Everyday Life in the Third Reich

During the twelve-year reign of the Third Reich from 1933 to 1945, one of history's most massive 'social engineering projects' engulfed Germany; its tentacles reached deep into all facets of their society - one that had prided itself as the cultural beacon of all Europe. It was also empowered by an arrogance that saw itself as the rightful ruler of the continent and thus capable of holding sway over of the life and death of all its subjects. In addition to forging an ideologically committed military of unprecedented ferocity, it sought to enlist every man, woman and child into its non-questioning service. Its promises included improving the economy and raising the individual's standard of living, as well as cleansing Germany of the stigma of its First World War loss and penalties. The Nazi Party eventually gained the public's support and its complicity in its war of aggression, seeking Lebensraum for a Greater Germany and, in the process, igniting a European conflagration that consumed millions of lives. With a constant barrage of propaganda and the fanfare of initial military successes, the German public rallied, often fanatically, to the Nazi cause, but in the end paid a high price in blood and destruction as their world imploded around them. The images seen here of life in everyday Germany capture that spiral from heady enthusiasm to smouldering defeat.