BBC History Magazine aims to shed new light on the past to help you make more sense of the world today. Fascinating stories from contributors are the leading experts in their fields, so whether they're exploring Ancient Egypt, Tudor England or the Second World War, you'll be reading the latest, most thought-provoking historical research. BBC History Magazine brings history to life with informative, lively and entertaining features written by the world's leading historians and journalists and is a captivating read for anyone who's interested in the past.
WELCOME
BBC History Magazine
The rise and fall of Nazi Germany • Roger Moorhouse traces the key moments, from Hitler's ascent to power to his monstrous empire-building and eventual downfall
NAZI GERMANY IN PICTURES • Photographers recorded many of the key moments in the rapid rise of the Third Reich. Roger Moorhouse selects extraordinary images from the era
DAILY LIFE
Living under Nazism • Hitler's murderous regime would govern Germany for over 12 years, using propaganda and oppression to further his totalitarian goals. Konrad H Jarausch explores how Nazi rule affected the German people
Holidays with Hitler • The Nazis seduced as well as terrorised the German people into buying into National Socialism, says Roger Moorhouse. And one way they did it was by offering workers cheap holidays in the sun
THE WOMEN WHO GAVE BIRTH FOR HITLER • The Third Reich's mission to create a master race reached its nadir in Lebensborn – the programme to breed or kidnap ‘pure’ babies for the Nazis. Giles Milton takes up the story
Hitler's people • Did the German people willingly embrace the Third Reich, asks Richard J Evans, or was terror and violence at the core of Hitler's enormous power?
Freedom of speech? • Commentators have cited the results of elections in the 1930s as proof of popular backing for Hitler, but evidence reveals that these votes were far from fairly contested. As the extract below shows, when a poll was held in April 1938 on Hitler's recent annexation of Austria, control and intimidation were rife
The Nazi serial killer • In the autumn of 1940, Berlin rail worker Paul Ogorzow embarked upon a killing spree that ended in the murder of eight women. Roger Moorhouse recalls the hunt for Ogorzow and reveals what it tells us about life in Hitler's capital
Crime and punishment in the Third Reich • Law and order was brutally handed down under a Nazi regime on a mission to ‘purify’ society
Hitler's jazz band • The Nazis despised jazz but, as Dan Cossins reveals, that didn't stop them harnessing its ‘degenerate’ appeal in pro-Nazi propaganda
The Nazi Final • In 1941, a dramatic match took place between Germany and Austria, on the exact same day that Nazi forces launched Operation Barbarossa. Roger Moorhouse tells the story
FOLLOWING THE FÜHRER
WHY DID THE NAZIS FIGHT TO THE DEATH? • Hundreds of thousands of Germans were killed fighting for the Nazi regime long after defeat had become inevitable. Sir Ian Kershaw explains why so many were willing to follow Hitler to the end
The Road to Defeat
HITLER'S PHILOSOPHERS • Far from resisting Nazi ideology, many of Germany's greatest minds were enthusiastic supporters of the Third Reich, reveals Yvonne Sherratt
Hitler: The ‘philosopher führer’ • Keen to bolster his intellectual credentials, the German leader would cherry-pick from the greats to legitimise his ideology
CLARE MULLEY “This story highlights the ludicrous contradictions of Hitler's regime” • Clare Mulley talks to Ellie Cawthorne about her book charting the extraordinary parallel lives of two women test pilots who flew for Nazi Germany
HITLER AT HOME • While the...