Relics Of The Reich

The author of Secret Wartime Britain examines the architecture left behind after the Nazis were defeated in World War II. Hitler’s Reich may have been defeated in 1945, but many buildings, military installations, and other sites remained. At the end of the war, some were obliterated by the victorious Allies, but others survived. For almost fifty years, these were left crumbling and ignored with post-war and divided Germany unsure what to do with them, often fearful that they might become shrines for neo-Nazis. Since the early 1990s, Germans have come to terms with these iconic sites and their uncomfortable part. Some sites are even listed buildings. Relics of the Reich visits many of the buildings and structures built or adapted by the Nazis and looks at what has happened since 1945 to uncover what it tells us about Germany’s attitude to Nazism now. It also acts as a commemoration of mankind’s deliverance from a dark decade and serves as renewal of our commitment to ensure history does not repeat itself.

From Paris to Stalingrad, the Nazis systematically plundered all manner of art and antiquities. But the first and most valuable treasure they looted were the Crown Jewels of the Holy Roman Empire. This is the true-life Indiana Jones story of a college professor turned Army sleuth who foils a Nazi plot to preserve these cherished symbols of Hitler's Thousand Year Reich. Author Sidney Kirkpatrick draws on recently discovered and previously unpublished documents, including interrogation and intelligence reports, diaries and correspondence, as well as on interviews with all remaining living participants involved with the case, to re-create this thrilling true-life story.

“A dense and scholarly book about . . . the relationship between the Nazi party and the occult . . . reveals stranger-than-fiction truths on every page.”—Daily Telegraph The Nazi fascination with the occult is legendary, yet today it is often dismissed as Himmler’s personal obsession or wildly overstated for its novelty. Preposterous though it was, however, supernatural thinking was inextricable from the Nazi project. The regime enlisted astrology and the paranormal, paganism, Indo-Aryan mythology, witchcraft, miracle weapons, and the lost kingdom of Atlantis in reimagining German politics and society and recasting German science and religion. In this eye-opening history, Eric Kurlander reveals how the Third Reich’s relationship to the supernatural was far from straightforward. Even as popular occultism and superstition were intermittently rooted out, suppressed, and outlawed, the Nazis drew upon a wide variety of occult practices and esoteric sciences to gain power, shape propaganda and policy, and pursue their dreams of racial utopia and empire. “[Kurlander] shows how swiftly irrational ideas can take hold, even in an age before social media.”—The Washington Post “Deeply researched, convincingly authenticated, this extraordinary study of the magical and supernatural at the highest levels of Nazi Germany will astonish.”—The Spectator “A trustworthy [book] on an extraordinary subject.”—The Times “A fascinating look at a little-understood aspect of fascism.”—Kirkus Reviews “Kurlander provides a careful, clear-headed, and exhaustive examination of a subject so lurid that it has probably scared away some of the serious research it merits.”—National Review

The rise and fall of Germany's Third Reich is one of the most studied, investigated and collected episodes of military history. Third Reich Collectibles features more than 1,300 color images with descriptions and values. Throughout the book you'll also find historical background information and period photographs capturing everyday Nazi Germany.|The rise and fall of Germany's Third Reich is one of the most studied, investigated and collected episodes of military history. A reign of terror that rose to near world domination during the 1930s and early 1940s, Adolph Hitler's Germany continues to fascinate generations of scholars and students of history alike.The Third Reich's insatiable drumbeat of pageantry and propaganda produced countless uniforms, insignia, medals, flags, daggers, swords, and headgear, comprising one of the most desired categories in all of military collectibles to study, understand and own.Groundbreaking in scope and execution, Third Reich Collectibles features more than 1,300 color images with descriptions and values for:UniformsHelmetsHeadgearFlagsBadgesMembership pinsPatchesArmbandsFirearmsBladesEquipmentPaper IDsSignageAnd more associated with the military and paramilitary groups of the Third ReichThroughout the book you'll also find historical background information and period photographs capturing everyday Nazi Germany.

From Paris to Stalingrad,​ the Nazis systematically plundered all manner of art and antiquities, but the first and most valuable treasures they looted were the Crown Jewels of the Holy Roman Empire—now, bestselling author Sidney Kirkpatrick tells the riveting and never-before-told true story of how an American college professor turned Army sleuth recovered these cherished symbols of Hitler’s Thousand-Year Reich before they could become a rallying point in the creation of a Fourth and equally unholy Reich. Anticipating the Allied invasion of Nazi Germany, Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler had ordered a top-secret bunker carved deep into the bedrock beneath Nürnberg castle. Inside the well-guarded chamber was a specially constructed vault that held the plundered treasures Hitler valued the most: the Spear of Destiny (reputed to have been used to pierce Christ’s side while he was on the cross) and the Crown Jewels of the Holy Roman Empire, ancient artifacts steeped in medieval mysticism and coveted by world rulers from Charlemagne to Napoleon. But as Allied bombers rained devastation upon Nürnberg and the U.S. Seventh Army prepared to invade the city Hitler called “the soul of the Nazi Party,” five of the most precious relics, all central to the coronation ceremony of a would-be Holy Roman Emperor, vanished from the vault. Who took them? And why? The mystery remained unsolved for months after the war’s end, until the Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, ordered Lieutenant Walter Horn, a German-born art historian on leave from U.C. Berkeley, to hunt down the missing treasures. To accomplish his mission, Horn must revisit the now-rubble-strewn landscape of his youth and delve into the ancient legends and arcane mysticism surrounding the antiquities that Hitler had looted in his quest for world domination. Horn searches for clues in the burnt remains of Himmler’s private castle and follows the trail of neo-Nazi “Teutonic Knights” charged with protecting a vast hidden fortune in plundered gold and other treasure. Along the way, Horn has to confront his own demons: how members of his family and former academic colleagues subverted scholarly research to help legitimize Hitler’s theories of Aryan supremacy and the Master Race. What Horn discovers on his investigative odyssey is so explosive that his final report will remain secret for decades. Drawing on unpublished interrogation and intelligence reports, as well as on diaries, letters, journals, and interviews in the United States and Germany, Kirkpatrick tells this riveting and disturbing story with cinematic detail and reveals—for the first time—how a failed Vienna art student, obsessed with the occult and dreams of his own grandeur, nearly succeeded in creating a Holy Reich rooted in a twisted reinvention of medieval and Church history.

Out of the numerous books and articles on the Third Reich, few address its material culture, and fewer still discuss the phenomenon of Nazi memorabilia. This is all the more surprising given that Nazi symbols, so central to sustaining Hitler’s movement, continue to live long after the collapse of his 12-year Reich. Neither did Nazi ideology die; far-right populists would like to see the swastika flown over the White House or Buckingham Palace. Against a backdrop of right-wing extremism, military re-enactors think nothing of dressing up in Waffen-SS uniforms and romanticising the Third Reich in the name of living history. Auctioneers are prepared to hammer down Nazi artefacts to the highest bidder, but who is buying them, and why do they do so? Should collectors be allowed to decorate their homes with Nazi flags? The Anarchy of Nazi Memorabilia begins by examining the creation and context of Nazi artefacts and symbols during the volatile Weimar Republic to their wider distribution during the Third Reich. There were few people in Nazi Germany who did not wear a badge or uniform of some sort. Whether it be mothers, soldiers or concentration camp inmates, they were all branded. The chapter on the Second World War demonstrates that although German soldiers were cynical about being given medals in exchange for freezing in Russia. They still continued to fight, for which more decorations were awarded. A large proportion of this book is therefore given to the meaning that Nazi symbols had before Nazi Germany was eventually defeated in May 1945. Equally important, however, and one of the characteristics of this book, is the analysis of the meaning and value of Nazi material culture over time. The interpreters of Nazi symbols that this book focuses on are internationally based private collectors and traders. Sustained attention is given in a chapter outlining the development of the collectors’ market for Nazi memorabilia from 1945 onwards. No matter how much collectors go out of their way to paint the hobby in a positive light, their activities do not fully escape the troubled past of the material that they desire. So contested are Nazi symbols that another chapter is devoted to the ethics and morals of destroying or preserving them. The issues surrounding private versus public custody and ownership of Nazi artefacts are also discussed. So far, in this book, the examination of Nazi artefacts has been restricted to physical objects within societies that are generally aware of the consequences of Hitlerism. As we increasingly move into the digital age, however, and there are few survivors of the Second World War left to relay their horrific experiences, the final chapter contemplates the future of Nazi symbols both digitally and physically, fake or real. This book will appeal to all those interested in the Third Reich, Nazi ideology, Neo-Nazism, perceptions of the Nazis post-1945, modern European history and political symbolism. It will also hold particular appeal to those interested in the collecting and trading of contested and highly emotive artefacts. It considers aesthetics, authenticity, commodification, gift exchange, life histories of people and objects, materiality and value theory.

A visual history of the German soldier, providing a unique insight into how they lived, ate, maintained themselves at the front, and how they behaved when out of line, through a collection of personal items and artifacts they left behind.