Die Deutsche Wochenschau

Die Deutsche Wochenschau (English: The German Newsreel) is the sole series of German newsreels from 1940 until the end of World War II.

The series was a source of footage for late Nazi propaganda films such as Der Ewige Jude and Feldzug in Polen, as well as innumerable post war documentaries. Despite Harry Giese's signature rat-a-tat narration that gives the proceedings a documentary-like tone, liberties were taken in retelling the facts in this special Nazi propaganda tool.

Among the many notable scenes preserved by the newsreel are the Nazi point of view of the battle of Normandy, the footage of Hitler and Mussolini right after the July 20 plot, and the last footage of Hitler awarding Hitler Youth volunteers shortly before the Battle of Berlin.

Hermann Goring

Hermann Wilhelm Göring (January 12, 1893 – October 15, 1946) was a German politician and military leader, a leading member of the Nazi Party, second in command of the Third Reich, designated successor to Adolf Hitler, and commander of the Luftwaffe (German Air Force). Göring was a veteran of World War I, with 22 confirmed kills as a fighter pilot, and was awarded the coveted Pour le Mérite. He was the last commander of Manfred von Richthofen's famous air squadron.

He was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity at Nuremberg in 1945-1946, and sentenced to death by hanging. However, he committed suicide the night before he was to be executed.

Albert Speer

Albert Speer (March 19, 1905 – September 1, 1981), was an architect, author and high-ranking Nazi German government official, sometimes called "the first architect of the Third Reich".

Speer was Hitler's chief architect before becoming his Minister for Armaments during the war. He reformed Germany's war production to the extent that it continued to increase for over a year despite increasingly intensive Allied bombing. After the war, he was tried at Nuremberg and sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment for his role in the Third Reich. As "the Nazi who said sorry", he was the only senior Nazi figure to admit guilt and express remorse. Following his release in 1966, he became an author, writing two bestselling autobiographical works, and a third about the Third Reich. His two autobiographical works, Inside the Third Reich and Spandau: the Secret Diaries detailed his often close personal relationship with German dictator Adolf Hitler, and have provided readers and historians with an unequalled personal view inside the workings of the Third Reich. Speer died of natural causes in 1981, in London, England.

The Final solution

The final solution refers to the genocide of millions of Jews across Nazi Germany.Plans for this was formuulated at the Wannsee conference of 1942.
Over 6 million jews were killed

Joachim von Ribbentrop

Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop (born Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim Ribbentrop) (April 30, 1893 – October 16, 1946) was Foreign Minister of Germany from 1938 until 1945. He was later hanged for war crimes after the Nuremberg trials.

Since Göring had committed suicide a few hours prior to the time of execution, Ribbentrop was the first politician to be hanged on the morning of October 16, 1946. After being escorted up the 13 steps to the waiting noose, Ribbentrop was asked if he had any final words. He calmly said: "God protect Germany. God have mercy on my soul. My final wish is that Germany should recover her unity and that, for the sake of peace, there should be understanding between East and West." As the hood was placed over his head, Ribbentrop added: "I wish peace to the world." After a slight pause the executioner pulled the lever, releasing the trap door Ribbentrop stood upon. It took 17 minutes for Ribbentrop to die.

Joseph Goebbels

Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels (October 29, 1897 – May 1, 1945) was a German politician and Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. He was one of German dictator Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers. Goebbels was known for his zealous, energetic oratory and virulent anti-Semitism.

Reinhard Heydrich

Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich (7 March 1904 – 4 June 1942) was an SS-Obergruppenführer, chief of the Reich Security Main Office (including the Gestapo, SD and Kripo Nazi police agencies) and Reichsprotektor (Reich Protector) of Bohemia and Moravia. Adolf Hitler considered him a possible successor. When the Nazis moved the headquarters of Interpol to Berlin he was chosen as the President of that international law enforcement agency. Heydrich chaired the 1942 Wannsee conference, which finalized plans for the extermination of all European Jews in what is now referred to as the Holocaust. Heydrich was wounded in an assassination attempt in Prague on 27 May 1942 and died over a week later from complications arising from his injuries.

Hjalmar Schacht

Dr. Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht was the Currency Commissioner and President of the Reichsbank under the Weimar Republic, and President of the Reichsbank under the Nazi regime between 1933 and 1939. Schacht was one of the primary drivers of Germany's policy of redevelopment, reindustrialization and rearmament, and was a fierce critic of his country's post-World War I reparation obligations. Released from effective service to the Nazi government in 1939, Schacht ended World War II in a concentration camp, and was tried and acquitted at Nuremberg for his role in Germany's war economy.

Erwin Rommel

"He also deserves our respect, because, although a loyal German soldier, he came
to hate Hitler and all his works, and took part in the conspiracy to rescue
Germany by displacing the maniac and tyrant. For this, he paid the forfeit of his
life. In the sombre wars of modern democracy, there is little place for chivalry."
-Winston Churchill

Erwin Rommel

"He is by no means a superman, although he is undoubtedly very energetic and able. Even if he were a superman, it would still be highly undesireable that our men should credit him with supernatural powers."

Erwin Rommel

"Anybody who came under the spell of his personality turned into a real soldier.
He seemed to know what the enemy were like and how they would react."

Erwin Rommel

"We have a very daring and skilful opponent against us,
and, may I say across the havoc of war, a great general."
-Winston Churchill

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born politician who led the National Socialist German Workers Party. He became Chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933 and Führer in 1934. He ruled until 1945.

The Nazi Party gained power during Germany's period of crisis after World War I, exploiting effective propaganda and Hitler's charismatic oratory to gain popularity. The Party emphasised nationalism, antisemitism and anti-communism, and killed many of its opponents. After the restructuring of the state economy and the rearmament of the German armed forces (Wehrmacht), a dictatorship (commonly characterized as totalitarian or fascist) was established by Hitler, who then pursued an aggressive foreign policy, with the goal of seizing Lebensraum. The German Invasion of Poland in 1939 drew the British and French Empires into World War II.

The Wehrmacht was initially successful and the Axis Powers occupied most of Mainland Europe and parts of Asia. Eventually the Allies defeated the Wehrmacht. By 1945, Germany was in ruins. Hitler's bid for territorial conquest and racial subjugation had caused the deaths of tens of millions of people, including the systematic genocide of an estimated six million Jews, not including various other "undesirable" populations, in what is known as the Holocaust.

During the final days of the war in 1945, as Berlin was being invaded and destroyed by the Red Army, Hitler married Eva Braun. Less than 24 hours later, the two committed suicide in the Führerbunker.

Heinrich Himmler

Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was a German high-ranking Nazi politician. He headed the Schutzstaffel (SS). Throughout much of the war he was the second-most powerful man in Nazi Germany, having displaced Hermann Göring. As Reichsführer-SS he oversaw all police and security forces including the Gestapo.

As overseer of the concentration camps, extermination camps, and Einsatzgruppen (death squads), Himmler coordinated the killing of approximately six million Jews, between 200,000 and 500,000 Roma,and millions of Soviet prisoners of war, communists or other groups whom the Nazis deemed unworthy to live, including,people of colour, and those with physical and
mental disabilities. Shortly before the end of the war, he offered to surrender to the Allies if he was spared from prosecution. He was arrested by British forces and committed suicide before he could be questioned.

Historians are divided on the psychology, motives, and influences that drove Himmler. Some see him as a dupe of Hitler, fully under his influence, seeing himself essentially as a tool, carrying Hitler’s views to their logical conclusion, the executor of Hitler’s direct orders. Others see Himmler as a rabid antisemite in his own right, a willing racial murderer. Still others see Himmler as power-mad, devoted to self-aggrandisement, the accumulation of power and influence. There are elements of truth in all three of these claims.

Martin Bormann

Martin Bormann (June 17, 1900 – May 2, 1945) was a prominent Nazi official. He became head of the Party Chancellery (Parteikanzlei) and private secretary to German Führer Adolf Hitler. He gained Hitler's trust and derived immense power within the Third Reich by controlling access to the Führer.

Bormann took charge of all Hitler's paperwork, appointments, and personal finances. Hitler came to have complete trust in Bormann and the view of reality he presented. During a meeting, Hitler was said to have screamed, "To win this war, I need Bormann!".Many historians have suggested Bormann held so much power that, in some respects, he became Germany's "secret leader" during the war. A collection of transcripts edited by Bormann during the war appeared in print in 1951 as Hitler's

Table Talk 1941–1944, mostly a re-telling of Hitler's wartime dinner conversations. The accuracy of the Table Talk is highly disputed, as it directly contradicts many of Hitler's publicly held positions, particularly in regards to religious adherence.

Bormann's bureaucratic power and effective reach broadened considerably by 1942. Faced with the imminent demise of the Third Reich, he systematically went about the organising of German corporate flight capital, and set up off-shore holding companies and business interests in close coordination with the same Ruhr industrialists and German bankers who facilitated Hitler's explosive rise to power 10 years before.

As World War II came to a close, Bormann held out with Hitler in the Führerbunker in Berlin. On 30 April 1945, just before committing suicide, Hitler urged Bormann to save himself. On 1 May, Bormann left the Führerbunker with SS doctor Ludwig Stumpfegger and Hitler Youth leader Artur Axmann as part of a group attempting to break out of the Soviet encirclement. They emerged from an underground subway tunnel and quickly became disoriented among the ruins and ongoing battle. They walked for a time with some German tanks, but all three were temporarily stunned by an exploding anti-tank shell. Leaving the tanks and the rest of their group, they walked along railroad tracks to Lehrter station where Axmann decided to go alone in the opposite direction of his two companions. When he encountered a Red Army patrol, Axmann doubled back and later insisted he had seen the bodies of Bormann and Stumpfegger near the railroad switching yard with moonlight clearly illuminating their faces. He did not check the bodies so did not know what killed them.