Product Description

Volume 1 of this series of documents with commentary covers the period from the founding of the Nazi Party in 1919 to Hitler's assumption of the office of Fuhrer and Reich Chancellor of 1 August 1934. The documents in the four volumes of this series are drawn from a wide range of sources - official and party documents, memoirs, letters, diaries and newspapers - and are linked with a commentary. The combination of documents and commentary represents at the same time a textbook, a contribution to scholarship and a source book for students and historians.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #91243 in Books
• Published on: 1998-03-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 4
• Binding: Paperback
• 220 pages

Customer Reviews

the nazis in their own words and contemporary documents, etc
This is the first volume in an exemplary series of books by Noakes and Pridham that should satisfy the needs of almost anyone interested in the realities of the Third Reich.

The book is made up of translations of original documents, from newspaper reports to song lyrics, speeches to internal party memos. As such, it is a rich source of evidence of the brutality and self-mythologising stupidity of the Nazis, not to mention their warped understanding of race and culture. Reading this, one is amazed that the Germans could fall for such a bunch of thick-necked, thick-headed bullies. This amazement is dispelled by the writers' commentary, which is a course in Imperial German and Weimar history in itself.

This book and the others in the series are also excellent teaching tools for lessons on the nature of history and the interpretation of historical sources.

A very useful series for readers whose interest in the period has been whetted by Ian Kershaw's Hitler biographies and Michael Burleigh's history of the Third Reich.

What the NSDAP really thought and did
With a perfect selection and analysis of doccuments, Dr Noakes has shown exactly how the NSDAP controlled its march to power. Not only is this a marvelous selection of primary resources for any student of the period, but the analysis is sharp and incisive, aiding the reader in his or her interpretation of the material. From the early post war years of its inception, through the Munich Putsch and the 1920's, we can see the struggling NSDAP learning how to be a political force. The growth of the SA, challenges to Hitler, and the constant threads of militarism, nationalism and anti-semitism can be seen throughout the sources, culminating in the assumtion to power by Hitler as the Fuhrer of the German nation. This volume is a worthy starting point of a great series. It is necessary to understand what happened before the NSDAP came to power, in order to comprehend how and why they did what we now consider some of the greatest crimes in history. Noakes and Pridham have greatly aided our understanding of a contradictory and sometimes nonsensical movement