Nazi Germany 1933-1945

Faith and Annihilation
Dulffer, Jost
Date published: 
December 1995

Nazi Germany and the crimes associated with that regime have never left the public consciousness, even though the generation of those already adult in 1933-45 is slowly dying out. The growing distance from the events of those years opens new ways of viewing the subject, with historians discovering not only fresh sources but also changing their perspectives and models of interpretation. This new history provides ready access to the insights of recent research, combining analysis with a narrative account of the period. It covers the rise of the Nazi Party, the consolidation of power in 1933-38, preparations for war, and the nature of the Nazi State. The war itself is a particular focus of attention and is considered in relation to the military engagements, the persecution of the regime's victims, the extermination and terror programme, and the policies of occupation in the Nazi-occupied parts of Europe. Finally, there is a discussion of the attempt to place the Nazi crimes into their proper context after 1945, and the extent to which Nazism brought about a modernization of Germany.