Letters to Adolf Hitler

A variety of German archival material ended up in Russia after World War II. Henrik Eberle’s Letters to Hitler (Malden, MA: Polity, 2012), based primarily on material in the Moscow archive, is an example.  It is an edited and condensed version of a book originally published in Germany in 2007.  The book includes a wide range of letters to Hitler.

The book also recommends the German Propaganda Archive (p. 202) as a good site for those wanting further information.

New Book on Erich Retzlaff

A while back I provided some images for an exhibition on German photographer
Erich Retzlaff, active during the Nazi era.  That book on the exhibition has just appeared, and should be interesting for anyone interested in photography during the Third Reich.

The author is Christopher Webster van Tonder, and the book is published by Aberystwyth University’s School of Art.

Bytwerk Book Unbanned in China

Back in August 2012 I reported that my book Bending Spines: The Propagandas of Nazi Germany and the German Democratic Republic had been banned on the Chinese mainland, although it remained available in Hong Kong.  A visitor to the blog tells me that the ban has been lifted and the book is now available. I'd appreciate reports from other Chinese readers.  His note follows:

“I just bought and read the Chinese translation of your book. I understand why the Chinese mainland government wants to ban the book, but now the book is available again. 

There are some interesting points in the book that reminds me of what the Chinese government has done in the past (specifically before and during the Cultural Revolution), but many statements don't apply any more. 

There is still a propaganda department in the Chinese Communist Party, but right now cultural diversity is at its peak since the founding of PRC (which is not really a achievement). The Internet has greatly changed the lives of the Chinese people. Though the government has a strict Internet censorship policy, the effect remain limited since there are so many people online. The great fire wall also banned many foreign sites, but we can still visit those banned sites using VPN or other methods, and Internet censorship will face a bigger challenge when IPv6 become more and more popular.”

 I’d appreciate reports from other Chinese readers.  

Power & Style: A World History of Politics and Dress

I just got an advance copy of Power & Style: A World History of Politics and Dress (Paris: Flammarion, 2012).  Published simultaneously in English and French, it is scheduled to be released on 5 March 2013.

I provided an image of a painting of Hitler in uniform.  The book is filled with vivid and fascinating illustrations from throughout history.

Update on a Blacklisted Book

After some further investigation, this is what seems to have happened.  The Chinese publisher of my book Bending Spines sent out some copies to a major Chinese mail order company.  After those had been shipped, they got a call from a government official instructing them not to ship any more.  Apparently, they were not ordered to recall the copies already released.  Perhaps as many as a thousand copies are thus “in the wild” in China.  It is anyone’s guess if and when the government may change its mind and allow further distribution.

Bytwerk Book Banned in China

My book Bending Spines: The Propagandas of Nazi Germany and the German Democratic Republic has been translated into French and Chinese.  The Chinese edition appeared in July, and Chinese contacts tell me that was banned shortly afterward by the Chinese government.

I’m trying to get more details, which I will post here as I learn them.  Apparently the book’s discussion of totalitarianism and propaganda did not meet the approval of the Chinese authorities.

UPDATE:  The book remains available in Hong Kong.

Superman and the Nazis

I get requests from authors who want to use material from the GPA, often for interesting and surprising projects.  A recent one came from Larry Tye, whose new book Superman: The High-Fying History of America’s Most Enduring Hero cites an article in the SS’s weekly paper Das Schwarze Korps that complained about a 1940 comic strip in Look magazine that had Superman hauling Hitler and Stalin before the League of Nations.

Tye’s book reviews the history of Superman, beginning with two Jewish kids from Cleveland and moving to radio, cartoons, television shows, and films.  It’s a good read. If you have any interest at all in Superman, this well-researched book will tell you things you did not know.

The Third Reich’s Celluloud War

A while back Ian Garden wrote to me with the request for some high definition scans of images from the GPA for a book he was writing on Nazi cinema.  As usual I asked for a copy of the book when published. The British edition of the The Third Reich’s Celluloid War arrived by mail a month or so back. It now is available in the U.S.

I recommend the book as a good introduction to the subject.  As Garden notes in the introduction, he is writing for a general audience and he does that well.  The book provides interesting information about a wide range of Nazi film.  The book as a particularly good selection of images, some in color.  No other book on the topic can equal it in this regard.

The author has also set up a useful web site to supplement the book.

There are a few matters of fact and interpretation about which I might quibble, but when my students ask me for help on where to start in understanding Nazi film this is the first book to which I will send them.

1933 Books on Zeppelins Free to a Good Home

Every now and again people send me interesting books to use in building the web site.  Sometimes, they are not really relevant to my interests.  One such recent acquisition is a two-volume illustrated history of Zeppelins.  These are soft-covered volumes with pictures pasted in. The first was published in 1932, the second after the Nazi takeover in 1933. There was a third volume published in 1937, but that I do not have.

I will send them (no charge) to someone who has a demonstrated research interest in the subject.  They have some value (copies sell for around $300), but I’m looking for a graduate student or scholar interested in the topic who can persuade me that he will put them to good use, not run to the nearest used book dealer.  Drop me a note (my e-mail address is available on the GPA FAQ page).

Another Youth Talk by Walter Groß (1935)

I recently bought two pamphlets with radio talks for the youth  by Walter Groß, head of the Nazi Party’s Racial Policy Office.  The first I added about a week ago.  Now I’m adding the second, Blood is Holy, delivered a year later (1935). Like the first, it is an effort to translate Nazi racial theory into language understandable by children.

There was a great deal of Nazi material on this topic.  The best book on the subject is Claudia Koonz’s The Nazi Conscience.

State of Deception Exhibition

I usually don't recommend books on this blog, other than my own, but I strongly suggest buying State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda. It has 194 pages, including many unfamiliar illustrations (two of which I provided).

The book accompanies an exhibition on Nazi propaganda running at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

New Book on Nazi Propaganda

My new book Landmark Speeches of National Socialism has just been published by Texas A & M University Press. It includes an introductory essay on Nazi rhetoric, and translations of thirteen speeches. The book contains material not available on the German Propaganda Archive. It is available in hardcover and paperback editions.