Life in the Third Reich

Cory C · Post by **Cory C** » 13 Jan 2004 00:09

Man alive, Rob, those pictures are beautiful! Every one of them. If anyone has any more pictures in color, please post them!

~Cory

Cory C · Post by **Cory C** » 13 Jan 2004 23:48

Actually, I have a question:

Are those pictures "propaganda" photos, or are they from a personal album?

~Cory

Stu-hun · Post by **Stu-hun** » 15 Jan 2004 07:46

How about we all stop talking about the things that COULD have happened, and lets look at the worlds current events for once

. Anyway history is doomed to repeat itself in one form or another, So we might as just get ready for the new empires of tommorow. Isnt this supposed to be a forum where we can talk about artifacts, not mindless chatter?

Regards,

Stu

B.T.W. My neibour Josphine was in the Hitler youth from 1939-45 and she said that the Third Riech was ok as long as you obayed the rules, or you would get shot. And for christ sakes, not every nazi was evil, many were poor bastards conscripted or men trying to do good for germany, we only see the evil racist and corrupt ones from our media. Blame hollywood

Prit · Post by **Prit** » 15 Jan 2004 14:43

Statistics are not the best of guids to anything, but here are some to ponder on.

In 1935, Germany's government expenditure was 14.1 billion RM; by 1938, it had risen to 32.9 billion RM. The public debt had grown from 20.1 billion RM to 41.7 billion RM.

If you take the average inflation-adjusted earnings of a German worker in 1925-9 as representing '100%', then earnings grew to a maximum of 114% in 1930, and fell steadily to a low of 91% by 1935. Thereafter, they rose with increasing speed to reach 101% by 1938. Note that this is still substantially lower than in 1930.

So, considerable shifts in the pre-war years in earnings and therefore buying power.

Regarding rationing - this did not take place until well into the war. Meat for dogs and cats was rationed from, I believe, late 1939.

Prit

alsaco · Post by **alsaco** » 15 Jan 2004 22:57

One of the big ennemy of historians is anachronism.

We are in 2004. And take a look into 1940

Do you really think, in any country, the feeding of pets, cats or dogs, was with meat or products sold in groceries ?.
These animals just received the leftovers, or where supposed to earn their food by chasing mices and rats.

Petfood production did not begin before 1980

xcalibur · Post by **xcalibur** » 16 Jan 2004 03:46

alsaco wrote:One of the big ennemy of historians is anachronism.

We are in 2004. And take a look into 1940

Do you really think, in any country, the feeding of pets, cats or dogs, was with meat or products sold in groceries ?.
These animals just received the leftovers, or where supposed to earn their food by chasing mices and rats.

Petfood production did not begin before 1980

Au contraire: Production in the US of canned horsemeat for dogs was begun shortly after the end of WW1.

Prit · Post by **Prit** » 16 Jan 2004 13:57

Thank you, xcalibur

My comment was based on a mention of petfood rationing in a biography of Goering by Richard Overy, not extrapolating from the present.

Prit

Annelie · Post by **Annelie** » 01 Jan 2006 16:40

Can anyone add to the excellent photos posted here?

Thanks, most interesting.

Annelie

Flinker · Post by **Flinker** » 02 Jan 2006 07:21

Ustif,

It should be remembered that William Shirer was a communist (Googling will yield lots on this subject) who put a negative slant on everything German. He had no such criticisms of the Soviet Union as far as I know, and he was a reporter based in Europe at the height of the slaughter underway in the SU (Europeans were much more award of these happenings than Americans at the time). He is in that sense, much like the author Lillian Hellman, another communist, who made a long visit to the SU when millions upon millions were being slaughtered or starved to death, and came back singing praises of Joseph Stalin. However, one can appreciate the fact that Shirer's book "The Rise and Fall ... " stirred up a great deal of interest, which lead to more sober examinations of those times later on by more objective authors.

The struggle to get this history straight is still underway, and we can be glad for the information we receive on this site. Much is being revised due to the surfacing of new evidence. However, there is a threat to presenting new facts in certain European countries, particularly Austria, Germany and France. These countries have laws which do not allow any change to the story since what was established in the Nuremberg Trials. This assault on truth and free speech is antithetical to Western culture, yet we are now seeing historians actually going to jail for introducing new facts. Can you imagine having the back luck of committing some crime and then being locked up with a cell mate who is a historian? Your lucky day!

The notion that Americans were not fed a bunch of "crap" is particularly refuted by the book, "I was Hitler's Doctor," by Kurt Kreuger." I have written about this book elsewhere and I will try to bring it over here.

Here it is:

"Perhaps the most transparent propaganda work of all time was entitled, "I was Hitler's Doctor," by Kurt Kreuger. This poorly written tome was first published by Biltmore Publishing in 1941. The book portrays Kreuger as Hitler's psychiatrist, and Hitler pours out his soul to him during his appointments and there's lots of discussion about sex and bathroom habits. The whole thing is ludicrous, but people in the US were very innocent in 1941 and had no idea they were being fed a propaganda hoax as part of the preparation for war against Germany. The book was published in significant numbers and one can still find it from time to time in used book stores. The real author of this book was a fellow who had never even been to Germany. His real name was George Plotkin. Hmmmm. (There is lots of comment regarding this book that one can easily obtain by Google-ing). "

My further comment is that the above piece of propaganda was just the tip of the iceberg and perhaps there should be a thread on "crap" we were fed prior to WWII and subsequently. It is intense today as ever, but it's not holding water as well, thanks to the Internet.

Further, it seems curious to me that there should be focus on supposed failings of the 3rd Reich agricultural system, when in the US things with agriculture were extremely bad. I'm sure the books/movies, "The Grapes of Wrath," and "Tobacco Road," would never have been made by the Hollywood Harrys had they known at the time the future propaganda need for criticising the German, mind you, agricultural situation. Throw in the Soviet Union's agricultural situation with the other two, and Germany's looks to be the best one going at the time.

Moderators' note: A paragraph containing questionable comments about the Jewish people and with no relation to the topic of this thread was removed.

Qvist · Post by **Qvist** » 23 Feb 2006 14:49

He is in that sense, much like the author Lillian Hellman, another communist, who made a long visit to the SU when millions upon millions were being slaughtered or starved to death, and came back singing praises of Joseph Stalin. However, one can appreciate the fact that Shirer's book "The Rise and Fall ... " stirred up a great deal of interest, which lead to more sober examinations of those times later on by more objective authors

You seem to think that it is sufficient for you to call Shirer "a communist", and then you've somehow made a valid point? If you've a problem with Shirer's writing, then I suggest you present some arguments for it and show its flaws.

The struggle to get this history straight is still underway, and we can be glad for the information we receive on this site. Much is being revised due to the surfacing of new evidence. However, there is a threat to presenting new facts in certain European countries, particularly Austria, Germany and France. These countries have laws which do not allow any change to the story since what was established in the Nuremberg Trials. This assault on truth and free speech is antithetical to Western culture, yet we are now seeing historians actually going to jail for introducing new facts. Can you imagine having the back luck of committing some crime and then being locked up with a cell mate who is a historian? Your lucky day

This isn't Speaker's Corner, and the next time you feel like embarking on a political diatribe, feel free to take it elsewhere. This is a forum for the discussion of history.

My further comment is that the above piece of propaganda was just the tip of the iceberg and perhaps there should be a thread on "crap" we were fed prior to WWII and subsequently. It is intense today as ever, but it's not holding water as well, thanks to the Internet.

And thanks to the internet, weak revisionism such as the above isn't holding water that well either. I see you enjoy dismissing existing historiography, on this thread and elsewhere. What I don't see is any actual arguments or analysis to support your political pontification.

Angus Young · Post by **Angus Young** » 23 Feb 2006 16:05

I would have loved to live in the Reich. Beatiful estethics, and art, music and architecture. No bombed out houses, as was the case after the war. The old buildings still standing and the best: no DDR flat, undecorated concrete buildings.
If you count away all the crap like the Gestapo, anti-semitism and all that. I think that it was quite nice to live there. But I still agree that the ''Golden Age'' was between 1871 and 1914.
/ Andreas

Flinker · Post by **Flinker** » 13 Mar 2006 20:12

Angus, you certainly have a good point there.

Qvist · Post by **Qvist** » 16 Mar 2006 08:51

Well "Flinker", here's a word of advice - if you have nothing to say on the topic, then don't bother to post. Here's another - if you're going to resort to strange sarcasm, try to make sure you're not the one left looking like a fool.

andrew1812 · Post by **andrew1812** » 11 Apr 2006 15:25

i recently came across a book titled 'nazi chic' written by a houston professor dealing with 3rd reich german fashion industry and women clothing suppliers and rationings. in the book she claims that even start from 1941, clothes/shoes/fabrics shortage was already felt in german households and before 1943 there was virtually no stocks (mainly clothings/fabrics, also food to some extent) avaliable to buy.

another point just came to mind, though i understand warfare on the eastern front meant massive shortage of males labors at home, i thought the germans could confiscate or 'take tributes' of food and clothings from occupied territories such as france, nethelands, czech, etc. besides i suppose they already accumulated a large amount from 33-39 due to economic boom. someone please clarify on this.

Jon G. · Post by **Jon G.** » 28 Apr 2006 14:14

An anti-semitic post by Shicklgruber was removed.

Shicklgruber, I once more implore you to familiarize yourself with the forum rules:

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?p=5#5

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Life in the Third Reich

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