{"id":10058,"date":"2024-05-24T15:45:06","date_gmt":"2024-05-24T13:45:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deutschlandmuseum.de\/history\/the-third-reich\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T13:35:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T12:35:27","slug":"the-third-reich","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.deutschlandmuseum.de\/en\/history\/the-third-reich\/","title":{"rendered":"The Third Reich"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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The Third Reich<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\tThe Third Reich<\/span>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Terror and war crimes<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Without a doubt, the Third Reich is the darkest chapter of German history. In 1933, National Socialists led by Adolf Hitler established a dictatorship with racist ideology in Germany. They led the country into the Second World War and committed multiple genocides. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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The development of the Third Reich 1933 - 1938<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Exploiting the social misery resulting from economic downturn after 1930, the National Socialist German Workers\u2019 Party (NSDAP) achieved steadily increasing electoral success and held just under a third of all parliamentary seats by 1932. The pressure which this situation exerted eventually resulted in the appointment of its leader, Adolf Hitler, as Reich Chancellor on 30 January 1933. <\/p>

Deploying propaganda and violence, the new government succeeded in transforming Weimar democracy into a dictatorship. Opponents of the regime were systematically persecuted and imprisoned, and any form of resistance was ruthlessly suppressed. The Nuremberg Race Laws passed in 1935 stripped Jews of their civil rights and furthered discrimination against them. <\/p>

The new government also sought to restore Germany\u2019s position as a great power through a massive programme of rearmament. The annexation of Austria in 1938 was the first step towards expanding the size and resources of Germany; this was intended as a precursor to the establishment of a wider German empire in Central and Eastern Europe <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The systematic oppression of Jews began shortly after Hitler came to power: a Nazi stormtrooper plasters a boycott poster on a Jewish shop window in April 1933 <\/b> Photograph by Georg Pahl, 1933 (source: Federal Archives, picture 102-14468 via Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-SA 3.0)<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The Second World War: a total war<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The Second World War began with the German invasion of Poland in 1939. Having rapidly conquered large areas of northern and western Europe, the Third Reich turned its attention eastwards and invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. The invading armies committed numerous war crimes against the civilian population of the occupied countries, especially in Eastern Europe. At the Wannsee Conference in 1942, the decision was taken to systematically exterminate European Jews. The Third Reich then began the killing of between six and nine million Jews in industrial death camps. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Do you want total war? Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels gives a speech in the Berlin Sports Palace in 1943 announcing the move to total war<\/b> Photograph, Fot. Schwahn, 1943 (source: Federal Archives, picture 183-J05235 via Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-SA 3.0) <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The defeat of the Wehrmacht at Stalingrad in 1943 was a decisive turning point in the Second World War. Even the advent of \u201etotal war\u201d proclaimed by Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels and involving the complete mobilization of national resources could not prevent the Allies from gaining the upper hand. The US-British invasion of France on \u201eD-Day\u201d \u2013 6 June 1944 \u2013 signalled the beginning of the end for the Third Reich. With Soviet troops in Berlin, Adolf Hitler committed suicide in 1945 and German resistance collapsed. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Share article<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\n \n Next epoch: The division of Germany<\/span>\n\n \t<\/path><\/svg><\/span> <\/div>\n\t <\/a>\n <\/div>\n \t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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1933<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Adolf Hitler was appointed Reich Chancellor on 30 January 1933. The transition from democracy to dictatorship took only a short time to complete. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tM18 Stahlhelm\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Epochen im Museum<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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