Table Of ContentPENGUIN BOOKS
HITLER 1936–1945
‘Ian Kershaw has long been recognized as the world expert on Adolf Hitler’s role in the
Third Reich… this book is not likely to be bettered in the foreseeable future’ Brendan
Simms, The Times Higher Education Supplement
‘Masterly… As readable and gripping as the first, it explains – the personality of Hitler
more convincingly than anything else I’ve read and at the same time sets out in brilliant de-
tail what happened to Germany as a whole during the Second World War’ Miriam Gross,
Sunday Telegraph, Books of the Year
‘Rich in material, balanced, perceptive, humane and very well written – altogether a
magnificent achievement’ David Blackbourn, London Review of Books
‘There is not a better and more complete biography of Hitler and his epoch – and it’s
hard to imagine that it could soon be superseded’ Alexander Gallus, Rheinischer Merkur
‘Monumental… This massive, extensively researched, extraordinarily balanced, and re-
markably judicious study is likely to remain the definitive biography for a long time to
come’ Omer Bartov, New Republic
‘This second volume of Ian Kershaw’s magnum opus is even more fascinating than its
predecessor,Hubris’ Antony Beevor,Independent, Books of the Year
‘It is a masterly work; comprehensive, balanced, authoritative, and above all readable.
If there is one book that explains Hitler’s success in securing and maintaining power, and in
consequence the causes of the Second World War, this is it’ Sir Michael Howard, The
Times Literary Supplement, International Books of the Year
‘A masterpiece which… leaves all previous Hitler biographies in the shade’ Enrico
Syring, Das Parlament
‘Compared to the many others that came earlier, even the important and illuminating
works by Alan Bullock and Joachim Fest, Kershaw’s large-scale study is more probing,
more judicious, more authoritative in its rich detail and yet more commanding in its mas-
tery of the horrific narrative’ Milton J. Rosenberg,Chicago Tribune
‘Enthralling and terrifying… this is classic narrative history at its best, written with
verve and passion’ David Marquand, New Statesman, Books of the Year
‘An impressive, detailed, and sobering story’ Gordon A. Craig, New York Review of
Books
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ian Kershaw is Professor of Modern History at the University of
Sheffield and one of the world’s leading authorities on Hitler. He was
the historical adviser to the two BBC series The Nazis: A Warning
from History and War of the Century. He is also the author of ‘The
Hitler Myth’: Image and Reality in the Third Reich, Popular Opinion
and Political Dissent in the Third Reich, Bavaria 1933–45 and The
Nazi Dictatorship: Problems and Perspectives of Interpretation; the
editor of Weimar: Why Did German Democracy Fail? and Hitler: A
Profile in Power; and co-editor, with Moshe Lewin, of Stalinism and
Nazism: Dictatorships in Comparison. Hitler 1889–1936: Hubris was
shortlisted for the 1998 Whitbread Biography Award and the first
Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction. Hitler 1936–1945: Nemesis
was shortlisted for the 2000 Whitbread Biography Award, and was
awarded the Bruno Kreisky Prize in Austria for the Political Book of
the Year and the Wolfson Literary Award for History for 2000.
HITLER
1936–45: NEMESIS
Ian Kershaw
PENGUIN BOOKS
PENGUIN BOOKS
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
Penguin Putnam Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Books Australia Ltd, 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia
Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2
Penguin Books India (P) Ltd, 11, Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi – 110
017, India
Penguin Books (NZ) Ltd, Cnr Rosedale and Airborne Roads, Albany, Auckland, New Zeal-
and
Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank 2196, South Africa
Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
www.penguin.com
First published by Allen Lane The Penguin Press 2000
Published in Penguin Books 2001
13
Copyright © Ian Kershaw, 2000
All rights reserved
The moral right of the author has been asserted
Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it
shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated
without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in
which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being im-
posed on the subsequent purchaser
ISBN: 978-0-14-192581-3
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations
List of Maps
Preface
Acknowledgements
Maps
1936: Hitler Triumphant
1. Ceaseless Radicalization
2. The Drive for Expansion
3. Marks of a Genocidal Mentality
4. Miscalculation
5. Going for Broke
6. Licensing Barbarism
7. Zenith of Power
8. Designing a ‘War of Annihilation’
9. Showdown
10. Fulfilling the ‘Prophecy’
11. Last Big Throw of the Dice
12. Beleaguered
13. Hoping for Miracles
14. Luck of the Devil
15. No Way Out
16. Into the Abyss
17. Extinction
Epilogue
Glossary of Abbreviations
Notes
List of Works Cited
Index
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Every effort has been made to contact all copyright holders. The
publishers will be glad to make good in future editions any errors or
omissions brought to their attention. (Photographic acknowledgements
are given in brackets.)
1. Adolf Hitler, September 1936 (Ullstein Bilderdienst, Berlin)
2. Hitler discussing plans for Weimar, 1936 (Corbis/Hulton-Deutsch Collection)
3. The Berlin Olympics, 1936 (Ullstein Bilderdienst, Berlin)
4. Hitler meets the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, 1937 (Corbis/Hulton-Deutsch Col-
lection)
5. Werner von Blomberg (Corbis/Hulton-Deutsch Collection)
6. Werner von Fritsch (Bibliothek für Zeitgeschichte, Stuttgart)
7. Hitler addresses crowds in the Heldenplatz, Vienna, 1938 (AKG London)
8. Hitler, Mussolini and Victor-Emmanuel III, 1938 (Bibliothek für Zeitgeschichte,
Stuttgart)
9. Hitler in Florence, 1938 (Bibliothek für Zeitgeschichte, Stuttgart)
10. ‘The Eternal Jew’ exhibition, Munich, 1937 (AKG London)
11. ‘Jews in Berlin’ poster, Berlin, 1938 (Corbis/Bettmann)
12. Synagogue on fire, Berlin, 1938 (Corbis/Hulton-Deutsch Collection)
13. Jewish Community building, Kassel, 1938 (Ullstein Bilderdienst, Berlin)
14. Looted Jewish shop, Berlin, 1938 (AKG London)
15. Joseph Goebbels and his family, 1936 (Corbis/Hulton-Deutsch Collection)
16. Goebbels broadcasting to the people, 1939 (Hulton Getty)
17. Eva Braun, c.1938 (Hulton Getty)
18. Wilhelm Keitel greets Neville Chamberlain (Bibliothek für Zeitgeschichte, Stut-
tgart)
19. German troops, Prague, 1939 (Bibliothek für Zeitgeschichte, Stuttgart)
20. Hitler’s study in the Reich Chancellery (Bibliothek für Zeitgeschichte, Stuttgart)
21. Göring addresses Hitler in the New Reich Chancellery, 1939 (Bayerisches
Hauptstaatsarchiv, Munich)
