Books and Media about Hitler and the Nazis.

by stoicazoic

Hello /r/AskHistorians!

I'm looking for good books, documentaries, or other media about Hitler and the Nazi party. More specifically I'd like to find more information about things other than the holocaust, there's so much of that. My question is inspired by both Hollywood's and the video game industry's fascination with Hitler and the occult, but my interest is more broad than that. I'd just like to find more information about that era, him and his party in general; including the war just not focused on the holocaust itself. I've caught snippets and hints of some of his alternate programs regarding the war effort, that had they panned out better could have changed the course of history drastically.

I've looked through the FAQ regarding the topic and the posts were very interesting, and just whetted my appetite to dig deeper myself.

Some documentaries I'm aware of and watched:

  • The Dark Charisma of Adolf Hitler
  • The Nazis - A Warning From History
  • The World At War
  • Hitler - A Profile
  • Hitler's Children
  • Hitler's Henchmen
  • Hitler's Rise - The Colour Films
  • Conspiracy (This was a movie, not a documentary. I listed it because Kenneth Branagh's performance gave me chills. To think he also played Professor Lockhart in harry potter!)
Georgy_K_Zhukov

Ian Kershaw's two part biography, "Hitler: Hubris 1889-1936" and "Hitler: Nemesis 1936-1945" is the most thorough and respected biographical work on Adolf Hitler available, at least as far as English language publications go. Covers his life with exceptional depth, and more importantly, interweaves it with the larger history of the Third Reich and the Nazi movement. If you have read many responses on this subreddit, you'll notice that it is probably the single most cited source with regards to Hitler, and there is a reason for that. If you have an interest in studying Hitler and the Nazis, those really ought to be the next books that you pick up. There is also a single volume abridged version if the length is a bit daunting for you.

commiespaceinvader

Please check out our book list. It's under the header Holocaust but contains a lot more.

Specifically for what you are interested, I'd recommend Richard Evan's The Rise of the Third Reich, Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke: The Occult Roots of Nazism, and Lorna Waddington: Hitler's Crusade about the role of anti-Bolshevism in Nazi policy.

Also, as a general remark: Hitler, his party and his ideology as well as the way the war was fought and the occupation of Europe was organized can not be divorced from anti-Semitism and its final culmination in genocide. Anti-Semitism is such a deep, deciding core aspect of Nazism that it can't be left out in any good discussion of Nazism and the war.