Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Nazi Legacy
If Berlin was the head of the Nazi government,
its heart beat in Bavaria. This was the birth-
place of the movement, born out of the chaos
and volatility of a post-WWI Germany
wracked by revolution, crippling reparations
and runaway inflation. Right-wing agitation
resonated especially among Bavarians who deeply resented losing much of their sover-
eignty to a centralised national government in Berlin.
In Munich, a failed artist and WWI corporal from Austria - Adolf Hitler - had quickly
risen to the top of the extreme right-wing Nationalsozialistische Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP).
On 8 November 1923 he led his supporters in a revolt aimed at overthrowing the central
government following a political rally in the Bürgerbräukeller (near today's Gasteig arts
centre). The so-called Beer Hall Putsch was an abysmal failure, poorly planned and ama-
teurishly executed. The following day a ragtag bunch of would-be armed revolutionaries
marched through Munich's streets but only got as far as the Feldherrnhalle where a shoot-
out with police left 16 Nazis and four policemen dead.
The NSDAP was banned and Hitler was
sentenced to five years in prison for high treas-
on. While in Landsberg jail, west of Munich,
he began work on Mein Kampf ( My Struggle ),
dictated in extended ramblings to his secretary
Rudolf Hess. Incredibly, Hitler was released
after only nine months in 1924 on grounds of
Hitler called his regime the 'Third Reich' because
he thought of the Holy Roman Empire and Bismar-
ck's German empire as the first and second Reichs,
respectively.
The Academy Award- nominated Sophie Scholl -
The Final Days (2005) re-creates in harrowing de-
tail the last six days in the life of this courageous
Nazi resistance fighter, who was executed aged 21.
'good behaviour'.
After Hitler took control of Germany in January 1933, Bavaria was assigned a special
status. Munich was declared the 'Capital of the Movement' and Nuremberg became the
site of the Nazi party's mass rallies. In 1935 the party brass enacted the Nuremberg Laws,
which ushered in the systematic repression of the Jews. In Dachau, north of Munich, Ger-
many's first concentration camp was built in 1933. In addition, many Nazi honchos hailed
from Bavaria, including Sturmabteilung (SA) chief Ernst Röhm (later killed by Hitler),
Heinrich Himmler and Hermann Göring. Hitler himself was born just across the border, in
Austria's Braunau. The Nazis enjoyed almost universal support in Bavaria, but there were
also some pockets of resistance, most famously the Munich-based group Die Weisse Rose
(The White Rose; for more information Click here ) .
In 1938 Hitler's troops met no resistance when they marched into Austria and annexed
it to Nazi Germany. The same year, the UK's Neville Chamberlain, Italy's Benito Mus-
 
Search WWH ::




Custom Search