Did you ever wonder what the house looks like where Hitler was born? Or the cafe where the NSDAP was founded? This is the book for you!
The book starts off with the birthplace and the houses of the most prominent Nazi figures and gives a short account of their lives before and after they joined the party. Then it moves on the history of the party, its martyrs, party days, most important cities, concentration camps, führer bunkers and even more. It only focuses on Germany & Austria so the concentration camps in Poland are not included, but I have to admit that after reading the stories on the German camps I’d had enough for one book. It ends with the Nuremburg trials including the hanging of those that could be tried and the De-Nazification of Germany.
As with all After the Battle books I’ve read it’s a real gem, the then and now pictures are stunning and the book gives a lot of background information on the party and German society during the Nazi rule. The book contains a lot of “I didn’t know that” facts and stories which always make me wonder how on earth they found that out.
It’s also amazing to see how many of the buildings survive especially in Munich which was, after all, extensively bombed. On the other hand it’s clear that Bavaria (a south German state) still thinks it’s best to remove everything that can be linked to the Reich. It makes us history buffs sad to see artefacts like Hitler’s Garage that have survived until 1995 being removed and destroyed. This is even now going on, only last year was the ruins of Hitler’s tea house removed. Yes there is the danger of it becoming a shrine but does that outweigh its historical significance?
This book is a must have and a fantastic document of how much or little has changed in 64 years.
The Third Reich Then and Now by Tony Le Tissier.
Size 12″ x 8½” 480 Pages Over 1450 Illustrations
ISBN 1 870067 56 8 Price £44.95.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Third-Reich-Then-Now/dp/1870067568/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1350395098&sr=1-1