The Hitler File: A Social History of Germany and the Nazis 1918-45

by Frederic V. Grunfeld, Hugh Trevor-Roper (Introduction)

Oversized Hardcover. Nazism. This book fills a major gap in the current spate of books on the Nazis and their leader. It provides the reader with a pictorial history of the events in Germany from 1918 to 1945. The elaborate symbolism and psychology of Nazism and the complex personality of Hitler himself are studied in detail through a wealth of carefully chosen illustrations which include still photographs, film clips, posters, cartoons and propaganda material.

Genres: History

374 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1974

Reviews

[Nilendu Misra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked up this book from a collection of Stanford professor who meticulously annotated several pages with critical commentary (best thing about such books). A remarkably incisive photo-narrative that quickly establishes Hitler was not an aberration but a mere continuum of the medieval German romanticism (more like “anti-rationalism”) that was further shaped by the economic pressure of the armistice. Great read that keeps it focus solely on the cultural aspects of Nazism.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an extremely odd book. It's a table-top book, filled with photographs. But the photos are of atrocious quality, while the essays inside are remarkably good. The introduction is by the historian H.L. Trevor-Roper, and the essays are by Frederic V. Grunfeld. They probably form one of the best introductions (if not the best) to the history of Germany after World War I to the death of Hitler. The essays are intelligent, cogent, and literate. Grunfeld was born in Berlin; German was his native language. And the book betrays -- in the best of senses -- his easy familiarity with the culture. At the back of the book is a timetable from 1918-1945. Excellent.

[TrumanCoyote · Rating 3 out of 5]

[FIRST READING: * * * *]

Grunfeld is pretty hard to take over the long haul, voicing some rather preposterous (and downright silly) notions. And anyway, judging from his pic on the dust jacket, he looks like he should be out skiing somewhere, not writing a book. A lot of the pictures included here don't seem terribly germane to the subject either...and there are a large percentage of movie-camera test strips, which prove none too illuminating.