig carrier.North America, whose vast population is made up of Germanic elements, and which has mixed only to a small extent with the lower, colored races, represents a model of civilization and Kiiiir, in contrast to Central or South America, where the Romance immigrants were largely assimilated with the local population. Germanized North America, by contrast, managed to remain "racially pure and unmixed." Some country boy who can't understand racial laws can get himself in trouble. Hitler urged the Germans to join the victory parade (Ziedezid) of the “chosen races”. It is enough to destroy the Aryan race on earth, and humanity will plunge into a gaping darkness comparable to the Middle Ages.

Hitler divided all of humanity into three categories: the creators of civilization (Kiiiiigjedgipsieg), the bearers of civilization (Kiiiiiggadeg) and the destroyers of civilization (Kiiiiiggerzooger). To the first group he attributed the Aryan race, that is, the Germanic and North American civilizations, as being of paramount importance. The gradual worldwide spread of the Aryan civilization up to the Japanese and other "morally dependent races" led to the creation of the second category - the bearers of civilization. To this group, Hitler ranked mainly the peoples of the East. Only in appearance the Japanese and other carriers of civilization remain Asians; in essence they are Aryans. In the third category - the destroyers of civilization - Hitler carried the Jews.

Hitler reiterated that as soon as geniuses appear in the world, humanity will immediately rank the “race of geniuses” - the Aryans as one of them. However, instead of keeping his blood pure, he began to mix with the natives, until he began to take on the spiritual and physical qualities of an inferior race.Continuing this blood mixing would mean the destruction of the old civilization and the loss of the will to resist ),belonging exclusively to carriers of pure blood. The Aryan race occupied its high place in civilization because it was aware of its destiny; the Aryan was always ready to sacrifice his life for the sake of other people. This fact shows who is the crown of the future humanity and what is the “essence of sacrifice”.

Many pages of the book are devoted to Hitler's contemptuous attitude towards the Jews. “The sharp opposite of the Aryan is the Jew. Hardly any nation on earth possessed the instinct of self-preservation to the extent that it was developed by the so-called. "chosen people". The Jews never had their own Kiiiig, they always borrowed it from others and developed their intellect by coming into contact with other peoples. Unlike the Aryans, the desire of the Jews for self-preservation does not go beyond the personal. The Jewish sense of "participation" (Khizat-tepdeіyugіdkeііzdeііyі-іі) is based on "a very primitive herd instinct." The Jewish race was "overtly selfish" and had only an imaginary /So/Dug.You don't have to be an idealist to be convinced of this. The Jews were not even a nomadic race, because the nomads at least had an idea of ​​the word "work".

According to Hitler, the Jews were parasites on the body of other peoples, creating a state within a state and not wanting to leave. For Hitler, Judaism was not even a religion: “He created a people with certain racial properties. The Talmud is not a religious book designed to prepare for eternity, it is just a practical guide to a comfortable life.

not in today's world. The religious doctrines of Judaism are devoted to the preservation of the purity of Jewish blood, and not to religion as such. The Jewish spirit, wrote Hitler, worked to destroy Germany. “The black-haired Jewish youth waits for hours with satanic joy in the eyes of the unsuspecting [Aryan] girls, whom he will dishonor with his blood and thus rob the nation ... By any means at his disposal, he seeks to destroy the racial characteristics of the Germans ... Jews even brought Negroes to the banks of the Rhine with a certain clear goal in mind - to destroy the hated white races by "hybridization", pushing them from cultural and political heights in order to climb themselves into the vacant place.

In addition to hatred of the Jews, Hitler did not bypass Marxism. He blamed the Marxists for the ongoing corruption of national blood and the loss of national ideals in Germany. Marxism will suppress German nationalism until he, Hitler, assumes the role of savior. Hitler attributed the diabolical influence of Marxism to the Jews, who would like to uproot "the carriers of the national intellect and make them slaves in their own country." The most gruesome example of such an effort is Russia, where, as Hitler wrote, “thirty million were allowed to starve to death in terrible agony, while educated Jews and crooks from the stock market achieved dominance over a great people.”

A racially pure people, Hitler wrote, could never be enslaved by the Jews. Everything on earth can be corrected, any defeat can be turned into victory in the future. The revival of the German spirit will come if the blood of the German people is kept pure. Hitler attributed the defeat of Germany in 1918 to racial reasons: 1914 was the last attempt by those interested in national preservation of forces to resist the impending pacifist-Marxist mutilation of the nation-state. What Germany needed was a "Teutonic state of the German nation"

Hitler's economic theories set out in Mein Kampf completely repeat the doctrines of Gottfried Feder. National self-sufficiency and economic independence must replace international trade. The principle of autarchywas based on the assumption that the economic interests and activities of the leaders of the economy should be entirely subordinated to racial and national considerations. Every country in the world has been constantly raising tariff barriers to keep imports to a minimum. Hitler recommended much more drastic measures. Germany must cut itself off from the rest of Europe and achieve complete self-sufficiency. Sufficient for the existence of the Reich, the amount of food can be produced within its own borders or on the territory of the agricultural countries of Eastern Europe. Terrible economic upheavals would have occurred if Germany had not already been in a state of extreme tension and had not become accustomed to it. The struggle against international financial capital and credits became the highlight of the program for the independence and freedom of Germany.Peasants , workers, the bourgeoisie, big industrialists - the whole people were dependent on foreign capital. It is necessary to free the state and the people from this dependence and create a national state capitalism. The Reichsbank must be placed under government control. Money for all state programs , such as the development of hydropower and road construction should be obtained through the issuance of government interest-free bonds (SIAaIvkavvepdivceine-ne).It is necessary to create construction companies and industrial banks that will provide interest-free loans. Any wealth accumulated during World War I should be considered criminally acquired. Profits received from military orders are subject to confiscation. Trade credits should be controlled by the government. The entire system of industrial enterprises must be reorganized in such a way as to ensure the participation of workers and employees in the profits. It is necessary to introduce old-age pensions. Large department stores such as Tietz, Karstadt and Wertheim should be converted into cooperatives and leased out to small merchants.

On the whole, the arguments presented in Mein Kampf were of a negative nature and were intended for all the discontented elements in Germany. Hitler's views were clearly nationalist, openly socialist and anti-democratic. In addition, he preached ardent anti-Semitism, attacked parliamentarism, Catholicism and Marxism.

Meitner, Lisa

(Meiipeg), (1878-1968), Austrian physicist and mathematician. Born November 7, 1878 in Vienna. In 1906 she graduated from the University of Vienna. From 1907 she conducted scientific work in the laboratory of Otto Hahn in Berlin. In 1912-15 he was an assistant at the Institute for Theoretical Physics, in 1917-38 he was the head of the Physics Department of the Institute of Chemistry in Berlin (Dahlem). From 1922 she taught at the University of Berlin (since 1926 a professor). In 1938 she emigrated to Sweden, where she became a member of the Nobel Institute, since 1947 a professor at the Higher Technical School in Stockholm. She has lived in the UK since 1960.

Together with O. Gan, she conducted research in the field of nuclear physics, discovered the radioactive element protactinium (1918). In 1922-24 she developed ideas about the discrete energy states of the nucleus. In the 1930s, she began studying nuclear reactions when uranium was irradiated with neutrons. In 1939 she gave a theoretical explanation (together with O. Frisch) of the experiments of Hahn and F. Strassmann, who discovered barium in the nuclear decay products of uranium.

She died October 27, 1968 in Cambridge, UK.

Max Heiliger, score

In the false name of Max Heiliger, a bank account was opened, which actually belonged to the SS, which received funds and valuables stolen from prisoners of extermination camps (see "Death Camps" ^ including gold dental crowns taken from those killed in gas chambers, diamonds , gold watches, wedding rings, bracelets, cash, etc. The cellars of the Reichsbank were filled to the brim with this terrible booty.The President of the Reichsbank, Dr. Walter Funk , was aware of the origin of these treasures.

Mann, Heinrich

(Mapp), (1871-1950), German writer and public figure. Older brother of Thomas Mann. Born March 27, 1871 in Lübeck in an old burgher family. Studied at the University of Berlin. During the Weimar Republic he was a member (since 1926), then chairman of the Literature Department of the Prussian Academy of Arts. After Hitler came to power in 1933, he emigrated first to Prague and then to France. Since 1936, the chairman of the Committee of the German Popular Front, created in Paris. From 1940 he lived in the USA (Los Angeles).

The author of many realistic novels - "The Promised Land" (1900), "Teacher Gnus" (1905), "Small Town" (1909). A month before the start of World War I, he finished one of his most significant works - the novel "Loyal Subject", which opens the trilogy "Empire", continued in the novels "Poor" (1917) and "Head" (1925). collections of articles directed against Nazism: Hatred (1933), The Day Will Come (1936), Courage (1939).

The Youth of Henry IV (1935) and The Maturity of Henry IV (1938).

Heinrich Mann died on March 12, 1950 in Santa Monica, California.

Mann, Golo

(Mapp), German historian, youngest son of Thomas Mann. Born March 27, 1909 in Munich. After the Nazis came to power, he left Germany. He worked as a journalist in Switzerland, then moved to the United States, where he taught at various colleges. In 1960 he returned to Germany and taught political science at the Technical University of Stuttgart. The main work is German History of the 19th and 20th Centuries (1958).

Mann, Klaus

(Mapp), (1906-1949), German writer, son of Thomas Mann. Born November 18, 1906 in Munich. Since 1925, a theater critic in Berlin, together with his sister, performed with a theater troupe. In 1933 he left Germany. Together with Adolph Huxley, Heinrich Mann and André Gide, he published in France the émigré magazine "Di zammlung" ("Collection"). In 1942 he moved to the United States, where he edited the magazine Decision, in which he sharply criticized the Nazi regime. Joining the US Army, he served as a correspondent for the army newspaper Stare and Strips (American Flag). Committed suicide on May 21, 1949 in Cannes.

Mann, Thomas

(Mapp), (1875-1955), German writer, brother of Heinrich Mann. Born into an old burgher family. Fame Mann brought the first novel "Buddenbrooks" (1901) - an extensive narrative about the fate of four generations of Lübeck patrician family. In 1924 the novel The Magic Mountain was published, a panorama of bourgeois society on the eve of World War I. In 1929 Thomas Mann was awarded the Nobel Prize. At the end of the 20s. acted as a critic and publicist. In 1933-43, Thomas Mann creates a historical tetralogy on a biblical theme, Joseph and his brothers.

After the Nazis came to power, Mann lived in exile in Switzerland, and since 1938 in the USA. In 1939, the novel Lotta in Weimar was published - the result of many years of Mann's reflections on Goethe's work. In 1943 he began work on Doctor Faustus (1947), the most significant work of the last period.

Thomas Mann died in Zurich on August 12, 1955.

Mannerheim, Carl Gustav

Emil

(Mappegbeit), (1867-1951), baron, Finnish statesman and military figure, marshal (1933). He was born on June 4 (16), 1867 in the town of Vilnius, near Turku. He graduated from the University of Helsingfors (1877) and the Nikolaev Cavalry School (Petersburg). Until 1917 he served in the Russian army. During the 1st World War he commanded a unit; lieutenant general (1917); in 1918 commanded the Finnish army. In December 1918 - July 1919, Regent of Finland, from 1939 Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Army, Chairman of the National Defense Council (since 1931). He led the actions of the Finnish army during the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940. During World War II he was an ally of Hitler. In September 1944, he was forced to make a decision to withdraw from the Berlin Pact of 1940 .and out of the war under pressure from the Soviet government. From August 1944 - President of Finland. In March 1946 he retired. He died on January 28, 1951 in Lausanne.

“Mannerheim Line”

The system of Finnish border fortifications on the Karelian Isthmus. Named after the Finnish Marshal K. Mannerheim. It was built in 1927-39. The construction was completed under the leadership of the Belgian General Badu, a participant in the construction of the “Maginot Line” (see “Maginot Line”). It covered the Keksholm and Vyborg directions, adjoining the flanks to Lake Ladoga and the Gulf of Finland, had a width along the front of 135 km, depth

Finnish Field Marshal Mannerheim (left) on his 75th anniversary C 942) was awarded Hitler's zisit

bin up to 95 km and consisted of a support strip (depth 15-60 km), a main strip (depth 7-10 km), a second strip, 2-15 km away from the main one, and a rear (Vyborg) defense strip. More than 2 thousand long-term firing structures (DOS) and wood-earth firing structures (DZOS) were erected, which were combined into strong points of 2-3 DOS and 3-5 DZOS each, and the latter - into nodes of resistance (3-4 strong points ). The main line of defense consisted of 25 nodes of resistance, numbering 280 DOS and 800 DZOS. The strongholds were defended by permanent garrisons (from a company to a battalion in each). Between the strongholds and nodes of resistance were positions for field troops. The strongholds and positions of the field troops were covered by anti-tank and anti-personnel barriers. Only in the security zone, 220 km of wire fences in 15-45 rows, 200 km of forest debris, 80 km of granite gouges up to 12 rows, anti-tank ditches, scarps and numerous minefields were created. During the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939-40, Soviet troops broke through the Mannerheim Line. After the war, most of the surviving structures were destroyed. During the 2nd World War, Finnish troops partially restored the structures of the Mannerheim Line. In 1944, Soviet troops for the second time broke through the “Mannerheim Line” in the Vyborg direction, and then almost completely destroyed all of its defensive structures. During the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939-40, Soviet troops broke through the Mannerheim Line. After the war, most of the surviving structures were destroyed. During the 2nd World War, Finnish troops partially restored the structures of the Mannerheim Line. In 1944, Soviet troops for the second time broke through the “Mannerheim Line” in the Vyborg direction, and then almost completely destroyed all of its defensive structures. During the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939-40, Soviet troops broke through the Mannerheim Line. After the war, most of the surviving structures were destroyed. During the 2nd World War, Finnish troops partially restored the structures of the Mannerheim Line. In 1944, Soviet troops for the second time broke through the “Mannerheim Line” in the Vyborg direction, and then almost completely destroyed all of its defensive structures.

Mannesman

(Mappeztapp A.S.), the largest pipe-rolling concern in Germany. Founded in 1890 by the Mannesmann brothers under the name "Mannesmanrören Werke". During the 2nd World War "Mannesmann" was one of the main suppliers of weapons for the German army. By decision of the Potsdam Conference of 1945, the concern was subject to liquidation, but in fact it underwent only a slight reorganization. In the 60s. resumed arms production.

Manteuffel, Hasso von

Manteuffel (MapieiTTeI), (1897-1978), general of the German army, politician, baron. Born January 14, 1897 in Potsdam, the grandson of the Prussian Field Marshal Edwin von Manteuffel (1809-1885). In 1908, following family tradition, Manteuffel entered the Prussian cadet corps in Naumburg, and then at the military school in Berlin-Lichterfeld. Member of the 1st World War, was wounded. Served in the Reichswehr. In 1932, Manteuffel became a squadron commander in the 17th Cavalry Regiment in Bamberg. In 1934 he was transferred to the 2nd motorcycle battalion. In 1935, Heinz Guderian persuaded Manteuffel to join the 2nd Panzer Division as a company commander.

In 1937, Manteuffel served as an official adviser to the Inspectorate of Tank Forces, then commandant of a military school in Potsdam - he trained tank crews. After the German attack on the Soviet Union, Manteuffel fought in the 7th Panzer Division of Army Group Center as a regiment commander. In December 1941, Manteuffel was awarded the Knight's Cross for crossing the Moscow-Volga Canal near Yakhroma. Then the 7th division was transferred to France. In July 1942, Manteuffel was appointed commander of the 7th Panzergrenadier Brigade. At the beginning of 1943 he was sent to Sev. Africa, fought in Tunisia. May 1, 1943 Manteuffel was promoted to the rank of major general. In November 1943, for the battles near Kyiv and Zhitomir, Manteuffel was awarded the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross. In early 1944, Hitler appointed him the commander of "Grossdeutschland" - an elite, consisting exclusively of volunteers, a heavily armed tank division that fought in Romania, and then in the East. Prussia. In February 1944, Manteuffel was promoted to lieutenant general and was awarded the Swords to the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves. In January 1945, he was appointed commander of the 5th Panzer Army on the Western Front, having received orders to break through to Bruce.

Hasso von Manteuffel

village. Deprived of air support and sufficient fuel and ammunition, and faced with a determined Allied counteroffensive, he appealed in vain to Hitler for help. Since the Führer hesitated, Manteuffel spoke in despair about the "corporal" and ordered a general retreat to the line of the Rhine. Despite this, Hitler awarded him the Diamonds to the Knight's Cross. In March 1945, Manteuffel commanded the 3rd Panzer Army on the Eastern Front, Hitler's last hope. On May 3, 1945, Manteuffel's troops surrendered. He spent the end of 1945 and the beginning of 1946 in various British prisons, and in March 1946 he was returned to Germany to be judged at the Nuremberg trials.At the end of 1946 he was released. He worked at the Cologne bank of Oppenheim. From 1953 to 1957 Manteuffel was a member of the Bundestag. He died in Diessen an der Ammersee (Bavaria) in 1978.

Manheim, Carl

(Mappleit), (1893-1947), German sociologist. Born March 27, 1893 in Budapest. In 1930-33 professor of sociology at Frankfurt University. After the Nazis came to power, he left Germany and moved to the UK; associate professor (1933) and professor (1945) at the University of London (Higher School of Economic Sciences). One of the founders of a systematic scientific sociology. Author of the works "Freedom, Power and Democratic Planning" (1950), "Ideology and Utopia" (1951). He died in London on January 9, 1947.

Manstein, Erich von

(Mapzieip), (now, ifam's name is Friedrich von Lewinsky) (1887-1973), Field Marshal of the German Army (1942), one of the inspirers and conductors of the blitzkrieg against France in 1940. Born on November 24, 1887 in Berlin in the family of a general . After the death of his parents, he was adopted by a wealthy landowner, Georg von Manstein. In the army since 1906, graduated from the Military Academy (1914). Member of the 1st World War, after which he served in the Reichswehr. In 1935-38 he was chief of the Operations Directorate and 1st quartermaster of the General Staff of the Ground Forces. In 1939 - February 1940 the chief of staff of the group

Field Marshal von Manstein develops a plan of attack

armies "South", and then army group "A". During the attack on France (1940) he commanded the 38th corps. In 1941, the commander of the 56th tank corps, participated in the attack on Leningrad. From September 1941 to July 1942 he commanded the 11th Army during the capture of the Crimea and during the battles for Sevastopol, and from August 1942 he led the fighting near Leningrad. From November 1942 to February 1943, the commander of Army Group Don, led the unsuccessful operation to deblockade the group surrounded by Stalingrad. In February 1943 - March 1944 he commanded Army Group South. He was removed from his post for failures and enrolled in the reserve. In 1950, as a war criminal, he was sentenced by a British military tribunal to 18 years in prison, but was released in 1953. Author of the memoirs Lost Victories (1955) and From a Soldier's Life. 1887 - 1939" (1958),

Marburg speech

On June 17, 1934, at the University of Marburg, a speech by the former Chancellor of Germany and by that time Vice-Chancellor Franz von Papen. Instead of the expected colorless speech, a speech was made that gave the impression of an exploding bomb. Von Papen spoke on behalf of the conservative parties and the tycoons of the German economy, concerned about the threats against them from Nazi extremists and SA leaders.In his speech, von Papen criticized the Nazi regime and called for the expansion of freedoms in the country. He stated that the question of whether the German Reich would continue to be a Christian state remained open. It is necessary to put an end to the eternal teaching of the people. The Germans found themselves in a difficult economic situation, although they are still trying to embellish the situation. Propaganda is not enough, von Papen said, to win people's trust. It must be clearly understood that the absolute power of one party is 

only an intermediate link to a more democratic state. The vice-chancellor essentially called for free elections, expressing what millions of Germans felt, but few dared to speak out.

Von Papen was a member of the government; his speech was tentatively approved by the old marshal-president, who congratulated him by telegram. The vice-chancellor also received the support of the Reichswehr, the financial and business elite. In fact, the Marburg speech was an ultimatum to the Nazi regime. Enraged Hitler, in response, called von Papen a “worm” and a “ridiculous dwarf” who would be “cleanly crushed by the German nation.” Gler and Gler could not pass by such fierce attacks on his regime. Measures were taken immediately. The German newspapers were firmly “offered” do not publish the text of the speech, and the publications that managed to do this were confiscated. Goering, Goebbels and Hessmade threats on the radio against "naive boys" who intended to prevent the Nazis from carrying out their policies. The situation worsened, and Ryom, already expelled from the officers' association, was sent on leave to treat "rheumatism of the joints of the hand."

Hitler did not dare to strike directly at the Vice-Chancellor. The Gestapo was tasked with finding other opportunities to respond. It was not difficult for Heydrich to find out that the true author of the speech was the young writer and lawyer Dr. Edgar Jung, one of the creators of the theory of the “conservative revolution”, who was already beginning to gain some political weight. Four days after von Papen's speech, Jung disappeared. His wife accidentally discovered the word “Gestapo” scrawled by her husband on the bathroom wall. Jung's body was found on June 30 in a roadside ditch near Oranienburg. Only many years later it became known that after long interrogations and terrible tortures, he was killed in a prison cell.

A direct consequence of von Papen's Marburg speech was the "Night of the Long Knives" on June 30, 1934.

Marita

Code name for Hitler's planned attack on Greece in 1941. In a directive dated December 13, 1940, he ordered the occupation of the Aegean coast Although Germany was not at war with Greece, Hitler considered this a temporary position. The British were assisting Greece in the war against Italy, and Hitler was determined to deprive them of their advantageous foothold on the continent.

Marcel, Hans-Joachim

(MagzeіІІе), (“Jochen”) (1919-1942), fighter pilot of the Luftwaffe , one of the most famous pilots of the Third Reich. Born December 13, 1919 in the suburbs of Berlin Charlottenburg in a family of descendants of French Lutherans.

Hauptmann Marseille posing in front of the British plane he shot down

His father, Siegfried Marcel, was a pilot during the 1st World War, and then became a policeman; in 1944, with the rank of Major General of the Wehrmacht, he died on the Eastern Front. As soon as Marcel turned 18, he went to serve in the Luftwaffe, where he proved himself to be a talented but extremely undisciplined pilot, who was interested in women much more than combat training. During the “battle for England”, Maurice shot down 7 enemy planes, and he himself was shot down at least 4 times, but he always managed to reach his plane to the coast of France. His flying and sniper talent was fully revealed in North Africa, where Marseille was sent as part of the 27th Fighter Air Group of Major Edmund Neumann to support the army of General Ervin Rom and where he flew the Me-109.He was awarded many high awards, including Hitler personally handed him the Knight's Cross with oak leaves, swords and diamonds. Mussolini awarded him the Italian Gold Medal for bravery. Following Rommel, Marcel was the most popular figure in the North African campaign. When on September 1, 1942, he destroyed 17 British aircraft in one day, the German press excitedly called him the African Eagle and the Star of the Desert.

September 30, 1942, when Marseille was returning from a mission over Cairo, the cockpit of his plane was suddenly filled with acrid black smoke. Already out of breath, he managed to reach the location of the German troops and, not far from El Alamein, jumped out of the plane by parachute. Before the eyes of his comrades, Marseille was pulled into the air stream of a falling aircraft and hit the tail skin with force. His parachute never opened.

In total, Marseille made 388 sorties and shot down 158 enemy aircraft, which ensured him the 31st place in the list of German aces. He died when he was not yet 23 years old.

Maroon, Arthur

(Mabgip), (1890-1950), founder of the Jungdeutscher Order, one of the first political opponents of Hitler. Born December 30, 1890 in Kassel. In 1920, he created an organization of conservative youth, the purpose of which was to counteract the growing strength of the Nazi movement. Marun said: “The leaders of the Nazi party understand very well how to turn the dissatisfaction of the German people with a deep economic crisis into a mechanism that turns the party mills. The Nazis allow themselves to say whatever they want. But they are convinced that only a dictatorship can save Germany.” In 1932, Marun was among the founders of the German State Party, which resisted Nazism. In 1933 he was sent to prison. Marun died on March 27, 1950 in Gütersloh.

“Marcgefallene”

(“MaghdeTaIIepe” — “Joined in March”), a popular derisive expression in pre-war Germany for those Germans who rushed to join the Nazi Party in March 1933, shortly after Hitler came to power (“the Hitler call”).

"Marzfeilchen"

(“MaghveiiІsGіep” — “Fragrant Violets”) was a derisive name in pre-war Germany for those who, succumbing to the general panic, hurriedly joined the Nazi Party in March 1933.

Mauthausen

(Maiibaieep), a concentration camp near Linz, 4 km from the town of Mauthausen (Upper Austria). Created in July 1938 as a "branch" of the Dachau concentration camp. Since March 1939 - an independent camp. After the Anschluss , on the orders of Himmler and Heydrich, who were in Austria, a Jewish emigration center was established in Vienna and the Mauthausen concentration camp. Himmler said it was too troublesome 

constantly transport prisoners to the north of Germany and, in addition, Austria needs its own concentration camp. In 1938-45, about 335 thousand people from many countries were imprisoned in Mauthausen. Although formally Mauthausen was not an extermination camp (see "Death Camps"), during its existence, only in the camp totenbuch, the "book of death", 36,318 executions were registered; according to other data - over 122 thousand people. On April 25, 1945, the prisoners of the camp were liberated by the Allied forces. Thousands of malnourished people were handed over to the International Red Cross and placed in hospitals in Germany, Switzerland and Sweden.

“Machtergreifung”

("MasbierdgeiTipd" - "Seizure of Power"), the language used in Nazi propaganda (along with "Machillegnerpatme" - "Acceptance of Power") of Hitler's accession to the post of Chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933. Hitler was very proud that his rise to political power occurred not as a result of a coup d'état, but by legal methods.

MG-42

Light machine gun, which was in service with the German army. It was considered in its class the best weapon of the 2nd World War. Replaced the obsolete MG-34, was first used during the African campaign. The barrel of the machine gun was mounted on a conventional tripod, was equipped with a cartridge belt. Rate of fire - 1200 rounds per minute, firing range - 3500 m.

Meinecke, Friedrich

(Meіpeske), (1862-1954), German historian, opponent of Nazi ideology. Born October 30, 1862 in Salzwedel. He studied at the universities of Bonn and Berlin (1882-1886), worked in the Prussian State Archives. From 1893 to 1935 he was the editor-in-chief of the journal “Historishe tsaytshrift” (“Niziogizsiiye Heii8SipTi”). Professor

Himmler, accompanied by Kaltenbrunner and the commandant of the camp at Mauthausen

Strasbourg (1901-06), Freiburg (1906-14), Berlin (1914-28) universities. Meinecke's works are devoted to the study of the history of ideas, which Meinecke considered the engine of the historical process. In Cosmopolitanism and the Nation State (1908), he presented the history of German unification as a development of the idea of ​​the nation state. The defeat of Germany in the 1st World War led Meinecke to abandon his traditional idea of ​​the state as the embodiment of a moral idea (“The Idea of ​​State Reason in Modern History”, 1924). Meinecke began to assert that the irrational, “demonic” principle plays a large role in history. Being a supporter of Western liberalism and speaking out for an alliance with the Western powers, he was at the same time a fan of Prussian authoritarian rule and tried to bring these two opposing concepts together in his works. After Hitler came to power, Meinecke's major theoretical and methodological work The Rise of Historicism (1936) was published, in which he summarized his views on historical phenomena as purely individual complexes not subject to any objective laws.

Meinecke did not share Hitler's rude and arrogant nationalism and often stated this in the pages of his journal, which was the reason for his resignation in 1935 from the post of editor-in-chief and from the post of university lecturer. After the defeat of the Third Reich, Meinecke, in his book The German Catastrophe (1946), although he criticized many aspects of the political course of Hitler and German imperialism, nevertheless defended the dual nature of the German spirit - both lofty and base, peace-loving and warlike. “The high and the low fought each other, but the low began to prevail.” Meinecke criticized the “low degenerate militarism” that became the tool of Hitler and his vicious environment. ".

In 1948, the American occupation authorities appointed Meinecke rector of the new Free University in West Berlin, where he worked until his death on February 6, 1954.

Meisner, Otto

(Meisspeg), (1880-1953), Nazi lawyer. Born March 13, 1880 in Bischwiller (Alsace). Having entered the civil service at a young age, he worked for 25 years as head of the Reich Chancellery, first under President Paul von Hindenburg (1924-1934), and then under Hitler (1934-1945). Using his influence in government circles, together with the president's son Oskar von Hindenburg , he put pressure on the aged president and persuaded him to proclaim Hitler chancellor. As a reward for this, Hitler retained his post of State Secretary of the Reich Chancellery. In 1937 Meissner was appointed Reich Minister. On April 11, 1949, he appeared before a military tribunal in Nuremberg as a war criminal, but was acquitted. Meissner died in Munich on May 27, 1953.

Meitner, Lise

(Meіipeg), (1878-1968), Austrian physicist and mathematician; see Meitner L.

Mengele, Josef

(Mepdeie), (1911-1971?), an Auschwitz doctor notorious for his medical experiments on prisoners . An na Frank called him "the angel of death." Born March 16, 1911 in Günzburg, a small old town on the banks of the Danube, in Bavaria. His father owned a factory for the production of agricultural machinery - "Karl Mengele and Sons", which employed many residents of the town. In the 20s. Mengele studied philosophy in Munich, where he met the racial ideology of Alfred Rosenberg,whose Aryan theory made a great impression on him. Here he met Hitler and became one of his devoted supporters. Mengele later received his medical degree from the University of Frankfurt am Main. Combining the study of philosophy and medical studies, he "came to the conclusion" that people, like dogs, have a pedigree. Later, he began to conduct experiments to breed blue-eyed, fair-haired Nordic giants.

In 1939 he joined the SS troops with the rank of Untersturmführer (2nd lieutenant), served as a military medic in France and Russia. In 1943 Himmler appointed him chief doctor of Auschwitz. Here he attracted many doctors (Koenig, Tilon, Klein) to the selection of able-bodied Jews who were sent to industrial enterprises; all others were sent to the gas chambers. The selection was random. The prisoners moved in formation in front of Mengele, who commanded either “to the right!” (work team), or “to the left!” (gas chamber). In addition, Mengele conducted medical experiments on prisoners, especially on twins, in order to identify ways to increase the German nation. He once led an operation during which two boys were sewn together- 

gypsy to create Siamese twins. The children's hands turned out to be heavily infected at the sites of resection of blood vessels.

During the Frankfurt Trials, witnesses described how Mengele stood in front of his victims with his thumb on his sword belt and selected candidates for the gas chambers. When he was informed that lice had appeared in one of the blocks, Mengele sent all 750 women from this barrack to the gas chamber. Witness Maximilian Sternol testified: “On the night of July 31, 1944, there was a terrible scene of the destruction of the gypsy camp. Kneeling before Mengele and Boger, women and children begged for mercy. But it did not help. They were brutally beaten and forced into trucks. It was a terrible, nightmarish sight.”

After the war, Mengele spent some time in a British hospital for internees, but then disappeared. Obviously, using some channels, as did Adolf Eichmann, he moved to Rome in 1949, and from there, using forged documents in the name of Gregorio Gregori, to Buenos Aires. Included on the lists of wanted war criminals, he became the object of a search by Interpol, Israeli intelligence and Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal.Huge rewards were assigned for his capture: a certain organization from Frankfurt am Main offered 5 thousand dollars in 1961, and in 1971 the Documentation Center in Haifa increased the reward to 50 thousand dollars. There were separate reports that he was allegedly seen in Brazil (in 1961 and 1964) and Paraguay (in 1968). In 1973, the Polish Commission for the Investigation of Nazi War Crimes reported that Mengele's whereabouts had become known from various sources: under the name Pedro Caballero, he lives in Paraguay, in the province of Amambey, not far from the Brazilian border. Apparently, in 1957 the Supreme Court of Paraguay granted him citizenship. Eyewitnesses who spoke with Mengele in Paraguay said that he willingly talked about his past.

Beaker

(Mepsig-duel), traditional German duels between members of student fraternities (corporations). They were banned in the Weimar Republic. Reappeared with the rise of the Nazis to power in 1933, they were officially seen as a means of developing students' discipline, courage and indifference to pain.

Me-109

Single-engine typical single-seat fighter aircraft of the German Air Force during the 2nd World War. Developed in 1934 on instructions from the Ministry of Aviation by the German aircraft designer WilliMessedschmitt. The first demonstration flight of the Me-109 took place in 1936 during the XI Olympic Games. He received his baptism of fire in Spain, providing serious support to Franco's troops.

The Me-109E modification had a water-cooled engine with a capacity of 1100 horsepower, a wingspan of 11 meters, and a maximum speed of 570 km/h. Armament - two 20 mm cannons and two 7.9 mm machine guns. Until the Me-109 collided with the English Spitfires during the Battle of England, it had no equal in combat qualities. Favorite aircraft of German pilots, including Major Erich Hartmann, who shot down 352 enemy aircraft on it.

Me-110

Twin-engine fighter-interceptor of the German Air Force during the 2nd World War. Modernized design of the Me-109 aircraft .

Me-262

("Swallow"), the first combat jet aircraft of the German Air Force in the 2nd World War. Work on this aircraft began at the Willy Messerschmitt Design Bureau in 1938. The first prototype flew into the air in 1941. It had two turbojet engines, a maximum speed of 870 km/h, a wingspan of 13 m, armament—four 30 mm guns and 24 50 -mm rocket projectile. Originally developed

Me-109, one of the best Luftwaffe aircraft in the early days

Twin-engine Me-110 (in the foreground) accompanies .Іi-87 (“Stuka”)

Me-262 - the first serial turbojet aircraft had undeniable advantages in the air over any other aircraft of both the Luftwaffe and the Air Force of the anti-Hitler coalition. A unique photograph showing the Me-262 in flight

Me-262 equipped with radar for night combat

as a fighter-interceptor, but Hitler, enraged by the devastating Allied bombing, demanded that it be converted into a bomber. Due to conflicts between the Air Ministry and the Luftwaffe , the aircraft was not put into mass production. Despite its enormous speed and other high performance, it was unable to change the course of the war, since only a limited number of vehicles were produced.

Messerschmitt, Willy

(MezzegsGitіy), (1898-1978), German aircraft designer and industrialist. The creator of many aircraft, helicopters, gliders for various purposes. Born June 26, 1898 in Frankfurt am Main. In 1923 he founded an aircraft factory in Bamberg, and in 1926 he created the first all-metal aircraft. His Me- 109 fighter, the main fighter of the German Air Force, first took to the air in 1935; Subsequently, it was repeatedly refined and modernized, during the 2nd World War it successfully competed with the best Allied fighters. Messerschmitt also created the Me-110 multi-purpose aircraft and one of the first Me~262 jet fighters . Mon-

Professor Willy Messerschmitt talks with Captain Wendel, who set the world speed record of 755 km / h on the Me-209 in 1939

Serschmitt gained worldwide recognition as one of the outstanding aircraft designers of the 20th century. After the war, he emigrated to Spain, where he consulted on the projects of a number of aircraft, and also engaged in the production of prefabricated houses. In 1959 he returned to Germany, re-established the company and resumed the production of aircraft under licenses for the Bundeswehr. He was the honorary chairman of the Messerschmitt-Belkov-Blom concern; holder of a significant number of shares of this concern.

Meshugism

(Meschiddiztis - cult of madness), a term used in Nazi propaganda to accuse contemporary art innovators. The expression is borrowed from the Yiddish language; tessbidde - "crazy". Knowing Hitler's hatred of modernism in art, members of the Nazi elite competed with each other in attacks on the German Expressionists, Impressionists, Dadaists and Surrealists. See also Degenerate Art.

Möller van den Broek, Arthur

(MoeІІІегѵан сіп Вгіс), (1876-1925), leader of the young conservative revolutionaries in the period of the Weimar Republic, one of the intellectual predecessors of Hitler and Nazism. Born April 23, 1876 in Solingen. Historian and critic, he was one of the founders of the "June Club" in Berlin and its ideological leader from 1915 to 1925. As an opponent of democracy, he attached particular importance to the "mysticism of the national idea" and called for a "new German identity." He was also a vocal opponent of communism. In the states adjacent to Germany, he saw nothing but a “crazy desire for equality”, which, as he believed, would lead the world to absurdity. Unwilling to acknowledge the existence of an international order, he anticipated Hitler in his contempt for international law.

Sympathetic to the racial doctrine, Möller urged the Germans to support the theory of the superiority of the Nordic race. The future, he said, lay entirely in an alliance between Prussia and Germany. The "true revolution" must restore the values ​​of the eternal Reich. He called on his compatriots to return to the essence of primitive and classical times and demonstrate their contempt for Western rationalism. He asked them to identify themselves completely with the living Voikziit- a kind of mystical unity in which every German will feel the "national rhythm". Germany, he said, should become an authoritarian state with a fully centralized, controlled and planned economy. All these ideas were set forth in Möller's major work, The Third Reich, published in 1923, two years before the author's suicide. Hitler was deeply imbued with Möller's ideas and considered himself capable of putting them into practice.

Mölders, Werner

(Moeisiege), (1913-1941), Luftwaffe fighter pilot, aviation general. Born March 18, 1913 in Brandenburg. In 1932 he graduated from the Dresden Military Academy, joined the Luftwaffe in 1935. For three years he was an instructor pilot in Wiesbaden. In 1938 he was sent to Spain as part of the Condor Legion two months before it was disbanded. He shot down 14 enemy aircraft, which earned him the fame of one of the best pilots in Germany.

In 1939 he was appointed commander of the 53rd Fighter Air Group. From June 1940 to July 1941, as part of the 51st Air Group, he participated in battles in France and the Battle of England. On June 5, 1940, his Me-109 was shot down by a French fighter over the front line in the Chantilly area; Mölders miraculously escaped by parachuting out of the burning plane. According to official Luftwaffe statistics, Mölders shot down 115 enemy aircraft, of which 68 were on the Western Front. He was an inspector of flight personnel at the headquarters of the Luftwaffe High Command. He was the first among pilots to be awarded the Knight's Cross with oak leaves, swords and diamonds.

He commanded the combat operations of aviation in the Crimea. After ace pilot ErnstUdet committed suicide on November 17, 1941, Mölders was called to Berlin to be on guard of honor at Udet's coffin. On November 21, 1941, in difficult weather conditions, an Xe- 111 bomber caught on wires in the Breslau area and crashed. His post was taken by Adolf Galland.

"Dead Head"

(ToilepkorT-88; 88TV), special SS units created to protect concentration camps and punitive actions against the population of the occupied eastern territories. In April 1934, Himmler, then chief of the Prussian secret police, appointed Theodor Eickeinspector of concentration camps and instructed him to create detachments for the protection of prisoners, which were later called "Dead Head". At a meeting of the top military leadership in Obersalzberg on August 22, 1939, Hitler spoke about the purpose of these formations: “So far I have trained my “Dead Head” detachments only in the East, I ordered them to kill without mercy and pity men, women and children of Polish origin. .. Poland will become depopulated and will be colonized by the Germans. On the basis of these formations, the SS Panzer Division “Totenkopf” was created.

Milch, Erhard

(Міісіі), (1892-1972), Field Marshal of the Luftwaffe, Deputy Hermann Goering. Born March 30, 1892 in Wilhelmshaven. During the 1st World War he was a pilot, and after its end - a civil aviation pilot. In 1923 he worked in the Junker aviation company, in 1926-33 he was the director of the financial management of the Lufthansa company. By this time, Milch was already closely associated with the growing Nazi movement.

In 1933, Goering, who knew Milch well and appreciated his organizational skills, appointed him secretary of state at the Ministry of Aviation.

Field Marshal Erhard Milch

In addition, Milch was the head of armaments of the Luftwaffe. In this post, he had to place orders for the production of aircraft weapons among various companies. The credit for creating the Luftwaffe belongs entirely to Goering and Milch, who worked together. However, there was a very complicating factor: Milch's mother was Jewish, a situation unthinkable for a government official under the Nazi regime. Goering solved this problem in a peculiar way by obtaining a document signed by Milch's mother with her own hand, which stated that Erhard was the illegitimate son of his father, and not her child. Therefore, Milch avoided the process of “aryenization”. For Goering, this was in the order of things, since he never perceived anti-Semitism .as seriously as the Fuhrer did. Göring frequently recruited non-Aryan officers into the Luftwaffe if he felt they could be of tangible value to the cause. Milch was a skilled organizer, selfish and demanding, he could decisively overcome bureaucratic red tape and get to the very essence.

In 1938 he was promoted to the rank of Oberst General (general of the army). The following year, he was already in command of the 5th Air Fleet during the Norwegian campaign. After the surrender of France in 1940, Milch became one of three senior Luftwaffe officers (along with Albert Kesselring and HugoSperle) who were awarded the rank of Field Marshal. During the Battle of England, Milch commanded the 3rd Air Fleet. In 1941 - 44 years. Milch was bu/іheidteіzіeg — chief aviation inspector. In the intrigues constantly taking place in the environment of the Fuhrer, Milch supported the Goebbels-Speer group, which opposed Martin Bormann.In 1942, Hitler temporarily placed Speer and Milch in charge of the Third Reich's communications routes. In 1943, Milch unsuccessfully warned Goering about the dangers of the increased production of the American aircraft industry, but the Reichsmarschall did not heed these warnings. In 1947, Milch appeared before the International Military Tribunal and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Released in 1954. Milch died in 1972.

"World domination or collapse"

(“Veitasy osieg Mіsiegdapd”), a slogan put forward by Hitler at the beginning of the Nazi movement. "If we fail to conquer [the world]," he said in 1934, "we must plunge half the world with us into destruction."

Misbacher Anzeiger

(“Miesbacher Apgeideg”), a far-right daily newspaper published in the spa town of Miesbach (Upper Bavaria). It was founded in 1875. After the First World War, it gained wide popularity due to sharp criticism of the government of the Weimar Republic. Until the appearance in 1921 of the official organ of the NSDAP, the Völkischer Beobachter, Misbacher Anzeiger, due to the extreme right-wing positions it occupied, was the most revered newspaper among the first Nazis. Came out until 1945.

"Missmacher und Criticaster"

(“Mezztasbeg ipb Kgііііkazieg” — “Whiners and critics”), a phrase often used by the Minister of Public Education and Propaganda, Dr. Goebbels, to accuse dissidents dissatisfied with the Nazi regime.

Mittvohsgesellschaft

(MіPѵѵoszdeseІІзсГіаТІ - “Society “Sreda”), an association of right-wing conservatives who met every Wednesday in Berlin to discuss issues of history, art, science and literature. The club acted as a theoretical forum for passive resistance to the Nazi regime. Among its members were the diplomat Christian Albrecht Ulrich von Hassel and the Prussian finance minister Johannes Popitz.

"Mischlinge"

(MissIIIpde—“mixed”, “unpurebred”), a category of persons, according to Nazi racial doctrine, among whose ancestors were Jews. They were divided into "mishling" of the first degree - half Jews, and "mishling" of the second degree - a quarter of the Jews. “Mishling” of the first degree included non-Jewish and unmarried persons who had Jews in the third tribe (grandfather and grandmother) on both sides. The second degree consisted of those who had only one side of the grandfather and grandmother were Jews.

Unlike purebred Jews, the Mischlings were not subject to persecution and extermination in Nazi Germany. The State Secretary of the Interior Ministry, Wilhelm Stuckart, one of the drafters of the Nuremberg Citizenship and Race Laws, was a principled opponent of the Mischlinge deportation on the grounds that it would mean "sacrifice of German blood": "I have always considered it biohazardous to inject German blood in the enemy camp. The intellect and brilliant education of the half-Jews, due to their connection with the German nation, makes them natural leaders outside of Germany, and therefore very dangerous. I prefer to see Mischiepde die of natural causes inside Germany.”

The Mischlinge problem was discussed on January 20, 1942 at the Wannsee Conference, but no radical decisions were made on this issue. As a result, the Mischlings were not deported or sterilized and did not become an object of extermination. On the basis of earlier laws, they were classified as non- Aryans, and most of them survived.

Model, Walter

(MobeІ), (1891-1945), Field Marshal General (1944) of the German army. Born January 24, 1891 in Gentin. In the army since 1909, participant in the 1st World War. He was one of the first to support Hitler and always remained loyal to the Nazi regime. From November 1940 he commanded the 3rd Panzer Division, which took part in the German attack on the USSR. From October 1941 commander of the 41st tank corps, from January 1942 to November 1943 (with interruptions)

Field Marshal Walter Model

commander of the 9th Army on the Eastern Front. In February-March 1944 he commanded Army Group North, in April-June 1944 - Army Group Northern Ukraine, in June-August 1944 - Army Group Center. He was considered a “master of retreat”, carried out the tactics of “scorched earth”, and was distinguished by particular cruelty. In August 1944, Model replaced Field Marshal Günther von Kluge (who did not comply with Hitler's order of August 16, 1944 to "stand to the death" and retreated in the Falaise area in northern France) as commander of the West. From September 1944 he commanded Army Group B in France. In April 1945, Model's troops were defeated during the Ruhr operation and capitulated on April 18 (more than 325 thousand soldiers and 30 generals surrendered), after which on April 21 Model shot himself in the forest near Duisburg.

Moltke, Helmut Graf von

(Moііke), (1907-1945), legal adviser to the German command, one of the leaders of the Resistance movement. Born March 11, 1907 in Kreisau, Silesia. His father was German and his mother an Englishwoman of African descent, both Christian scientists. He was the great-great-grandson of Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke (1800-1891), who helped Bismarck establish the Second Reich. From his mother, he inherited a love for Christianity, democracy, and the existing world order. In his youth, he took part in the activities of the German youth movement, engaging in social reforms. At the age of 23, he took over the management of the family estate in Kreisau. Deciding to devote himself to the legal profession, he practiced international law in Berlin. A tall man, striking in appearance, the bearer of one of the most respected surnames in Germany,

From the very beginning, von Moltke was an opponent of the Nazi regime, which he considered a clear disgrace to his homeland. At the slightest opportunity, he provided secret assistance to the victims of Nazism, including legal support and assistance in exile. He was the founder and leader of the Kreisau Group,a small group of like-minded people who developed the post-Hitler structure of Germany. The circle was not a carefully organized group of conspirators, but was only an informal community of young Germans concerned about the future of their country. Their plans were to create a new Germany on the site of the Third Reich. The ideological inspirer of the group, von Moltke, believed that Germany would be able to find a stable government only after a moral recovery based on Christian values. He called for a completely open society with equal justice for all. His aspirations were completely different from the views of some leaders of the military wing of the Resistance, who demanded the immediate removal of Hitler and the Nazi regime.

After the outbreak of World War II, von Moltke received a minor post as an expert in international law in the foreign intelligence department of the German High Command of the Armed Forces (OKW). He used his position to assist hostages, prisoners of war and persons sent to forced labor. In January 1944, von Moltke was arrested, and after the failure of the July 1944 conspiracy, he was accused of treason, primarily for refusing to report the early activities of his accomplices. The true reason for his trial was the fact that von Moltke was a humane and conscientious person. President of the People's Tribunal Roland Freislerdeclared at the trial: “The mask has been dropped. Only in one respect are we and Christianity alike: we demand the whole person.”

Von Moltke was sentenced to death on January 11, 1945. In his last letter to his wife, he wrote that he did not seek martyrdom, but considered it “an invaluable advantage to die for what we really did and considered worthwhile.” He was executed not for what he did, but for what he thought. He was executed in the Plötzensee prison on 23 January 1945 at the age of 37.

Monte, Hilda

(Mopie), (nee Meisel) (1914 1945), German poetess. Born July 31, 1914 in a Jewish family. From the age of 15 he was an employee of the Berlin newspaper Der Funke (Iskra), the organ of the Socialist International. Monte was in England at the time Hitler came to power. Taking part in the campaign against the Nazi regime, she considered it necessary for herself to return to her homeland in order to continue the struggle against Nazism. In early 1945, she was killed by an SS patrol while trying to cross the Swiss-German border.

“Morgentau plan”

The program of post-war policy towards Germany, proposed by US Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau (1891-1967) in September 1944 at the 2nd Quebec Conference. The “Program to prevent Germany from unleashing World War III” provided for the dismemberment and decentralization of Germany, the internationalization of the Ruhr area, the complete elimination of German heavy industry and aviation, demilitarization, and the transformation of Germany into a backward agrarian country. Roosevelt eventually rejected this plan. Hitler regarded the Morgenthau Plan as a guarantee that defeat would inevitably unite all Germans. The Fuhrer urged the Germans to fight to the last in order to avoid the punishments provided for by the Morgenthau Plan.

Morell, Theodore

(MogeII), (c. 1890-1948), Hitler's personal physician. Having received a medical education, he worked as a ship's doctor. Then he moved to Berlin, where he practiced skin and venereal diseases; his patients were well-known representatives of artistic bohemia. Morell declared that he considers himself a student

Theodor Morell

Nobel Prize winner biologist I. Mechnikov (1845-1916), who allegedly gave him the secrets of fighting infectious diseases. In 1935, on the recommendation of the Nazi court photographer Heinrich Hoffmann,whom Morell cured of a serious illness, he was introduced to Hitler. After examining the Fuhrer, Morell discovered that he had a complete exhaustion of the gastrointestinal tract, caused by overwork of the nervous system. He ordered Hitler to take vitamins, hormones, injections of phosphorus and dextrose for a year. The Fuhrer was pleased: “Until now, no one has been able to determine exactly what is wrong with me. Morell's method of treatment is so consistent that I have complete confidence in him. I will follow all his recipes.” Becoming a personal physician, Morell relieved Hitler of some kind of rash, which caused an improvement in the patient's well-being. The Fuhrer's appetite improved. “I was lucky that I met Morell,” he said. “He saved my life. The way he helped me is just wonderful.”

Their relationship continued for nine years. Convinced of Morell's abilities, Hitler forbade any criticism of him and strongly advised his associates to contact their new doctor.

Among his inner circle, Hitler never tired of talking about the medical miracles proposed by Morell, such as, for example, bull's eggs or the latest vitamins. Morell always had a supply of intestinal bacteria-containing multiflora, "isolated from the best livestock raised by Bulgarian peasants." Over time, as the symptoms of Hitler's illness began to reappear, Morell increased and increased the doses of drugs administered to him - biological components from the intestines of male animals and twenty-eight other drugs, including dangerous amphetamines. Whether the Fuhrer gave a speech or caught a cold, Morell constantly gave him injections. Gradually, Hitler's skin became more and more spotty.

Meanwhile, Morell used the benefits of his association with those in power to secure his own future. He built several factories that produced patented drugs. The use of "Russian powder" from lice, which was produced by Morell, became mandatory in the armed forces. Anticipating a secure future, Morell continued to claim that he was the discoverer of penicillin, and that his secret had been stolen from him by the British secret services.

However, the circle of enemies of Morell was also wide. Hermann Göring referred to him with nothing less than the contemptuous "Mr. Imperial Pricker". Eva Braun said that he had the habits of a pig, and refused to address him because of the dirt in his office. Other doctors, especially Dr. Karl Brandt, claimed that Morell was slowly poisoning Hitler with injections of dangerous drugs.Hitler showed symptoms similar to Parkinson's.After the July Plot of 1944 , Hitler dismissed Morell and began to be treated by Brandt and Ludwig Stumpfegper.Morell died in Tegensee in May 1948.

Maurice, Emil

(Maigise), (1897-1945), Hitler's personal bodyguard, his chauffeur and close friend. Born January 19, 1897 in Westermure. A watchmaker by profession. In 1919 he joined the German Workers' Party, and when it was reorganized into the NSDAP, he received a membership card for number 19. In 1920, Maurice joined the Ordnertruple unit created by Ulrich Graf to guard Hitler during mass rallies. Over time, Graf and Maurice became known as "the first soldiers of the SA". Maurice later became Hitler's bodyguard.

Maurice was unpopular in Nazi party circles: swarthy, of French origin - he was suspected of having Jewish roots. In the summer of 1924, while in the Landsberg prison, Hitler began dictating the first part of Mein Kamlf to Maurice (Rudolf Hess was finishing the work). He was friendly with Hitler's niece Geli Raubal; it was rumored that he was specially hired to play the role of the Fuhrer's rival on the eve of her suicide on September 18, 1931. Maurice took an active part in the "Night of the Long Knives", in particular, he was among those who killed Edmund Heines in Bad Wiessee on June 30. He led a gang who killed Bernhard Stempfle's father,who told too much about Hitler's relationship with Geli Raubal. Maurice held the rank of SS Oberführer (Brigadier General). In 1937 he headed the Society of Professional Craftsmen in Munich.

"Sea lion"

(“Beeibѵѵe”), the code name for Hitler's planned amphibious landing operation on the British Isles. The plan approved by the directive of July 16, 1940, boiled down to the following: crossing the English Channel, landing between Dover and Portsmouth about 25 divisions, then an offensive to cut off London. In the directive on the preparation of the operation, Hitler indicated: “Considering that England, despite her hopeless military situation, does not show any signs of readiness for an agreement, I decided to begin preparations and, if necessary, land troops in England. The purpose of this operation is to eliminate the English metropolis as a base for continuing the war against Germany and, if necessary, completely capture it. The date of the invasion of the British Isles was postponed several times.

The command of the Wehrmacht came to the conclusion that the condition for the conquest of England is the destruction of its military potential. To do this, it was necessary first to defeat the British aviation. The commander of the Luftwaffe , Goering, believed that massive air attacks would paralyze the life of Great Britain, terrorize its population, and destroy administrative and industrial centers. The conquest of absolute dominance in the sky was to provide the Germans with cover for the invasion armies during the crossing of the English Channel. According to the calculations of the command of the Wehrmacht, the operation "Sea Lion" would require 40 divisions. In the occupied ports on the mainland - Rotterdam, Cherbourg, Calais and Ostend - several thousand transport barges were concentrated. On August 8, 1940, the air war against Britain began - operation"Adlerangriffe". Its first day, “Adlertag” (“Day of the Eagle”) is considered the beginning of the “battle for England”.

In October 1940, Operation Sea Lion was postponed to the spring of the following year, but it was never carried out. On January 9, 1941, Hitler gave the order to cancel all preparations for landing on the islands.

"Darkness and Fog"

(Machine Melee), Hitler's secret order, issued on December 7, 1941, for the arrest in the territory of Holland, Belgium and France of "persons representing a danger to German security", who, although not subject to immediate destruction, were to "disappear without a trace in darkness and fog ". General Wilhelm Keitel, who was responsible for carrying out this order, explained that "in principle, the punishment for crimes against the German state is death." The implementation of this task was entrusted to sector IV O 4 of the fourth department of the RSHA (Gestapo),in charge of the western territories, and her boss, Karl Heinz Hoffmann. Although at the end of the war the archives of the security service were seized by the allied forces, it is still not known exactly how many Europeans were victims of this order and disappeared without a trace “in the darkness and fog”

Music in the Third Reich

All the arts in Nazi Germany were subject to the politics of gleichschaltung, or coordination, and only music, the least political of the arts, did not experience serious pressure under the Hitlerite dictatorship, becoming a kind of isolated cultural space.

Germany's contribution to the world of music in the past has won wide recognition. Many outstanding masters of the late 18th century were Germans. The German І_іес1 (song in German words) acquired almost as important a value as a symphony. The three greatest German composers of the early 19th century - Mendelssohn, Schumann and Richard Wagner - had a tremendous impact on the entire musical world. At the end of the 19th century, Johannes Brahms created wonderful symphonies. The 20th century brought radical changes in music associated with the name of the Austrian composer Schoenberg who worked in Berlin.

After becoming Chancellor of Germany in 1933, Hitler appointed Goebbels Minister of Public Education and Propaganda, under whose "cultural dictate" music came, albeit to a lesser extent, after the press, broadcasting, cinematography, theatre, fine arts and literature. The Nazi authorities encouraged the performance of Wagner's works,

because Hitler was a fanatical follower of his work. The works of Meyerbeer and Mendelssohn were banned due to the Jewish origin of these composers. German orchestras were forbidden to play the music of Paul Hindemith, the leading national composer of our time, who won world recognition and experimented with new forms of harmonic series. Wagner's admirer Hitler considered Hindemith's works decadent and demanded that their concert performance be banned.

Immediately after the Nazis came to power, the expulsion of Jewish musicians from the symphony orchestras and opera groups began, many of whom were forced to leave the country. Among the musicians who left Germany was Otto Klemperer, the great conductor, performer of Mahler, head of the Berlin Opera Orchestra. The cultural life of many countries was enriched as a result of the exodus of Jewish musicians who feared for their lives or did not want to recognize the Nazi regime.

Some of the significant figures in the German music world, in contrast to the more politicized writers, nevertheless decided to stay in the country. Some of them went completely into their own creativity, while others agreed to cooperate with the regime. The latter did not feel any pressure from the Nazi authorities and continued their activities with official permission. Wilhelm Furtwängler,one of the outstanding conductors of the 20th century, made peace with the Nazis. For some time he was in disgrace, as he passionately defended the banned Hindemith, but nevertheless he retained his post at the Berlin Philharmonic and the National Opera. Richard Strauss, one of the world's leading composers, remained in the Third Reich and at one time headed the Imperial Music Chamber, subordinate to the Goebbels propaganda ministry. The outstanding German pianist Walter Gieseking personally received permission from Goebbels to give concerts abroad.

Symphony concerts in Germany itself attracted the attention of the public throughout the years of the Third Reich. Mostly classical music, works by German composers of the 19th century, were performed. Until 1944, music festivals dedicated to the work of Wagner were held in Bayreuth, at which Hitler and other party functionaries were present as guests of honor.

Mussert, Anton Adrian

M yussert (Mivvegi), (1894-1946), founder and leader of the National Socialist movement in Holland. Born May 11, 1894 in Werkendam. A hydraulic engineer by education. Since 1940, he worked closely with the German National Socialists, during the occupation of the country he set his own

Hitler and Streicher (right) at a production of Wagner's Die Meistersinger at the Munich Opera

the party and its military units in the service of Nazi Germany. In December 1942, Hitler proclaimed Mussert the leader (“leider”) of the Dutch people. Put forward a plan to create the Great Netherlands as part of the Netherlands, Belgium and North. France. After the liberation of the country, Mussert on May 7, 1945 was arrested by the Dutch authorities as a collaborator and hanged in The Hague on May 7, 1946 for "treason and aiding the enemy."

Mussolini, Benito

(Mizzoііпі), [Amilcare Andrea] (1883-1945), the founder of Italian fascism, the head of the Italian fascist party and the government of Italy in 1922-43 and the puppet government of the so-called. Republic of Salo in 1943-45.

Benito Mussolini was born in 1883 in the family of a village blacksmith in the province of Forlì, Emilia Romagna, in the small village of Dovia. His childhood years were not marked by anything special, however, he learned to play the violin well, which later served as a reason for him to talk about his belonging to artistic natures. At the beginning of the 20th century, Mussolini lived and worked in Switzerland, where he tried the professions of a bricklayer, blacksmith's assistant, and was a laborer. At the same time, he joined the Socialist Party, actively promoting socialist ideas among Italian migrant workers.

Returning to his homeland, Mussolini took up journalism and literature, worked as a teacher. In 1908 he wrote an article on Nietzsche, The Philosophy of Power, which, along with his oratorical skills, brought him fame. In 1912-14 Mussolini was the editor of the central organ of the Italian Socialist Party (SPI) of the newspaper Avanti! (“L'Avapi!”). For campaigning in favor of Italy's entry into the war on the side of the Entente in November 1914, he was expelled from the ISP. Despite calls for war, Mussolini himself was in no hurry to fight. Having been wounded in a training unit, he did not participate in any more battles. At the same time, he founded his own newspaper, Pololo d'Italia (Roroio b'iaiaia).

After the First World War, many disillusioned front-line soldiers were inclined to blame parliament and democracy for all troubles, sought to militarize civilian life and created detachments of “arditi” (dared men). On this wave, Mussolini in March 1919 formed the "Union of Struggle" - "Fascio di Compattimento", the main goal of which he proclaimed the struggle for the interests of the nation. “I have always been sure,” Mussolini said, “that in order to save Italy, several dozen deputies must be shot. I am sure that Parliament is a bubonic plague poisoning the blood of the nation. She must be exterminated." On October 2, 1922, Mussolini, with his supporters, built in thousands of columns, carried out a campaign against Rome. The Parliament of Italy passed power to him by majority vote.

Benito Mussolini

Benito Mussolini, poster

For several years, Mussolini did not dare to act openly only by violence, but in 1926 he finally destroyed the remnants of the opposition in the country. He issued emergency laws, according to which all political parties, except for the fascist, were banned and dissolved, and their deputies were expelled from parliament. At the same time, Mussolini created a fascist tribunal that condemned from 1927 to 1937 about 3 thousand anti-fascists. The Grand Fascist Council became the highest legislative body in the country. The activities of free trade unions and all democratic organizations were banned, open terror began to be carried out, denunciations were encouraged, and citizens were suspicious of each other. The old morality was declared a bourgeois relic, and the new one consisted in the complete subordination of the interests of the individual to the fascist state.

Hitler's coming to power in Germany in 1933 provided Mussolini with a worthy ally. Confident in his support, Mussolini launched a war with Ethiopia. Relying on an alliance with Hitler and the signed Rome agreements (see "Pact of Steel"), Mussolini proceeded to implement his aggressive plans in Europe - in 1936 he organized a military fascist rebellion against republican Spain, as a result of which the regime of General Francisco Franco was established there. During the Anschluss of Austria carried out by Hitler, Mussolini, despite existing treaties, refused to provide assistance to the Austrian government. In September 1938, Mussolini was one of the organizers of the Munich Agreement, which predetermined the seizure of Czechoslovakia by Germany and contributed to the unleashing of World War II.Munich Agreement 1938).

Beginning in 1943, Mussolini and his regime fell on dark times. In July 1943, the United States and Britain began hostilities in Sicily, and then in Italy itself. This operation ended with the capitulation of Italy on September 3, 1943, signed on the island of Sicily by King Victor Emmanuel III. The Grand Fascist Council voted against Mussolini, and the King of Italy, who had not participated in the political life of the country for almost two decades, ordered Mussolini to be arrested in September 1943. Soon, on the personal order of Hitler, Mussolini was released by German paratroopers led by SS-Sturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny and, after negotiations with Hitler, was sent under guard to northern Italy to lead the so-called hastily created to cover German communications. Republic of Salo (Lombardy).

On September 23, 1943, Mussolini formed a new government, the first slogans of which were to restore the desecrated honor, dignity and greatness of Italy, to wash away the shame of capitulation. King Victor Emmanuel was accused of defeatism and organizing a coup d'état. On September 28-29, the Republic of Salo was recognized by Germany, Japan, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia, which freed Mussolini's hands to punish the disaffected. Mussolini did not stop even before shooting the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy, the husband of his eldest daughter Edda, Galiazzo Ciano.

By the summer of 1944, the position of the Republic of Salo became critical. On June 4, 1944, American troops entered Rome, and in August - Florence and moved to the north of Italy.

In the spring of 1945, Italian Resistance detachments launched decisive battles with the retreating Wehrmacht troops . On April 2nd , 1945, a detachment of partisans stopped a small German unit in the town of Dongo. During a search of one of the trucks, Mussolini was found in it. The next day, in complete secrecy, the commander of one of the units of the Resistance movement, Colonel Valerio, who arrived from Milan, took Mussolini to the village of Giulio di Mezetro, where he shot the former Duce and his mistress Clara Petacci. After death, their bodies were hung upside down as a sign of shame.

Muchov, Reinhold

(Misjov), (1905-1933), a Nazi official who developed a plan for the implementation of thorough Nazi control over the inhabitants of city blocks and districts (see Mukhova, plan). Born December 21, 1905 in Noeköln, a working-class suburb of Berlin, in the family of a typographic typesetter. Early joined the Nazi Party, which allowed him to become the owner of the title of "old fighter". In 1925 he became the Nazi leader of the 1st District of Greater Berlin. He was so successful in organizing his district that in 1938 the Gauleiter of Berlin, Dr. Goebbels , appointed Mukhov as the organizational leader of all of Berlin. In this position, he developed a plan for densely uniting street party cells into a single system. Later he was transferred to work in the German Labor FrontRobert Ley, in which he created 14 new divisions. Mukhov died in an accident in Bacharach (Rhineland) on September 12, 1933. He was revered by the Nazi authorities as one of the outstanding party organizers.

Fly, plan

Plan for the organizational work of the Nazi Party in the environment of the urban middle class. Named after the developer Reinhold Mukhov, head of the 1st district of Greater Berlin. The plan provided for the creation of a vertical system of party divisions from the section (from 10 to 20 city blocks) to the cell (about five members). The aim of the plan was to maintain personal contacts in the lower echelons of the Nazi Party and at the same time to draw more active fighters into the party.

"Martyrs"

In the Nazi martyrology, 16 of the first supporters of Hitler killed by the police on November 9, 1923 during the failed “Beer putsch” of 1923. On October 16, 1924, while in Landsberg prison, Hitler dedicated the first volume of “Mein Kampf” to them: “The so-called national authorities denied the mass grave to these fallen heroes.” Their names are:

Felix Alfart, shopkeeper (b. 5 July 1901)

Andreas Bauridl, hatter (b. 4 May 1879)

Theodor Casella, bank clerk (b. 8 August 1900)

Wilhelm Ehrlich, bank clerk (b. 19 August 1894)

Martin Faust, bank clerk (b. 27 January 1901)

Anton Hechenberger, locksmith (b. 28 September 1902)

Oscar Koerner, shopkeeper (b. 4 January 1875)

Karl Kuhn, head waiter (b. 26 July 1897)

Carl Laforce, student (b. 28 October 1904)

Kurt Neubauer, servant (b. 27 March 1899)

Claus von Pape, merchant (b. 16 August 1904)

Theodor von der Pfordten, Councilor of the Supreme Court (b. 14 May 1873)

Joachim Rickmers, retired cavalry captain (b. May 7, 1881)

ІШХЕМШХНШШдаи

Н'ШШдаНАШ: 5 (МЕ 1М НОПЖЧККИКЯМІМ ЯВІШМ5ІМШШ15 (

The Nazis who fell during the "Beer Putsch", depicted here as the heroes-martyrs of the NSDAP

Max Erwin von Schöbner-Richter, engineer (b. 9 January 1884)

Lorenz von Stranski, engineer (born March 14, 1899)

Wilhelm Wolff, shopkeeper (b. 19 October 1898)

Müller, Heinrich

(MyІІeg), (1901-?), Chief of the Gestapo (IV Department of the RSHA), one of the main leaders of the mass extermination of people. Reinhard Heydrich's deputy, SS Gruppenfuehrer (lieutenant general).

Heinrich Müller was a descendant of Bavarian peasants, unintelligent, but extremely stubborn and stubborn. He was short, squat, massive, with an almost square head. Former member of the Munich Criminal Police; Until 1933, he dealt many sensitive blows to the Nazis during the years of their underground struggle. After Hitler came to power, Müller began to serve the new regime as zealously as he had previously served the Weimar Republic.Himmler drew attention to such qualities as his blind obedience to discipline and professional competence. Müller repeatedly applied for admission to the Nazi Party, but was rejected for six years; he became a member of the party only in 1939, which did not prevent him from actually leading the Gestapo from 1935. The high patronage of Himmler, who appreciated Mueller's abilities, allowed him to secure and retain for himself, despite all the transformations, a privileged and surprisingly independent position in the structure of the Gestapo . Himmler entrusted him with many "delicate" missions, which required a person not burdened with complexes of conscience. One of Muller's first "masterpieces" was the case of Blomberg Fritsch. He owns the development and implementation of the provocative operation in Gleiwitz (see.Gleiwitz incident). He led the investigation into the activities of the underground organization "Red Chapel". A very rude administrator, a "functional" to the marrow of his bones, Muller lived and worked for the sake of "papers", statistics and reports. He felt good only dealing with notes, agendas and instructions.

Behind K. 1871

On January 20, 1942, Müller was among fifteen senior Nazi leaders present at the Wannsee Conference, where the decision on the Jewish question was made (see "Final Solution'').

In the autumn of 1942, Himmler instructed Müller to create his own system of concentration camps for the extermination of Jews (SosienTgei). Thanks to the efforts of Müller, in January 1943, 45,000 Jews were deported from Holland, 3,000 from Berlin, 30,000 from Bialystok, and 10,000 Jews. from Theresienstadt to be sent to the Auschwitz gas chambers .

In June 1943 Müller was sent to Rome to find out the reasons that allowed the Italian Jews to avoid arrest. Until the very end of the war, transports with Jews from different countries, on the orders of Müller, were sent to Auschwitz.

In the last days of the Third Reich, Müller was in the Führerbunker. It was to him that Hitler entrusted the interrogation of Hermann Fegelein, the husband of Eva Braun's sister, who was trying to escape from the bunker.

Himmler's faithful henchman Müller disappeared from sight in the first days of May 1945, and his further fate is rather vague. Some German officers who were in Soviet captivity claimed upon their return to their homeland that Muller had allegedly been seen in Moscow. If Walter Schellenberg's claims are to be believed, then Muller managed to take advantage of the Red Chapel case, which he led, to establish contact with Soviet intelligence and go to her service at the time of the collapse of the Third Reich. The same sources claim that Muller died in Moscow in 1948. According to other sources, Muller moved to Chile to Martin Bormann. Other evidence also existed, such as that Müller was killed during the fighting in Berlin, or that he was allegedly seen in Brazil and Argentina among fleeing war criminals.

In 1973, his name was included in the list of the most important wanted Nazi criminals.

Muller, Joseph

(Miiieg), (1898-?), Munich lawyer who took part in the conspiracy against Hitler. Zealous Catholic, opponent of Nazism, confidant of Cardinal Michael von Fulhaber, Archbishop of Munich. He was described as a man of great physical strength, inexhaustible energy and exceptional courage. With the outbreak of World War II, Muller joined the Abwehr and was sent to serve in Rome. For three years he was in contact with the British intelligence services. In April 1943 he was arrested and sent to Buchenwald.Müller was kept chained, starved, deprived of sleep, and the lights were constantly on in his cell. He was saved from death by the fact that all his documents perished in a plane crash. In the last months of the war, Muller was transferred from one camp to another, Tues. hours in Dachau, but he managed to survive. He was liberated by the Americans on May 4, 1945.

Müller, Ludwig

(Miiieg), (1883-1945), pastor of the Koenigsberg military district, elected on September 27, 1933 under pressure from Hitler and with the zealous participation of the so-called. German Christians (i.e., pro-Nazi) by the Imperial Bishop. Born June 23, 1883 in Gütersloh. In the mid 20s. became an army chaplain in the 1st military district in Königsberg, where he became famous for his sermons about selfless love for the motherland and the high duty to be a German, as well as for his implacable anti-Semitism. In 1926, the commander of the East Prussian military district, General Werner von Blomberg , introduced him to Hitler, after which Muller quickly went uphill. April 4, 1933 he was appointed to the post of Confidant and Commissioner for the Evangelical Church. Since that time, Muller has become a central figure in the struggle

between the pro-Hitler Garmian Faith Movement and the new Confessional Church (Beckentniskirche). led by Martin Niemoller. In accordance with the policy of Gleichschaltung, GHitler demanded from the imperial church that it gather all Protestants into a single, easily controlled society, expecting that the new church would support the Nazi regime. On July 23, 1933, the national synod in Wittenberg elected Müller as Imperial Bishop, and in this post he began to fight the Confessional Church. Although Müller was a fanatical supporter of the Nazi regime, he never managed to win Hitler's absolute confidence. Beginning in 1935, when Hitler transferred all religious matters to the Reich Commission on Religion, Müller's influence began to wane. He died in Berlin on July 31, 1945.

Müller, Friedrich Max

(МііІІег), (1823-1900), German philologist, orientalist, specialist in general linguistics and mythology, unwitting progenitor of the Aryan racial theory. Born December 6, 1823 in Dessau. The son of the German writer, poet and court librarian Wilhelm Müller. In 1841 he entered the University of Leipzig, where, on the advice of Hermann Brockhaus, he began to study Sanskrit. In 1844, in Berlin, he studied comparative philology with Professor Franz Bopp, who invited him, and also studied the idealistic philosophy of Friedrich von Schelling. Visiting Paris in 1845, Müller became acquainted with the writings of Eugène Bournoff, a leading authority on the language of the Avesta, who encouraged him to study comparative religion. This discipline attracted his attention until the end of his life. In 1846, having decided to carry out a new edition of the Rig Veda, Müller went to England, where he studied the archives of the East India Chamber in London and worked at the Bodleian Library at Oxford University. After giving the brilliant young German a warm welcome, English scholars introduced him to Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort and persuaded the East India Company to give him financial support for the publication of the Rigveda (6 vols. 1849-1874).

In 1856 Müller became Lecturer in Modern Languages ​​at the Taylor Institute in Oxford, where his reputation began to skyrocket with his brilliant lectures on classical anthropology and linguistics. Having little interest in the new anthropology and ethnography, Müller argued that the growing human consciousness must be explained in terms of the history of language. He considered himself "the author of the science of language", although many of his theories were refuted by later studies.

Müller turned out to be the unwitting creator of the popular “Aryan theory” since the second half of the 19th century. It was he who coined the term "Aryan" instead of the cumbersome "Indo-European". He was one of the first to study the migration of the Indo-European peoples, which paved the way for the pseudoscientific "Aryan theory" based on the juggling of the concepts of "race" and "language". Müller himself was dumbfounded by the unexpected application of his assumptions and in 1888 warned scientists studying the problems of race: “I declare again and again that when I say Aryans, I mean neither blood, nor bones, nor hair, nor skull . I mean only those who speak the Aryan language. For me, an ethnologist who talks about the Aryan race, Aryan blood, Aryan eyes and hair, is the bearer of the greatest sin as a linguist, who talks about dolichocephalic vocabulary or brachycephalic grammar. This is worse than the Babylonian confusion of languages—this is outright theft. We must create our own terminology to classify languages. Let ethnologists create their own terms for the classification of skulls, hair, temperament, lineage, gender.” The concept of "Aryan" in linguistics, Muller insisted, is completely inapplicable to origin. It means language and nothing but language, and if one speaks of the Aryan race in general, it means nothing but Aryan speech. completely inapplicable to the origin. It means language and nothing but language, and if one speaks of the Aryan race in general, it means nothing but Aryan speech. completely inapplicable to the origin. It means language and nothing but language, and if one speaks of the Aryan race in general, it means nothing but Aryan speech.

But the damage has already been done. Müller accepted the rebuke, but all his arguments had no effect on the racists. He died in Oxford on October 28, 1900. Since that time, the borrowing of “science” began - linguistic paleontology to confirm the existence, purity and superiority of the Aryan (later Nordic) race. As a result, racism became the central ideology of the Third Reich.

See also Racial Doctrine.

Munich process

The trial on charges of treason against the leaders of the "Beer Putsch" of 1923. The hearings, held in the building of the Infantry Officers' School in Munich, began on February 24, 1924 and lasted 24 days. The building was surrounded by barbed wire and heavily guarded. The court consisted of two professional lawyers and three assessors (two insurance agents and one real estate dealer). There were 10 people in the dock, including Hitler, General Erich Ludendorff, Ernst Röhm and Wilhelm Frick. All of them were accused of plotting to carry out a coup d'état. The witnesses for the prosecution were the General Commissioner of the Government of Bavaria, Gustav von Kahr,the commander of the armed forces of Bavaria, General Otto von Lossow and the chief of the Bavarian police, Colonel Hans von Scheisser. The trial attracted attention not only in Germany, but throughout the world. There were about 100 reporters in the press box, and a huge crowd tried to find an empty seat in the boardroom.

The defendant Hitler dominated the trial from the very beginning. It was the first time a zealous young politician received such a huge audience and took full advantage of the opportunity presented to him. Subsequently, he recalled: "Our ideas were scattered throughout Germany like an explosion." Every day, the country watched with increasing excitement as the Nazi leader turned the trial into his own triumph and the triumph of his party. His calculation was simple: instead of apologizing and admitting guilt, he seized the initiative and presented his ideas to the German people in long fiery speeches. Hitler told the court that, by all rights, his accusers - von Kahr, von Lossow and von Scheisser - should have been sitting with him in the dock. “One thing is certain: if our performance was really treason, then all this time the Losses, Kahr and Scheisser committed high treason with us, because in recent weeks we have not spoken about anything other than the intentions for which we are now accused. He took full responsibility. “There was no greater treason than the betrayal of 1918. I consider myself the best of the Germans, who wanted a better life for the German people.”

From that time on, all of Germany listened to the words of the leader of the National Socialist movement. “The greatest achievement of November 8 [1923] is this: it not only did not lead to despondency and discouragement, but contributed to the rise of the people to unprecedented peaks of enthusiasm. I believe that the hour will come when the people on the streets, who now stand under our banners with the swastika, will unite with those who shot at us on November 9th. I believe in it: blood will never tear us apart. The hour will come when the Reichswehr - both officers and privates - will stand on our side. Hitler sought to convince the German public that his putsch had in fact succeeded. He revealed all the problems of the Weimar Republic, spoke of a “stab in the back”,attacked the revolution, inflation, Marxism, the decadence of the Berlin authorities. “I accuse Ebert, Scheidemann and others of high treason. I blame them because they destroyed a nation of 70 million.” When the court warned him that he was going too far, Hitler did not pay the slightest attention to this and continued in the same vein for four hours. His speech became even more dramatic:

“Yas from the very beginning aspired to something that is a thousand times higher than the position of minister. I wanted to become an exterminator of Marxism. I was going to solve this problem, and if I succeeded, then the position of minister would become as ridiculous as you can imagine ...

At one time I believed that in the fight against Marxism one could count on the help of the government. In January 1923, I realized that this was impossible... Germany would only be free when Marxism was destroyed. Before, I could not even dream that our movement would be so powerful that it would take over all of Germany like a flood.

The army we are building is growing day by day, hour by hour. Even now I feel pride at the mere thought that one day the hour will strike, and these disparate detachments will turn into battalions, battalions into regiments, regiments into divisions. I hope that the old cockade will be lifted out of the mud, the old banners will be unfurled to fly again, this will be an atonement before God's judgment. Then from under our stones and from our graves will sound the voice of the only court that has the right to judge us.

And then, gentlemen, it will no longer be you who will pass sentence on us, but this sentence will be given by the eternal court of history, which will reject the accusations brought against us. I know that you will punish us. But that other court will not ask us: have you committed high treason or not? This court will give its assessment to the general of the old army, these officers and soldiers, who, like the Germans, wanted only the good of their people and their fatherland, who fought and were ready to die. You may think us guilty a thousand times, but the goddess of history's eternal judgment will smile and throw out the proposal of the public prosecutor and the verdict of this court; we will be found not guilty."

This speech produced an unprecedented effect and turned out to be one of Hitler's best speeches. Newspapers that had never even mentioned Hitler's name before now devoted entire pages to him. Millions of Germans were electrified by the performance of this man, who became a national hero in the Munich courtroom.

The verdict was announced on April 1, 1924. Ludendorff was acquitted, and the rest were found guilty. The maximum punishment for high treason was life imprisonment, but Hitler received the minimum - 5 years in prison, which was the most lenient and honorable of all forms of punishment. Hitler served only nine months of his sentence in Landsberg Prison and was triumphantly released.

Munich coup

See "Beer putsch" 1923.

Munich Agreement 1938

Agreement on the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia, reached on September 29-30 in Munich by the heads of government of Great Britain (N. Chamberlain), France (E. Daladier), Nazi Germany (A. Hitler) and fascist Italy (B. Mussolini).

The ease with which Hitler carried out the Anschluss in March 1938Austria, encouraged him to further aggressive actions, now against Czechoslovakia. After the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Czechoslovakia quickly became one of the most prosperous countries in Central Europe. Many of the most important industrial enterprises were located on its territory, including the Skoda steel mills and military plants. With a population of 14 million on the eve of the Munich Agreement, in addition to Czechs and Slovaks, about 3.3 million ethnic Germans lived in the country. German-speaking population, so-called. Sudeten Germans constantly loudly declared discriminatory measures against them by the Czechoslovak government. Almost half of the 1 million unemployed in the country were Sudeten Germans. The central authorities took all possible measures to reduce the intensity of discontent in the Sudetenland: representation in the National Assembly, equal rights in relation to education, local self-government, etc., but the tension did not subside Hitler decided to take advantage of the unstable situation in the Sudetenland and in February 1938 appealed to the Reichstag with an appeal “to pay attention to the appalling living conditions of German brethren in Czechoslovakia” . He declared that the Sudeten Germans could count on the Third Reich to protect them from the Czechoslovak oppressors. A wave of accusations arose in the German press against the Czechoslovak authorities, allegedly carrying out atrocities against the Sudeten Germans. Taking advantage of a small border incident that left several Germans dead, Hitler moved German troops to the border with Czechoslovakia, hoping to exert political and military pressure on a country whose army was only 400,000 strong. But the Soviet Union and France warned Germany that they would fulfill their obligations towards Czechoslovakia, and Hitler was forced to withdraw his troops from the border. However, the cautious Chamberlain declared that he could not guarantee British support in the event of German aggression against Czechoslovakia. Encouraged by the indecision of the British government, Hitler decided to base his plans on"fifth column", which was represented by the Sudeten Germans and the pro-Nazi Sudeten German Party. On his instructions, the leader of this party, Henlein , put forward a number of demands that essentially implied Czechoslovakia's renunciation of sovereignty over the Sudetenland (April 24). On May 30, Hitler convened a secret meeting of the generals in Jüterbog, at which he declared: “My unshakable desire is to destroy Czechoslovakia as a result of hostilities in the very near future.” Then he announced the order to conduct Operation Goyun no later than October 1, 1938.

The subsequent events that immediately preceded the signing of the Munich Agreement are as follows: the maneuvers of Anglo-French diplomacy in order to justify the pending deal with Hitler to public opinion and attempts to persuade Czechoslovakia to capitulate; the rebellion of the Sudeten Nazis on September 13, suppressed by the armed forces of Czechoslovakia; Berchtesgaden date 1938,during which Chamberlain, agreeing in principle to Hitler's demand for the transfer of Czechoslovak border territories to Germany, only expressed a request not to start hostilities (September 15); the Anglo-French ultimatum (September 18) on the transfer of part of Czechoslovak territory to Germany (“it is necessary to cede to Germany areas inhabited mainly by Sudeten Germans in order to avoid a general European war”), adopted on September 21 by the President of Czechoslovakia E. Benes; Chamberlain's meeting with Hitler in Bad Godesberg to discuss the new demands of the German government, which were even more difficult for Czechoslovakia (September 22).

At the height of the tension, Mussolini advised Hitler to convene a quadripartite meeting in order to settle all the problems that had arisen. Agreeing to this proposal, Hitler made a speech on September 26 at a mass meeting at the Sports Palace in Berlin. He assured Chamberlain and the world that if the problem of the Sudeten Germans was solved, he would not make any further territorial claims in Europe: “We are now approaching the last problem that needs to be solved. This is the last territorial demand I make to Europe. In 1919, three and a half million Germans were cut off from their compatriots by a group of crazy politicians. The Czechoslovak state grew out of a monstrous lie, and the name of this liar is Beneš.”

Chamberlain went to Germany for the third time, to Munich, literally begging Hitler for peace. He wrote: "I wanted to try again to do this, since the only alternative was war."

Hitler and Mussolini (third and fourth from left) at the Munich Conference in September 1938. In this picture: Count Ciano, far right; British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain - on the left, Edward DaLadieu - on the left of Hitler

The Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia were not allowed to negotiate. Chamberlain and Daladier accepted Hitler's conditions and jointly put pressure on the Czechoslovak government. The text of the agreement, drawn up on September 29, was signed the next day.

The agreement provided for the transfer of Germany from October 1 to October 10, 1938 of the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia (with all structures and fortifications, factories, factories, stocks of raw materials, communications, etc.), satisfaction at the expense of Czechoslovakia within 3 months of the territorial claims of Hungary and Poland, a “guarantee” by the parties to the agreement on the new borders of Czechoslovakia against unprovoked aggression (the invasion of Czechoslovakia by German troops in March 1939 revealed the false nature of these “guarantees”). On September 30, the Czechoslovak government accepted the Munich dictatorship without the consent of the National Assembly.

Chamberlain, returning to London, joyfully declared at the airport, waving the text of the agreement: "I have brought peace to our time." Shocked by such a policy of condoning the aggressor, Winston Churchill said: “I will remind those who would like not to notice or forget, but what nevertheless must be stated, namely, we experienced a general and obvious defeat, and France suffered even more than we did .. And there is no reason to hope that this will all end. This is just the beginning of the payoff. This is only the first sip from the bitter cup that will be offered to us from day to day, if there is not an incredible restoration of moral health and military power, if we do not wake up again and do not bet on freedom, as in the old days.

The agreement signed in Munich was one of the most striking manifestations of the policy of "appeasement" carried out on the eve of World War II by the governments of Great Britain and France in order to achieve an agreement with Nazi Germany at the expense of the countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe, to avert Hitler's aggression from Great Britain and France and send it to the East, against the Soviet Union. The Munich Agreement was an important milestone in the preparations for World War II.

Nadolny, Rudolf August

(Noboipu), (1873-1953), German diplomat. In 1903-07 he was vice-consul in St. Petersburg, from 1907 to 1912 - adviser to the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1916-17 he worked as a chargé d'affaires in Tehran. In 1917-19, Nadolny was an assistant on Eastern issues in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in 1919-20 he was the head of the cabinet of President Ebert, in 1920-24 he was envoy to Stockholm, in 1924-33 he was ambassador to Turkey. In 1932-33 Nadolny led the German delegation to the disarmament conference in Geneva. He sought to improve relations between Berlin and Moscow. In November 1933, Hitler appointed Nadolny as the German ambassador to the Soviet Union, but due to disagreements with Joachim von Ribbentrophe stayed in that post for less than a year. Having resigned, he was no longer in the diplomatic service. At the beginning of 1948, Nadolny published an article in the German press in which he called for the creation of a united Germany, a central German government, and for the implementation of the decisions taken at the Potsdam Conference of 1945.

Napolas

(Maroiaz; Maііоpаіroііііііzsbe Егіеbі-pdzapzіаііep), educational institutions established in April 1933 to train the Nazi elite. The educational and educational process was modeled on the old Prussian cadet corps. Teenagers aged 10-18 were trained in “napolas”, mostly from working-class families or children of military personnel. Formally, the "half" were subordinate to the Ministry of Education, but the senior teaching staff was represented by members of the SA and SS. By 1940 there were 23 "napolas", including 4 in Austria and one school in the Sudetenland. In fact, they were the personnel reserve of the Nazi Party and the armed forces.

People's Tribunal

(VoIkadegisM), established within the Ministry of Justice on the basis of the law of April 18, 1938 as an emergency court dealing with cases of treason, espionage and other political crimes. Until 1942 it was headed by Otto Georg Tirak, from 1942 by Roland Freisler. The tribunal consisted of two professional judges and five from among the party functionaries or senior officers of the SS or the armed forces. All cases in the tribunal were conducted with a gross violation of the usual procedural procedures, in particular, the defendants had to prove their innocence themselves.

The death penalty was the usual verdict of the court. Almost all participants in the July conspiracy of 1944 passed through the hands of the People's Tribunal .

Naujoks, Alfred Hellmuth

(No. schoskz), (1911-1960), a secret agent of the special services of Nazi Germany, who gained a reputation as "the man who launched the 2nd World War." Shearer spoke of him as a typical product of the Gestapo - "something like an intellectual bandit." Naujoks was the main protagonist in several dirty operations planned and carried out by Himmler's office.

Biographical information about him is extremely scarce and fragmentary. It is known that as a teenager, living in Kiel, where he worked as a welder, mechanic and was an amateur boxer, he joined the Nazi movement, having met Reinhard Heydrich, the future leader of the SD.For a time he studied mechanical engineering at the University of Kiel. But his main occupation was participation in street fights with anti-fascists. In 1931, Naujoks joined the WSS, and in 1934 he became one of the first secret agents of the SD. Since 1939, he headed a subsection in section III of the external SD - in the so-called. External Information Service. The group, later called VI “F”, was the “technical division” of the SD, where they fabricated false documents, passports, identity cards, passes of all countries necessary for SD agents operating abroad, and even counterfeit money.

On August 10, 1939, Heydrich briefed Naujocks, by this time already an SS-Sturmbannführer, with the details of one planned operation: it was necessary to organize a mock attack on a small German radio station in Gleiwitz (Upper Silesia), not far from the Polish border, and attribute this action to the Polish special services . Heydrich noted that such an "attack" was vital, as it provided the Fuehrer with an excuse for the intended invasion of

Poland. “We need material evidence of the Polish attack for the foreign press and German propaganda,” said Heydrich. Naujoks, who did not disdain any dirty deeds, brilliantly carried out this task on August 31, 1939 (see / Leiwitz Incident, "Himmler", "Canned Food"}.

Testimony of Naujoks in Nuremberg:

“Müller said that he had twelve or thirteen convicted criminals at his disposal, who were to be dressed in Polish uniforms and whose corpses were to be left at the scene in order to show that these people were allegedly killed during the attack. For this purpose, an operation was envisaged with the injection of poison, which was to be carried out by a doctor invited by Heydrich; it was also envisaged that the corpses had gunshot wounds. After the end of the mock attack, representatives of the press and other persons were supposed to arrive at the scene; then a police report was to be drawn up.

Müller told me that he had received orders from Heydrich to put one of these criminals at my disposal for my task at Gleiwitz. The code name he gave to these criminals was "canned".

The incident at Gleiwitz, in which I took part, took place on the eve of the German attack on Poland. As far as I remember, the war began on September 1, 1939.”

On November 8, 1939, Naujoks led a special detachment of SS men who were tasked with kidnapping two British intelligence officers in Holland, in order to then blame the British intelligence services for the assassination attempt on Hitler in the Bürgerbraukeller premises . Naujoks completed this task as well. On the eve of the German occupation of Holland and Belgium in May 1940, Naujoks took part in an operation in which the German secret services were disguised as Dutch and Belgian border guards.

He came up with the idea of ​​Operation Bernhard, which was to scatter counterfeit British banknotes from aircraft over the territory of Great Britain.

In January 1941, Naujoks fell out of favor and was transferred to the Waffen-SS.for daring to challenge one of Heydrich's orders. After that, Heydrich did not stop watching him with a vigilant and hating eye and insisted that Naujoks be enrolled in a combat unit and sent (in 1943) to the Eastern Front, where he was wounded. However, Himmler's directives forbade sending "holders of state secrets" to places where they risked falling into the hands of the enemy, so Naujoks was transferred to the economic occupation services in Belgium, and then he was looking for members of the Resistance movement in Denmark, on October 19, 1944 Naujoks defected to the Americans . In 1946, while awaiting trial, he fled the internment camp and disappeared. There is evidence that he settled in Hamburg, where, through figureheads, from time to time he sold materials to the press about the violent activity and numerous “exploits” of “a man who

“Hermann Goering Research Institute”

Created in 1933 by Hermann Goering, a special organization to control the telephone and telegraph network and radio communications in Germany.

"National Socialist People's

charity"

(Naііopаіzo/іаіізіізсііе VOІкзѵѵОШаІШ; Y8V), an organization that provided financial and other assistance to members of the Nazi Party and their families.

National Socialist German Workers' Party

NSDAP, a reactionary party created in 1920 by Hitler, which ruled Germany until the defeat of the Third Reich in 1945.

In October 1918, the leadership of the Thule Society (see Thule, society) instructed two of its members - the journalist Karl Harrer and the locksmith Anton Drexler - to create a political workers' circle, whose task would be to expand the sphere of influence of this society on the workers. Simultaneously with the creation of the circle, Anton Drexler restored the German Workers' Party (DAP), to one of whose meetings on September 12, 1919, Adolf Hitler was sent as an informant, who liked the postulates and slogans of the party. Having read Hitler's report on this meeting, Captain Ernst Röhm, who served as a political adviser at Franz von Epp 's headquarters , instructed Hitler to join the DAP and take over its leadership.

Hitler made his first report on October 16, 1919 to an audience of 111 people. First, he outlined his vision of a “Greater Germany”, then launched his signature trick - he declared Marxists, Jews and other “enemies” of Germany guilty of her defeat. “We do not forgive, we want revenge,” he said. At the next speech On November 13, 1919, Hitler emphasized that "the poverty of the Germans should be eliminated by German weapons. This time must come." He demanded the return of the colonies lost by Germany under the terms of the Versailles Treaty of 1919, calling this agreement "barbaric." During this and subsequent speeches, Hitler did not limit himself to demanding the return of pre-war territories, but insisted on the annexation of new ones.

On February 20, 1920, the German Workers' Party was renamed the National Socialist Workers' Party of Germany. Its first public meeting took place on

The Sternecker brewpub in Munich, where the Nazi Party held its first meetings.

three days later in a Munich beer hall. February 24, 1920 Hitler presented the party program, which consisted of 25 points.

The program of the NSDAP did not differ from the postulates of most German parties. It proclaimed the need to annul the Treaty of Versailles, the return of the “lost” lands, the unification of “all Germans”, that is, the usurpation of the right to interfere in the internal affairs of other states where ethnic Germans lived, opposition to the international Jewish financial elite, refusal to pay reparations, the demand for a “fight against the policy of lies and its implementation through the press”, the closure of newspapers that opposed the NSDAP, the creation of a “national army”, which meant the revival of the military power of Germany, etc.

On the eve of 1921, the NSDAP had about 3,000 members, but two years later its numbers increased tenfold.

July 21, 1921 Hitler in an ultimatum demanded for himself the post of chairman of the party with unlimited rights, threatening, in case of refusal, to leave its ranks. July 29, 1921 he was elected the first chairman of the NSDAP. Anton Drexler got the post of honorary chairman. A new charter of the NSDAP was adopted, which affirmed the “principle of the Fuehrer”, that is , unconditional obedience to the Fuhrer.

In the wake of the acute economic crisis in the country and the growing discontent, the ideas of militarism and nationalism, the proclamation of the "historical mission of the Germans as a race of masters", the social base of the NSDAP was rapidly expanding, attracting thousands of young people from different estates and classes with its dynamism and populism. In addition, the personnel reserve of the NSDAP consisted of all kinds of paramilitary associations and veteran unions dissolved by government decree, for example, the German People's Defense and Offensive League, the Pan-German Union , etc.

On January 27-29, 1923, the first congress of the NSDAP was held in Munich. Its culminating moment was the consecration by Hitler of the NSDAP banner and the procession of 6,000 SA militants.

By the autumn of 1923, the NSDAP had over 55,000 members.

After the attempted coup d'état in Munich by the Nazis (see "Beer Putsch" 1923) , the General Commissioner of Bavaria, Gustav von Kahr , signed a decree banning the NSDAP. Nevertheless, the party's popularity continued to grow, and in the December 1924 elections, 40 deputies from the NSDAP sat in the Reichstag In addition, new Nazi organizations were created under changed names: the Greater German People's Association (created by Julius Streicher),The People's Bloc, the National Socialist Liberation Movement, and others. In February 1925, the activities of the NSDAP were again legalized, but a split occurred in the party leadership on questions of tactics - on the degree of nationalism and socialism in the Nazi movement. At a conference of leaders of Nazi organizations in Germany, held in Bamberg on February 14, 1926 (see Bamberg Party Conference), a fierce struggle flared up between the left and right wings of the NSDAP. Although internal party contradictions were never eliminated, the general meeting of the Munich district of the NSDAP on May 22, 1926 unanimously elected Hitler as its leader.

On February 26, 1925, the publication of the NSDAP print organ, the newspaper

Poster calling to support the National Socialists with the whole family.

"Völkischer Beobachter". At the same time, Goebbels, who went over to the side of Hitler, founded the Angrif magazine. The theoretical organ of the NSDAP, the National Socialist Monthly, began to appear.

On July 3, 1926, the NSDAP congress was held in Weimar, at which Hitler announced a change in party tactics: in contrast to the opinion of the “old fighters” who preferred terrorist methods of fighting political opponents, he recommended party members to participate in elections and be members of the Reichstag and Landtags (land parliaments). However, he still considered the fight against communism and criticism of the Treaty of Versailles to be the main tasks of his party. At the same time, Hitler tried in every possible way to attract the attention of major industrial and financial figures in Germany to his party. An expression of confidence in her on the part of representatives of the business community was the entry into the NSDAP of well-known entrepreneurs Wilhelm Kappler, Emil Kirdorf, editor of the influential Berlin Stock Exchange Newspaper Walter Funk,chairman of the Reichsbank, Hjalmar Schacht , and many others who, among other things, contributed huge sums of money to the party fund.

In the face of a deepening economic crisis and rapidly growing unemployment (in October 1932 there were 7,300,000 unemployed), dissatisfaction with the policies of the Social Democrats grew in the country. Many social groups are threatened with the loss of the foundations of existence. Desperate small producers increasingly blamed parliamentary democracy for their troubles and believed that the way out of the crisis was to strengthen state power and create a one-party government. These demands were also supported by big businessmen and bankers, who subsidized the NSDAP election campaigns and associated personal and national aspirations with Hitler and his party, seeing in the Nazi movement, above all, a reliable barrier against communism.

Hitler greets the public gathered at the window of his office in the Reich Chancellery during the torchlight procession commemorating the seizure of power on January 30

The NSDAP address of March 1, 1932 said: “Hitler is the motto for all who believe in the revival of Germany ... Hitler will win, because the people want him to win ...”

On July 31, 1932, in the regular elections to the Reichstag, the NSDAP received 230 mandates (Social Democrats - 133, Communists - 89 mandates), becoming the largest faction in parliament

By January 30, 1933, when Hitler was proclaimed Chancellor of Germany, the NSDAP consisted of about 850 thousand people. They were mostly from the middle class. Workers made up one third of the total, about half of them unemployed. Over the next five months, the membership of the party tripled to 2.5 million. The NSDAP apparatus expanded. In the autumn of 1938, 41 Gauleiters operated in the Reich,808 Kreesleiters, 28376 Orts-Gruppenleiters, 89378 Zellenleiters and 463048 Blockleiters. In total, the party apparatus by this time consisted of over 580 thousand full-time leaders at all levels. From that moment, the nazification of the state apparatus began, which continued throughout the years of the existence of the Third Reich. It was carried out in two ways: members of the NSDAP were appointed to senior positions in the administration of various levels, in the police, in the army, or the NSDAP took over the functions of state bodies or established control and supervision over them. The formal basis for this was the Law on Ensuring the Unity of the Party and the State, adopted on December 1, 1933. In addition, direct political control was exercised within the party itself and in organizations controlled by it (for example, the Hitler Youth,SA, SS, Student Union, etc.). The “principle of the Fuehrership”, which excluded collegiality, manifested itself in the fact that from 1921 until the last days of the existence of the NSDAP, meetings of the leadership were not held even in a narrow circle. Gathered, and even then irregularly, only meetings of the Reichsleiters and Gauleiters, at which Hitler handed them decisions for execution. The position of the Gauleiters depended directly on the confidence of the Fuhrer, because only he had the right to appoint and remove them (from 1933 to 1945, only 6 Gauleiters were removed from their posts, for various reasons they fell out of favor with the Fuhrer). “The will of the Fuhrer for the party is the highest law,” stated in the official publication of the NSDAP (1940).

On the basis of the “Law on Emergency Powers” , the activities of trade unions were banned (the German Labor Front was created instead ), many trade union activists were arrested, newspapers and magazines of democratic orientation were closed, the activities of most political parties, including the SPD, the KPD, the German Center Party were banned. , the Catholic People's Party, the German National People's Party, etc. The NSDAP became the only political force in Germany, which was reflected in the government's statement of July 14, 1933, which stated that attempts to maintain the old political parties or create new ones would be punished by imprisonment or imprisonment in forced labor camps.

The events of the “Night of the Long Knives”, when many leaders and ordinary members of the SA were physically eliminated, who demanded the previously promised second stage of social change, the “continuation of the revolution”, ended the struggle within the NSDAP and became a factor making it easier for Hitler to implement his far-reaching expansionist plans. Economy of the Reich began to be transferred to the military rails.

In order to promote Nazi ideas among the population and demonstrate national unity, the NSDAP constantly organized magnificent and crowded celebrations and festivities, for example, Hero's Day (March 1), National Labor Day (May 1), Harvest Festival, etc. The same goals were also subordinated to The Nuremberg Party Congresses, which took place in 1933-38 in the first ten days of September in Nuremberg, did not have any influence on the general line of the party, but were only a spectacular propaganda event.

After the outbreak of World War II, party work became widespread in the armed forces, in particular, the institution of Nazi commissars in the troops was created. At the Nuremberg trials, the leader 

the composition of the NSDAP and many of its services were recognized as criminal, and their activities were prohibited.

A family of Nazi supporters explains why they are for the Fuhrer. The granddaughter asks when she can see the leader.

The program of the National Socialist Workers' Party of Germany (“25 points”). Approved February 24, 1920. (In the presentation.)

1. The unification of all Germans within the borders of Greater Germany.

2. Renunciation of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles and confirmation of the right of Germany to independently build relations with other nations.

3. The demand for additional territories for food production and the settlement of an increasing German population (“Lebensraum”).

4. Granting citizenship on a racial basis; Jews cannot be German citizens.

5. Non-Germans in Germany are only guests and subjects of the relevant laws.

6. Appointment to official posts cannot be based on the principle of nepotism, but only in accordance with abilities and qualifications.

7. Ensuring the conditions for the existence of citizens is the first duty of the state. With a lack of public resources, non-citizens should be excluded from benefiting.

8. Entry into the country of non-Germans must be stopped.

9. Participation in elections is the right and duty of all citizens.

10. Every citizen is obliged to work for the common good.

11. Illegally obtained profits are subject to confiscation.

12. All profits made from the war are subject to confiscation.

13. All large enterprises should be nationalized.

14. Participation of workers and employees in profits in all large industries.

15. Decent old age pension.

16. Small producers and traders need to be supported; large stores should be handed over to them.

17. Land tenure reform and the cessation of land speculation.

18. Ruthless criminal punishment for crimes and the introduction of the death penalty for profiteering.

19. Ordinary Roman law should be replaced by "Germanic law".

20. Complete reorganization of the national educational system.

21. The state is obliged to support motherhood and encourage the development of young people.

22. Replacement of a mercenary professional army with a national army; introduction of universal military service.

23. Only Germans can own the media; non-Germans are forbidden to work in them.

24. Freedom of religion, with the exception of religions dangerous to the Germanic race; the party does not bind itself to any exclusive creed, but fights against Jewish materialism.

25. A strong central authority capable of effectively implementing legislation.

The National Socialist Student League of Germany (National Socialist Student League of Germany (National Socialist Student League of Germany) is an organization created in 1933 to disseminate Nazi ideals and principles among students. It was considered a division (“SPebegipd'') of the Nazi Party.

“National Socialist Monthly Magazine”

(MaііонаІ8О2ІаІі8іі8СІзе МОПаізэТіе; N-Mopaі8beTіе), the theoretical organ of the National Socialist Workers' Party of Germany, designed to promote Nazi ideology, a monthly supplement to the newspaper "Völkischer Beobachter". The editor-in-chief of the magazine was Alfred Rosenberg.

National Socialist Motorized Corps

(No. 1іopaІ8О7ІаІі5Іі8сГіе5 KgаШаггэг Сogrz; М8КК), a military-sports youth organization under the control of the NSDAP, in which young people underwent technical training for military service, acquired one of the military specialties.

National Socialist People's Union

(МііонаІ8О2ІаІі8ііізсГіег Ѵоікзіпс!; Y8VВ), a political grouping that had broken away from the NSDAP and opposed Hitler, which operated in Munich in 1925. Was crushed by Hitler during the struggle for sole party power.

National Socialist Workers Union

(NaiopaI8ogiaIi8іi8Sbe ArgeIzdeteip- zsІeaGі), an association of Nazi Gauleiters that operated in northern Germany in 1925-26, in the early years of the Nazi movement.

National Socialist Association of German Physicians

(MBOagrebump), the professional medical association of the Third Reich, which replaced the medical associations of the Weimar Republic. Physicians who did not belong to it were deprived of the right to practice medicine.

National Socialist Union of Teachers

(H8-1_eGіrеgLipsІ; Н8ЫЗ), a Nazi party organization that united the teachers of the Third Reich, replacing the teachers' unions of the Weimar Republic. Created by decree of November 1, 1935 for the purposes of the Nazi Gleichschaltung program.

National Socialist Union of Lawyers

(M8-Nesbі8ѵѵаҵажгэгЬипІ), a Nazi organization that united all practicing lawyers in the Third Reich and ousted other professional associations of lawyers and jurists. The Union had its own "courts of honor", which put into practice Nazi ideas about jurisprudence.

national labor day

National holiday celebrated annually by the Nazi authorities on May 1, which replaced the International Day of Solidarity of Workers. On this day, solemn marches of workers' columns with flying banners took place in the cities. Folklore groups performed in the countryside, folk dances in national costumes were held, and the queen of the holiday was elected.

National Committee "Free Germany"

An organization from among the prisoners of war officers of the German army who were in Soviet captivity. Created in Krasnogorsk near Moscow in February 1943. Conducted anti-Nazi agitation among compatriots. Field Marshal Friedrich von Paulus was also a member of this organization.

national redoubt

The system of military fortifications in the mountains of Bavaria, with the help of which Hitler hoped to stop the advance of the Allied forces in April 1945. Nazi propaganda in every possible way extolled the possibilities of these fortifications, however, in fact, militarily they were not of serious importance.

Nazi holidays

To replace traditional religious holidays and promote National Socialist ideas, the Third Reich introduced its own holidays:

April 20, 1939. The 50th birthday of Adolf Hitler was marked by a large military parade in Berlin and mass processions in which the enthusiastic masses expressed their love and devotion to the “greatest man” of Germany

January 30. Day of taking over. It was celebrated in honor of the anniversary of the proclamation of Hitler as Chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933.

24 February. Founding day of the NSDAP. Despite the fact that the Hitlerite Party received its official name on April 1, 1920, this day was nevertheless celebrated.

March 16th. National day of mourning. Until 1933, this day was celebrated as the day of care for German military cemeteries. The Nazis gave it a new name - Heroes' Memorial Day. These celebrations were permanently fixed on March 16, instead of the usual fifth Sunday before Easter. This day also marked the introduction of conscription in 1935 and the remilitarization of the Rhineland in 1936.

20 April. Hitler's birthday. One of the most important days in the ritual of the Fuhrer cult. On this day, millions of photographs and portraits of the Fuhrer were exhibited and hung all over Germany, the facades of houses were decorated with red-white-black flags, grandiose torchlight processions were held, mass performances of folklore groups, initiation rites took place.

The 1 of May. National Labor Day. The Nazi analogue of the socialist May Day. It was celebrated as a holiday of the German working class. On this day, demonstrations and torchlight processions took place in the cities. In the countryside, dances were organized around the Maypole, huge bonfires were kindled, folk groups performed in national clothes. Also on this day, military parades were held annually.

Second Sunday in May. Mothering Sunday. On this day, during national celebrations, mothers of large families were awarded the Cross of Glory.

Summer. Day of the summer solstice. On this day, huge bonfires were kindled, into which wreaths were thrown in honor of the party “martyrs” and war heroes. Dances were organized, choirs performed, the participants of the holiday jumped over fires, arranged torchlight processions. Party leaders prepared special “fiery speeches” for this day.

September. Anniversary of the Imperial Party Congress in Nuremberg. Annual celebrations culminating in three-day festivals in historic Nuremberg. Under the shadow of party banners, huge columns marched past the podium where Hitler was, and then the most important thing took place - the speech of the Fuhrer.

Autumn. Thanksgiving (Harvest Day). It was celebrated in honor of the harvest and as a tribute to the German peasants.

November 9. Anniversary of the "Beer putsch" 1923. The most sacred day of the Nazi regime. The surviving participants in the failed coup d'état in Munich marched solemnly through the streets of Munich, where the “blood consecration” took place, repeating their then procession to the Feldherrnhalle.

Winter. Winter solstice. It was introduced by the Nazi authorities to compete with the Christian Christmas holidays, but did not replace the celebration of Christmas itself.

Sky, Arthur

(No. le), head of the V department (kripo) of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), which supervised the activities of the Reich criminal police (crime control). He led them until July 20, 1944. He was hanged after the failure of the July 1944 conspiracy as one of the participants.

Neurath, Konstantin von

(IeigaF), (1873-1956), German politician, diplomat, baron. Born February 2, 1873 in Klein-Glatbach, Württemberg. In the diplomatic service since 1901. In 1903 Consul General of Germany in London. During the 1st World War he was an employee of the German embassy in Constantinople. In 1917-18 he served as head of the Württemberg government, and in 1919 he returned to diplomacy.

Foreign Minister von Neurath, Italian Ambassador Ciano and Hermann Göring at the Italian embassy.

military service as an envoy in Copenhagen. In 1922-30 he was ambassador in Rome, and from October 1930 to May 1932 he was ambassador in London. He was a member of the German delegation at the London Conference of 1932, where he sought the complete abolition of reparations from Germany.

From June 2 to November 17, 1932, von Neurath was Minister of Foreign Affairs in the government of von Papen (the so-called “Cabinet of the Barons”), and in December 1932 he took the same post in the cabinet of von Schleicher.

In January 1933, having become Foreign Minister in Hitler's first cabinet, von Neurath joined the Nazi Party and the SS; He was promoted to the rank of SS Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General).

Neurath signed the Polish-German agreement of 1934, carried out diplomatic preparations for the annexation of the Saarland to Germany (January 1935), preparation and formalization of Germany's renunciation of the military articles of the Versailles Treaty of 1919, as well as preparations for the remilitarization of the Rhineland and the renunciation of the Locarno Treaty of 1925 (March 1936). In the summer of 1936 von Neurath took part

fought in negotiations with representatives of Italy and Japan, the result of which was first the signing on October 25, 1936 of an agreement on military cooperation between Italy and Germany (see “Steel Pact”), and a month later the signing of the “anti-Comintern pact”. Von Neurath conducted diplomatic training the capture of Austria, in November 1937 he was a participant in a military meeting with Hitler (see Hossbach meeting), where it was decided to carry out the Anschluss, and before that, von Neurath was sent to Vienna to put pressure on Chancellor Schuschnigg.

In February 1938, von Neurath, who had shown little respect for Hitler's aggressive plans, was replaced as Foreign Minister by Joachim von Ribbentrop, and he himself was appointed President of the Privy Council. From March 18, 1939 to August 25, 1943, von Neurath served as protector of Bohemia and Moravia (in June 1943 he was awarded the rank of Obergruppenführer SO); he developed and implemented a plan for the extermination of the Czechs and pursued a policy of "Germanization" of Czechoslovakia.

In May 1945, von Neurath was arrested and placed on the first list of war criminals to be tried. The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg found von Neurath guilty on all four counts of the indictment and sentenced him to 15 years in prison. He was released from Spandau prison in 1954. Von Neurath died in Enzweining on August 14, 1956.

German National People's Party

(Oeissit-MaiayupaIevoIkzragiei), one of the largest (along with NSDAN) and influential right-wing parties in Germany, founded and led by Alfred Hugenberg. Was part of the so-called created together with Hitler. block of "national opposition". The tasks of the party were to fight against the parliamentary system and promote terry nationalism. After the Nazis came to power, it was dissolved.

Niemoller, Martin

(bІіетоІІег), Protestant theologian, pastor of the Protestant Evangelical Church, one of the most famous opponents of Nazism in Germany. Born January 14, 1892 in Lipstadt, Westphalia. During the 1st World War, the submarine commander (Navy lieutenant), was awarded the Medal of Merit. After the war, he studied theology, and in 1924 he was ordained to the priesthood. In 1931-37 he was the pastor of a wealthy Berlin church in Dahlem. A staunch nationalist and ardent anti-Communist, Niemeller, like many Protestant pastors, initially welcomed Hitler's rise to power and joined the Nazi Party. But his disillusionment with Nazism came when Hitler began to assert the primacy of the state over the church. Niemoller, who headed the Confessional Church, opposed Nazi interference in the affairs of the church and founded, with the support of many pastors in Germany, the so-called.Pastor's Union).

On June 27, 1937, in Berlin, with a huge gathering of parishioners, Niemoller's last sermon in the Third Reich took place: “We can no longer remain silent, commanded by man, when the Lord commands us to speak. We must obey the Lord, not man!” Hitler was furious when he was informed of Niemoller's sermon. For many years he hated the pastor, perceiving his sermons as political agitation, while believers and Catholics

IUIartin Niemöller

The faces, and the Protestants, considered Niemoller a national hero. On July 1, 1937, Niemoller was arrested and imprisoned in the Moabite prison in Berlin.

To deal with Niemöller, Hitler decided to use the ordinary legal system instead of the Gestapo . The trial (the so-called Sondergericht - an emergency court in charge of crimes against the state) began after repeated delays on March 3, 1938. Accusing Niemoller of "hidden attacks" on the state, the court sentenced him to 7 months of a fortress (a privileged prison for officials) and a fine of 2,000 marks for "abuse of preaching and gathering parishioners in the church."

Enraged by the lenientness of the sentence, Hitler declared that Niemoller “should sit until he turns blue”, and threatened the entire court with punishment. After serving 8 months, that is, a month more than the term, Niemoller was released to be arrested again, this time by the Gestapo, "as a preventive measure." Until the end of World War II, Niemoller was kept in concentration camps, first in Sachsenhausen and then in Dachau, where he was with the former Austrian Chancellor Schuschnigg, bankers Thyssen and Schacht, as well as members of the royal houses Philip of Hesse and Frederick of Prussia. In 1945, Niemoller was liberated by the Allied forces.

Speaking in 1946 in Geneva, Niemoller pleaded guilty to Germany for war crimes. In 1947-64 he was bishop of the reformed evangelical church of Hesse-Nassau, consistently campaigning for peace and nuclear disarmament. In 1952 he visited Moscow, and in 1967 Sev. Vietnam.

Novotny, Walter

(Ghіоѵѵоіpu), (1921-1944), Luftwaffe fighter pilot. In 1942, with the rank of 1st lieutenant, he was assigned to the 54th Fighter Regiment. In 1943 - captain, in 1944 - major, commanded the 52nd Fighter Aviation Regiment. According to official statistics, the Luftwaffe destroyed 258 enemy aircraft, including 255 on the Eastern Front. He was awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds. On November 8, 1944, he died in an air battle.

"New order"

(Ieiogölipd), Hitler's concept of a complete reorganization of German public life in accordance with the Nazi worldview. Speaking in June 1933 to the leadership of the Nazi Party, Hitler declared that “the dynamism of the national revolution still exists in Germany and that it must continue until its complete end. All aspects of life in the Third Reich must be subject to the Gleichschaltung policy. In practice, this meant the formation of a police regime and the establishment of a brutal dictatorship in the country. The Reichstag, as a legislative body, was rapidly losing its power, and the Weimar Constitution ceased immediately after the Nazis came to power. Nazi propaganda tirelessly tried to convince the German layman that the "new order" would bring Germany true freedom and prosperity.

Neuengamme

(Hieepdatte), a concentration camp near Hamburg, established in 1940. Of the 90,000 prisoners who were in the camp, about half died due to unbearable conditions of detention. Neuengamme prisoners were subjected to medical experiments. At the beginning of 1945, a large group of children aged 5 to 12 from various European countries was placed in the camp. In April 1945, the prisoners of the camp were evacuated on three ships, two of which were sunk by British pilots on May 3, 1945. According to German sources, 82,000 people died in the camp during the entire existence of the camp.

Nolde, Emil

(GChoІsІe), (1867-1956), German expressionist artist, graphic artist. Real name Emil Hansen. Born August 7, 1867 in Nolde, Sev. Schleswig, now Denmark. In 1885-89 he studied at the School of Artistic Woodcarving in Flensburg, improved in Munich, Paris, Copenhagen. In 1892-98 he taught at the industrial school in St. Gallen (Switzerland). One of the leading masters of expressionism. In 1905-07, he joined the association "Most". Nolde's works were imbued with mystical exaltation, a combination of the fantastic and the concrete, using a sharp deformation of natural forms and contrasting combinations of extremely light-saturated colors. In 1920, Nolde joined the Nazi movement, joined the NSDAP, but later became disillusioned with it, for which he was persecuted by the authorities as a supplier"degenerate art". He died April 15, 1956 in Seebühl, Holstein.

"Nordlicht"

(MogsіІgsGtІ:), the code name of the military operation to capture Leningrad in 1942. In a directive dated July 23, 1942, Hitler ordered the command of Army Group North to complete preparations for the capture of the besieged city by early September, but all attempts to take the city were unsuccessful.

"Night of the Long Knives"

(№сіпі run Іapdep Mezzeg), “Bloody purge” unleashed by Hitler on July 30, 1934, in order to stop the growing influence of his political opponents from the SA.

From the very beginning, the Nazi revolution followed two paths. The original name of the party - National Socialist - caused friction within the Nazi movement between supporters of nationalism and socialism. Hitler was forced sooner or later to choose one of the two.

The struggle revolved around the personal qualities, career and beliefs of Ernst Röhm, who was Hitler's closest friend for fifteen years. Strongly built, stocky Ryom gave the impression of a man with a strong character. During the 1st World War he was wounded three times, his face was distorted by a deep scar on his cheek and a mutilated nose. In the early post-war years, he was a professional fighter, constantly looking for fights. “I'm just a bad person,” he liked to repeat. “War attracts me more than peace.” In August 1921, Röhm created the SA, the "People's Army", staffing it with patriots, street hooligans and bandits. Under the leadership of Röhm, the SA stormtroopers won the street battles with the communists and played an important role in the growth of Hitler's political influence. Grateful Hitler said that he would never

Two SA attack aircraft of the “first years of the struggle”, when party members differed from ordinary citizens only in armbands with a swastika

Hitler and Rohm examine documents months before the "Night of the Long Knives" during which Rohm was shot dead by two SS men.

forget what Röhm did for the Nazi movement. “Praise be to the Almighty,” Hitler said, “that I am allowed to call a man like you my friend and comrade in arms.”

At the same time, Hitler became more and more concerned about Rohm's political influence. Röhm, Gregor Strasser and other old Nazis formed the left wing of the party and began calling for KT. n. the second revolution, leaning towards socialism. “The struggle of the National Socialists,” said Röhm, “was a socialist revolution. It was a labor movement revolution. Those who made this revolution should be able to express themselves.” The implication was that the SA storm troopers would like the revolution to continue and claim the leading role.

This state of affairs presented Hitler with a difficult task. He wanted to keep Ryom's friendship and loyalty, but he also needed support from two other sources who hated Ryom and his bunch of geeks and hooligans. Röhm's hopes that one day his assault troops would join the regular army infuriated the senior officers of the armed forces. In addition, Hitler desperately needed the financial support of the Rhineland industrialists, who were convinced that socialism was Nazism with a leftist bias.

Hitler tried to influence Ryoma. On June 4, 1934, he invited the leader of the SA to his place and for five hours begged his friend to be prudent. “Forget the idea of ​​a second revolution. Trust me, there is no reason to be concerned.” Hitler assured Ryoma that he was not going to disband the SA assault detachments, to which he was indebted.

However, Goering and Himmler joined forces to discredit Röhm in the eyes of Hitler, accuse him of plotting and seeking a coup d'etat, and thereby force the Fuhrer to take decisive action against the leaders of the SA. The Gestapo began to feverishly collect incriminating documents on Ryoma and his entourage. Any statements, notes, names, meetings were subjected to the most thorough analysis, separate paragraphs and phrases were snatched from the documents, which made it possible to exaggerate. The “Hermann Goering Institute” listened in on all telephone conversations of Röhm and his associates. The secret services, step by step, built a whole picture that could frighten Hitler with information about a major conspiracy allegedly taking place among the stormtroopers.

Sensing danger, Röhm decided to demonstrate loyalty to the Fuhrer and ordered all SA personnel to go on vacation for a month from July 1, 1934. In a communiqué published on June 19 in the Nazi newspaper Völkischer Beobachter, Röhm forbade the stormtroopers to wear uniforms during the entire vacation. To prove that rumors of an impending coup were unfounded, Röhm himself also went to the Bavarian resort town of Bad Wiessee, where it was planned to arrange a banquet for the leaders of the SA groups on the occasion of a month-long separation.

Enraged, Goering and Himmler, not wanting to miss the booty, began to bombard Hitler with memos that the coup should begin in Munich on the day of the banquet, which is just a pretext for a general gathering. and went to Essen for the wedding of Gauleiter Terboven,using it as an excuse to avoid the strongest pressure from Goering and Himmler and delay the denouement. After Terboven's wedding, Hitler went to Bad Godesberg to spend the weekend on the banks of the Rhine at the Hotel Dresden. On the morning of June 29, Himmler flew to him from Berlin, bringing the latest messages from his agents. From these clearly fabricated documents, it followed that Röhm had concluded an agreement with the commander of the Munich military district, General von Leeb , on the transfer of weapons from army warehouses to the SA, that the attack aircraft were planning to seize government buildings, their armed detachments should take to the streets from hour to hour, and a special detachment was given the task kill Hitler.

Hitler hesitated for some time, not daring to give the order to destroy as a traitor the man who was his reliable support, to whom he owed his coming to power. The suppression of Himmler, Goebbels and Goering intensified, and the Fuhrer finally made up his mind. In a few words he gave the necessary instructions. Göring and Himmler had to take care of the situation in Berlin. SS-Obergruppenführer Victor Lutze, summoned from Hannover, was appointed Röhm's successor as Chief of Staff of the SA. The Gauleiter of Bavaria, Adolf Wagner , was ordered to go to Munich, where he was to assist two companies of the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler sent from Berlin under the command of Joseph (Sepp) Dietrich.Hitler himself, accompanied by Lutze and Goebbels, who brought him news from Berlin that the head of the Berlin SA, Karl Ernst , had put his subordinate units on alert (which was a deliberate lie, since Ernst, who was about to marry, was on his way to Bremen, from where he was supposed to sail to Madeira for their honeymoon), also flew to Munich.

At 4 o'clock the plane landed in Munich. Hitler with his retinue went to the Minister of the Interior of Bavaria. Two leaders of the Bavarian SA, Scheinguber and Schmidt, were arrested here. The arrested saluted the Fuhrer, but in response there was an explosion of hysterical anger. Hitler tore off the insignia from the astonished officers and lashed out at them with abuse. He drew a revolver, but one of the bodyguards, Emil Maurice, beat him to it, shooting the officers at close range. Hitler kicked one of the corpses and said: "These people were not so guilty."

Accompanied by SS guards, Hitler went to Bad Wiessee, where Röhm and several of his associates stayed at a private hotel. Ryom lay in bed and slept soundly. "Who's there?" Ryom asked sleepily. “It's me, Hitler. Open!” Ryom opened the door and said, “Already? I didn't expect you until tomorrow." "Arrest him!" Hitler shouted to his henchmen. At this time, several SS men knocked on the next door. There they found SA Obergruppenführer Edmund Haynes, Röhm's closest aide, in bed with his young chauffeur. Hynes and his young friend were shot on the spot. Several more SA leaders were immediately arrested, who, together with the protesting Roem and the corpses of Haynes and his lover, were pushed into a waiting car.

Deputy Fuhrer Rudolf Hess, who arrived in Munich, set up a trap for SA officers in the "Brown House". The stormtroopers who appeared there were immediately arrested by the SS guards. One by one, the people who did not understand anything were sent to the Stadelheim prison. Hitler also arrived there, demanding additional executions.

Calling Berlin, Hitler ordered Göring and Himmler to hurry up to finish the carnage. 150 top leaders of the SA, suspected of treason, were arrested and put in the coal cellar of the barracks of the cadet school in Lichterfeld. Many had no idea why they were captured. Some went to their deaths shouting "Heil Hitler!" Four people at a time were led out to the wall in the courtyard. The SS men tore off their shirts and drew a black circle on the left side of their chests with charcoal. It was a target. From a distance of several meters, the rifle team shot the doomed in volleys. Hour after hour the executions continued. We often had to change the team, because the executioners could not withstand the long tension. The victims screamed and writhed on the ground. One officer finished them off with a shot in the head. The bodies were taken out in closed trucks designed to transport livestock.

Ryom was killed two days later. Hitler ordered that a revolver be left in his cell and gave him ten minutes to choose the "method of honor" himself. Ryom refused to believe such an order and demanded that his friend come to him. Then two guards, acting on the orders of Sepp Dietrich, entered the cell and shot Ryom.

No one knows exactly how many people were killed during this carnage. Presumably, 77 Nazi leaders and about 100 rank-and-file members died. (About 1,000 people are said to have died in all.) Although the blow was directed mainly at the left wing of the party, in the confusion, some seized the opportunity to settle old scores. Goering, out of envy of the military rank and influence of General Kurt von Schleicher,ordered that his name be put on the death list. Von Schleicher, a specialist in intrigues who was retired from January 1933, although he treated Ryom and his stormtroopers with contempt, nevertheless shared their fate. While Hitler was flying to Munich, a car stopped near von Schleicher's villa on the outskirts of Berlin, from which six SS men dressed in civilian clothes got out. Von Schleicher was having breakfast with his wife and fifteen-year-old stepdaughter. The SS broke into the house and opened fire on Schleicher and his wife. They warned the girl that the same would happen to her if she told what she had seen.

Gregor Strasser was shot dead in his cell by an SS man who boasted: "I killed a pig!" Vice-Chancellor Franz von Papen was more fortunate: he was only under observation for several days. But his personal secretary was shot dead at his workplace, and his co-author of the Marburg speech (see Marburg speech) was killed in prison. In Munich, 75-year-old Gustav von Kahr, who eleven years earlier suppressed Hitler's "Beer putsch" in 1923,dragged out of the house, beaten to death and thrown into a swamp. There were some terrible mistakes. Willy Schmid, a famous music critic, died by coincidence - he was confused with a man named Willy Schmidt. Rudolf Hess visited the widow and apologized to her. Karl Ernst, who was considered the organizer of the “SA conspiracy”, was captured by the SS near Bremen when he was about to sail on his honeymoon, sent by plane to Berlin and executed there.

On July 1, the Nazi party press reported the execution of 8 leaders of the SA. Von Schleicher's death was presented as an "accident". On July 2, newspapers reported that "the traitor Ryom, who refused to accept the results of the investigation," was executed.

Early on the morning of July 2, all services of the Gestapo, SS and Security Police received the following radiogram, signed by Göring and Himmler: “The Minister-President of Prussia and the Chief of the Secret State Police to all police authorities. By order of the supreme authorities, all documents relating to

records of operations carried out in the last two days must be burned. Report immediately upon completion.

On July 3, a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers was held. None of those present, including Minister of Justice Gürtner, a personal friend of many of the dead, dared to speak out in condemnation of the massacre. Moreover, the ministers thanked Hitler for saving Germany from revolutionary chaos and unanimously passed a law whose only article read: national defense."

July 13, 1934 Hitler spoke in the Reichstag with a formal explanation of what had happened. It was a very strange speech. After the usual introduction, where he denounced his political predecessors and boasted of the virtues of his regime, the Führer outlined four, in his opinion, dangerous categories in the Third Reich: 1) communists supported by Jews; 2) political leaders of the old parties; 3) a gang of left-wing revolutionaries led by Ryom, “who needed a revolution for the sake of revolution”; and 4) self-styled critics and alarmists. Worthless in themselves, they are nonetheless dangerous, because they are "the true bacillus carriers of confusion and uncertainty, rumors and pretensions, lies and suspicions, slander and fear." Critics have noted that Hitler is apparently unaware of the fact that he has outlined his own movement.

The Fuehrer continued to assert that for several months he had been aware of rumors of a conspiracy against the new order. At first he attributed these conversations to his obvious opponents, but now he saw with his own eyes the hand of traitors from the SA. He accused them of leading a shameful lifestyle. They are guilty of "bad behavior, drunken antics, molesting decent people." "These are not National Socialists, they are disgusting in the highest degree." Hitler stubbornly maintained that his actions in suppressing the rebellion were not illegal and barbaric, on the contrary, he acted "for the sake of higher justice." “It was the second revolution. They gave it an eerie name - "The Night of the Long Knives". Thus Hitler ascribed to the "Roehm conspiracy" the name he gave to his own "bloody purge". By proposing to draw up a list of victims among the members of the SA, he ignored those who,

Hitler ended his speech with these words: “At this hour, having taken responsibility for the fate of the German nation upon myself, I have become the supreme Judge for the Germans ... Everyone should know that if he threatens the state from now on, his lot will be death!”

Minister of the Interior Wilhelm Frick issued an incredible decree in which all of Hitler's actions in this massacre were declared legal, committed in the interests of the state. This decree was immediately approved by obedient parliamentarians.

“Night of broken windows”

See "Kristallnacht".

"November Criminals"

(Mojetjeggeggesijeg), a popular accusation in the speeches of Nazi orators against the state and political figures of Germany, who concluded a truce on November 11, 1918, which, in their opinion, became a national disgrace. The culprits for the defeat of Germany in the 1st World War, the Nazis considered "internal enemies" - the Social Democrats, Marxists and Jews who committed the so-called. “dolch-shtoss” - “stab in the back”, while the German army was still capable of defeating the enemy.

“NS-Briefe”

(N5-BrieTe), a bi-weekly newsletter founded by Gregor Strasser in 1924, which published official Nazi party material intended for grassroots party leaders. As an editor, Strasser invited the 27-year-old aspiring writer and playwright Paul Joseph Goebbels to the magazine.

NS-Docentenbund

(No.-Goopielich), the National Socialist Union of University Teachers, which operated under the patronage of the Nazi Party and contributed to the spread of National Socialist ideology in German universities.

NS~Frauenschaft

(No.-PraiepzsІіаY), National Socialist Women's Union. It was created by a decree of October 1, 1931. It was headed first by Elzbieta Zander, then by Gertrud Böhmer, and finally by Gertrud Scholtz-Klink. The tasks of the union were to educate German women and their children in the spirit of National Socialism.

NS-Hilfskasse

(MZ-NiIzkazze), a National Socialist Mutual Aid Fund created and managed by NSDAP functionaries.

Nuremberg laws on citizenship and race

(Laws of the Ghetto), adopted by the Reichstag on September 15, 1935, two laws that determined the status of Jews in the Third Reich in order to limit their rights in the political and social life of Germany.

The first of these, concerning citizenship in the Reich, introduced a distinction between "citizens of the Reich" and "belonging to the state." The citizens of the Reich had to document that German blood flows in their veins, because only they could enjoy political rights to the extent that these rights existed in the Third Reich. The second law on the “protection of German blood and German

Everyday anti-Semitism of the Nazis: on the window of an optics store owned by Jews, the word “Isie (“Jew”) and a swastika are painted

what honor” prohibited marriages between Jews and Germans, as well as extramarital sexual relations between them.

On the way to power, Hitler constantly fanned a vicious anti-Semitic campaign (see Anti-Semitism), not disdaining any methods, he tried to stir up the hatred of the Germans towards the Jews. Hitler's supporters attacked Jews, beat them, humiliated them, forced them to wash the streets, picketed or closed Jewish businesses, declared Jews to be swindlers, profiteers and traitors. After reports of Nazi brutality against Jews were published abroad, German goods in many 

countries were embargoed. As a result, a new wave of anti-Semitism broke out in Germany: Jewish-owned shops were closed, Jewish doctors and lawyers were fired from their jobs, and Jewish students were expelled from universities. Gradually they were excluded from all spheres of life. “A Jew can only speak Hebrew,” Hitler declared. “When he writes in German, he lies.” The Nuremberg Laws laid the foundation for various executive orders which, with sadistic pettiness, "regulated" but actually made life difficult for the Jewish population of Germany.

Nuremberg Party

Congress

Annual pompous propaganda events held by the NSDAP in 1933-38 in Nuremberg in order to demonstrate "national unity" in the Reich. They were given various names: "Congress of Victory" (1933), "Congress of the Reich" (1934), "Congress of Freedom" (1935) ), “Congress of Honor” (1936),

Imperial Congress of the NSDAP in 1936

“Congress of Labor” (1937), “Congress of Great Germany" (1938). The congress planned for 1939, ironically called the “Congress of Peace" did not take place due to the German attack on Poland and the outbreak of World War II.

Nuremberg Trials

The trial of a group of major Nazi war criminals. Held in Nuremberg from November 20, 1945 to October 1, 1946. The highest statesmen and military figures of the Third Reich were put on trial: Hermann Goering, Rudolf Hess, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Wilhelm Keitel, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Alfred Rosenberg, Hans Frank, Wilhelm Frick, Julius Streicher , Walter Funk, Karl Dönitz, Ernst Raeder, Baldur von Schirach, Fritz Sauckel, Alfred Jodl, Arthur Seys-Inquart Albert Speer, Konstantin von Neurath, Hans Fritsche, Hjalmar Schacht, Robert Ley (hanged himself before the start of the process), G. Krupp ( was declared terminally ill, and his case was suspended), Martin Bormann (tried in absentia, because he disappeared and was not found) and Franz von Papen. All of them were charged with drawing up and carrying out a conspiracy against peace and humanity (murder and ill-treatment of prisoners of war, murder and ill-treatment of the civilian population, plundering public and private property, establishing a system of slave labor, etc.). ). The question was also raised about the recognition as criminal of such organizations as the leadership of the NSDAP, the assault (SA) and security detachments of the Nazi Party (SS), the security service (SD), the state secret police (Gestapo), the government office and the general staff.

During the process, 403 open court sessions were held, 116 witnesses were interrogated, numerous affidavits and documentary evidence were considered (mainly official documents of German ministries and departments, the General Staff, military concerns and banks).

Hermann Göring in the dock at Nuremberg. Sitting next to him are Rudolf Hess, Joachim von Ribbentrop and Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel.

To investigate and support the prosecution, a Committee was formed of the main prosecutors: from Great Britain - X. Shawcross, from the USSR - R. A. Rudenko, from the USA - Robert X. Jackson, from France - F. de Menton, and then Ch. de Riebe .

September 30 - October 1, 1946 the verdict was announced. All the defendants except Schacht, Fritsche and von Papen were found guilty of the charges and sentenced: Goering, Ribbentrop, Keitel, Kaltenbrunner, Rosenberg, Frank, Frick, Streicher, Sauckel, Jodl, Seyss-Inquart and Bormann in absentia - to death by hanging; Hess, Funk and Raeder - to life imprisonment; Schirach and Speer - by 20, Neurath - by 15, Dönitz - by 10 years in prison. The SS, the Gestapo, the SD and the leadership of the NSDAP were recognized as criminal organizations. The petitions of the convicts for pardon were rejected by the Control Council, and on the night of October 16, 1946, the death sentence was carried out (Goering committed suicide shortly before the execution).

Oberabschnit

(Oberaschnipp), the main territorial district in the SS system, the same as the werkreis (military district) in the German armed forces.

Oberbeefelshaber

(GerBe (eY $ HaGeg; Ob), commander-in-chief of one of the military branches of Germany.

Oberbefelschaber der Luftwaffe

(OberjeTeIIzGiaBeg running liDvavaTie; OBSIb), Commander-in-Chief of the German Air Force. This post belonged to Hermann Göring.

Oberbefelshaber des

heeres

(Derjeteyzzaer without Neerez; OBbN), Commander-in-Chief of the German Land Forces.

Oberg, Carl

(Gerg), General of the SS. Born January 27, 1897 in Hamburg in the family of a doctor. During World War I, he volunteered for the army, fought on the Western Front with the rank of lieutenant. He was awarded the Iron Cross II and I degree. After the war, he changed many professions. In 1926 he joined a wholesale fruit company. In 1930 he opened his own tobacco shop. In June 1931 Oberg joined the NSDAP. In 1932 he became a member of the SS, where he showed outstanding organizational skills. After meeting Reinhard Heydrich , Oberg joined the SD,was appointed to his headquarters and soon became one of his closest collaborators. In 1933, Oberg became Heydrich's chief of staff, and then chief of the SD personnel service. Voluntarily leaving the SD, Oberg returned to the SS, where he commanded the 22nd SS Regiment in Mecklenburg, receiving the rank of SS Standartenführer. He soon became head of the 4th SS department in Hannover, a position he held until December 1938. In January 1939, Oberg was appointed police chief of Zwickau, Saxony, receiving the rank of OberführerSS in April. In September 1941, Oberg was assigned to Radom, Poland, as Führer of the SS and the police, where he participated in the extermination of Jews and in round-ups to recruit Ostarbeiters.Having received the rank of SS Brigadeführer and Police Major General, Oberg was appointed Himmler's personal representative and "Higher SS and Police Fuhrer" in Paris on April 22, 1942. Oberg divided the police services entrusted to him into two groups according to the general type of German organization: Ordnungspolizei (law enforcement forces) and Sicherheitspolizei

(zipo, detective police SD). Oberg is entirely responsible for carrying out punitive actions against the peaceful French population. After an unsuccessful assassination attempt on Hitler on July 20, 1944, at a premature signal from the Valkyrie conspirators, Oberg, along with other Gestapo and SS employees in Paris, was arrested on the orders of a participant in the anti-Hitler conspiracy of the military commandant of Greater Paris, General von Boineburg. However, after the massacre of the participants in the conspiracy, Oberg was released and resumed his duties, sending trains with prisoners to Germany.

At the end of the war, Oberg tried to hide from responsibility in the Tyrolean village of Kirstberg, not far from Kitzbühl, where he lived under the name of Albrecht Heinze. However, at the end of July 1945, the American military police arrested him and handed him over to representatives of the French authorities on August 7. Oberg's case was considered by the Paris military tribunal. After a long investigation, the hearing began on February 22, 1954. Oberg's initial sentence was the death penalty, but soon the death penalty was replaced by a presidential decree with life imprisonment, and on December 31, 1959, a new decree reduced the sentence to 20 years, counting from the time of sentencing. However, Oberg did not serve this term either, because, in accordance with the new presidential pardon decree, on November 28, 1962, he was transferred to the West German authorities and settled with his family in Hamburg.

Obergruppe

(Obergirre), the basic territorial unit in the CA system.

SS Obergruppenführer

(GergirrepGiebgeg-88; OOgG), the senior military rank in the SS, corresponding to the combined arms rank of general.

Obersalzberg

(Oberzaigerd). See Berghof.

Oberkommando der Wehrmacht

(Greekkogpatsio run vekіgtasbі; OKVV), see German High Command of the Armed Forces (OKW).

Oberkommando der Luftwaffe

(Gerkottapbo run buiYvvaTe; OKB), the main command of the German air force.

Obercommando des Heeres

(Gerkottapbo without Neerez; OKN), the main command of the German ground forces.

Oberstgruppenführer SS

(ObzgdgirrepTieGireg-88, ObzI-dgiG.), senior military rank in the SS, equivalent to the combined arms rank of colonel general.

Oberster beefelshaber der wehrmacht

(Gerzieg BeGeGіІzGiaBeg running VVегg-taсіі; GörzG BeT. VVebgt.), Supreme Commander of the armed forces of Germany. The title held by Hitler from February 4, 1938 to April 30, 1945 and Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz from April 30 to May 9, 1945.

Oberster SA-Führer

(Obersier 8A-Gerberer; O8AR), Supreme Fuhrer of the SA Rank held by Hitler from 1930.

Oberstes Partiger

(Obegzіez Parіеіdіgісі), Supreme Party Court. The judicial body that dealt with the cases of members of the Nazi Party.

Oberforena, memorandum

A report published on April 27, 1933 in the English newspaper The Manchester Guardian, in which it was first claimed that the Nazis were involved in the burning of the Reichstag. Reichstag deputy from the German Nationalist People's Party, Dr. Ernst Oberforen, claimed that the initiator of the arson was Paul Joseph Goebbels, the general leadership was carried out by the then Minister of the Interior of Prussia, Hermann Goering, and the preparation of the action was carried out by the leader of the Berlin Nazis, Wolf Heinrich Helldorf and a certain Lieutenant Schultz. It was further stated that Marinus van der Lubbe,captured at the scene of the crime, the Nazis led into the Reichstag building, using an underground tunnel leading from Goering's headquarters to the Reichstag. Oberfoeren claimed that the aim of the arson was to blame the communists for destabilizing Germany and to provide a pretext for subsequent reprisals against democratic forces in the country.

The Oberforen Memorandum has been the subject of bitter historical controversy. Some German historians (F. Tobias, H. Mommsen) claimed that the facts reported in it were manipulated and claimed that Van der Lubbe carried out the arson alone at the behest of the Communists.

On May 7, 1933, a report appeared in the press that Oberforen committed suicide in Kiel.

Oberführer SS

(ObegTiebgeg-88; GegG), a senior officer rank in the SS, corresponding to the combined arms rank of brigadier general.

Obersturmbannführer SS

(Ober5іgtbappTieGreg-88; Ozii-LaG), senior officer rank in the SS, equivalent to the combined arms rank of lieutenant colonel.

Obersturmführer SS

(Oberziigtiebgeg-Zb), junior officer rank in the SS (1st lieutenant or captain).

Education in the Third Reich

For many centuries, the German educational system served as a model for the whole world. The organization of education, from kindergarten to university, the status of the teacher, the nature of the curriculum, all of which were widely admired. During the 12 years of the existence of the Third Reich, there was a catastrophic decline in the entire education system, when it began to be adjusted to the standards of the Nazi dictatorship.

Hitler often repeated: “He who has the youth in his hands, the future is in his hands. I start with youth. We who are old are waste material. We are rotten to the core. But my wonderful youth! Is there anywhere else in the world such beautiful youth? Look at these boys and teenagers! What material! With them I can create a new world!

My training will be harsh. We will beat the weakness out of them. Unusually active, imperious, cruel youth - that's what I will leave behind. Youth should be indifferent to pain. There should be no weakness and pity in it. I want to see again in their eyes a gleam of pride and independence of a predatory beast.

I will not do intellectual training. Knowledge is ruin for my youth. I want them to learn only what their imagination gives them. But one thing they must learn is self-control. They will learn to overcome the fear of death through severe trials.

This is a heroic generation of youth, from which a creator will emerge, a man-god!”

Hitler's idea of ​​education was based on his negative attitude towards intelligent people. He never forgot the terrible blow he received in his youth when he was not admitted to the Vienna Academy of Arts. After that, for the rest of his life he retained a contemptuous attitude towards teachers and towards the intelligentsia in general. Having come to power, he sought by all means to eradicate the intellectual elite of the country. The first duty of the state, said Hitler, is to take care of the bodily improvement of the youth. “All education in the nation-state must be directed 

first of all, not to stuff the student with useless knowledge, but to build a healthy body ... The brains of young people should not be filled with scientific knowledge.” "Geniuses can never emerge from a nation of degenerates." “The new youth, like those in ancient Sparta, must be courageous and strong. The ideal state should be based on two main educational ideas. First, a fire must be kindled in the hearts of young people and the concept of race must be implanted in their minds. Secondly, the German youth must be ready for war, trained to either win or die. The ultimate goal of education is to form citizens who are aware of the glory of the country and are seized with a fanatical devotion to the national idea. National Socialism will provide the nation with the necessary elite.”

Hitler's hatred of teachers and the intelligentsia as a whole was adopted from his Fuhrer by the rest of the Nazi elite. The head of the German Labor Front , Dr. Robert Ley , expressed the Nazi position on education in this way: “A street sweeper sweeps thousands of microbes into the gutter with one stroke. The scientist is proud of himself, having discovered only one single microbe in his entire life. The ardent anti-Semite Julius Streicher, editor of Der Stürmer (Oeg Sijteger), speaking to students at the University of Berlin, formulated his attitude towards the professors as follows. He drew two scales on the board. The bowl at the bottom, he said, contains the Fuhrer's brain, and the one at the top - E)gesk[garbage, rubbish] professorial brains. In an article in the Black Corps magazine of the SS, the eminent German scientists Werner Heisenberg and Max Planck were called “white Jews in the field of science.” Many Nazi leaders echoed Hitler in the education of young people. The Minister of Education and Propaganda, Dr. Goebbels, said: “ The youth belongs to us, and we will not yield it to anyone.”

In 1933, decrees were adopted on the Nazisification of the entire educational system of the Third Reich, from elementary school to universities. Schools were to be reformed in accordance with Hitler's personal ideas about education. In February 1933, an unemployed school director from the province of Bernhard Rust was appointed Minister of Education of Prussia, and in April 1934 he was promoted to Reich Minister for Science, Education and Culture. In this high position, Rust reshaped the German educational system in order to turn it into a pillar of National Socialism. One circumstance made Rust's work easier: both in the Second Empire and in the Weimar Republic, the school department was already largely imbued with a nationalist spirit. Rust's task was to direct the nationalist consciousness of young people into a Nazi channel. The first step on this path was the cleansing of all schools and universities in Germany from Jewish teachers. In a short time, 97% of teachers and teachers of the country were included in theH8-І_еІігэгҫпс! (I8І.V) - National Socialist Union of Teachers (NSLB). By 1936, about 32% of NSLF teachers had become members of the Nazi Party. By 1938, two-thirds of all elementary school teachers were indoctrinated in special camps in mandatory monthly courses with drill and lectures. Everything they learned in the camps was supposed to be passed on to their students.

The first book that the child came across after kindergarten was Pruter , a primer. On its cover was placed a caricature of a Jew with the words: "Do not believe the fox in the steppe, do not believe the Jew in his worship!" Inside were drawings of marching soldiers and their camp life, accompanied by the following text:

Anyone who wants to become a soldier, He must have a weapon, Load it with gunpowder And a good solid bullet.

Little ones, if you want to be recruits,

Pay attention to this song.

Particular attention in the curricula of schools, gymnasiums and universities was given to sports training. The primary subjects were history, biology and the German language. The study of history was political in nature, the emphasis was on the history of the National Socialist movement. Students were required to know the events of the Munich “Beer Putsch” of 1923 and the life story of the “martyr” Horst Wessel .just as well as the “villains” of the Weimar Republic, such as the “despicable Kurt Eisner” who tried to establish a Soviet republic in Bavaria in 1919. The teenagers studied the events of the 1st World War from such an angle; “Otto’s bayonet slipped gracefully between the Russian ribs , after which he collapsed with a long groan. A simple and cherished great dream appeared before Otto's eyes - the Iron Cross.

The teaching of biology was based primarily on the Fuhrer's views on race and heredity (see Racial Doctrine}.The officially approved textbook on race was Hermann Gauch's New Foundations for Racial Studies, which contained the following typical passages: “The animal world should be classified into representatives of the Nordic race and lower animals [Jews]. Thus, the following rule can be deduced: there are neither physical nor psychological features that could confirm the difference between man and the animal world. The only difference that exists is that between members of the Nordic race on the one hand, and animals, mostly members of the non-Nordic race, or sub-humans (representing a transitional species), on the other. Students were encouraged to be able to identify their Aryan origin.

The study of German studies was based on the requirement to restore the "former Teutonic greatness", the emphasis was on the history of the Germans, as a culture-creating race, and the Jews, as a culture-destroying race. Introducing students to the heroic Nordic epic (sagas), teachers required them to use exclusively Germanic variants of words borrowed from other languages ​​when retelling. The study of the works of the leaders of the Nazi Party was included in the curricula, for example, Goebbels' work "The Educational Value of the Reich Employment Service", for the publication of which he received special loans from the government.

The mathematics curriculum did not change much with the rise of the Nazis, except for the fact that the emphasis was shifted to the subconscious preparation of students for military service. Mathematical problems were somehow connected with the calculations of artillery trajectories and fighter-bomber coefficients. Here is a typical problem from a Nazi school mathematics textbook:

“An aircraft is flying at a speed of 240 km per hour to an area 210 km away with orders to drop bombs. When can we expect him to return if the bombing takes 7.5 minutes?”

Religious instruction, which had previously been widespread in German schools, was sharply curtailed after 1933. In 1935, questions on religion were removed from final exam tickets, and attendance at school prayers became optional. The erosion of the foundations of religious instruction continued throughout the duration of Nazi rule.

As part of the Nazisification of the entire education system, great attention was paid to the education of young people outside the classroom - in numerous youth organizations and, above all, in the Hitler Youth. Hitler, having been expelled from school in the past, encouraged the activities of organizations and societies that he considered to be the personnel reserve of the Nazi Party. “The new Reich,” he said, “will create its own youth, give it its own education and upbringing.” With the help of the Hitler Youth organization, headed by Baldur von Schirach, Hitler 

he hoped to form a new generation of young people, “hard as Krupp steel”, imbued with the spirit of military order and discipline. By 1938 this organization had 7,728,329 members.

The tasks of the Union of German Girls , which was part of the Hitler Youth, were to educate and prepare a German girl for motherhood, housekeeping and war. “The sole purpose of women's education,” Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf, “ should be seen from the point of view of future motherhood.”

At the initiative of Hitler, three more types of schools were added to the general educational system to train the future Nazi elite. The first is Adolf Hitler's school, in which young cadets were engaged in physical training, studied racial theory and were brought up in the spirit of loyalty to the Fuhrer. The second is Napolas (National Socialist educational institutions), the pedagogical process in which was modeled on the former Prussian military schools: with an emphasis on soldierly spirit, duty and discipline. The third is Ordensburgen,knightly castles, which actually provided training for the Nazi elite. Candidates for these schools were selected from among the students of the “schools of Adolf Hitler” and Napolas. Their training lasted four years (1st year - racial doctrine, 2nd - athletics, climbing, parachuting, 3rd - political education and military affairs, 4th - final political and military training), after which graduates were ready to take on the positions of future leaders of the Nazi Party.

The "reforms" carried out by the Nazi leadership in the education system in Germany had disastrous consequences. There has been a sharp decline in the level of intellectual and professional preparedness of students. Once universally respected for its quality and breadth of knowledge, dignity and solidity, the system became a mere appendix to the Nazi Propaganda Ministry. From year to year, the level of preparation of students fell rapidly at all stages, from elementary school to universities.

See Universities in the Third Reich.

"ODESSA"

(00E88A), “Organization of Former Servicemen of SO Troops”. It was created in 1945 after the defeat of the Third Reich in order to provide assistance to former members of the SS and the highest Nazi party ranks. She was engaged in their secret transfer abroad, mainly to the countries of Latin America, the Middle East and South Africa.

"Final Solution"

(EpsІІOzipd) - Hitler's plan for the physical extermination of the Jewish population of Europe. According to various sources, about 6 million Jews were exterminated during the 2nd World War in Germany and on the territory of the countries occupied by it.

In Mein Kampf, Hitler called Jews “destroyers of civilization” and called for a radical resolution of the centuries-old conflict between Nordic Germans and Jews (see Racial Doctrine). Having come to power in 1933, he began the immediate practical implementation of the “cleansing” of the Third Reich from Jewish influence. As part of the Gleichschaltung policy, the Jewish population of Germany was withdrawn from all spheres of the country's public life and was reduced to the status of second-class citizens. This process grew gradually from rejection and persecution to pogroms, exile and extermination.

1941 marked a turning point in the anti-Semitic campaign. The attack on the Soviet Union gave way to Hitler's sense of destructive nihilism. Bogged down in total war, he viewed the Jews as an obstacle to victory. The plan conceived in 1940 to deport European Jews to the island of Madagascar failed, and the Nazi leadership developed more radical measures.

The culmination of Jewish resistance was the uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto (April 18, 1943 - May 16, 1943), brutally suppressed by the SS troops under the leadership of SS General Jurgen Stroop. The practice of arson by the SS on houses that might house rebels forced Jews to throw themselves out of windows, after which they became easy prey for the Nazis.

tiya. At the Wannsee Conference held on January 20, 1942 , the procedure for the “final solution of the Jewish question” was approved. “During the implementation of the final decision, Europe will be combed from west to east,” said Reinhard Heydrich in his report at the meeting. In general, the responsibility for this project was assigned to Heinrich Himmler and the Gestapo. The Nazi destruction machine immediately came into action: “death camps” were erected on the territory of Poland,in the gas chambers of which the elderly, women and children, brought to exhaustion by overwork and poor nutrition, were exterminated. Inside Germany, Jews already under legal and economic restrictions were rounded up in labor camps, which were intermediate points to the extermination camps. The extermination actions were masked by an imaginary “resettlement to the East.” Most of the Jewish population of Poland, Holland, Greece, Czechoslovakia and other occupied countries were destroyed in gas chambers.

In terms of its scale and inhumanity, this action was unprecedented, it was called genocide and was condemned by the entire world community.

See also Holocaust.

Olendorf, Otto

(Oyіepboіі), (1908-1951), high-ranking employee of the RSHA, SS Brigadeführer. In his youth, he studied economics, but dropped out of university. After the creation of the Main Office of the Reich Security (RSHA), Ohlendorf headed the III Office (SD-Inland), which exercised control over the most important areas of the internal life of the Reich and the party. After the four Einsatzgruppen were organized on Himmler's ordersfor punitive operations in the occupied territory of the Soviet Union, one of them, "Group D", was headed by Ohlendorf. The failed economist received the rank of SS Brigadeführer (Major General) and was assigned to the southern regions of Ukraine, where he carried out his activities in the rear of the 11th Army. Only from June 1941 to July 1942, the Einsatzgruppe subordinated to Ohlendorf destroyed about 90 thousand Jews. After that, he quietly returned to Wilhelm Strasse and took up a civilian post in the Central Planning Office of the Ministry of Foreign Trade, at the same time heading the 3rd department of the RSHA. By the end of the war, he was replaced by Walter Schellenberg, who was predicted for a ministerial post in the future government of Himmler, pleasing to the allies.

On September 15, 1947, Ohlendorf appeared before the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg as part of a group accused of punitive actions. Among the other defendants (21 people, including 5 SS generals), Ohlendorf was found guilty of the destruction of 1 million Jews. In his defense, he claimed that he was only following the orders of his superiors to exterminate the civilian population, while referring to historical precedents, for example, the extermination of gypsies during the Thirty Years' War. Ohlendorf stated; “I never allowed executions to be carried out by specific people. I ordered several soldiers to fire at the same time to avoid direct personal responsibility. Other group leaders laid their victims face down on the ground and shot them in the back of the head. I did not approve of such methods, because as for the victim, so it was a huge psychological burden for the executioner.” Only later, Ohlendorf said, did gas chambers begin to be used, which could simultaneously accommodate from 15 to 20 people.

During the process, loving young women sent bouquets of flowers to Ohlendorf's cell. The accusers, on the other hand, declared that Ohlendorf's activities were beyond the comprehension of the normal human mind. On April 10, 1948, he, along with 13 other defendants, was sentenced to death. Of these, four—Ohlendorf and three more leaders of the Einsatzgruppen—were executed on June 8, 1951.

Olympic Games 1936

XI Olympiad a. Berlin was chosen as the venue for the next Olympic Games even before Hitler came to power. In 1933, the Nazi press began attacking the upcoming games, calling them "a festival in which the Jews triumph," but after Hitler decided that the Olympic Games could raise the prestige of his regime in the eyes of the world public, all criticism was immediately stopped. Preparations for the games were carried out on a grand scale. The Nazi government allocated 25 million Reichs

Adolf Hitler at the opening ceremony of the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin

marks for the construction of nine sports facilities, including the construction of the huge Olympic Stadium in Berlin. Three weeks before the start of the games, any anti-Semitic propaganda was strictly prohibited in the country.

About 110 thousand people attended the opening ceremony. On the first day, a cheering crowd greeted Hans Wölcke, who won the first gold medal in the shot put and became the first German ever to win an Olympic medal in athletics. Wölcke and Gerhard Stock, who finished third, were invited to Hitler's box to accept the Führer's personal congratulations. On the same day, Tilly Fleischer also won the Olympic gold medal in the javelin throwing competition. After three Americans, Cornelius Johnson, Dave Olbritton and Delos Thurber, two of whom were blacks, won the high jump in the afternoon, Hitler left the stadium. The representatives of the German Olympic Committee cautiously reminded him that he should receive victorious German athletes in his box, and that it would be wise to honor all victors in the same way. To this, Hitler replied that he would like to refrain from accepting any more winners.

Then there was a whole series of difficult events for Hitler. On the third day of the competition, Jesse Owens, a black track and field athlete from Ohio University, won the semi-finals in the 100-meter race with a time of 10.2 seconds (but did not become an official record due to a tailwind), and then set an Olympic record in the final - 10, 3 seconds. The next morning, he also won a second gold medal in the long jump, defeating the German athlete Lutz Long. A day later, Owens won a third gold medal in the 200 meters with a new Olympic record of 20.7 seconds. On the final day of competition, Owens won another gold medal in the 400m relay. The audience applauded the American athlete who became the hero of the games.

The brilliant success of Owens and nine other black American athletes put Hitler in a difficult position. According to Aryan racial theory, he was to reward second-class citizens, Negroes and Jews. People whose ancestors came from the jungle, as Hitler explained, were primitive creatures, but their physical data turned out to be much higher than the abilities of civilized white athletes. Hitler hinted that these competitions were in fact unfair, and that blacks should be kept out of future Olympics. Although the Fuhrer was present during the competition when Owens won his third gold medal, he left the stadium pointedly before the awards were given to the athletes.

Leni Riefenstahl at the 1936 Berlin Olympics during the filming of Olympia

Hitler followed with great enthusiasm those competitions in which German athletes were among the winners. But many things about these Olympics annoyed him. For example, when the French athletes, passing by the Fuhrer's box, raised their hands in salute, causing the audience to explode with thunderous applause. The long standing ovation demonstrated to Hitler that most of the German people were striving for peace and harmony with their Western neighbor. This greatly disturbed Hitler, who did not leave hope for a military solution to the Franco-German problems.

Olbricht, Friedrich

(ОІпсНі), (1888 1944), general of the German army, one of the main participants in the July conspiracy of 1944. Born October 4, 1888 in Leisnig, Saxony. In 1907 he joined the imperial army as a Fanenjunker. Then he served in the 105th Infantry Regiment with the rank of Lieutenant. After the end of the 1st World War, Olbricht served in the Ministry of Defense, holding important posts, including the post of Chief of Staff of the Dresden Division (1933), the post of Chief of Staff of the 4th Army Corps (1935) and the commander of the 24th Infantry Division (1938- 1940), chief of staff and deputy commander of the Reserve Army (1943).

Being a deeply religious man, Olbricht considered the Nazi regime a shame for Germany and did everything possible to overthrow him, as a result of which he joined the participants in the conspiracy against Hitler. On July 20, 1944, during the explosion of a bomb planted by Colonel Klaus Schenk von Stauffenberg at the Fuhrer's headquarters in Rastenburg, Olbricht was in

General Friedrich Olbricht

Berlin in the building of the War Ministry on Bendlerstrasse. After von Stauffenberg arrived in Berlin with the news of Hitler’s death, Olbricht, together with Colonel Merz von Quirnheim, went to the commander of the Reserve Army, General Fromm , demanding that he give a conditional order “Valkyrie” to arrest high-ranking SS officers, leaders of local NSDAP bodies and to capture by loyal conspirators parts of administrative and military buildings. However, Fromm, having learned that Hitler was still alive, decided to renounce the conspirators, arrested Olbricht and ordered him to be shot.

"Orde dinst"

(Ogcie Oiepsi), a Dutch resistance group. Created shortly after the invasion of Nazi troops in Holland in May 1940. Its tasks were to collect and supply military information to London. The members of the group planned to establish a transitional government of the country after the defeat of the Third Reich.

Ordensburg

(Ogaenzygdep - "Knight's Castles"), closed educational institutions of the paramilitary type, the purpose of which was to train the Nazi elite. In accordance with the Nazi reform of the educational system in Germany, at the initiative of Hitler, three categories of schools were established, which were considered as a personnel reserve of the Nazi Party: 

Adolf Hitler School, Napolas (National Socialist educational institutions) and Ordensburgen. The last two types of schools were under the close control of the Nazi Party. The cherished goal of many teenagers was precisely the “Knight's Castles”, the educational process in which was colored by the mystical principles of medieval brotherhoods. The selected candidates fell into the special atmosphere of both the Nazi party university and the knightly order.

These educational institutions got their name from the medieval castles erected by the Teutonic knights in the deaf remote areas of Germany. 4 "Knight's castles" were established: in Grossinsee, Sonthofen, Vogelsang and in Marienburg. In each of them there were 1000 students, who were called junkers. Supervision and training was carried out by 500 instructors and teachers, administration and grooms. These standards were developed and implemented by Robert Lay, who said; "It is necessary to pay great attention to riding, as this gives the junkers a feeling of complete dominance over a living being." Only those who had completed a six-year course in the “Adolf Hitler Schools” (ages 12 to 18) and worked for two and a half years as part of the “Reich Labor Service” could get into these educational institutions,or four years engaged in party work. Thus, the age of applicants was 21-23 years. In each of the four "Knight's Castles" students spent a year. In Grossinsee they practiced boxing, horseback riding and gliding. In Sonthofen the main subjects were climbing and skiing. In Vogelsang - general physical training. In Marienburg - the final indoctrination in the spirit of National Socialism. Strict discipline, obedience and courtesy were obligatory for the junkers. The slightest infraction was followed by severe punishment. In military occupations, military weapons were used.

Selected under the strict control of party officials, candidates for the "Knight's Castles" were considered highly honored. However, the intellectual level of the Junkers was low: only one in ten was subsequently able to enter the university, and only one in a hundred graduated from it. Despite the solid financial support, sometimes there were shortages of applicants. Alumni of the "Knight's Castles" held high party positions, many joined the army, the Luftwaffe or the navy.

Order group

(Ogsipegirre), well-armed security units, "forces of order", formed in 1920 on Hitler's orders from among the physically strong veterans of the 1st World War to guard Nazi party meetings and rallies. Essentially Hitler's bodyguards, these formations, in order not to attract the attention of the police, underwent military training under the guise of sports groups. Among them were Ulrich Graf and Emil Maurice. In October 1921, the Ordnertruppe units officially became part of the SA assault squads.

Ordnungspolizei

(Ogro), a single name for the forces of law and order, the police during the Third Reich. Consisted of police units for various purposes.

Ortsgruppe

(Ogіzdgirre), the lower levels of the NSDAP, responsible for work in urban areas. They were led by the Orts-Gruppenleiters.

"Weapon of Retribution"

(Ve geііo p d zѵvaNep), developed by German scientists at the end of World War II at a secret base in Peenemünde, rocket weapons V-1 (“V-1”) and V-2 (“V-2”), which, according to Hitler's plan, was to turn the tide of the war.

The first combat launch of a V-1 liquid-fuel rocket was made on June 12, 1944 from the coast of France to hit London. Within one week, more than 8,000 rockets were fired at the British capital, many of which were shot down by the British air defense forces, at least 630 exploded in the air, but a small part still reached the target. British losses from this bombardment amounted to about 6 thousand people killed and about 40 thousand wounded.

Three months later, on September 8, 1944, the first V-2 missile was fired from a base in the Netherlands against the London area of ​​Chiswick. The V-2 missile was about 15 meters long, weighing 13 tons, including a 1-ton warhead. The speed of the rocket was about 7 thousand km per hour, the flight range was 500 km. More than 1,000 V-2 missiles were fired at England, 600 of which fell on London. The loss of the British amounted to about 10 thousand people killed.

Ossitzky, Carl von

(Ozzieigku), (1889-1938), German journalist and writer. Born October 3, 1889 in Hamburg. A participant in the 1st World War, which, with its bloody senselessness, forever left its mark on him and brought him into the ranks of fighters for peace, which he remained until the end of his days. After the war, Ossitsky settled in Berlin, where in 1928 he began publishing the pacifist magazine Die Weltbühne (Oie VseIIIyippe). In 1929, after a scathing article was published in a magazine accusing the Reichswehr of carrying out secret armaments in violation of the terms of the Versailles Treaty of 1919,Ossitzky and one of his employees were arrested and sentenced to 18 months in prison. In 1931, he was again imprisoned on charges of treason, as he continued to criticize the German armed forces, but was soon pardoned and released. After Hitler came to power, Ossitsky again ended up in a concentration camp as an enemy of the state. In 1935, after he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the Nazi authorities released him. Ossitzky died in Berlin on May 3, 1938 from tuberculosis, which he contracted while in the camp.

Ostarbeiters

(OzіagzheyіІeg - "Eastern Workers"), Polish or Russian workers who were forced to work in industrial or agricultural enterprises in the territory of the occupied countries or in Germany. They were obliged to wear a distinctive sign on their clothes - the letter “O”. Since, in accordance with Nazi racial doctrine, Ostarbeiters were considered human 

mi of the second class, they lived and worked separately from the Germans. Those who tried to escape were publicly hanged to intimidate other workers.

Carl von Ossietzky in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp

Oster, Hans

(Ozieg), (1888-1945), chief of staff of the Abwehr, one of the participants in the conspiracy against Hitler. Born August 9, 1888 in Dresden. In 1933-44 he served as chief of staff and deputy inspector in the military intelligence department, first under the command of Major General Kurt von Bredow, and then under Admiral Wilhelm Canaris. A principled opponent of the Nazi regime, Oster was among those officers who intended to remove Hitler from power. In the winter of 1939-40, he informed the Dutch and Norwegian governments that Hitler was planning to commit aggression against these countries. His colleagues said that he was a man without any ambitions, sincere, honest and faithful. In April 1943, Oster was removed from his post, and a year later he was dismissed from the army. He was arrested after failingJuly conspiracy 1944 and executed along with Admiral Canaris and pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer in the Flossenbürg concentration camp on April 9, 1945.

Ostindustri Gmbh

(Озііпсізігіе СгпЫі), a company established by the SS in Poland in March 1943 for the use of forced labor of prisoners. It was headed by SS Brigadeführer Odilo Globocnik. Special enterprises for various purposes were built for the company in the Lublin region. Most of the prisoners who worked there were of Jewish nationality.

Ostmark

(Ozitagk - “Eastern Mark”), the name that Austria received after the implementation of the German Anschluss in 1938. The Mark is a medieval administrative unit on the territory of the German principalities.

Hans Oster

"Otto"

(“Oyo”), the code name for the plan for a military invasion of Austria (see Anschluss). The name is given by the name of the heir to the Austrian throne, Otto Habsburg, who fled to Belgium.

The order of the Wehrmacht Supreme High Command, signed by Hitler on March 11, 1938, stated:

“I intend, if other means do not lead to the goal:

1. To carry out an invasion of Austria by armed forces in order to ... stop further acts of violence against the pro-German population ...

2. Taking advantage of the internal divisions among the Austrian population, march in a general direction towards Vienna, sweeping away any resistance.

3. The formations of the ground forces and the air force allocated for the operation should be in marching and combat readiness no later than 10.00 on March 12, 1938.

Otto, program

A program developed by the military department for the development of a railway and road network through Central and Eastern Europe to the borders of the Soviet Union. Germany began its implementation on October 1, 1940, and completed it on May 10, 1941, on the very eve of the attack on the USSR.

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Pabst, Georg Wilhelm

(Pabzi), (1885-1967), German film director. Born August 27, 1885 in Raudnitz. Creative activity early 1905 in drama theaters. Since 1922 - in the cinema, since 1923 director. He became famous for the acutely social film “Joyless Lane” (1925), which realistically shows the tragic situation of poverty and speculation that prevailed in Austria after the 1st World War. In Pabst's films "Secrets of a Soul" (1926), "Pandora's Box" (1928), his fascination with the theory of psychoanalysis affected. He was a member of the Union of German Cinema (organized in 1928). Author of the films “Western Front, 1918” (1930), “The Threepenny Opera” (according to B. Brecht), “Solidarity”. After the Nazis came to power, he emigrated from Germany, worked in France and the USA. In 1939 he moved to Austria, where he staged films: Comedians (1941), Paracelsus (1943), Trial (1948), House of Silence (1950), etc.

Pavelic, Ante

(Раѵеііс), (1889-1959), head of the Croatian terrorist fascist organization of the Ustaše. Born July 14, 1889 in Bradin. Lawyer by education and profession. In 1915-29 he was secretary of the nationalist Croatian Party of Law. In 1929 he organized the Ustashe organization in Italy. In 1941-45, the head of the puppet "Independent Croatian State", created in April 1941 with the support of the Nazis and Italian fascists. The organizer of the murder of hundreds of thousands of residents of Yugoslavia. In 1945, he fled from Yugoslavia (hiding in Austria, Italy, Argentina, Spain). In 1945, in absentia sentenced to death by the Yugoslav people's court, died December 28, 1959 in Madrid.

Three Power Pact 1940

Treaty of military alliance between Germany, Italy and Japan, signed in Berlin on September 27, 1940. See Berlin Pact 1940.

Pangermanism

A political doctrine that reflected the aggressive aspirations of the German bourgeoisie and Junkers. Born in the early 80s. XIX century in Austria-Hungary, where G. Schönerer and his supporters developed a program for the annexation of the Austrian regions of the country to Germany. It finally took shape at the end of the 19th century. The carrier of the ideas of pan-Germanism in their finished form was the Pan-German Union. Supporters of pan-Germanism were the inspirers of the policy of seizing the Polish, Ukrainian and Baltic states

lands, the establishment of world domination of Germany, actively contributed to the militarization of the country, the construction of a powerful navy. Ardent nationalism, chauvinism, racism made pan-Germanism the ideological predecessor of German Nazism.

Pan German Confederation

(АІІсіеілзшэг Ѵербасі), the largest ideological center of Germany in 1891-1939, uniting in its ranks large monopolists, landowners, as well as the conservative bourgeois intelligentsia. Until 1894 it was called the General German Confederation. He advocated the establishment of world domination of Germany (see Pan-Germanism). By the end of World War I, it had up to 40,000 members. He had a wide network of organizations not only within the country, but also abroad. Other similar organizations also acted in close contact with him - the Colonial Society, the Naval Union, the Imperial Association against Social Democracy, etc. Members of the Pan-German Union actively participated in the Kapp Putschin 1920. Thanks to the direct support of the Pan-German Union, she received a start in the life of the National Socialist Party (NSDAP), which many members of the union joined. As far back as the 1920s, Pan-Germanists repeatedly emphasized that the Nazis adopted from them the “racial idea”, “hostility to parliamentarism”, the conviction that “only an energetic and fanatically purposeful minority can govern the people”, the demand for the establishment in Germany of a “national dictatorships” to protect “labor capital”, anti-Semitism preached under the slogan of “liberation from the Jewish yoke”, the desire to “renew the struggle” against external enemies, etc.

Panther

(8akTg-171), one of the best German tanks of the 2nd World War period. By the time of the attack on the Soviet Union, Germany was armed with the P7KVV-III and P7KVV-IV tanks, on which Hitler hoped to defeat the enemy before the onset of winter. However, the failure of Operation Typhoonand the rapid counter-offensive of the Soviet troops thwarted his plans. The superiority of the Soviet T-34 tanks turned out to be one of the decisive factors in the defeat of the Nazi troops near Moscow, which forced the Nazi command to start producing more advanced Panther light-heavy tanks, superior to both the Soviet T-34 and T ~ 34s tanks, and the English Churchill ” and American “Sherman”. The weight of the Panther tank was 49 tons, the speed was up to 45 km per hour. The power of the 12-cylinder Maybach engine reached 700 hp. With. The tower was defended

R2KVV “Panther”

10 mm armor. It was armed with a 75 mm gun and two 7.9 mm machine guns. The crew consisted of 5 people. Tanks "Panther" participated in the fighting on both the Eastern and Western Fronts, in particular, during the Allied landings in Normandy.

Papen, Franz von

(Rarep), (1879-1969), German politician, diplomat. Born December 29, 1879 in Werl (Westphalia) in the family of a large landowner. Before World War I he was an officer of the General Staff. In 1913-15 he was a military attache in the United States, from where he was expelled for espionage and subversive activities. In 1921-32 he was a member of the Prussian Landtag from the Catholic Center party; adjoined its extreme right wing. In July-November 1932, he headed the government, which helped strengthen the position of the Nazis in Germany. He took an active part in the establishment in January 1933 of the Nazi dictatorship and entered Hitler's first cabinet as Vice-Chancellor. In July 1934 - March 1938 Ambassador to Austria; contributed to the implementation of the Anschluss.As ambassador to Turkey in 1939-44, von Papen sought to draw her into the ranks of Germany's allies. In April 1945 he was arrested in the Ruhr by the military administration of the 9th US Army. In 1946 he appeared before the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, but was acquitted. However, in February 1947 he again appeared before the denazification commission and was sentenced to 8 months in prison as the main war criminal. Died May 2, 1969 in Obersasbach, Baden.

Papenburg

(Papenigd), a concentration camp located in the Oldenburg steppe. For some time it was taken out of the control of the SS and transferred to the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice as a camp for criminals.

cov. As the Nazi regime strengthened, it began to fill up with political opponents of Nazism.

Hitler and von Papen in Chancellor II-52 shortly after winning the election in 1933. Hitler was one of the first government leaders to use aircraft for personal travel

Partheigenosse

(Rageidepozze; Rd), party comrade. Commonly accepted address to members of the Nazi Party.

Partigers

(Pagіeіdegіsbіe), local party courts dealing with the cases of members of the Nazi Party. First created by order of Hitler in 1921 for minor court proceedings as a powerful bureaucratic mechanism for controlling party members. Territorially were under the jurisdiction of the Gauand reported to the high-ranking Nazi lawyer Walter Buch. The main task of the party courts was to ensure the "purity of the Nordic race" and the fight against "internal enemies" - Jews, communists and liberals. The penalties for guilty members of the Nazi Party were mainly dismissal, public censure, deportation, and rarely imprisonment. The entire system of party courts was an instrument of political pressure on the rank and file members of the party in the interests of Hitler and the top party leadership.

Partytage

(Pagіiiiade), party days. See Nuremberg Party Congresses.

Pastor's Union

(Phärgenblipsi), an association of hierarchs of the German Lutheran Church, formed in 1934 by Pastor Martin Niemöller to counter the pro-Hitler German Faith Movement.

Paulus, Friedrich Wilhelm

background

(Pauis), (1890-1957), Field Marshal General (1943) of the German Army. Born September 23, 1890 in Breitenau, Hesse-Nessau. He studied at the University of Munich, but without finishing it, joined in 1910 in the 111th Infantry Regiment "Margrave Ludwig Wilhelm". In 1911 he received his first officer rank. Participated in the 1st World War, mainly in staff positions. After the war, he served as head of the security department of the Reichswehr (1919-20), adjutant of the 14th Infantry Regiment (1920-22), then, having undergone secret training for officers of the General Staff, he held various positions in the Reichswehr ministry. In 1934, Paulus was appointed commander of the 3rd motorized battalion, which later became one of the first tank units in Germany. In 1935-39 he was Chief of Staff of the Tank Forces, then Chief of Staff of the 4th Army. In 1940 he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general. During the French campaign, Chief of Staff of the 6th Army. From September 1940 to January 1942 1st Chief Quartermaster of the General Staff of the Ground Forces. Was one of the main developers of the plan"Barbarossa". From December 30, 1941 to February 1, 1943, Paulus was commander of the 6th Army advancing on Stalingrad. When his army was threatened with complete encirclement, Paulus tried to convince Hitler of the need for a temporary retreat and then proposed a plan to break out of the encirclement. The Führer dismissed it, replying: “I consider the situation favorable. My decision remains unchanged. The 6th Army will stay where it is. I will not leave the Volga”. On January 31, 1943, the day Hitler promoted him to field marshal general, Paulus, with all his headquarters and the remnants of the 6th Army, surrendered to the Soviet troops. By this time, the encircled army of Paulus had already lost about 100 thousand people killed and wounded, and the attempts of the tank corps of Field Marshal Mansteinbreak the encirclement were unsuccessful. The defeat at Stalingrad was a turning point in the course of World War II. In Germany, mourning was declared.

While in Soviet captivity, Paulus joined the anti-Nazi Union of German Officers in 1944, and then the National Committee of the Free

Germany ”, which carried out anti-Hitler agitation and propaganda both among prisoners of war and at the front, urging compatriots to turn their weapons against Hitler. As a result, the Paulus family was arrested in Germany.

At the Nuremberg trials , Paulus acted as a witness for the Soviet prosecution, but until 1953 he was in captivity. After his release, he settled in Vost. Germany, in Dresden, where he worked as an inspector of the people's police. Paulus died on February 1, 1957 in Dresden.

Poelzl, Clara

(PoeI/I), (1860-1908), mother of Adolf Hitler, third wife of Alois Schicklgruber. Born August 20, 1860 in Spital. Daughter of Johann Pölzl and granddaughter of Johann von Nepomuk Gütler. Her childhood was spent in an impoverished peasant family. At the age of 15, she was taken to run the household in the house of Alois Schickl gruber, with whom, after his death,

Clara Hitler (Pölzl), Hitler's mother

second wife, she married on January 7, 1885. Five children were born from this marriage, three of whom (Gustav, Ida and Edmund) died very early. Adolf (1889-1945) and Paula (1896-1960) survived. Clara Pölzl was a quiet, simple and hardworking woman who, despite her husband's addiction to alcohol, managed to run the household flawlessly. Neighbors said about her that there was "nothing in the world that could make her smile." Adolf, whom she sometimes called "crazy", was her favorite child. When Adolf was barely 15 years old, his father died. Clara Pölzl was forced to move with her children to the Linz suburb of Urfahr, where they lived on a modest pension paid for her husband. Being a very pious person, she hoped that her son would become a priest, but in his dreams, Adolf thought of himself as an artist. Clara Pölzl, who had been ill for a long time, died of cancer on December 21, 1908 in Urfahr. This was a strong blow to Adolf, who loved his mother. Clara Pölzl was buried in Leonding next to her husband.

Penemünde

(Reepetipae), a small wooded island in the Baltic Sea, where there was a laboratory in which, under the leadership of Wernher von Braun , secret work was carried out to create a “weapon of retaliation”. In August 1943, the test site at Peenemünde was bombed by Allied aircraft.

Hitler's first cabinet

The new Cabinet of Ministers formed by Hitler after he became Chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933, is as follows:

Adolf Hitler - Chancellor, Franz von Papen - Vice-Chancellor, Wilhelm Frick (NSDAP) - Minister of the Interior,

Hermann Goering (NSDAP)—minister without portfolio, later Minister of the Air Force, Alfred Hugenberg (German

Hitler's first cabinet, formed at 18:30 on January 30, 1933. Seated: Goering, Hitler, Vice-Chancellor von Papen. Standing: Count Schwerin von Krosig, Dr. Frick, von Blomberg and Hugenberg

Nationalist Party) - Minister of Economy,

General Werner von Blomberg (non-partisan) - Minister of Defense, Franz Seldte (German Nationalist Party) - Minister of Labor,

Konstantin von Neurath (non-partisan) - Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lutz von Krosig Count Schwerin (non-partisan) - Minister of Finance,

Franz Gürtner (German Nationalist Party) - Minister of Justice,

Paul von Eltz-Ryuenach (non-partisan) - Minister of Communications.

Petain, Henri Philippe

(Reiaip), (1856-1951), French military and statesman, collaborator. Born April 24, 1856 in Cauchy-la-Tour, Pas-de-Calais, in a peasant family. In 1878 he graduated from the military school of Saint-Cyr. During World War I, with the rank of general, he commanded an infantry brigade, then an army corps. In June 1915 - April 1916 he commanded the 2nd French Army, which participated in the Battle of Verdun. In May 1916 he was appointed commander of Army Group Center, in April 1917 chief of the General Staff, in May 1917 commander-in-chief of the French army (instead of General R. Nivelle). November 21, 1918 received the rank of Marshal. In 1920-31, Pétain was deputy chairman of the Supreme Military Council and at the same time (since 1922) inspector general of the army. In February-November 1934 - Minister of War. In 1939-40 he was ambassador to Spain. May 17, 1940 Pétain was appointed Deputy Prime Minister, and on June 16 - Prime Minister. He pursued a pro-German policy. On July 22, 1940, Pétain signed the Armistice of Compiègne with Germany - the surrender of France. On July 10, 1940, after the government moved to Vichy, the French National Assembly handed over full power to Pétain, which meant the elimination of the regime of the Third Republic. In July 1940 - August 1944, Pétain was head of state (until April 1942, simultaneously head of the government of the pro-Nazi Vichy regime). He pursued a policy of cooperation with the occupying Nazi authorities. In April 1945 he tried to escape, but then voluntarily returned to France and was arrested. In August 1945, he was sentenced to the Supreme The French National Assembly transferred to Pétain full power, which meant the elimination of the regime of the Third Republic. In July 1940 - August 1944, Pétain was head of state (until April 1942, simultaneously head of the government of the pro-Nazi Vichy regime). He pursued a policy of cooperation with the occupying Nazi authorities. In April 1945 he tried to escape, but then voluntarily returned to France and was arrested. In August 1945, he was sentenced to the Supreme The French National Assembly transferred to Pétain full power, which meant the elimination of the regime of the Third Republic. In July 1940 - August 1944, Pétain was head of state (until April 1942, simultaneously head of the government of the pro-Nazi Vichy regime). He pursued a policy of cooperation with the occupying Nazi authorities. In April 1945 he tried to escape, but then voluntarily returned to France and was arrested. In August 1945, he was sentenced to the Supreme

Marshall Philippe Pétain, who led the French collaborationist government after its defeat in 1940

court to death, commuted to life imprisonment. He died July 23, 1951 in Port-Jouinville.

"Beer coup" 1923

Attempted coup d'etat by Hitler and his supporters on November 8-9, 1923 in Munich.

On the evening of November 8, about 3,000 people gathered in the Bürgerbrauckeller, a huge beer hall in Munich, to listen to a speech by a member of the Bavarian government, Stast von Kahr.Together with him on the podium were local top officials - General Otto von Lossow, commander of the armed forces of Bavaria, and Colonel Hans von Scheiser, chief of the Bavarian police. While Kar spoke to the assembled, about 600 stormtroopers quietly cordoned off the hall. Members of the SA set up machine guns in the street, pointing them at the front doors. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, surrounded by his supporters, ran swiftly through the darkness between the tables, jumped on a chair, shot at the ceiling and in the ensuing silence shouted: “The national revolution has begun!” Then he addressed the astonished audience: “There are 600 armed men in the hall. Nobody is allowed to leave. The Bavarian and Berlin governments are now deposed. Now a new government will be formed. The barracks of the Reichswehr and the police are captured.

Turning to the podium, Hitler rudely ordered von Kahr, von Lossow and von Scheisser to follow him into the next room. Here he declared them arrested and announced that he, together with General Erich Ludendorff, a war hero, was forming a new government. Still excited, but already beginning to recover, members of the Bavarian government attacked Hitler with abuse, demanding to know what he meant by all this nonsense. Enraged, Hitler rushed back into the hall and yelled to the muttering crowd: “Either you recognize the national government of Germany tomorrow, or it recognizes you as dead!”

The crowd, puzzled by this performance, expected what would follow. At this moment, accompanied by a storm of applause, General Ludendorff, well known to everyone present, appeared on the stage. He immediately accused Hitler of allowing himself to start a coup without discussing anything with him in advance. Sensing the enthusiasm of the public, Hitler ignored his words and, turning to the audience, declared his victory: “Finally, the time has come to fulfill the oath given by me five years ago, when I was wounded in a military hospital.”

Everything that happened was perceived by many as a comedy performance played out before their eyes. Members of the Bavarian government in the confusion managed to quietly leave the hall. When what happened in Munich became known in Berlin, the commander of the Reichswehr, General Hans von Seekt , said that if

E. Schmidt. "Hitler Putsch"

If the local authorities are incapable of anything, then he himself will suppress the rebellion.

By morning, it became clear to Hitler that the unsupported putsch had failed. But Ludendorff decided that it was too late to retreat now. At 11 o'clock in the morning, the assembled Nazis, waving banners with a swastika and military standards, headed towards the city center at Marienplatz in a column. At the head of the column were Hitler, Ludendorff, Goering and Julius Streicher. At first, a few police patrols let the convoy through, but when the demonstrators reached the Odeonplatz near the Feldherrnhalle,their way was blocked by reinforced police detachments armed with carbines. Three thousand Nazis were opposed by about 100 policemen. Hitler called on the police to surrender. Shots were fired in response. A moment later, 16 Nazis and 3 policemen fell dead on the pavement, many were injured. Fell with a shot through the thigh Goering. Hitler, who gained experience as a nurse during the First World War, immediately reacted and lay down on the pavement at the very first volleys. The comrades-in-arms who surrounded him pushed their Fuhrer into a nearby car and took him to a safe place. Meanwhile, Ludendorff, who did not bow his head, moved through the ranks of the police, who parted in front of him out of respect for the famous war veteran.

Although the “Beer Putsch” failed, and some of its participants appeared as defendants in the June trial, it nevertheless achieved certain political results. In a matter of hours, little known, no one endowed with significance, the Nazi movement, which became the property of the front pages of newspapers, became known not only throughout Germany, but throughout the world. In addition, Hitler learned an important lesson: open action is not the best way to achieve political power. To win a serious victory, it is necessary to win over the broad sections of the population and enlist the support of as many as possible.

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Proclamation of the "Beer putsch". “Appeal to the German people! The regime of the November criminals is declared overthrown. A provisional German national government is formed. It includes General Ludendorff, Adolf Hitler, General von Lossow, Colonel von Scheisser”

financial and industrial magnates. Only in this way it was possible to secure the way to the political Olympus by legal methods.

See also “Martyrs”

Pius XI

(1857-1939), Pope of the Catholic Church 1922-39. Worldly name Achilles Ratti. Born May 31, 1857 in Desio, near Milan. Studied at the Lombardi University in Rome. He received three doctoral degrees: in philosophy, theology and law. In 1882-86 he taught theology in Milan. From 1888 he was director of the Ambrosian Library in Milan, and in 1912 he was invited to Rome, where he headed the Vatican Library. In 1918 he was appointed Apostolic Nuncio in Poland. In 1921 he was proclaimed archbishop of Milan, and then cardinal. He was elected pope in 1922. A brilliant scientist and diplomat, Pius XI expanded the diplomatic ties of the Holy See, signed an agreement with Mussolini and a concordat between the church and the Italian government, thereby strengthening papal power. He concluded 18 concordats and treaties, including with Bavaria (1924), Prussia (1929), Baden (1932),

On March 21, 1937, Pius XI issued an emergency encyclical concerning the position of the church in Germany (“With deep concern...”), protesting against the violations of customary law and justice in Nazi Germany. The Pope reminded Hitler that man, as a living being, has rights that cannot be violated or suppressed. He accused Nazi Germany of violating the terms of the 1933 Concordat and deplored the illegal and inhuman persecution of Catholics. He sent the same encyclical to the Communists. Pius XI died on February 10, 1939 in Rome.

Pius XII

(1876-1958), Pope of the Catholic Church 1939-58. The worldly name of Eugenio Pacelli. Born March 2, 1876 in Rome. In 1904-14 he taught ecclesiastical diplomacy in Rome. In 1917 he was proclaimed archbishop of Sardis and appointed nuncio in Bavaria (until 1925) and in Germany (1920-29). From 1929 he was a cardinal. Was the closest adviser / 7th XI,participated in the conclusion of many treaties and concordats, acted as an intermediary in negotiations in order to prevent the outbreak of World War II. In December 1939 he condemned "deliberate aggression and disregard for freedom and human life, which gives rise to calls to God for revenge." On April 30, 1943, Pius XII sent a message to the Archbishop of Berlin: “Needless to say, our paternal love and concern today is much higher for non-Aryan and semi-Aryan Catholics, children of the Church like others, when they

Pope Pius XII during an audience in the Vatican addresses the representatives of the allied forces

earthly existence collapses, and they go through moral suffering. Unfortunately, under the current conditions, we cannot offer them effective help except through our prayers.”

In late 1943, when the Nazi authorities began deporting 8,000 Jews from Rome, a thousand of whom, mostly women and children, were sent to Auschwitz, the Vatican remained silent. He remained silent even when in Italy on December 1, 1943, a law was passed on the internment of all Jews and the confiscation of their property.

Pius XII died on October 9, 1958 in Castel Gandolfo.

Pimpf

(RіtrT), a member of "Jungfolk", the younger age group (from 10 to 14 years old) of the organization "Hitler Youth" . Each “pimpf” was required to pass entrance tests - to briefly state the content of the Nazi oath (“schwertvorte”), recite the text “Horst Wessel” (Nazi party anthem) by heart, run 60 meters in 12 seconds and take part in a camping trip with an overnight stay. "Pimpf" had to learn to recognize signs of a semaphore, be able to stretch a telephone wire, and also undergo drill training.After passing various exams, he was enrolled in the senior group of the Hitler Youth.

Piscator, Erwin

(Rizsaiog), (1893-1966), German theater director. Born December 17, 1893 in Ulm. Communist. In 1914 he was an intern at the Munich Court Theatre. In 1919, he organized the Tribunal Theater in Königsberg, and in 1920, the Proletarian Theater in Berlin, where he staged the play The Day of Russia, written together with the troupe, calling for support for the Soviet Union. Russia. In 1923-24, he directed the Central Theater, where he staged M. Gorky's "Petty Bourgeoisie" and R. Roland's "The Time Will Come." and plays by German playwrights: “Who Cries in Yukenak” by Refisch, “Drunken King” by Zech, “Storm over Gotland” by Welka Opened the Piskator Theater in Berlin (worked intermittently in 1927-32), whose repertoire included anti-war plays E. Toller, F. Wolf, V. N-.

Erwin Piscator

In the 30s. Piscator was a member of the executive committee of the International Working Theater Union, and in 1934 he was its president. Piscator was among the first directors to implement the idea of ​​political theatre. He introduced newsreel, photomontage into the performance, used modernist costumes to stage classical plays, unfolded the action simultaneously on several stages, using new stage structures - moving tracks, a segment stage, etc. On the eve of the Nazis coming to power, Piscator left Germany, worked in the theaters of Moscow, Paris and New York. In New York, he staged plays by Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams. After the collapse of the Third Reich, he returned to his homeland. Since 1962 he has been artistic director of the Freievolksbühne Theater in West Berlin. Piscator died on March 30, 1966 in Starnberg.

Plank, Erwin

(RІapsk), (1893-1945), member of the Resistance movement. Born March 12, 1893 in Berlin, the son of the world famous physicist Max Planck. Member of the 1st World War, was wounded, was in French captivity. On the exchange of prisoners of war, he returned to Germany in 1917, entered the civil service, held various positions. In 1932 he became secretary of the Reich Chancellery, worked under Franz von Papen and Kurt von Schleicher. After Hitler came to power, Planck left the service and took up the study of economics and history, organized his own company. He was arrested after the failure of the July conspiracy of 1944. Planck, accused of treason, was executed in Plötzensee prison in Berlin on January 23, 1945.

Plötzensee

(Poigepeee), a prison in Berlin, where many participants in the July 1944 conspiracy were kept and later executed.

Submarine fleet in the Third Reich

Under the terms of the Versailles Treaty of 1919 , Germany was forbidden to have a submarine fleet, but its secret construction did not stop for a minute. In 1927, as a result of a parliamentary investigation into a scandal related to information about the construction of submarines for Germany at Turkish shipyards controlled by Krupp, the head of the naval command, Hans Adolf Zenker, was forced to resign. His place was taken by Admiral Erich Raeder, under whose leadership a new secret program for the creation of the Navy was developed, including the construction of submarines.

In March 1935, Hitler unilaterally denounced the Treaty of Versailles, and Raeder's program began to be implemented in full force. On June 18, 1935, an Anglo-German maritime agreement was signed in London, which, in essence, removed the last restrictions on the tonnage of the navy from Germany. In December 1938, Germany informed the British government that it intended to maintain a submarine fleet equal in displacement to the British. At the same time, the first submarine flotilla was created under the command of Karl Dönitz,who on June 6, 1935 was appointed "Fuhrer of submarines." By September 1939, Germany had 46 submarines of various classes in operation and was completing the construction of 11 more. 22 submarines were equipped for large-scale operations in the Atlantic. Class VII submarines had a displacement of 600 to 1,000 tons, a surface speed of 16-17 knots, and an underwater speed of 8 knots. Class IX boats had a displacement of 740 tons, a surface speed of 18 knots, and a submerged speed of 7.3-7.7 knots. Boats of a lower class II, so-called. shuttles, had a displacement of 250 tons, a speed on the surface of 13 knots, in an underwater position - 6.9 knots and were intended mainly for the protection of coastal facilities. The crew consisted of 30-50 people.

Descent of the German submarine into the water to continue the "Battle of the Atlantic"

During the first two months of World War II, German submarines sank 67 Allied merchant and warships, losing 20 submarines in the process. Such a ratio of losses is explained primarily by the fact that the German submarine fleet, not infected with the ideas of National Socialism, used traditional methods of warfare based on the “code of honor”: an attack from a surface position with a warning to the enemy. In addition, the Allies very soon began to use the tactics of convoys, tested back in World War I, which made it possible to effectively counteract submarines.

Having received full power over the submarine fleet, Karl Dönitz developed the tactics of group underwater attacks - “wolf packs”, and stated that 300 small submarines would ensure victory in the naval war with Great Britain. However, disagreements in the top military leadership prevented Dönitz from seriously financing the program to build up the power of the submarine fleet: only 2 boats were built per month. After the defeat of France, the German submarine fleet received new bases located much closer to British communications, which made it possible to increase the time of combat patrols. In addition, an auxiliary fleet was created to refuel and repair boats from the “wolf packs” directly at sea. Dark days came for the UK: in June 1940, it lost 58 ships with a total displacement of 284,113 tons, and in October - already 63 ships with a total displacement of 352,407 tons. In general, for 7 months of 1940, German submarines sank 343 British ships with a total displacement of 1,754,501 tons (see Fig.Battle of the Atlantic).

By 1942, after the German surface fleet was unable to seriously resist the British Navy, intensive construction of submarines began (by mid-1942 their number reached 101, and 19-20 of them were constantly on combat duty). For 6 months in 1942, German submarines sank 503 enemy ships with a total displacement of over 3 million tons.

However, by the summer of 1943, a radical change occurred in the battle for the Atlantic. The effectiveness of the German submarines began to decline. Analyzing the reasons for this, Dönitz was forced to admit: “The enemy managed to neutralize our submarines, and achieved this not through superior tactics or strategy, but through superiority in the area

The crew of the German submarine 11-88 during the search for enemy ships

science ... And this means that the only offensive weapon in the war against the Anglo-Saxons is leaving our hands. The technical equipment of the British Navy and the allies as a whole turned out to be immeasurably higher than the capabilities of the German shipbuilding industry.

According to official German statistics, during the years of World War II, 1,162 submarines (according to other sources 1,150) of various classes were built in Germany, of which 783 were sunk (according to foreign data, 791 and 2 were captured). From about 40 thousand personnel of submariners, from 28 to 32 thousand people died, 5 thousand were taken prisoner (Karl Dönitz lost two sons of submarine officers and a nephew).

After the war, Winston Churchill wrote: “The only thing that really worried me during the war was the danger posed by German submarines. The road of life, passing through the boundaries of the oceans, was in danger. This worried me much more than the famous air battle called the “Battle of Britain”. Allied losses during the war years amounted to about 2,000 warships and merchant fleet ships with a total displacement of 13.5 million tons. 70 thousand military sailors and about 30 thousand sailors of the merchant fleet were killed.

Reichstag fire

See Reichstag arson.

Politiche beretshaften

(Poiiiizsize VegeizskaTien), special political police units created by Himmler for the personal safety and protection of other Nazi leaders.

Paul, Oswald

(RoNI), (1892-1951), SS Obergruppenführer (general), head of the SS Main Administrative and Economic Department, which was in charge of concentration camps and enterprises of the SS system. Born June 30, 1892 in Duisburg. In 1926 he joined the Nazi Party. As chief treasurer of the German navy, Pohl joined the SA in 1929. In 1934 he was appointed head of the RSHA. In 1942-45, Paul served in various command positions in the SS troops, including being the head of the Main Administrative and Economic Directorate of the SS. After the defeat of the Third Reich, Paul tried to escape, but was arrested in May 1946 and on November 3, 1947 appeared before an American military tribunal, which sentenced him to death. 

executions. He was hanged in Landsberg Prison on June 8, 1951.

Popitz, Johannes

(Porіg), (1884-1945), Minister of Finance of Prussia, a lawyer by profession, a member of the Resistance movement. Born December 2, 1884 in Leipzig. He studied law, economics and political science, worked as a lawyer, and was a professor at the University of Berlin. In 1919 he became a member of the Privy Council, and in 1925 became Secretary of State at the Ministry of Finance. In 1933, Hitler appointed Popitz Minister without Portfolio and Reichskommissar of the Prussian Ministry of Finance. For services to the Reich, Popitz was awarded an honorary Golden Party badge. However, dissatisfaction with Hitler and his policies forced Popitz to join the ranks of the conspirators who hoped to remove Hitler from power in favor of Crown Prince Wilhelm. To this end, Popitz decided to conduct discreet negotiations with Himmler on behalf of the conspirators. In the summer of 1943 he, along withKarl Langben visited Himmler and invited him to support the coup d'état, stating that, despite the genius of the Fuhrer, the war was lost and therefore Himmler needed to hold separate negotiations with the allies on a truce. Himmler evaded a direct answer. Langben was later arrested and Popitz was placed under the supervision of the Gestalo. After the failure of the July conspiracy of 1944 , Popitz was also arrested and on October 3, 1944, was sentenced to death by the People's Tribunal . The execution of the sentence was delayed for several months by order of Himmler, who expected to use Popitz as an intermediary for negotiations with the Western allies. However, after the failure of the plans of the Reichsführer, Popitz was hanged in Plötzensee prison on February 2, 1945.

Potemp case

Hitler-sanctioned political assassination of communist leader Konrad Pitrsuch, committed in the village of Potempa (Upper Silesia) on August 9, 1932. Five armed Nazis broke into Pitrsuch's house and shot him and his family at point-blank range. The attackers were arrested and sentenced to death. Hitler sent them a telegram: “Friends! I am proud of your boundless devotion in the face of this unprecedented bloody judgment. My portrait hangs in your cells. Can I leave you?" Hitler made accusations against Pitrsuch as a Polish communist and an enemy of Germany; "Right is on the side of those who fight, live, fight, and if necessary, die for Germany." On March 21, 1934, the Nazi authorities issued a decree according to which criminals were granted amnesty. "who did good for the Reich during the period of the Weimar Republic." The five killers of Pitrzuh were released from prison.

Potsdam Conference 1945

Conference of the Heads of Government of Great Britain, the USSR and the USA - W. Churchill (who was replaced on July 28 by the new Prime Minister K. Attlee), I. Stalin and G. Truman, which was held from July 17 to August 2, 1945 in the Cecilienhof Palace in Potsdam near Berlin. The conference addressed issues of the post-war structure of Germany and the rest of the world.

Potsdam putsch

The failed attempt to seize power in Germany by the highest military officials in January 1933, on the eve of Hitler's rise to power. After the resignation of Chancellor Heinrich Brüning on May 30, 1932, with the support of General Kurt von Schleicher , Franz von Papen headed the national cabinet. In December 1932, von Schleicher removed von Papen and succeeded him as Chancellor, but was also forced to resign a month later. January 30, 1933 Chancellor GGermany was proclaimed Hitler. The personality of the new chancellor caused sharp irritation among most of the top military leaders, who organized a conspiracy to introduce martial law in the country and establish a military dictatorship for a short period. They hoped to use some softened forms of National Socialism and the figure of Hitler to win over the masses to their side, and then get rid of him. The planned coup d'etat was not carried out due to poor organization.

Press in the Third Reich

Even before coming to power, Hitler viewed the press as one of the most powerful weapons in the struggle to establish a Nazi regime and personal dictatorship in Germany. After becoming chancellor, he, following broadcasting, cinematography, music, theater, literature and the visual arts, declared the press of the Third Reich the object of the policy of the Gleichschaltung.Newspapers and magazines in Germany were under the strict control of the Minister of Education and Propaganda, Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels. All publications opposed to the Nazi regime were banned. The Press Law, passed on October 4, 1933, essentially announced a “racial cleansing” of journalism. Liberal or Jewish editors and journalists were expelled from newspapers. Those who remained were required to pass a “racial purity” test and prove, in order to obtain a work permit, that they were not married to Jews. They were required to be loyal to the Nazi regime. An important step of the Nazi authorities was the expropriation of newspapers and magazines owned by Jews. Jewish owners were pressured to sell their publications. In case of refusal, their newspapers were banned for several days, then weeks, until until they were on the verge of ruin. The publishing house of Ullstein, a Jewish owner, was bought by a Nazi publishing house.Eher Ferlag. Among the newspapers acquired by Max Amann was the famous liberal newspaper Vossische Zeitung, founded as early as 1703. The Berliner Tageblat managed to hold out until 1937. Since the German Foreign Office was interested in influencing world public opinion and presenting the Nazi regime in a favorable light, Goebbels allowed the Frankfurter Zeitung, a widely known newspaper in the world, to maintain some independence. However, all staff of Jewish origin were fired from the newspaper.

Once under monopoly Nazi control, many newspapers, in the absence of competition, prospered at first. Acquired by the NSDAP during the early years of the Nazi movement , the Völkischer Beobachter became the most important official newspaper in the Third Reich. It was headed by the main theorist of National Socialism, Alfred Rosenberg. It was published in München as a morning daily newspaper and was distributed throughout the country through

Title letter “Vegiipeg IIIizIgiegie 2eiiipd”, 1941, “30.

rum editions. The quality of its materials was far inferior to the level of journalism achieved during the period of the Weimar Republic. In Berlin, Goebbels began publishing his own newspaper , Angrif.

Parasitizing on the high reputation of the former German press abroad, Goebbels kept the name, structure and general appearance of some of the old newspapers. At the same time, he was careful to ensure that their content was strictly in line with the National Socialist political line. He appointed Walter Funk, Hitler's personal adviser on economic and financial issues, as editor of the oldest Berlin newspaper, the Börsen Zeitung (Stock Newspaper). Goebbels exercised vigilant control over more than 3,600 newspapers and hundreds of magazines in Germany. Every morning he received the editors of daily Berlin newspapers and correspondents newsrooms from other cities and gave them clear instructions on what to pay attention to in the news of today.He sent similar instructions by telegraph or mail to small newspapers in the provinces. Goebbels demanded that journalists act strictly in accordance with the party line and, above all, never question the word of the Fuhrer. They were expected to praise Hitler and show sympathy for members of the party leadership identified by the Propaganda Ministry. The experienced journalist and radio commentator Hans Fritsche, appointed in 1937 as head of the German press service, became the mediator between the Goebbels department and the press.

Goebbels was especially interested in foreign correspondents who worked in Berlin. In order to create a decent image of the Nazi regime in the foreign press, he did not stop at direct or veiled bribery: he provided foreign correspondents with luxurious apartments, cars, generously treated them during receptions, arranged entertainment and sightseeing trips, etc. However, in general, if not counting a few sycophants, he never managed to win over the foreign press corps.

A particular problem for Goebbels was the semi-pornographic newspaper Stürmer, published by Julius Streicher. Goebbels was fully aware of the harm that it did to the Nazi regime, but it was supported by Hitler himself, who, despite his own statements of high morality, read every issue of this newspaper from cover to cover, and above all because of the constant fanatical attacks of this newspaper on the Jews . In 1940, after the fall of Poland, Goebbels founded another weekly party publication, Reich, for each issue of which he wrote an editorial. The first issue of "Reich" came out on May 26, 1940, and two issues later the newspaper quietly died. At the end of the 2nd World War, when newspapers began to appear irregularly, Goebbels still managed to close Streicher's Stürmer.

The majority of the German population had no interest in the inexpressive Nazi media. Between 1933 and 1937, the number of newspapers dropped from 3,607 to 2,671. Official newspapers such as the Völkischer Beobachter or Angrif, despite their solid financial support, also lost readers, who soon realized that there was no independent press in the Third Reich.

Prien, Gunther

(Prіep), (1909-1941), one of the most popular submarine officers of the German Navy. Born in Osterfeld. From the age of fifteen he worked on the ships of the merchant fleet. Thanks to exceptional diligence and perseverance, he acquired a captain's diploma. During the Great Depression in 1931, he was out of work. After the Nazis came to power, Prien volunteered for the Navy as an ordinary sailor and quickly rose through the ranks. After graduating from the school of submariners, Prien became a commander

Günther Prien - commander of K-47, the first naval hero of the Third Reich

submarine E-26, which took part in the Spanish Civil War on the side of Francisco Franco. In September-October 1939, the submarine 11-47, under his command, sank several English and French merchant ships in the Bay of Biscay, for which the commander of the German naval forces, Admiral Erich Raederpersonally awarded Prien with the Iron Cross II Class. On the night of October 13-14, 1939, Prin managed to destroy the largest British battleship Royal Oak in the area of ​​​​the main base of the British Navy Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands, on which the English Admiral Blangrove and 832 crew members were killed. For this feat, the entire crew of the submarine II-47 was awarded the Iron Cross H degree, and Prien himself was awarded the Knight's Cross from the hands of the Fuhrer. From that moment on, he became the idol of the Third Reich, but fame did not spoil Prin. Iron discipline still reigned on his boat, and the commander himself was loved by his subordinates and colleagues for his extraordinary sense of humor, ease of communication, personal courage and high professional qualities of a submarine officer. June 1940 during the Battle of the AtlanticGerman submarines sank about 140 ships from the Allied convoys with a total displacement of 585496 tons, of which about 10% were accounted for by the Prin submarine. According to the statistics of the German Navy, during the entire period of participation of the Prina submarine in hostilities, it sank enemy ships with a total displacement of 160,939 tons. Prien became the fifth German officer to receive the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross. On March 8, 1941, during the attack of an allied convoy, the Prina submarine was destroyed by escort ships under the command of the English commander James Roiland. The command of the German Navy for a long time concealed the death of Prien and his crew, only on May 23 publishing this news, but the most incredible rumors about the fate of Prien and his sailors stubbornly spread in Germany. In particular, they talked

Prince Al Brechtstrasse

(Pgіpg АІlbgesіzіgazze), a street in Berlin, on which the headquarters of the Gestapo was located.

Prinz-Regentenstrasse

(Pgіpg Pedepіepzіgazze), a street in Munich, on which Hitler's apartment was located in the 20s and early 30s.

Fuhrer principle

(deletergrip/ip), the fundamental concept of the regime of government in the future German totalitarian state, outlined by Hitler in Mein Kampf. The new Germany, Hitler declared, should become an authoritarian state with power solely in the hands of the supreme leader. As early as the beginning of July 1921, Hitler made the "principle of the Fuhrer- 

stva” law of the Nazi Party. By calling democracy “nonsense,” he made it clear that the coming Third Reich would be a dictatorship. "Everyone will have advisers willing to help him, but only one will make the decision." “Irresponsible parliamentarism” will be replaced by the absolute responsibility of the leader and a small group of selected assistants, Hitler prophesied. The daily activities of all National Socialist organizations without exception were based on the "principle of the Fuhrer".

Propaganda in the Third Reich

The rise of the National Socialists to political power and the entire period of the existence of the Third Reich were accompanied by an intensive propaganda campaign, which was directed by the Minister of Education and Propaganda, Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels. Most of the victories of Hitler and his movement are due to the outstanding abilities of the Minister of Propaganda. Goebbels thoroughly studied the American experience of influencing mass consciousness and used it for Germany. Appreciating the possibilities of propaganda, Goebbels argued that propaganda is an art that is more effective the less people realize that they are being manipulated. Goebbels turned political rallies and meetings into lavish spectacles, carnivals with music, flags and parades that introduced into the minds of people that Hitler was a superman, a messiah called to save Germany. The vain Minister of Propaganda subjugated to his power all spheres of ideological influence on the consciousness of the masses - the press, broadcasting, literature, music, cinematography, theater, fine arts, commercial activity, tourism. About a thousand official propagandists worked under him. The vain Minister of Propaganda subjugated to his power all spheres of ideological influence on the consciousness of the masses - the press, broadcasting, literature, music, cinematography, theater, fine arts, commercial activity, tourism. About a thousand official propagandists worked under him.

Back in the early 30s. Goebbels published a pamphlet that became a model for all subsequent propaganda work in Germany:

“Why are we nationalists?

We are nationalists because we see in the nation the only way to protect and support our entire existence.

A nation is an organic association of people for the defense and protection of their own lives. The one who understands this as a word and a deed is a part of the nation.

Today in Germany, nationalism has degenerated into bourgeois patriotism, and its power has exhausted itself in

"The workers choose Hitler's front-line soldier." Poster

Women, with their unemployed husbands and hungry children, were encouraged by such posters to choose Hitler as the only one who could help them in all their troubles.

fight against windmills. They say Germany, but they mean monarchy. They proclaim freedom, but they mean the black-white-red banner [the flag of the Weimar Republic].

The new nationalism has its own unconditional demands. Belief in the nation is everyone's business, regardless of class or property status. The eternal must be separated from the momentary. The preservation of a rotten industrial system does nothing for nationalism. I love Germany and at the same time hate capitalism; I not only can, I must do so. The revival of our people depends only on the destruction of the system that robs the healthy forces of the nation.

We are nationalists because we, like Germans, love Germany. And because we love Germany, we demand the protection of her national spirit and fight against her enslavers.

Why are we socialists?

We are socialists because we see in socialism the only way to preserve ourselves as a race and through it to regain political freedom and revive the German state. Socialism is specific primarily due to army camaraderie and the creative energy of a newly awakened nationalism. Without nationalism it is nothing, a phantom, a theory, a mirage, a textbook. And with him, that's all. Future, freedom, fatherland!

The trouble with the liberal bourgeoisie is that it does not notice the state-building energy of socialism. The trouble with Marxism is that it reduced socialism to nothing more than money and a stomach.

221 HOW,

A prisoner pass for Russian soldiers

Soviet poster - another weapon in the fight against the German invaders

We are socialists because for us social problems are a matter of necessity and justice; moreover, it is a matter of the very existence of our people.

Socialism is possible only in a state that is free both inside and outside.

Down with political bourgeois sentiments: for the sake of real nationalism!

Down with Marxism for the sake of true socialism!

Long live the establishment of the first German National Socialist state!

To the ranks of the National Socialist Workers' Party of Germany!

Why are we against the Jews?

We are enemies of the Jews because we are fighting for the freedom of the German people. The Jews have caused our suffering, they take advantage of it. They took advantage of social differences among the masses to deepen the vicious split between right and left in our people. They split Germany into two halves. They are the true cause of our losses in the Great War.

The Jews are not interested in solving the pressing problems of Germany. They don't need it. They live by what they think there is no solution at all. If we can unite the German people into a single whole and provide them with freedom in the face of the whole world, then there will be no place for the Jews among us. For them, the main trump card in their hands is when people live in internal and external slavery. The Jews are responsible for our suffering and they profit from it.

That is why we, as nationalists and socialists, are against the Jews. They corrupt our race, desecrate

German poster depicting victory over evil from a Nazi perspective

our morals, undermine our customs and destroy our power.

The Jew is the flexible demon of the decadence of mankind.

The Jew does not create. It doesn't produce anything. He only manipulates goods. As long as he fights against the state, he is a revolutionary, but as soon as he gains power, he demands peace and order in order to use the loot at his discretion.

Anti-Semitism, they say, is not Christian. According to them, a Christian is someone who watches a Jew tighten a belt around his neck. To be a Christian means to love your neighbor as yourself! My neighbor is the one who is related to me by blood. If I love him, then I must hate his enemies. Anyone who considers himself a German must   

despise the Jews. One follows from the other.

We are enemies of the Jews because we belong to the German nation. The Jew is our greatest misfortune.

It is not true that we eat a Jew every morning at breakfast.

The truth is that he is slowly but surely taking everything we have from us.

This needs to be stopped. Because we are Germans.

]

Protectorate

(Pgoiesiogai), the name of the territory of Bohemia and Moravia occupied by the German troops.

Prussen, August Wilhelm Heinrich Günther prince von

(Rheussen), (1887-1949), Crown Prince of the Hohenzollern dynasty, member of the Nazi Party. Born August 29, 1887 in Potsdam, the fourth of six children of Prince Wilhelm. Studied political science and law. During the 1st World War he was a colonel. After the war, he held many important government posts in Prussia. In 1927 he joined the Steel

helmet",but due to disagreements with its leaders, he left it in 1929. In the same year he joined the Nazi Party. Traveled all over Germany with speeches in support of the National Socialist movement and Hitler. In the spring of 1931, he was beaten and arrested by the police during a rally in Königsberg. He quickly climbed the Nazi hierarchy: SS Standartenführer in 1931, SA Obergruppenführer in 1932, SA Oberführer in 1933, SS Obergruppenführer (general) in 1943. From 1932 he represented the Nazi Party in the Prussian Landtag, from 1933 Reichstag deputy from Potsdam. In 1933, Hitler appointed Prussen to the Prussian Council of State. Despite the fact that the Nazis rejected the possibility of establishing a monarchical rule in Germany, Prussen strongly supported Hitler, calling him "my Fuhrer." Prussen did not take an active part in the political life of the Third Reich.

Pfarrenbund

(Pargen bu nb). See Pastor's Union.

Care

(PTIede - “Care, Care”), a special course for girls in housekeeping and preparation for future marriage, taught in the schools of the Third Reich.

"Fifth column"

The name of the Nazi agents in various countries, which carried out sabotage and espionage activities, sowed panic, engaged in sabotage and helped the capture of these countries by German troops. The term "fifth column" first came into use in early October 1936 during the Spanish Civil War, when the Francoist general Emil Molo announced on the radio that the rebels were leading troops to Madrid in four columns, and the fifth was in Madrid itself and would strike from rear.

Ravensbrück

(Vajenzgysk), a concentration camp for female prisoners. Created in 1938. It was originally designed to hold 6 thousand prisoners, but starting from 1944 it never had less than 12 thousand prisoners, and in January 1945 their number reached 36 thousand. During the years of the camp’s existence, about 50 thousand died in it . human. In Ravensbrück, medical experiments were carried out on people. The camp was liberated by the Allied forces on April 25, 1945.

Broadcasting in the Third Reich

Like other media in the Third Reich, the Nazi authorities subordinated national broadcasting to the interests of the Gleichschaltung policy. Shortly after Hitler came to power, he gave the Minister of Education and Propaganda, Dr. Goebbels, complete control over the operation of German radio stations. Declaring that the spoken word had a stronger effect on the population than the printed word, Goebbels chose radio broadcasting as the main weapon of Nazi propaganda. “What the press was in the nineteenth century, broadcasting will be in the twentieth,” said Goebbels.

During the Weimar Republic, as in almost all of Europe, German broadcasting was state-owned.

In March 1933, Goebbels reassigned national radio broadcasting, transferring it from the General Post Office to the Ministry of Propaganda. From that moment until the last minutes of the Third Reich, the work of German radio stations was personally controlled by Goebbels and his apparatus to the smallest detail. At the head of the Imperial Radio Chamber, which became part of the Ministry of Propaganda on the rights of management, he put Eugen Khadamovsky. On August 16, 1933, Khadamovsky issued an order stating: “We, the National Socialists, are obliged to show enough dynamism and enthusiasm to conquer Germany and the rest of the world with lightning speed. On July 13, 1933, Parteigenosse Dr. Goebbels instructed me to purge German radio broadcasting of the influence of opponents of our cause. Now I can report that this work has been completed.”

Day and night, German radio stations raved about the Nazi Fuhrer as a national treasure, praising the Nazi way of life, extraordinary patriotism, nationalism and the greatest tasks facing the Germans. Each owner of a radio receiver was obliged to pay 2 Reichsmarks for it every month as a fee, which went to the needs of the Propaganda Ministry.

"All Germany listens to the Fuhrer" - inscribed on this poster

German broadcasting also served as a propaganda tool for foreign countries. It was Goebbels' concern to make a favorable impression of the Nazi regime on foreign listeners. In 1933 he approved a five-year program of broadcasting abroad. Radio broadcasts of opera performances were carried out on short waves from Berlin, Dresden and Munich, symphony concerts were transmitted from Leipzig. Nazi propaganda was skillfully woven into these broadcasts. Broadcasting to foreign countries was carried out by specially created radio stations: a radio station in Frankfurt am Main worked for Alsace-Lorraine, broadcast from Cologne to Belgium, from Hamburg and Bremen to Denmark, to Czechoslovakia from Breslau and Gleiwitz, to Austria from Munich. Broadcasting to the rest of the world was carried out around the clock in twelve languages ​​from a huge radio studio in Seesen.

After the outbreak of the 2nd World War, the Goebbels department faced serious problems related to radio. Many Germans, who were pretty tired of the boring Nazi propaganda and the eternally distorted news, preferred to listen to English or Soviet radio to get the true picture of the events. Listening to foreign radio stations was considered treason and severely punished: in the first year of World War II alone, over 1,500 Germans were sent to concentration camps, prisons, or forced labor. In 1942, Hans Fritsche , the former chief of the press department of the propaganda ministry, was recalled from the Eastern Front to head the broadcasting department. “Broadcasting must reach everyone, or it will not reach anyone,” said Fritsche.

At the end of the war, Soviet specialists developed a method of synchronous broadcasting on the frequencies used in Germany, which made it possible to intrude on German radio transmissions. Radio listeners in Germany could suddenly hear an excited cry of “lie” in the middle of a broadcast, followed by a short “truth report” about this or that event. Moreover, the voice of Hitler or Goebbels was often imitated. At such moments, the radio station staff was forced to interrupt the transmission, and patriotic music sounded on the air. The listeners were especially affected by Soviet radio broadcasts, in which the names of German war criminals were read out.

Rall, Günter

(RaII), Luftwaffe fighter pilot . Born March 10, 1918 in Haguenau He began his flying career in the 52nd Squadron under the command of Major Erich Gerhard Barkhorn, then served in the 11th Air Group and other units. According to Luftwaffe statistics, Rall shot down 275 enemy aircraft, 271 of them on the Eastern Front, ranking third on the list of aces after Major Erich Hartmann and Major Barkhorn. He fought until the last days of the war.

Racial doctrine

An integral part of the Nazi worldview, which played a key role in the history of the Third Reich. It received theoretical justification in the middle of the 19th century in the wake of growing nationalism and the accompanying romanticism, when German racism acquired political and cultural significance. Not satisfied with claims of superiority of the white race over the colored race, the adherents of the racial doctrine created a hierarchy within the white race itself. Faced with this necessity, they created the myth of Aryan superiority. This, in turn, became the source for subsequent myths such as Teutonic, Anglo-Saxon and Celtic. The first step was the mixing of the Indo-European group of languages ​​with the so-called Indo-European race. The concept of "Indo-European" was soon supplanted by the concept of "Indo-German". And then, with the light hand of Friedrich Max Müller,turned into "Aryan" - to indicate belonging to a language group. Müller rejected the identification of race and language, however, the damage had already been done. From these positions, the racists insisted that "Aryan" meant the nobility of blood, the matchless beauty of form and mind, and the superiority of the breed. Every significant achievement in history, they argued, was made by members of the Aryan race. The whole civilization, in their opinion, was the result of a struggle between Aryan creators and non-Aryan destroyers.

Racism in Germany relied on fertilized soil because it was identified with nationalism. The German romantics of the early 19th century, emphasizing uncertainty, mystery, emotionality and imagery as opposed to rationality, had a profound impact on the German intelligentsia. Herder, Fichte, and other German Romantics sharply disagreed with the philosophers of the Enlightenment, who regarded reason as a fulcrum. The Germans believed that each nation has its own specific genius (spirit), which, although imprinted deep in the past, must ultimately express itself in the national spirit (voikzdeizi). Voikzdeizi was implied to be an indisputable superpower and to possess a spiritual universe of its own, whose outward form manifested itself in a specific national culture. This type of irrationalism occupied a firm place in the German mind, gave importance to such indefinite concepts as the doctrine of origin. Two non-German ideologues have made significant contributions to this kind of thinking: the Frenchman Arthur deGobino and the Englishman Houston Stewart Chamberlain. A certain influence in the spread of this kind of racism was the German composer Richard Wagner, who believed that the heroic Germanic spirit was brought along with Nordic blood. The German racists maintained that the Nordic race was the best Aryan race. It followed from this that lower cultures could not dominate the biologically fixed combination of the Nordic mind, spirit and body.

Adolf Hitler, who idolized Wagner, made racial doctrine the cultural backbone of the Third Reich. In the pages of Mein Kampf, he vehemently denounced all those who held a different opinion on racial issues, calling them “liars and traitors to civilization.” History, he declared, convincingly proved that whenever Aryan blood

Mandatory sign for the ghetto

the blood of the lower peoples, the end of the “cultural bearer” race was coming. Germans should not fall into the sin of incest, Hitler warned. "And the main task of the state is to preserve the original racial elements. The Nordic Aryans, Hitler argued, became the creators and guardians of civilization, and the Jews - its destroyers. Therefore, the Germans are obliged to rally to fight the Jews.

Hitler's racial notions were embodied in the Nuremberg Citizenship and Race Laws of 1935, which granted citizenship to "all bearers of Germanic or similar blood" and denied it to anyone who was considered a member of the Jewish race. Thanks to these laws, which now seem very vague, racism was given legal justification in the Third Reich and eventually embodied in the “final solution” - the physical destruction of the Jewish population of Europe. With Hitler's support, the racial research program, the Rassenforschung, became widespread in Germany .The results of the “works” of Nazi scientists became mandatory for study in all educational institutions of the Third Reich, from elementary grades to universities. Little importance was attached to the fact that the "scientific works" of German scientists at the world anthropological congresses aroused the laughter of their foreign colleagues.

In such an atmosphere, Nazi racism turned out to be a concept of racial purity. It has been argued that the decay of any nation is always the result of racial mixing: the fate of a nation depends on its ability to maintain its racial purity. Such notions, which were vehemently and vigorously defended, had no scientific justification. The peoples of the world were so mixed that it was hardly possible to find a pure race anywhere. Leading ethnologists and anthropologists of the world, without any reservations, agreed that the historical contact of races resulted in a complex interweaving in which it is impossible to single out a pure race. The majority of scientists were of the opinion that the world community is an ethnological crucible filled with energetic unclean-blooded subjects. They considered every cultural group, which can be characterized as mixed, the actual refutation of the thesis that mixed peoples are inferior to purebred peoples. Jean Fino expressed it in one phrase: "The purity of the blood is nothing but a myth."

Equally unacceptable from a scientific point of view is the Nazi notion of racial superiority. The idea of ​​a master race is as old as the world, but until the 19th century it was based on cultural rather than racial differences. Modern ideas about racial superiority stem from psychological prerequisites: fear and contempt for the homeless. This feeling is based on the instinct of self-preservation. Individuals and nations, like animals, tend to see any stranger as a natural enemy. This becomes an important prerequisite for the development of a sense of racial superiority.

Competent biologists, ethnologists, anthropologists agree that an arbitrary interpretation of the term "race" leads to confusion. A clear example is the use of this concept to satisfy Hitler's national ambitions. Indeed, there never was a Germanic race, but there was a Germanic nation. There was no Aryan race, but there were Aryan languages. There was no Jewish race, but there was and is a Jewish religion and culture. The tendency to explain the concept of “race” from biological positions does not stand up to criticism. The concept of “race” expresses the integrity of the physical type, which represents the essence of biological education, and has nothing to do with nationality, language, or customs of the historical development of social groups. In the biological aspect, race is group, related individuals, a population that differs from other populations in related similarity by certain hereditary traits, of which skin color is only one of the characteristics. Politically, this interpretation takes the form of deliberate fraud.

Even in its original sense, the concept of "race" still retains subtle nuances to comprehend. Scientists have repeatedly tried to classify the peoples of the world in a certain order, but there have always been difficulties with this, for the reason that there is simply no clear line between races. Any such classifications are subjective and controversial. The first attempts to classify races on the basis of simple biological differences looked unconvincing. Equally unsatisfactory was the classification according to geographical (when considering the population of a given region and studying common characteristics), as well as according to historical (studying migratory flows) or cultural principle (“racial mentality”). Examples of the above approach are characteristic of Carl Gustaf Carus, who singled out four races: European, African, Mongoloid and American, figuratively formulating them as “day, night, eastern dawn and western dawn”. A similar approach is characteristic of Gustav Friedrich Klemm, who proposed a division into active (male) and passive (female) races, which was later borrowed and developed by Gobineau. Anthropological discoveries of the 19th century brought quantitative methods of racial recognition. The first step was the introduction in 1842 of the so-called. cranial index, the percentage ratio of the length and width of the skull, proposed by the Swedish anatomist Anders Adolf Retzius. Further attempts at classification were limited to the study of somatic differences in the color of the skin, hair, figure, eyes, nose and face. The most expressive classification was the division into five primary colors: white, black, brown, red and yellow. Such a division of humanity looked quite acceptable, but even here the variations within a single group seemed extremely difficult to establish a clear and distinct differentiation. Anatomical, linguistic, mental and cultural features were so deeply intertwined that it was difficult to make any meaningful distinction between races. Even somatic characteristics could be caused by environmental influences directly through nutritional deficiencies, natural or artificial selection, living conditions, or other circumstances. Undoubtedly, not only somatic features were insufficient to determine the dividing line between races. however, even here, variations within a single group seemed extremely difficult to establish a clear and distinct differentiation. Anatomical, linguistic, mental and cultural features were so deeply intertwined that it was difficult to make any meaningful distinction between races. Even somatic characteristics could be caused by environmental influences directly through nutritional deficiencies, natural or artificial selection, living conditions, or other circumstances. Undoubtedly, not only somatic features were insufficient to determine the dividing line between races. however, even here, variations within a single group seemed extremely difficult to establish a clear and distinct differentiation. Anatomical, linguistic, mental and cultural features were so deeply intertwined that it was difficult to make any meaningful distinction between races. Even somatic characteristics could be caused by environmental influences directly through nutritional deficiencies, natural or artificial selection, living conditions, or other circumstances. Undoubtedly, not only somatic features were insufficient to determine the dividing line between races. that this presented difficulties for any meaningful distinction between races. Even somatic characteristics could be caused by environmental influences directly through nutritional deficiencies, natural or artificial selection, living conditions, or other circumstances. Undoubtedly, not only somatic features were insufficient to determine the dividing line between races. that this presented difficulties for any meaningful distinction between races. Even somatic characteristics could be caused by environmental influences directly through nutritional deficiencies, natural or artificial selection, living conditions, or other circumstances. Undoubtedly, not only somatic features were insufficient to determine the dividing line between races.

None of these theories fully influenced Hitler. So strong was the Fuhrer's belief in his own intuition on this issue that it baffled Nazi scientists when he ordered a study of scientific and historical facts in order to give a rationalistic explanation of his own position. He dismissed as irrelevant the facts that undermined Nazi racial doctrine in the bud. In the very nature of modern dictatorships there is a tendency that its leaders, in addition to claiming political power, tend to set the tone for cultural coordination. In the Third Reich, an entire nation was forced to accept the intuition of a poorly educated politician, whose ideas about racial issues looked like a theater of the absurd, as an absolute.

Racial pollution

(Wavwepssbapbe). The Nuremberg laws on citizenship and race , adopted on September 15, 1935, prohibited marriages and sexual contacts between Germans and Jews in order to prevent incest between "racially alien" groups of the population and to keep Aryan blood pure. Cases of violation of the prohibitions on sexual contacts were widely publicized in the press. For example, October 9, 1936

A young German woman exposed to public reproach for having a relationship with a representative of the “lower races.” After the adoption of the “Nuremberg laws on citizenship and race,” intimate relationships and marriages between Germans and Jews were banned

The Völkischer Beobachter posted the following note:

A nineteen-year-old Jew appeared before a criminal court on charges of violating racial purity. In May, he met a 21-year-old Aryan woman who worked in a cafe for German entrepreneurs, and entered into an intimate relationship with her, which continued until his arrest at the end of July. The girl stated that she was not aware that her acquaintance was Jewish, because he once showed her a certificate registered with the police, in which he was marked as a Protestant. The prosecutor requested a prison sentence on the grounds that the accused had no right to commit the above act. The accused did not want to plead guilty, despite the court decision presented to him. The defendant, who had not previously been prosecuted, was sentenced to one and a half years in prison, minus the period required for the investigation.

Racial Studies

(Razveptogssbipd), an ethnological discipline introduced by order of Hitler for compulsory teaching in schools and universities of the Third Reich in accordance with Nazi racial doctrine. The degree of "scientific" nature of this subject can be understood from the speech of the Nazi professor Hermann Gauch, a specialist in the field of racial studies:

Generally speaking, the Nordic race remains the only one capable of producing sounds of marvelous purity, while the pronunciation of non-Aryan races is impure, individual sounds are confused and more like the cries of animals, say, barking, wheezing, snorting or squeaking. That birds can be taught to speak better than other members of the animal kingdom is because their vocal organ is Nordic in nature—strong, narrow, with a short tongue. The shape of the Nordic gum allows the tongue to move freely, which makes the Nordic pronunciation or singing distinct.

This passage can be supplemented with a description of the features of the “Jewish sounds”, which were given by the composer Richard Wagner, the spiritual forerunner of National Socialism:

The Jew speaks the language of the nation within which he lives from generation to generation, but he always speaks it like a stranger. And our European art and our civilization remain foreign to the Jew. In our language, in our art, the Jew is only capable of summarizing, completing—he is not capable of sincerely creating a work from his own words, a creation of his own activity. The first among the characteristic features of Semitic pronunciation is that which warps our ears as something completely alien and unpleasant - the Jewish manner of making sounds reminiscent of a squeak, squeak or nasal sniffing ... Such a manner of speaking immediately evokes the feeling of unbearably disorderly chatter. The cold indifference of such a specific sob never rises to the heights of truly sincere passion.

Rasseund Sedlungshauptamt (Razve- ipb Viebijpdzairiatі; ViZNA), the central office for race and resettlement. One of the five main departments of the SS. His tasks included monitoring the racial purity of the ranks of the SS, checking the Aryan origin of candidates for the SS and their relatives. She also dealt with the resettlement of SS colonists to the occupied territories.

Rastenburg meeting

Military meeting at the headquarters of the Fuhrer "Wolf's Lair" near Rastenburg on July 20, 1944, during which an attempt was made on Hitler's life. The meeting was attended by:

Adolf Gitler.

Lieutenant General Adolf Heusinger, Chief of Operations, Ground Forces.

General Günther Korten, Chief of the General Staff of the Luftwaffe.

Colonel Heinz Brandt, Heusinger's second in command.

General Karl Bodenschatz, Chief of Staff of the Luftwaffe.

General Rudolf Schmundt, Hitler's adjutant.

Colonel Borgman, representative of the main headquarters of the ground forces.

Vice Admiral von Puttkamer, Adjutant of Hitler in the Navy.

Berger, stenographer.

Kapitan Kurt Assmann, assistant to the Fuhrer for the Navy.

Major General Walter Scherf, head of the archival department of the SLE.

Lieutenant General Walter Buchle, Headquarters of the Ground Forces.

Vice Admiral Hans Voss, Navy Liaison Officer.

SS Brigadeführer Hermann Fegelein, representative of the SS troops.

Colonel Nikolaus von Below, adjutant of the Fuhrer in the Luftwaffe.

SS-Sturmbannführer Otto Günsche, adjutant of the Führer.

Lieutenant Colonel von Jon, adjutant of Field Marshal Keitel.

Major Herbert Buche, adjutant of Colonel-General Jodl.

Lieutenant Colonel Weisenegger, adjutant to Field Marshal Keitel.

Adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs von Sonnleitner.

Major General Walter Warlimont, Jodl's deputy.

Colonel General Alfred Jodl, Chief of Operations, OKW.

Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, head of the OKW.

See also July Plot 1944.

Rattenhuber, Hans

(PaіІepbjer), StandartenführerSS, head of Hitler's bodyguard.

Raubal, Geli

(Aaubai), (1908-1931), Hitler's great-niece, daughter of his half-sister, probably the only person for whom Hitler felt sincere love. They first met in Berchtesgaden in 1925, and Hitler was immediately fascinated by the 17-year-old fair-haired girl with a pleasant quiet voice. In 1929, Hitler rented a huge apartment in Munich on the Prinzregentstrasse and moved Raubal there. He took her everywhere with him - to rallies, conferences, cafes and theaters. Geli passionately wanted to become an opera singer and hoped for the help of her uncle in this.

When rumors reached Geli that Hitler intended to marry Winifred Wagner, the widow of the composer Richard Wagner's son Siegfried Wagner,

Hitler's cousin Geli Raubal may be the only woman he truly loved

her aspiration knew no bounds. In turn, Hitler suspected Geli of a secret love affair with his bodyguard Emil Maurice.

In the summer of 1931, Geli, who was tired of Hitler's despotism and constant frenzied jealousy, was about to move to Vienna. Hitler, who was leaving for Hamburg on September 17 to conduct an election campaign, categorically forbade her to do so. On September 18, 1931, Geli was found shot to death in Hitler's Munich apartment. Hitler was very upset by the loss of his beloved.

The mystery of Geli Raubal's death has never been solved. It was rumored that Hitler himself killed her in a fit of jealousy. According to another version, Heinrich Himmler made sure to get rid of the girl who distracted the Fuhrer from party affairs. There was also a version about the suicide of Geli, who knew that since October 1929 Hitler had met with Eva Braun. The priest Father Bernard, who told a lot about the relationship between Hitler and Geli Raubal, was found shot to death in a forest near Munich. One way or another, the initiated investigation did not bring concrete results and was terminated.

Rauschning, Herman

(Raivsbpіpd), politician of National Socialism, writer. Born August 7, 1887 in Thorn, Zap. Prussia (now Torun, Poland). The son of a career officer from an old cadet family. He studied at the cadet corps in Potsdam and Berlin-Lichterfeld. He studied music, studied world and German history in Munich and Berlin. During the 1st World War he served in the infantry with the rank of lieutenant, was wounded in battle. After the war, settling in Danzig, he headed the German Cultural Society in Poland. In 1932 he joined the NSDAP and soon became Hitler's closest adviser.

On May 28, 1932, after the elections to the Danzig Senate, where the Nazis received an absolute majority of votes, Hitler appointed Rauschning President of the Danzig Senate. This appointment aroused deep irritation among many "old fighters" who themselves applied for such political posts. Rauschning was vilified as an upstart who joined Hitler when he was already at the height of political success. August 5, 1933 Rauschning, after negotiations with the Minister Foreign Affairs of Poland Jozef Beck, signed an agreement with the Polish government on the special status of Danzig and future Germanopol relations.Danzig came under the jurisdiction of the League of Nations, which Hitler treated with disdain.Pursuing Hitler's policy in Danzig, Rauschning, however, less than a year later sharply turned away from National Socialism and in 1936 emigrated first to Switzerland,

In his books, Rauschning consistently exposed the ruthless nature of Hitler and Nazism. He wrote the following books: "Revolution of Nihilism" (1939), "Call of Destruction" (1940), "Conservative Revolution", "Hitler Speaks" (1941), "Beast from the Abyss" (1940), "Time of frenzy" (1946) . His name was entered in Zopdeg/a^pd-ipdzііzіe - Heinrich Himmler's special search "black list" in Great Britain, which included the names of not only the British, but also persons of other nationalities who were subject to immediate arrest by the Gestapo.

Since 1948, Rauschning lived in the USA, in Gaston, Oregon, and was engaged in farming.

Reventlov, Ernst

(Веѵепііоѵѵ), [Christian Einar Ludwig Detlev] (1869-1943), one of the leaders of the pan-German movement, who later went over to the side of the Nazis. Born August 18, 1869 in Husum, Schleswig-Holstein. At the beginning of the 20th century, he published articles in the press on political and naval topics, and was the irreconcilable leader of the Pan German of a certain union. In 1913 he was forced to resign from the Navy for publishing The Kaiser and the Monarchists, in which he sharply criticized Emperor Wilhelm II. In 1920 he became the editor of the magazine "Reichswart" ("Ve-іsііzѵvagі:"). In 1924 he was elected to the Reichstag, and in 1927, having joined the NSDAP, he became its representative in the Reichstag. Reventlov died on November 21, 1943 in Munich.

Regenbogen

(Rainbow - "Rainbow"), a secret plan to sink the German submarine fleet at the end of World War II. After Hitler committed suicide, his successor, Admiral Karl Dönitz , did not dare to put this plan into action. In early May 1945, some officers - submariners, outraged that their submarines might be in the hands of the enemy, turned to the crews of all German submarines with the password “Regenbogen.” As a result, 231 submarines were flooded by their crews.

Reder, Erich

(Paegier), (1876-1960), grand admiral, commander of the navy of the Third Reich. Born April 24, 1876 in the resort town of Wandsbek near Hamburg in the family of a school teacher. Graduated from military

Grand Admiral Raeder

Naval School in Kiel, participated in sea voyages on the battleship "Deutschland" in the Baltic, to India and the Far East. In 1905 he graduated from the Naval Academy. In 1910 he was appointed navigator of Kaiser Wilhelm II's cash yacht Togenzollern. During the 1st World War, Raeder participated in the largest naval battles in the Atlantic. In October 1918 he was appointed head of the Central Bureau of the Navy Command. After Raeder supported the anti-government Kapp putsch in the spring of 1920,he was transferred to work in the archives of the Navy, which allowed him to collect materials for books on the history of the German navy: “Cruising war in foreign waters”, “Activity of the light cruisers Emden” and “Karlsruhe”, “War at sea” and etc. In his free time, Raeder attended the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Berlin; he was fluent in English, French and Russian. In 1923, Raeder was appointed with the rank of rear admiral inspector of naval schools. In October 1924 he became commander of the cruiser forces in the North Sea, and in January 1925 - commander of the Baltic Naval Region. October 1, 1928 Raeder was promoted to admiral and appointed commander of the Navy. Raeder welcomed the rise to power of the Nazis, not out of political sympathy, but in the hope that this would contribute to the construction of a powerful new fleet.The Versailles Treaty of 1919, the construction of the fleet began to be carried out with full force: the giant battleships Bismarck (with a displacement of 41.7 tons) and Tirpitz (42.9 tons) were laid down, by 1937 the battleships Scharnhost and Tneisenau left the stocks, later, the heavy cruisers Hipper and Blucher The 1st Submarine Flotilla was created under the command of Karl Dönitz.In 1937, Raeder became an honorary member of the NSDAP. However, the personal relationship between Raeder and Hitler gradually cooled, as Raeder protected the fleet from Nazi influence in every possible way: he stood up for Jewish officers, defended naval priests, and expelled Gestapo agents from the fleet. In addition, the distribution of the industrial resources needed to build a fleet was concentrated in the hands of Hermann Göring, Raeder's personal enemy. In the winter of 1938-39, the commander of the Navy repeatedly warned the Fuhrer that due to insufficient funding, the fleet construction program could be disrupted and "if war breaks out in the next two years, the fleet will not be ready for it." Hitler replied to Raeder: "To achieve my political goals, I will not need a fleet until 1946."

On January 27, 1939, Hitler approved the new fleet construction plan developed by Raeder, calculated until 1947 (plan “2”), and gave the fleet absolute advantages over the Wehrmacht and the Luftwaffe. April 1, 1939 Raeder was awarded the rank of Grand Admiral. The outbreak of World War II confirmed Raeder's worst assumptions: the German Navy was not ready for a war with Great Britain. “Our surface fleet,” Raeder wrote in his diary, “has no choice but to demonstrate that he can die valiantly.” Nevertheless, under the leadership of Raeder, Operation Weserübung, the capture of Norway, was brilliantly carried out. And the German submarine fleet showed itself from the best side.

January 30, 1943 Raeder retired, retaining the honorary title of Inspector General of the Navy. He was replaced by Admiral Karl Dönitz. In May 1945, Reder and his wife were taken prisoner by the Soviets and transferred to Moscow. Later, Raeder appeared before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg and was sentenced to life imprisonment. On January 1955, eighty-year-old Erich Raeder was released on health grounds. He settled in Kiel, where he wrote a book of memoirs, My Life. Raeder died on November 6, 1960 in Kiel at the age of 84.

Rednershule

(Resіpegzsіiiiіe run Y80AR), educational institutions for the training of Nazi orators. They were first created in 1928 on the initiative of Gauleiter Verkh. Bavaria Fritz Reinhardt. In order to win votes in rural areas for the NSDAP, Hitler ordered the opening of similar schools throughout the country, in which Nazi leaders were trained in the art of communicating with the masses. Basically, they memorized their future performances by heart and answered possible questions.

Rhine

demilitarized zone

It included the territory of Germany along the left bank of the river. Rhine and a 50-kilometer strip on its right bank. In this zone, it was forbidden to place German troops, conduct military maneuvers and build fortifications. In accordance with the decision of the international Locarno Conference (October 15-16, 1925), a number of agreements were signed in London on December 1, 1925, the main of which was the Rhine Guarantee Pact (Western Pact), signed by Germany, France, Belgium, Great Britain and Italy. The Rhine Guarantee Pact provided for the inviolability of the German-French and German-Belgian borders, compliance with the provisions of the Versailles Treaty of 1919 ondemilitarized zone. The pact established the obligation of Great Britain and Italy in the event of direct aggression or violation of the status of the Rhine demilitarized zone by any other parties to the agreement to provide immediate assistance to the country against which these actions would be directed.

Plans for the remilitarization of the Rhineland were prepared by the Minister of War, General von Blomberg, for which Hitler, after the introduction of troops into the Rhineland, awarded him the rank of marshal.

Reinhardt, Max

(Yaeіpііаgсіі), (1873-1943), famous German theater actor and director, Austrian by birth, ru-

Max Reinhardt

Director of the German Theater in Berlin. Born September 9, 1873 in Baden, near Vienna. His real name is Goldman. Was a bank clerk. He began his theatrical career in 1893 in Salzburg. Since 1894 he was an actor of the German Theatre. In 1902-06 he acted as director of the New Theatre, where he staged plays by Schiller, Wilde and Gorky. In 1905-20 and in 1924-33 he headed the German Theatre. A supporter of the naturalistic theater school, he used staging techniques that were new for that time, such as moving the action to the forefront, which ensured greater contact with the audience. Performances of plays by Shakespeare, Ibsen, Shaw, Molière and other outstanding playwrights brought Reinhardt worldwide fame. Many of the innovative solutions proposed by Reinhardt have been implemented on the stages of many theaters around the world. Deprived of the opportunity to work freely in his homeland after the Nazis came to power, Reinhardt left Germany, settling first in England and then in the United States. He founded an acting school in Los Angeles and became an American citizen in 1940. Reinhardt died in New York on October 30, 1943.

Reinhardt, Fritz

(Reipiaggii), (1895-1969), Gauleiter Verkh. Bavaria (1928-30), founder and leader of the Nazi party school for the training of orators— Rednerschule. Born April 3, 1895 in Ilmenau. Was a school teacher. In 1928 he joined the NSDAP. In 1930-33 he was a member of the Reichstag. In April 1933, Reinhardt was appointed State Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, where he dealt with the financing of the Wehrmacht construction program.He was among the initiators of the adoption of a law to increase income tax, which became known as the "Reinhardt program". On September 1, 1933, he was awarded the rank of SA Gruppenführer (lieutenant general), and he became one of the leaders of the SA main headquarters. In 1937 Reinhardt became SA Obergruppenführer. After World War II, he was convicted along with other Nazi leaders. Released in 1949.

Reuters-SS

(Viiieg-88), special cavalry units of the SS troops.

Reitsch, Hannah

(ReіzsGі), (1912-1979), widely known in the Third Reich as a pilot instructor. Born in Hirschberg, Silesia (now Zielona Gora, Poland) in the family of an ophthalmologist. She was going to work as an aviation doctor, but she became a professional pilot, setting many European records. In 1937, General Ernst Accounting appointed her as an instructor pilot for the Luftwaffe. During the 2nd World War, Reitsch was the only woman awarded the Iron Cross II and I degree. On April 26-29, 1945, Reitsch accompanied General Robert von Greim during his visit to the Fuhrerbunker in Berlin. Being an ardent supporter of Nazism, she asked Hitler to allow her to remain in encircled Berlin in order to share the fate of the Reich with her Fuhrer. However, Hitler ordered her to leave the city along with the newly

SS cavalry during the summer campaign in Russia in the summer of 1941

appointed commander of the Luftwaffe von Greim.

Reichwein, Adolf

(Reісііѵѵеіп), (1898-1944), German professor, scientist, teacher, executed by the Nazis. Born October 8, 1898 in Obersbach. Member of the 1st World War, was wounded at the front.

Adolf Reichwein before the People's Tribunal

In 1930 he became professor of history at the Gallic Pedagogical Institute. After the Nazis came to power, he was suspended from work and sent as a teacher to a rural school near Berlin. Being an opponent of Nazism, Reichwein joined the resistance movement, was arrested by the Gestapo in 1944 and executed by the sentence of the People's Tribunal.

Reichenau, Walter von

(Peisbepai), (1884-1942), Field Marshal of the German Army. Born August 16, 1884 in Karlsruhe in the family of a diplomat. Volunteered into the army, was a member of the 1st World War, fought under the command of Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff during the Battle of Tannenberg August 26-29, 1914. Then he served in the Reichswehr. Since 1930 the chief of staff of the military district. In 1933-35 head of a department in the Ministry of the Reichs-

Walter von Reichenau

faith in General Werner von Blomberg. Despite the fact that Reichenau had a low opinion of Hitler, he, nevertheless, as a soldier of the old Prussian school, considered it his duty to support the Fuhrer and took an active part in the creation of the Wehrmacht. As a liaison officer between the party and army leadership, Reichenau quickly gained notoriety as one of the most fanatical Nazis among the generals.

January 10, 1935 he was awarded the rank of general. At the end of this year, he was appointed commander of the 7th military district in Munich, replacing General Wilhelm Adam in this post. In 1939 Reichenau was appointed commander of the 4th Army Group, in no small part because, unlike many other top Reich officers, he shared Hitler's war plans. In September 1939, Reichenau commanded the 10th Army, and from October 1939 - the 6th Army, at the head of which he took part in the hostilities in Poland, France and the Soviet Union. After the fall of France, Reichenau was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal. From December 1941 he was commander of Army Group South. He died of a heart attack (version - a plane crash) on January 17, 1942 in Poltava.

Reichsarbaitsdinst

. _

Reichsbank

(NesіsІіvBAnk), the central issuing bank of Germany. Existed in 1875-1945. It was a private joint-stock company, but was completely subordinate to the state. During World War I, he financed Germany's military spending. According to the Dawes plan, in 1924-29 it was controlled by foreign creditors who received reparation payments through the Reichsbank. Since 1936, the bank had a monopoly on the issue of banknotes. Played a special role in mobilizing financial resources for the Nazis

German rearmament program. In 1939, all restrictions on the provision of bank loans to the state were abolished. It was liquidated on the basis of the decision of the Potsdam Conference in 1945.

“Reichsbanner Schwarz Roth Gold”

(Peisbzjappeg Bsbѵvaarg-Boi-boІсІ - “Black-red-gold imperial banner”), a paramilitary organization during the Weimar Republic, created in 1924 by the Social Democrats to protect the republican system and existed until the Nazis came to power. Like the numerous other unions and organizations in Germany, the members of the Reichsbanner, mostly representatives of the working class, had their own uniforms, organized marches and congresses, and took part in military maneuvers. By 1932, the workers' self-defence detachments numbered 3.5 million people. In terms of their internal structure, they were no different from veteran organizations such as the Steel Helmet, the Communist Union Rot-Front-Kempfer, or the Nazi SA storm troopers.

Reichswehr

(NeісЯѵѵеІіг; Рѵѵ), the armed forces of Germany in 1919-35, created on the basis of the Versailles Treaty of 1919.The law of March 6, 1919 created a provisional Reichswehr (24 brigades). On March 23, 1921, a law was passed on the Reichswehr, whose personnel were recruited for hire with a service life of 25 years for officers, and 12 years for non-commissioned officers and privates. Consisted of ground forces and the Navy. Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was forbidden to have an air force, tanks, anti-aircraft, heavy and anti-tank artillery, submarines, battleships with a displacement of more than 10 thousand tons and cruisers - more than 6 thousand tons, as well as the General Staff in any form. The number of ground forces was limited to 100 thousand people, including 4500 officers (7 infantry and 3 cavalry divisions, 288 guns and 252 mortars. The Navy had 6 old battleships, 7 light cruisers, 12 destroyers and 12 destroyers (together with coastal defense of 15 thousand people, including 1500 officers).However, there was a hidden reserve - the so-called.black Reichswehr: self-defense detachments (heimwehr), soldier fraternities, veterans' unions ("Steelhelm", "Vikings", "Scharnhorst", "Young Germany", etc., uniting up to 4 million people. Since 1926, secret preparations began to increase the Reichswehr , and in 1930-32 a plan was adopted to increase the Reichswehr to 300 thousand people by 1938. After the Nazis came to power and Germany left the League of Nations (1933), this plan was implemented by the autumn of 1934. On March 16, 1935, Germany annulled the military articles of the Treaty of Versailles and introduced universal military service.The deployment of the armed forces of the Third Reich, the multi-million Wehrmacht, began on the basis of the Reichswehr.

"Reichswerke Hermann Göring"

(Keysііѵѵѵегke Negtapp Zoegipd), a giant financial and industrial corporation, created in 1937 on the initiative of Goering with the aim of increasing the production of high-quality steel necessary for the implementation of the German rearmament program. The corporation was financed at the expense of funds allocated for the implementation of the Four-Year Plan.

The government owned 70% of the capital and shares of Reichswerke, the rest belonged to private steel companies. Hitler opposed both the creation of a corporation and equity participation in it, because he believed that the steel industry, vital for rearmament, should be completely controlled by the state.

The Reichskommissariat for the Eastern Territories (Reissіzkottіzzagіai Kk baz OzіІapsІ), the central administration, created shortly after the start of the 2nd World War, was in charge of all political, administrative and economic issues of the occupied eastern territories. It was led by Reichsleiter Alfred Rosenberg.

Reichskommissariat for the Consolidation of German Statehood

(ВеісІі8cottІ88agіаNig сііе Ріііііdipd sans SESHBSIEpVoІkBіitz; YAKGOV), one of the five main departments of the SS, created in 1939 by Heinrich Himmler by order of Hitler. Under his control was the coordination of the work of two other departments: the department for race and resettlement and the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle department . Germany labor force.

Reichsleiter

(ВеісІлБІеИег), leader of one of the spheres of party activity. In 1940 there were 20 Reichsleiters:

Rudolf Hess - Deputy Fuhrer for the NSDAP,

Martin Bormann - Chief of Staff of the Deputy Führer,

Max Aman - party publishing houses,

Philipp Buhler - Chief of the Party Chancellery,

Walter Buch - Chairman of the Supreme Party Court,

Walter Darre - Head of the Central Office for Agricultural Policy,

Otto Dietrich, head of the press department of the NSDAP,

Franz von Epp - Head of the Office of Colonial Policy,

Carl Filer—Head of the General Directorate of Communal Policy,

Hans Frank, Head of the Reich Legal Office,

Wilhelm Frick - head of the NSDAP deputy group in the Reichstag,

Joseph Goebbels - leader

Reich propaganda,

Konstantin Hirl - Head of the Labor Department,

Heinrich Himmler - Reichsführer SS, Adolf Bünlein - commander of the National Socialist motorized corps,

Robert Ley - head of the Organizational Department of the NSDAP and at the same time head of the German Labor Front,

Victor Lutze - Chief of Staff of the SA,

Alfred Rosenberg - Head of the Foreign Policy Department of the NSDAP and the Fuhrer's authorized officer for monitoring spiritual and ideological education in the NSDAP,

Baldur von Schirach - leader of the Nazi youth (Reich Jugendfuehrer),

Franz Schwarz is the chief treasurer.

Reichsmark

(VeіsІіBtagk), the monetary unit of Germany, introduced in 1924. It was divided into 100 Reichspfennig. The gold content was set at 0.358423 g of pure gold. During the 2nd World War, it also circulated in the territories of the occupied countries. Was sharply devalued as a result of excessive issuance. Annulled in 1948.

Reichsmarschall

(ReisІіBtagBsІіаІ), a military rank specially established for Hermann Goering, as the Fuhrer's successor in the highest command posts of the Third Reich. April 23, 1945 Hitler officially stripped Goering of all posts and titles, including the title of Reichsmarschall.

Reichspropag an daamt

(VeіsІіBrgoradapsІaati; BRA), Propaganda Department of the Reichsministry of Public Education and Propaganda.

Reichstag, arson

The provocation committed by the Nazis on the evening of February 27, 1933 was the arson of the building of the German Reichstag, the perpetrators of which were declared to be the Communists. Hitler's propaganda persistently inspired the people with the idea that this was a signal for the beginning of the "communist revolution", and this justified the expediency of mass arrests. The next day, a decree was issued suspending the articles of the constitution that guaranteed the personal freedom of citizens, freedom of the press, the right to association, secrecy of correspondence, inviolability of the home and private property. At the same time, the death penalty was introduced for high treason.

Events unfolded as follows:

At about 10 pm, the Berlin police received a call from an unknown person who reported that the parliament building was on fire. When firefighters arrived at the scene, the huge building was already blazing with might and main, the fire was raging on all floors,

Reichstag building after the fire

carpets and draperies burned everywhere. Crowds of Berliners poured into the streets of the city to look at the fire. Hitler and Goebbels arrived at the burning building, where they were met by the police president of Berlin von Levetsov. Chief Burgomaster Salm and other officials. Hermann Göring, then Prussian Minister of the Interior, also hurried to the Reichstag and immediately told Hitler: “This is the work of the Communists. One of the perpetrators has already been arrested.” Bypassing the Reichstag premises, which were not yet covered by fire, Hitler muttered: “This is a sign from above.” None of the people standing around could imagine what would follow this incident. When the dome of the Reichst * ha collapsed half way, free liberal Germany also collapsed, a cruel wave of Nazi repressions swept across the country.

Meanwhile, in the south wing of the building, in the hall that bore the name of Bismarck, the police stumbled upon a man naked to the waist who gave the impression of being mentally deranged. He allowed himself to be searched without resistance. He was found to have a Dutch passport in the name of Marinus van derLubbe, who was born on January 13, 1909 in Leiden, an unemployed citizen of the Netherlands. Later, Ernst Torgler, leader of the Communist faction in the Reichstag, one of the most famous communist orators, second only to Ernst Thalmann in popularity, was arrested, who appeared on his own initiative to the police to state his point of view .On March 9, 1933, in the expensive Baierngoff restaurant, the police arrested three people with false documents in connection with an arson case. They turned out to be citizens of Bulgaria Blagoy Popov, Vasil Tanev and the head of the Comintern Underground in Western Europe, Georgy Dimitrov. With the exception of Vander Lubbe, the rest of those arrested completely denied any involvement in the arson. Nevertheless, all of them appeared at the Leipzig trial as defendants, which began on September 21, 1933 at the Palace of Justice in Leipzig.

Despite the powerful propaganda campaign launched by the Nazis, no one in Germany and throughout the world doubted that the Reichstag fire was the work of the Nazis. Later, many details of this incident became known, which shed light on the true course of events. Police officers investigating the circumstances of the fire found a surprisingly large number of fires in the Reichstag building - about sixty, scattered throughout the building. This was only possible for a small group of people. The question arose: how could so many people freely enter the building, which had the strictest access system, and burdened with canisters and ladders (which was established by the investigation)? It turned out that from the basement of the Reichstag, where the boiler room was located, it was possible to get into the underground corridor, which ended in the building of the Palace of the Chairman of the Reichstag, who was none other than Hermann Göring. Arrested later in another case, a certain criminal Rall stated during the investigation: “In February, I was a member of the personal guard of Karl Ernst [one of the leaders of the SA] and participated in the burning of the Reichstag.” At the same time, he outlined not only the smallest details, but also named many names of the participants in the arson. Rall reported that on the day of the fire, Ernst summoned ten stormtroopers from his personal guard, capable of performing the most delicate assignments, provided them with a plan of the interior of the Reichstag and set the task of setting fire to the building. They were brought to the Palace of the Chairman of the Reichstag, ordered to go down to the basement, where they waited for several hours. Then each of them was given a box of Molotov cocktails. At about ten o'clock in the evening, the group entered the Reichstag building through an underground corridor and scattered through the deserted halls, scattering an incendiary mixture everywhere. All this took no more than ten minutes, and the group returned in the same way to the Palace of the Chairman of the Reichstag. In parallel, another operation was carried out - to “launch” Van der

Lubbe, who at that moment, apparently, was in a state of drug intoxication. After Rall's testimony became known to the Gestapo, Goering instructed the deputy of the Berlin police and his favorite, Rudolf Diels , to resolutely put a spoke in the wheels of the investigation and eliminate all possible unforeseen complications in the arson case, as reported in his memoirs by the well-informed Hans Bernd Gisevius. After some time, Rall's body was found. Many other witnesses and participants in the arson were also liquidated.

Reichstrunkenbold

(Peischzigipkepjoisi - “Imperial Drunkard”), the unofficial nickname of Hitler's personal photographer Heinrich Hoffmann, who had a reputation as an incurable alcoholic. As you know, alcoholism was widespread among the top Nazi leadership, and this topic was constantly exaggerated by the population of the Third Reich.

Reichsfilmcammer

(JaeisNzTiІkkattag), see the Imperial Chamber of Cinematography.

Reichsfuehrer SS

(ReіsІі5Tiegeg-88), the military rank of the head of the SS, Heinrich Himmler.

Reichsführerschule

(ReisbzTiegegesІіiiiІe; PE8), special schools created to train future leaders of the Nazi Party.

Reichsportbu n d

(ReisKzerogiblipsI), the Imperial Sports Union, created to develop and promote sports among members of the Nazi Party.

Reichschriftumskammer

(ReisKzzsbgіTіitzkatteg), Imperial Chamber of Literature. This organization consisted of Nazi writers, publisher

bodies and librarians. The chairman of the chamber was the playwright Hans Jost.

Reichsstadthalter

(ReisІіBBІаііКаІіег), representative of the imperial government, governor of the central government in one of the eleven districts created in 1939 in the occupied territories. In many cases, the position of Reichsstatthalter was combined with the position of party representative in the field - Gauleiter.

Reichstudentwerk

(ReissІіBBіsІepІѵѵegk), a state charitable organization created to improve living conditions and material support for Nazi students. It was formed on March 27, 1934. The decree stated that this organization should contribute to the education of "respectable students in the spirit of National Socialist requirements." Like the all-German "Hitler Youth" and the Union of German Girls, "Reichstudentenwerk" paid attention to the physical, moral, intellectual and "eugenic" education of the younger generation.

At the Reichstag

(ReіsІіBBІipsІe), so-called. "Imperial Hour", the time allotted for processions and parades after the meetings of numerous National Socialist organizations in order to demonstrate national unity. For example, a column of many thousands of members of the "Imperial Union of Order Bearers-Rescuers" celebrated their "Reichsstunde" with a solemn passage through the Lustgarten park in Berlin.

Reichsugendamt

(ReіsІіBіidepsІatІ:), Imperial Youth Administration.

Religion in the Third Reich

Despite the fact that Hitler was born into a family professing the Catholic religion, he very early rejected Christianity as an idea alien to the racist model. “Antiquity,” he said, “was much better than today, because it did not know either Christianity or syphilis.” Later, he would formulate his negative attitude towards Christianity as follows:

1. Christianity is a religion that protects the weak and downtrodden

2. By its origin, this religion is Jewish, forcing people to “bend their backs at the sound of the church bell and crawl towards the cross of an alien God.”

3. Christianity was born 2000 years ago among sick, exhausted and desperate people who lost faith in life.

4. The Christian tenets of forgiveness of sin, resurrection and salvation are sheer nonsense.

5. Christian compassion is a dangerous un-German idea.

6. Christian love for one's neighbor is foolishness, because love paralyzes a person.

7. The Christian Idea of ​​Universal Equality Protects the Racially Handicapped, the Sick, the Weak, and the Poor In the early years of the Nazi movement, Nazi ideologue Alfred Rosenberg tried to introduce a certain amount of Christian principles into the party program. However, over time, most of them were replaced by such "positive" aspects as racism, the revival of Nordic values, the cult of the superman. After becoming Chancellor of Germany, Hitler repeatedly declared that his government aimed at creating favorable conditions for religious life, and that he would make every effort to establish friendly relations with the church. Many Germans sincerely believed that Hitler was able to save Christianity from the atheistic "Red Terror" and ensure the truly free exercise of all religious needs in the country.

On July 20, 1933, Hitler concluded an agreement with the Catholic Church (see Concordat 1933), which guaranteed the inviolability of the Catholic faith and preserved all the privileges and rights of Catholics. According to the treaty, all Catholic communities, schools, youth organizations and cultural societies were guaranteed the protection of the state if they did not engage in any political activity. By signing this agreement, Hitler expected to secure the confidence of the world community, since the Catholic Church had significant influence in the world. As subsequent events showed, the treaty was a diplomatic trick, the obligations of which Hitler was going to fulfill only as long as it was to his advantage.

However, Hitler failed to reach an understanding with the Protestant Church, as a result of which a call swept through the country to reject Protestantism and create a new “Germanic” religion based on

German girls perform a neo-pagan rite to magically influence the fertility of the earth

the unity of the idea of ​​“Bluth und poor” (“Blood and soil”) and the principle of the Fuhrersgwa (see German Movement for the Faith). In 1934, professor of theology Ernst Bergman published 25 theses of this new "religion". Among them:

The Jewish Old Testament is no good for the new Germany.

Christ was not a Jew, but a Nordic martyr, sent to his death by the Jews, and a warrior called to save the world from Jewish influence.

Adolf Hitler is the new messiah sent to earth to save the world from the Jews.

The swastika is the successor to the sword as a symbol of Germanic Christianity.

German land, blood, soul, art are the sacred categories of German Christianity.

Speaking about the new Germanic religion, Bergman said: “Either we will have a Germanic god, or there will be none. We cannot kneel before a universal god who pays more attention to the French than to us. We Germans were left to the mercy of fate by the Christian God. He is not fair, and therefore we suffered defeat after defeat, because we believed him, and not our, German, god.

The Christian Church around the world was shocked by such statements. Within Germany , the Bekentniskirche movement was born, a confessional church that fought to preserve the purity of the evangelical denomination. This movement refused to recognize the imperial bishop appointed by the authorities, convened its own council and declared that Christian tenets were incompatible with Nazism, its worldview and politics.

Meanwhile, Hitler announced the subordination of the Protestant church to the state. Church schools were closed, church property was confiscated, many pastors were fired, and others were restricted from preaching, which was supposed to

undermine the power of church opposition. And although some of the parsons supported the Nazi regime, the majority, such as Dr. Karl Barth, refused to recognize Hitler as the new-born messiah. “I was professor of theology at the University of Bonn for 10 years,” recalled Dr. Barth later in exile. Until he refused to start his daily lectures by throwing up his hands and shouting “Heil Hitler!” I could not do that, it would be blasphemy.” Dr. Martin Niemöller , pastor of the wealthy Dahlem district of Berlin, who served as a U-boat commander during World War I, was arrested by the Nazi authorities for his sermons. the court acquitted him, Niemeller was again arrested and sent to a concentration camp.

The Catholic Church did not long enjoy the peace promised by the Concordat of 1933. Catholic bishops still tried to maintain good relations with Hitler, however, due to numerous violations of the terms of the treaty by the Nazi authorities, discontent increased in the middle and lower echelons of the Catholic Church. Many clergymen were arrested on ridiculous charges of smuggling gold from Germany. The Catholic press was subjected to severe censorship. Religious processions were banned, monasteries were closed, monks were subjected to show trials (accusing them of debauchery. propaganda machine. which was headed by Joseph Goebbels, tried to sow disgust among the Germans to the "moral excesses" of Catholic priests. The resistance of the Catholic Church also grew. Archbishop Cardinal Faulhaber of Munich showed open disobedience to the Nazi regime, for which, despite his diplomatic immunity declared by the papal legate, he was arrested. On March 21, 1937, Pope Pius XI 's encyclical "Mii breppepsieg 8ogde ..." ("With deep concern ...") was read out from all the Catholic departments of Germany , in which Hitler was accused of violating the terms of an agreement with the church and persecuting Catholics. In response, the Nazi the authorities organized a series of trials of priests, monks and flocks.

Hitler's struggle with the church suddenly ended with the outbreak of World War II. The Fuhrer considered that it was more profitable for him to ease the pressure on the church so as not to undermine the morale of his soldiers. But he did not give up his ultimate goal - the extermination of both the Catholic and Protestant denominations. However, he considered it more prudent not to openly support the new paganism in the future - the German movement for the faith.

Röhm, Ernst

(PoeKt; Pbbt), (1887-1934), leader of the Nazi SA assault squads. Born November 28, 1887 in Munich in the family of a civil servant. Becoming a professional soldier, he participated in the 1st World War. After the end of the war, he joined one of the divisions of the Volunteer

Ernst Röhm, head of the SA

Hitler and Röhm at Party Days in Nuremberg

corps'', where he became close to the Nazis. The poorly organized groups of street hooligans that Ryom put together, and who constantly participated in street skirmishes with the communists, gradually became the fighting squad of the Nazi party. Rem said: "Even when I was an immature frail youth, war and anxiety attracted me much more than the glorious bourgeois order."

Ryom was a rather obese, powerful man with a sanguine temperament. He had a broad, bloodshot, massive face with a double chin, pendulous cheeks, and blue streaks. A deep scar crossed the left cheekbone, the bridge of the nose was flattened. Contrary to Prussian military tradition, Röhm did not shave his head. Lively, deep-set eyes, large ears and an ominous expression gave him the appearance of a faun. His entourage, not excluding the driver and orderly, were homosexuals. Ryom became addicted to this vice in the army, where homosexuality was in high fashion.

He took part in the conspiracy of the former military, led by Franz von Epp, whose goal was to overthrow the leftist government in Bavaria. Attracted by the Nazi Fuhrer's eloquence, Röhm joined the Nazi Party and gradually became one of Hitler's closest friends. Together with him, he participated in the failed "Beer Putsch" of 1923, was arrested, but released immediately after the trial. Shortly thereafter, Ryom was invited to Bolivia as a military instructor.

On the eve of the September 1930 elections to the Reichstag, Röhm returned from Bolivia, hoping to take up the post of Minister of War. However, these elections turned out to be unsuccessful for the Nazis, and on the orders of Hitler, Röhm was instructed to form and train SA units. By the middle of 1931, Röhm had already created 34 detachments of the so-called. Gausturm and 10 SA groups, uniting 400 thousand people, which exceeded the number of the Reichswehr.In 1932, the stormtroopers' slogan was "Don't take off your belts!", which was interpreted as a call to vigilance. Thanks to the efforts of Ryoma, by the end of 1933 the number of the SA exceeded 2 million people. Such a rapid growth of the assault troops, which were in fact the personal army of Röhm, who called for the implementation of the “second revolution”, alarmed many Nazi leaders. By 1934, the influence and uncontrollability of the SA units had reached such an extent that it caused great concern in the armies

sk and industrial circles and forced Hitler to take decisive steps.

On June 30, 1934, Röhm and his inner circle were arrested by the SS in the Bavarian resort town of Bad Wiessee, where they celebrated the start of their vacation. Many stormtroopers were killed on the spot, and Röhm was sent to Stadelheim prison. Two days later, a gun was placed in his cell, hinting at the possibility of an “honorable” suicide. When Röhm refused, the head of the Dachau concentration camp, Theodor Eicke , entered the cell and shot him dead.

See also Night of the Long Knives.

Remagen bridge

It was erected during the 1st World War at the insistence of the generals in order to increase the transfer of troops and ammunition to the Western Front. Formerly known as the Ludendorff Bridge.

On March 7, 1945, an American tank unit captured the bridge, preventing the Germans from blowing up this strategic facility. Upon learning of the luck, General Eisenhower exclaimed: "Its value can only be measured by the same weight of gold." The badly damaged bridge collapsed ten days later, killing 28 American soldiers. On a memorial plaque erected after the war, it is written in English and German: “Built for the war, destroyed in the war, let the towers forever remind of this. Soldiers of two great nations fought here. Heroes from both sides fell here.”

Remarque, Erich Maria

(Retagzie), (1898-1970), German writer. Born June 22 in Osnabrück. The real surname is Kramer (Remarque is his anagram). Member of the 1st World War. The shock of the horrors of the war was embodied in the novel All Quiet on the Western Front (1929), which brought Remarque world fame. The theme of military comradeship, rejection of war and the loneliness of a person who has gone through a bloody massacre was also reflected in the writer's subsequent novels: "The Return" (1931) and "Three Comrades" (1937). Remarque was forced to leave his homeland in 1931 and settle in Switzerland. In 1938, the Nazi authorities stripped him of his German citizenship. In 1939 Remarque moved to the USA. His novel Arc de Triomphe (1946) tells about the fate of emigrants who were forced to leave their homeland after the Nazis came to power. In 1948 the writer returned to Europe and settled in Porto Ronco, Switzerland.

Rennes, Ludwig

(Repp), (nast, name Arnold Veit von Golzenau), German writer, opponent of Nazism. Born April 22, 1889 in Dresden. During World War I he commanded first a company and then a battalion. After the war, he studied economics, law and Russian in Göttingen and Munich. Later he became interested in art history, archeology and the history of China. In 1928-32 he was secretary of the Union of Proletarian Revolutionary Writers. The popularity of Rennes brought the novel "War" (1928). In 1929 he visited the Soviet Union. February 27, 1933, after setting fire to the Reichstag, was arrested by the Nazi authorities and sentenced to two and a half years in prison. In 1936 Rennes emigrated to Switzerland. During the Spanish Civil War, he was Chief of Staff of the International Brigade. In 1940 he was arrested in France, but released a year later. Visited England, USA and Mexico, where he taught European history and languages. In 1941-46 he took an active part in the movement of the so-called. Free Germans in Latin America. From 1947 he lived in the GDR, where he taught anthropology at the Technical University in Dresden.

Ribbentrop, Joachim von

(Rіbеpіgor), (1893-1946), Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nazi Germany, Hitler's adviser on foreign policy. Born April 30, 1893 in Wessel in the family of an officer. He studied in Kassel and Metz, then worked in England, the USA and Canada as a commercial representative

Joachim von Ribbentrop

the owner of a small export-import enterprise for the wine trade. This gave him a certain outlook, life experience and excellent knowledge of French and English, which the Fuhrer later highly appreciated in him.

With the outbreak of World War I, Ribbentrop returned to Germany and volunteered for a hussar regiment. He participated in the battles on the Eastern Front, was wounded, was awarded the Iron Cross of the 1st degree and rose to the rank of Oberleutnant. In 1915, Ribbentrop was sent to work in the German military mission in Turkey. After the end of the 1st World War, he engaged in commercial activities. Marriage with the daughter of the largest German champagne producer Otto Henkel opened up wide prospects for him. By 1925 Ribbentrop was already a successful businessman. Industrialists, politicians, journalists and cultural figures willingly visited his luxurious Berlin mansion. Since 1930, Hitler, Goering, Himmler and other Nazi leaders have become frequent guests in the Ribbentrop house. Ribbentrop played an extremely important role in bringing the Nazis to power.

May 1, 1932 Ribbentrop joined the NSDAP and received the title of SS Standartenführer. Although the conceited and arrogant Ribbentrop irritated many Nazi leaders, Hitler, who favored him, put him at the head of a specially created foreign policy body of the NSDAP - the so-called. “Ribbentrop, bureau”, designed to operate in parallel with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The bureau was gradually filled with people from the SS, and Ribbentrop himself, who was close friends with Himmler, soon received the high rank of SS Obergruppenführer (general).

In the autumn of 1934, the Führer instructed Ribbentrop to prepare the ground for close German-Japanese cooperation, while assigning him the rank of "Commissioner for Foreign Affairs at the headquarters of the Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess" and "Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Third Reich." He was instructed to negotiate and sign the English the German Naval Agreement of 1935. On August 11, 1936, Ribbentrop was appointed German Ambassador to Great Britain, and on February 4, 1938, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Third Reich. From that time on, he played an important role in the implementation of Hitler's aggressive plans. On August 23, 1939, Ribbentrop went to Moscow , where he signed the 1939 Non-Aggression Treaty with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR V.-Molotovbetween Germany and the USSR, which essentially predetermined the beginning of the 2nd World War. There was not a single action in the preparation and promotion of which, by means of diplomacy, Ribbentrop would not take part. The Anschluss of Austria, the occupation of Czechoslovakia, the attack on Poland, the occupation of Denmark and Norway, Belgium and Holland, the defeat of France, the attack on Yugoslavia and Greece, the forging of aggressive blocs, the economic robbery of the occupied countries—the measure of Ribbentrop's personal responsibility for all these crimes was enormous. A gloomy role was played by the department headed by him in the extermination of Jews in the territories of the countries occupied by Germany. In particular, in the spring of 1943

Von Ribbentrop, Chamberlain and Hitler during the Munich Conference

Ribbentrop insistently demanded from the Hungarian regent Horthy that he "complete" the anti-Jewish measures in Hungary. "The Jews must be exterminated or sent to concentration camps - there is no other option," Ribbentrop emphasized. Concerning the fate of the British and American pilots shot down in the skies of Germany, Ribbentrop categorically insisted that all of them be lynched on the spot.

In April 1945, Ribbentrop managed to escape. He went to Hamburg, where, under the noses of the British military commandant's office, he rented a room in an unremarkable house. However, on June 14, 1945, he was arrested by the British occupation authorities and brought before the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg. While in prison, Ribbentrop declared: “If Hitler appeared in this cell and told me“ act! ”, I, like everyone I know, would still act.” The court found Ribbentrop guilty on all 4 counts, including conspiracy to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity, and sentenced him to death. He was hanged on the morning of October 16, 1946.

"Ribbentrop, Bureau"

(ОіепзізіеІІе Нібэпіgor), created in April 1933, the foreign policy department of the NSDAP headed by Joachim von

Ribbentrop, designed to operate in parallel with the German Foreign Office. He was a group of experts on foreign policy at the office of Rudolph / - Essa, in which the leading positions were occupied by functionaries of the SS apparatus.

“Rome-Berlin, Axis”

Military alliance between Germany and Italy concluded on May 22, 1939 See "Pact of Steel".

Ritter, Gerhard

(Ніііег), (1888-1967), famous German historian, opponent of Nazism. Born April 6, 1888 in Bad Suden. Graduated from the University of Hamburg. In 1925 he was invited to teach at the University of Freiburg, where he worked intermittently until 1956. He was the author of numerous scientific papers and articles on various issues of history, biographies of Luther, Frederick the Great, Gneisenau, and others. rejected Nazism and joined the activities of the Bekentniskirche, a confessional church, immediately after its formation. He was a member of the Freiburg group, an organization of conservative nationalists whose goal was to overthrow the Nazi regime in the country. Together with his close friend Carl Friedrich GördelerRitter, in case of success of their plans, represented the future Germany as a peace-loving partner in the European community. Ritter was arrested in 1944 and released from prison by the Soviet Army. He died on July 1, 1967 in Freiburg.

Riefenstahl, Leni

(Ніе/епзіаізі), German film actress and film director. Born August 22, 1902 in Berlin. She studied at the Berlin School of the Arts, took part in ballet performances with Mary Wigman. In 1923-26 she danced in performances directed by Max Reinhard. She acted in films. In 1931 she founded her own film studio, where she acted as a screenwriter, director and producer. She played the title role in Blue Light, which won a gold medal at the Venice Film Festival in 1932.

Hitler chose Riefenstahl as the leader to make films for the Nazi Party. It was she who shot the famous propaganda film “Triumph of the Will” about the Nuremberg Party Congress. On April 20, 1936, in honor of the Fuhrer's birthday, the premiere of this film took place at the Olympia cinema. This film was shown during the 11th Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936. Hitler said of Riefenstahl's work: “She created a film about our time and our destiny. This is a unique and incomparable celebration of the strength and beauty of our party.” In 1948, the International Olympic Committee awarded Riefenstahl's sports films.

After the fall of the Third Reich, Riefenstahl stated that she was out of politics and knew nothing about Hitler's intentions and plans. She strongly denied accusations against her for romantically praising Hitler: “It was 1934. No one could know what would come out of all this.”

Reception for Leni Riefenstahl in honor of the premiere of the film "Olympia" in the UFA-Palast on April 20, 1938

Richthofen, Zolfram von

(NіsKіyoTep), (1895-1945), Luftwaffe pilot who became widely known during the 2nd World War. Born October 10, 1895. Nephew of the hero of the 1st World War pilot Manfred von Richthofen (1892-1918). He was a member of the youth flying club. He began his military career in 1923. He was a military attaché in Rome. In 1936 he became chief of staff in the Condor Legion under General Hugo Sperl and then under his successor, Major General Helmut Volkmann. Having received the rank of brigadier general in November 1938, Richthofen became the last commander of this unit.

After the start of the 2nd World War, Richthofen commanded a subdivision

Wolfram von Richthofen

Stuka assault bombers , which successfully operated during the invasion of Poland and France. In July 1940, on the eve of the Battle of England , Richthofen was appointed commander of the 8th Air Corps, which suffered the least losses in battles with the Royal Air Force. Richthofen died on 12 July 1945.

Rosenberg, Alfred

(Hosengerd), (1893-1946), chief ideologue of Nazism, Hitler's deputy for "spiritual and ideological training" of members of the Nazi Party, Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories. Born in Reval, studied in Riga and Moscow, where he graduated from the Higher Technical School in 1918 with a degree in civil engineering. He spoke Russian well, which was the reason for the future appointment of Rosenberg as Reich Minister for the Eastern Territories.

Since 1933, head of the Foreign Policy Department of the NSDAP. Within the framework of this department, in April 1941, a special center for the problems of the eastern territories was created. On April 20, 1941, Hitler announced to Rosenberg his decision to appoint him Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories. On May 9, 1941, Rosenberg submitted to the Fuhrer a draft directive on policy issues in the territories to be occupied as a result of the aggression against the USSR. The project provided for the division of the eastern territories into five large governorships in order to prevent the revival of a strong Russian state. The first of them, called Ostland, was to include Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Belarus. This area was destined for complete Germanization within two generations.

The second governorship was to be Ukraine, with the inclusion of Eastern Galicia, the Crimean peninsula, the territory along the Don and the Volga, as well as the Soviet Autonomous Republic of the Volga Germans. How-

Alfred Rosenberg, “philosopher” of racism, author of the acclaimed book “The Myth of the 20th Century”

Tal Rosenberg, this governorship, having a certain autonomy, would become the backbone of the Reich in the East in the struggle against the Russian people.

The third governorship would occupy the territory of the Caucasus, separating Russia from the Black Sea. The oil-bearing regions of the Caucasus would have passed into the hands of the Germans.

The fourth governorate would be Russia. Rosenberg made the determination of its borders in the east dependent on whether the German troops would advance beyond the Urals.

Turkestan was to become the fifth governorate.

During the discussion of this project, Hitler made a number of remarks. Recalling the failure of Germany's policy in Ukraine in 1918, he spoke out against granting her autonomy. Hitler also rejected Rosenberg's proposed name "governorship", suggesting that it be replaced by the "Reich Commissariat". On July 17, 1941, the Reichsministry of the Occupied Eastern Territories was created, which was headed by Rosenberg. According to the verdict of the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, Rosenberg was executed on October 16, 1946.

Author of the books The Future Path of German Foreign Policy (1927) and The Myth of the 20th Century (1929).

Rommel, Erwin

(YatteІ), (1891-1944), Field Marshal of the German Army. Born November 15, 1891 in Heidenheim, near Ulm. He began his military service in 1910 as a cadet. Soon he became a professional military man and devoted his whole life to this. During World War I he served as a lieutenant in the Alpine Battalion in Romania and Italy. In 1915 he was awarded the Iron Cross, 1st class. After the war, he was commander of an infantry regiment, then taught at a military school in Dresden. Rommel met Hitler in 1935. After reading Rommel's book The Infantry Advances, Hitler in 1938 appointed him commander of a personal guard battalion.

During the 2nd World War, Rommel became the most popular non-

Field Marshal Erwin Rommel

Adolf Hitler presenting the Diamonds to the Knight's Cross to General Erwin Rommel, March 17, 1943

German commander, whose skill and professionalism was highly appreciated even by his opponents. In 1940, Rommel was appointed commander of the 7th armored division on the Western Front (commander General Gerd von Rundstedt). On February 6, 1941, Hitler appointed Rommel commander of the newly created Afrika Korps, tasking him with pushing British troops back to Egypt.

The African campaign, which began successfully for Rommel, earned him the nickname "desert foxes". On March 21, he defeated the British troops under the command of General Archibald Wawel near El Agheil and moved on Tobruk, who protected the path inland, to the Nile. Only towards the end of 1941 did British troops manage to return to Benghazi. In January 1942, Rommel was promoted to the rank of General of the Army. On May 27, resuming the offensive, he delivered an unexpected blow to the British, forcing the enemy to retreat to the borders of Egypt. On June 21, Tobruk, a key point of British defense, was captured by his troops, and 33 thousand of its defenders, for their courage and perseverance, were nicknamed “Tobruk rats” 1, were captured. The next day, Hitler promoted Rommel to the rank of Field Marshal. At the end of June 1942, Rommel's troops were already near El Alamein, 100 km from Alexandria and the Nile Delta. For the allied forces, this was one of the most dramatic moments of the entire war.

Rommel's advance was halted at the end of October 1943 due to supply difficulties and the buildup of enemy forces. Having flown to Germany for treatment, Rommel returned to the North. Africa after the battle of El Alamein was lost In less than two weeks, his troops were pushed back 1000 km. March 9, 1943 Rommel was recalled from Tunisia.

In mid-1943, Rommel was appointed commander of Army Group B in the North. Italy. He was faced with the task of preventing the surrender of the Italian troops and repelling the Allied offensive in southern Europe. In January 1944 he was appointed commander of the army group in northern France. Twice, on June 17 and 29, Rommel and von Rundstedt met with Hitler, trying to convince him to stop the war while there was still a significant German army. The Führer, pale and shaking, responded to their proposals with furious accusatory abuse.

After the Allied landings in Normandy, Rommel was badly wounded on 17 July when his car was strafed by British aircraft. He was sent home to Ulm for treatment.

By this time, Rommel was already completely disappointed in Hitler's military leadership, far from reality, and gradually began to open

eyes on Nazi atrocities. In a military direct and decisive Rommel, however, gradually began to be drawn into political activity. However, he opposed plans for the physical elimination of Hitler, believing that such an action would make him a martyr. He believed that it would be more expedient to bring the Fuhrer to justice, exposing all his crimes against the nation. Rommel never played an active role in the July Plot of 1944, although some conspirators wanted him to lead the country after Hitler was eliminated.

After the plot failed, one of the dying in agony participants named Rommel's name, as a result of which the commander's fate was sealed. On October 14, 1944, Hitler sent two officers to Rommel's home, giving him the choice of committing suicide or facing trial. “In fifteen minutes I will die,” Rommel told his wife and took the poison. Hitler ordered him to be buried with full military honors, von Rundstedt said in his funeral speech: “Ruthless fate snatched him from us. His heart belonged to the Fuhrer.”

Rossbach group

One of the numerous paramilitary nationalist organizations of the "Volunteer Corps", created shortly after the end of the 1st World War. It was headed by a former front-line soldier, Lieutenant Gerhard Rossbach. The goal of this organization, which did not disdain political assassinations, was “the liberation of the fatherland from traitors and slugs” allegedly guilty of the defeat of Germany. Members of the Rossbach group were Ernst Röhm 's closest associate, Edmund Heines , and the future commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Franz Höss.

"Rote Chapel"

(Noie KareIIe), an anti-Nazi underground organization in Germany. See "Red Chapel".

“Rotfrontkempferbund”

(PoligopicatrTegripsI), “Union of Fighters of the Red Front”, military detachments of the Communist Party of Germany in the period of the Weimar Republic. Participated in numerous street fights with Nazi stormtroopers from SA. Some detachments underwent combat training under the guidance of Soviet instructors. The slogan of the union was: "Beat the fascists, wherever you meet them!". On February 1, 1933, the Hamburg branch of the union issued an appeal to the armed forces: “The day is not far off when our victorious Red Army, which does not require police protection, will destroy the mortal enemies of the working class to hell with weapons in their hands!” By a decree of March 24, 1933, the Communist Party of Germany and its armed formations were banned and soon ceased to exist.

RSHA

See Reich Security Main Office (RSHA).

Rudel, Hans-Ulrich

(NisІеІ), colonel of the Luftwaffe, the only holder of the Knight's Cross with golden oak leaves, swords and diamonds. Born in 1916, graduated from the military school in Wildpark. Since 1938 he served in the Stuka dive bomber regiment .technical officer, then flew. During World War II, he rose from lieutenant (1939) to colonel (1945). In September 1941, he sank the Soviet cruiser Marat. In March 1944 he was shot down, was captured by the Soviets, but managed to escape. In January 1945, Rudel received from the hands of the Führer the Knight's Cross with golden oak leaves, swords and diamonds. A month later, he was hit again, losing a leg in the process. By the end of the war, he had 2,530 sorties and 532 destroyed enemy tanks on his combat account. After the war, he fled to Argentina, returned to Germany in 1953 and took part in the neo-Nazi movement.

Rundstedt, Gerd von

(NipsIBiesII), (1875-1953), Field Marshal of the German Army. Born December 12, 1875 in Aschersleben. In 1932, with the rank of Oberst General (Colonel General), he was appointed commander of the 1st Army Group in Berlin. In February 1938, along with fourteen other high-ranking officers, von Rundstedt was dismissed from the armed forces as a result of the Blomberg-Fritsch affair. In August 1939, he was again returned to the army as chief of staff of Army Group South. In May-June 1940, von Rundstedt was chief of staff of the Army Group on the Western Front. In this post, he had the main responsibility for conducting the French campaign. In recognition His merit On July 19, 1940, Hitler awarded von Rundstedt the rank of Field Marshal.

During the attack on the Soviet Union, von Rundstedt commanded Army Group South. His tasks included access to the Black Sea, the capture of Rostov and the Maikop oil fields.

Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt

ny, and then throw to Stalingrad. Due to disagreements with Hitler over the strategy of military operations in Russia, von Rundstedt was removed from his post on December 12, 1941. On March 1, 1942, he was appointed Chief of Staff of the Western Group of Forces in place of General Erwin von Witzleben; he held this post with short breaks until March 1945. On July 2, 1944, Hitler, furious that von Rundstedt had failed to prevent the invasion of the Anglo-American troops into Normandy, temporarily removed him from his post, appointing Field Marshal Günther Hans von Kluge in his place.

In early 1942, von Rundstedt became aware of a conspiracy by high-ranking officers to remove Hitler from power. Although von Rundstedt was never a convinced Nazi, he refused to take part in the conspiracy, telling General Erwin Rommel: “You are young and popular among the people. You need to carry it out.” After the failure of the July conspiracy of 1944 , von Rundstedt, loyal to the Führer, presided over the officers' court of honor, which examined the degree of guilt of the conspirators, and expelled them from the army even before they appeared before the People's Tribunal. Von Rundstedt's swansong was the offensive operation in the Ardennes in December 1944, which failed to stop the advance of the Allied forces. Von Rundstedt died in Hanover on February 24, 1953.

Rust, Bernhard

(Pizі), (1883-1945), Reich Minister for Science, Education and Culture in the government of Hitler from 1933 to 1945 Born September 30, 1883 in Hannover in an old Junker family. After graduating from the gymnasium in Hanover, he studied German studies, philosophy, philology, art history and music at the universities of Munich, Göttingen, Berlin and Halle. In 1909 he became director of the gymnasium in Hannover. Member of the 1st World War, was awarded the Iron Cross II and I degree and the Order of Hohenzollern.

Joining the Nazi movement after the war, Rust became Stahlhausleiter of Hannover-Braunschweig. In 1930 he was elected to the Reichstag from the Nazi Party. In February 1933, Rust was appointed Minister of Culture of Prussia. In 1934, Hitler appointed him Minister for Science, Education and Culture. This postoy occupied until the end of the Third Reich. Committed suicide in May 1945.

Knight's Cross

(Niiiegkgeig), Nazi award for valor, Hitler's version of the Iron Cross. By Hitler's decree of September 1, 1939, in connection with the outbreak of World War II, the awarding of the Iron Cross to the soldiers of the German army was resumed, however, the degree of this award, its appearance was changed and a ribbon was added. At the same time, the awarding of persons who did not participate in hostilities was canceled. The new award, called the "Knight's Cross", had several degrees:

1. Knight's Cross.

2. Knight's cross with oak leaves.

3. Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. For the first time, it was awarded to Lieutenant General / 7th Twaffe Adolf Galland, who shot down

Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords

20 enemy aircraft during the Battle of England.

1. Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds. It was first awarded to Luftwaffe Major Werner/Hölders, who destroyed 115 enemy aircraft. Among others, this award was awarded to Luftwaffe officers: Galland, Colonel Gordon Gollob, Captain Hans-Joachim Marseille, Major Walter Novotny and Major Erich Hartman.

1. Knight's Cross with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds. This award was awarded only to Colonel Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

1. Great cross. They were awarded only to Hermann Goering after the victory over France.

14 Zak.1871

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