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LARGE 1944 NAZI BOOK ABOUT THE EXHIBITION ‘GERMAN GREATNESS’

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Deutsche Grösse or German Greatness is the name of this huge, nearly 3 pound, heavily illustrated 1944 Nazi book. It has dozens and dozens of illustrations, maps and documentation about the history of Germany and the successful rise of National Socialism in Germany from the exhibition by the same name.

The patriotic foreword is by Reichsleiter Alfred Rosenberg. He writes that the goal of Deutsche Grösse was not to give an exhaustive overview of German history. The purpose was to showcase the richness of Germany’s past by highlighting important fighters from previous ages and using their exemplary lives and actions to make the current generation more interested in delving into German history. And, using these examples from the past as an educational tool to forge a sense of duty, a conscientiousness about the need for an unflinching spirit for the survival of German Greatness. According to Rosenberg, the exhibition Deutsche Grösse should inspire people to “wander through” the rich German past and use the knowledge gained to serve in the current “Battle of the Führer!”

Above, the alliance of Nazi Germany with Benito Mussolini's fascist Italy.

Hans-Georg Otto wrote the text of this book and Otto Schneider was responsible for selecting the illustrations and the compilation of the material in Deutsche Grösse. Correlated by the Head of the Reichsstelle zur Förderung des deutschen Schrifttums (State Agency for the Advancement of German Literature), Dienstleiter Hans Hagemeyer, and published by the Central Publishing House of the Nazi Party, Franz Eher Nachfolger of Munich in 1944, and printed by Buchgewerbehaus M. Müller & Sohn in Berlin.

This is followed by historical maps showing the unification and growth of Germany through the ages, the Hermannsdenkmal or monument, historic reliefs and art, coins featuring German rulers, crypts of German rulers, churches that played an important role in German history, historic city seals, German knights, the Thirty Year War, Prussia, Frederick the Great, the Bismarck era, the importance of German trade and agriculture, German colonies, the urbanization of Germany, as well as great men that changed Germany such as Schopenhauer and Nitsche, Goethe and Schiller, Bach, Wagner and Brahms, Siemens, Krupp, Daimler and Benz, Lilienthal and Zeppelin.

Right, one of the historic maps in this book explaining French Marshal Foch's post WWI suggestion for the designation of Germany's western border.

The last pages have explanations of Hitler as a statesman, as a lawmaker, as a builder, and as a military leader.

The chapter about World War I has pictures of German field marshals and generals, and busts of Hindenburg and Ludendorff. This is followed by a chapter on the flawed Treaty of Versailles and the controversial 14 points of President Woodrow Wilson’s Peace Plan.

The front flyleaf has an oval stamp showing the origins of this 80 year example of Deutsche Grösse. Aside from the light stains on the front cover, the heavy, nearly 3 pound book produced near the end of World War II and the Third Reich, is in very nice used condition. The pages have become a little darker since 1944, but it has no odor.

After a chapter by German historian Karl Alexander von Müller, the 10 x 12 inch, 355-page hardcover book has pictures from the many Deutsche Grösse exhibition rooms.

It starts with the evolving German eagle from the Reichsadler in 1400s to Nazi eagle and swastika of the Third Reich.

Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in the 1920s leading up to being elected to power in 1933 is covered in great detail. Important events, rallies and people are highlighted, the Nazi Party Program is shown, Nazi Party Rallies in Nuremberg, Hitler’s Mein Kampf, Hitler speeches and announcements, etc.Important Nazi achievements such as Germany’s exit from the League of Nations, the start of the construction of the Reichsautobahn network, the return of the Saar and the Rhineland to Nazi Germany, the reunification of Austria with Hitler’s Germany, the 1938 Munich Agreement, the Axis with Italy and Japan, victory in Poland in the fall of 1939, defeating English forces in Norway, 1940 military victories in Holland, Belgium and France, all leading to the Greater Germany of Adolf Hitler which had a special room in the Deutsche Grösse exhibition.

Left, the text of Adolf Hitler's announcement in the Hofbräuhaus in Munich on 24 February 1920. It spells out the program of the Nazi Party.