Postcards numbers 11 to 15 reveal something of the transformation of Adolf Hitler from a rather awkward individual, obviously not at ease in front of the camera, to that point where his persona almost leaps from the image grasping the viewer’s attention. Hitler had worked hard on these problems, these imperfections in the image he wished and needed to project together with his personal photographer, Heinrich Hoffmann. The results, over a relatively short period of time were staggering. Postcards such as these played no small part in creating the belief that in Hitler the German people had found a strong leader, one who would improve their lives in so many ways. These simple postcards projecting Hitler as the consummate political leader gave little indication of the effort involved in their creation, or their true intention. A form of propaganda used so skilfully by the Nazis that its impact was neither apparent, nor accurately assessed during the period of the Third Reich; only when the regime had passed away would its influence be fully understood.
The Führer’s unsurpassed popularity reached its zenith during the 1930s. Hitler’s appeal transcended traditional class divisions still very much in existence at that time to attract support from a complete cross-section of society; workers, intellectuals and the upper classes, even to members of the German royal family offered their allegiance.
Crown Prince Wilhelm openly supported Hitler during the 1932 presidential elections and Prince Auguste Wilhelm, another of the Kaiser’s sons, joined the Nazi Party in 1930, later serving as a Gruppenführer (Lieutenant-General) in the SS. Having witnessed Communism’s rough attempts to establish itself in Germany, many of the nobility became alarmed at the prospect of such ideology winning popular approval. These genuine fears influenced the decision of many of the aristocracy, amongst them Prince Philipp von Hessen, nephew to the Kaiser and great-grandson of Queen Victoria, to support Hitler.
On one hand, world economic depression and crippling reparations resulting from a particularly harsh Versailles Treaty coupled with inept German government; on the other, Hitler’s personal magnetism, charisma and a gift of brilliant oratory combined with an ability to exploit and make political profit from the least opportunity. These explosive ingredients, together with a mastery of previously unseen and innovative electioneering tactics would see Adolf Hitler appointed German Chancellor on 30 January 1933.