Publisher's Synopsis
What was the source of the Nazi appeal to the German masses? How did a regime that was responsible for war and devastation on an unprecedented scale seduce a nation and lead it to disaster? The Nazis were masters of the orchestration of power, with a sense of their audience. This book analyzes the ways in which they used art, mass culture and mythology to mobilize the German people and legitimize their own rule. It seeks to provide insight into the world of myth, illusions and political mystification which lay behind the deceptive face of Nazism. It contains images shot by an amateur film-maker, in colour, on the Day of German Art held in Munich in July, 1939. The images are troubling in their power to evoke a past that seems carefree, full of hope and even innocence. At the time the photographs were taken, Hitler was at the peak of his power, only six weeks away from unleashing the Nazi invasion of Poland.
