At the risk of leaving myself open to criticism, I should point out that from the outset it has been my intention not to express any political opinions in this work. Furthermore, I have deliberately attempted neither to promote nor denounce any individual or group; rather it has been my intention to present the facts and to allow the reader to draw their own conclusions.
This intention might best be explained by way of the following scenario. Imagine yourself a member of the working class living in 1920s Germany. While the defeat of 1918 still haunts the nation, the resulting shattered economy, uncontrolled rampant inflation and widespread unemployment are even harder to bear. The end of 1923 sees the beginning of sustained economic growth. This growth continues until halted by the catastrophic effects of the World Depression in 1930. Germany, perhaps more than any other country, is hardest hit.
Let us move forward, it is 1933 and the Nazis are in power, now try to imagine how you might react to a relentless, and as yet, never previously encountered sophisticated propaganda campaign. While there is no escaping the powerful symbolism of the new regime, there are frequent broadcasts applauding the achievements of the new political and social order. Where the government of the Weimar Republic failed; the Nazi Party’s ‘Four Year Plan’, introduced in 1933 to tackle unemployment and economic problems is now bearing fruit and changing people’s lives.
It is now 1935 and the restrictions of the Versailles Treaty are being openly flouted, not least by the re-emergence of the military, and all it seems without any foreign reaction. Finally, there is a definite feeling of renewed national pride as the new government declares itself responsible for all the improvements in everyday life, with promises of better to come. Exciting times by any stretch of the imagination, don’t you think! With that in mind, notwithstanding the terrible hidden agenda as yet to unfold, can we be sure, given the same set of circumstances that we would have reacted any differently. Who are we to judge?
For the majority of people living in Germany in the early 1930s it has been said that there were only two choices; Communism, or National Socialism. In the end National Socialism would dominate. A commonly held view of National Socialism at the time was that it was; ‘Something good with some bad side effects, or something bad with some good side effects’.
Finally, and in order to better understand the captions that accompany the following images, it should be explained that all text appearing in ‘bold type’, whether this appears as just part of the caption, or indeed the entire caption, is a translation of the original German text taken from that particular postcard. The reader should also understand that each caption has been composed to compliment and enhance the image to which it relates; this is a deliberate effort on my part in an attempt to replicate how these images would have been presented to the German public and the rest of the world at the time of their original release.