Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in pictures

By Time Magazine

Salute to Evil
By 1938, Hitler was the supreme leader of Germany. Within a year, his aggressive policies would plunge Europe into war and his racist ideas would find horrific implementation. It is estimated that over ten million people, including six million Jews, died in the German death camps.

The Night of Broken Glass
On November 8, 1938, Nazis and others smashed windows and ransacked thousands of Jewish shops in numerous German cities and villages. The coordinated attacks were the first large-scale, openly anti-Semitic act of the Third Reich.

Heartbroken
A Sudaten woman weeps as she is forced to give the Nazi salute to the invading Germans.

Corridors of Power
During Hitler’s time in power, the German government sponsored architecture on an immense scale, including this office building in Munich, designed by architect Paul Troost.

Mass Meeting
Gigantic political rallies became a staple of life in the new Nazi Germany. At this gathering at Buckeberg in 1934, the Führer passes risers of flag-bearing members of the SA.

Expansion
After pressuring Austria to join with Germany, Hitler turned his sights on a German-speaking region of Czechoslovakia, called the Sudatenland. At a summit held in Munich in 1938, the allies agreed to allow Germany to annex the lands. In the fall of that year, Nazi vehicles paraded triumphantly through one of the district’s towns.

Chancellor
After a series of national elections, the National Socialists rose to become the largest party in the Reichstag, or Parliament. On the 30th of January, 1933, President Paul von Hindenburg was forced to appoint Hitler, the party leader, as Chancellor.

Transfer of Power
President Hindenburg is greeted by the new Chancellor. Hindenburg died in 1934, not long after this photo was taken, but rather than hold new presidential elections, Hitler and his cabinet passed a law declaring the presidency dormant and transferred the roll and powers of the head of state to the führer, thereby giving him command of the military.

Lieutenant
Rudolf Hess (left) was one of the führer’s early followers, though he grew increasingly marginalized as Germany moved closer to war.

Orator
A great deal of the Führer’s appeal lay in his inflammatory speeches attacking Jews, social democrats, capitalists and communists. His comments often evoked a sense of wounded national pride caused by the losses imposed on Germany by the allies at the end of World War I.

Munich
After an abortive seizure of power in 1923, known in history books as the Beer Hall Putsch, Hitler was arrested and tried. During the trial, however, he was given unlimited time to speak and his popularity soared. By the time this photo was taken in 1929, he was out of jail and gaining prominence.

Out of Obscurity
After serving unremarkably in the First World War, the future dictator immersed himself in the German nationalist politics of Munich. In 1921, he claimed control of the German Workers Party and renamed it the National Socialist German Workers Party, and gave himself the title of Führer. In this 1922 photo, he poses with members of the group’s paramilitary organization, the Sturmabteilung, known by its initials, SA.

Card Sharks
This Leader Quartet card game, from 1934, was a collection of leaders spanning a thousand-year period, from ancient times to the Holy Roman Empire and ending with Hitler. It was but one of many propaganda items aimed at children. This delving into the Nazi past is a relatively new phenomenon. But a recent batch of films and plays (such as Downfall and Mein Führer: The Truly Truest Truth About Adolf Hitler) has been unafraid to shy away from Hitler’s rule.

Shine a Light
This paper lantern with the infamous swastika sign on it was doubtless a feature in many a home. Hitler wanted to incorporate the swastika with red, white and black, the colors of the flag of the old German Empire.

Strength Through Joy
Children would put their change in this money box for the Kraft-durch-Freude (“strength through joy”) car, which would later became the Volkswagen. There have been claims that an exhibit of this nature would attract neo-Nazis. A museum director, Hans Ottomeyer, told the BBC, “We are not haunted by neo-Nazis, because we are a place of enlightenment. They don’t read books, and they don’t go to exhibitions.”

Another Reich
This 1943 painting by Adolf Reich is called The Greater Sacrifice. Like Hitler, Reich was born in Austria. He traveled throughout Europe, exhibiting in numerous places. After the war, Reich returned to Salzburg. Paintings form an important part of the collection, which contains some 600 exhibits and 400 photos and posters. Nazi art often took a dual approach: it made the masses feel a part of their movement while excluding its enemies, such as Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals and the disabled.

Propaganda Painting
This painting from 1944 by Adolf Wegener is called The Third Reich. Wegener studied at the School of Applied Arts and the Berlin Academy.

Sad Scene
This Georg Netzband painting from 1935, titled After the Air Attack, depicts Germans trapped in a bunker working together to get out. Though modern-day Germany has been rid of evil, a recently published study showed that 1 in 10 Germans said they would like a “Führer” figure to “govern Germany with a hard hand.” The issue of immigration, as in so many other countries, remains a contentious topic: 35% said they thought Germany was “dangerously overrun” with foreigners.

Unhealthy Habit
This is the commercial display for Trommler (drummer) cigarettes, in the dress of an SA (Sturmabteilung) man. Translated as “storm division,” the SA was the paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party, which played a key role in Hitler’s rise to power. SA men were often known as “brownshirts” for the color of their uniforms — chosen because a large batch were cheaply available after World War I.

Outside
This is a bronze cabinet in the shape of a book. It was given to Hitler as a gift on May 1, 1938. But it doesn’t seem particularly practical: indeed, the organizers of the exhibit have said that it is an item that says much about Hitler’s obsession with aggrandisement.

Inside
This is the cabinet’s inside. The inscription: “To our leader, with duty and loyalty on the 6th day honoring German work.”

Artificial Adolf
Female workers make Adolf Hitler busts out of artificial stone. The one he favored over all others that were produced was by the famous sculptor Ferdinand Liebermann. This is one of the items in “Hitler and the Germans — Nation and Crime,” which is on display at the German Historical Museum until Feb. 6, 2011.