Hitler & Germany

More about the Hitler & Germany pages

The Germany home page begins with Hitler's Nazi form of authority, and follows through his death, the end of the regime, transition to another form, and consequences of this particular end. The first section presents the public and private sides of authority. Both the mass experience and individual identification were integral to his authority.

Click on any of the four small photos and you are linked to an enlarged image. Listen to the associated music or sound by clicking on the small ear icon. Music, particularly the operas of Wagner, was inspirational for Hitler's ideal of the German Volk. For him, elaborate rallies, with music and song, were deployed for Nazi coercion and propaganda. His carefully orchestrated pageants enfolded the masses in rising emotional crescendos, which would culminate as he mounted the podium and delivered a theatrical speech. Hence we include the sound of his voice. The end of Nazism was brought about by the Allied occupation, which divided Germany into two, each with its own anthem. Please be patient as sound files take some time to load.

The caption on each enlarged image does not direct you outside the photo but rather to the image itself. What is included and excluded from view? What does this image and juxtaposed sound say about authority?

We selected images for their potential evocative force, knowing full well that they lend themselves to different interpretations. Hitler's teeth, for example, in the second section on Death and Transition, are they really his? Why, after his physical death, does he continue to have such a presence? We intend to elicit the viewer's ambivalence-Humor? Intrigue? Disgust?-- with death imagery. By indexing the "transition" as a set of teeth, we suggest an association with what Germans called their "Stunde Null," or Zero Hour.

The three longer "home page" texts that accompany the images and sounds of each section attempt a succinct narration of the theme. They simply point to the story, told in more detail in the book and film.

The third section, Consequences, implies no causal relationship but alludes to key events in the construction of political authority, half a century of experience, following the regime's end. What was the nature of the rupture in political authority following the death of the Father? Our selection of ongoing historical events merely suggests ways into further exploration of German political authority.

John Borneman & Linda Fisher, June 1999