• A German politician, military leader and leading member of the Nazi Party (also a veteran of World War I).

• Joined the NSDAP in 1921. He was at the Munich Beer Hall Putsch in 1923 and was wounded.

• After helping Adolf Hitler take power in 1933, he became the second-most powerful man in Germany.

• Founded the Gestapo in 1933 (gave the command to Heinrich Himmler).

• Encouraged Hitler to purge SA (Night of the Long Knives)

• Was appointed commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe (air force) in 1935, a position he held until the final days of World War II.

• In 1940 he became one of the ministers in charge of the Four-Year Plan (peak of his power and influence)

• Became responsible for much of the functioning of the German economy in the build-up to World War II (e.g. increasing food production and becoming self-sufficient in raw materials)

• Program of Aryanisation – limiting the economic power of Jews

• In 1941, Hitler designated him as his successor and deputy in all his offices.

• However, Göring's standing with Hitler was greatly reduced by 1942, with the Luftwaffe unable to fulfil its commitments and the German war effort stumbling on both fronts.

• Informed on 22 April 1945 that Hitler intended to commit suicide, Göring sent a telegram to Hitler asking to assume control of the Reich. Considering it an act of treason, Hitler removed Göring from all his positions, expelled him from the party, and ordered his arrest.

• November 1945 – Nuremberg Trials: He remained defiant when put on trial. He was sentenced to hang but took poison before his execution.

• Joined the NSDAP in 1921 – he was also part of the Munich Beer Hall Putsch

  • Reichsführer of the Schutzstaffel (SS)

    • an elite, fanatical force tasked with identifying and eliminating disloyal elements and opposition to the Nazi Party

• Developed the SS from a mere 290-man battalion into a powerful group with its own military

• One of the people most directly responsible for the Holocaust

• Following Hitler's orders, he set up and controlled the Nazi concentration camps.

• From 1943 onwards, he was both Chief of German Police (1936) and Minister of the Interior, overseeing all internal and external police and security forces including the Gestapo (Secret State Police).

• On Hitler's behalf, Himmler formed the Einsatzgruppen and built extermination camps.

• As facilitator and overseer of the concentration camps, Himmler directed the killing of between eleven to fourteen million people including six million Jews. Other victims included Romani, Polish and Soviet citizens.

• Shortly before the end of the war, realising that the war was lost, he attempted to open peace talks with the western Allies without Hitler's knowledge. Hearing of this, Hitler dismissed him from all his posts in April 1945 and ordered his arrest.

• During an attempt to flee from the Allies in 1945 he was found by British officers and is believed to have died from a cyanide capsule hidden in his tooth.

• Nazi Party member since 1924 and chief of propaganda since 1929. Officially he was the Reich Minister of Propaganda and Public Enlightenment in Nazi Germany (1933 -1945)

• Responsible for: control and influence over media and culture - literature, art, music, radio, theatre and film, promoting foreign policy achievements, prevented criticisms of Hitler and Nazi Party from being published or spoken.

• In the beginning of his tenure, Goebbels organised actions against German Jews, commencing with a one-day boycott of Jewish businessmen, doctors, and lawyers on 1 April 1933. Eventually leading to violence of Kristallnacht (Nov, 1938) which he advocated and organised.

• Known for his zealous orations and deep and virulent antisemitism which led him strongly to support the extermination of the Jews when the Nazi leadership developed their "Final Solution"

• Used to promote Nazi beliefs and values, German nationalism and superiority of German race.

• Goebbels' anti-Semitic propaganda promoted stereotypes of Jews as materialistic, immoral, cunning, untrustworthy and physically unattractive and rootless wanderers.

• Created ‘Fuhrer myth’ – Hitler as humble, dedicated to people, capable of extraordinary feats.

• In mid-1943, when the Axis powers were losing in the war, Goebbels urged Germans to embrace the idea of total war and mobilisation.

• Hitler had named Goebbels his successor as Chancellor in his will.

• May 1 1945, Goebbels and his wife Magda committed suicide after killing their 6 children with cyanide capsules.

• Joined the Nazis in 1931. High-ranking German Nazi official during World War II.

• Member of SS and quickly rose through ranks to become Himmler’s deputy.

• Head of Sicherheitsdienst (SD) an intelligence agency of SS used to spy on opposition and suspicious individuals and neutralise resistance with arrests, deportations and killings. Helped organise Kristallnacht

• Controlled Central Immigration Office and Central Resettlement Office.

• Regarded as one of the darkest figures within the Nazi elite - Adolf Hitler had described him as 'the man with the iron heart'.

• Chaired Wannsee Conference (Jan, 1942) where ‘Final Solution’ was created and agreed upon.

• One of the men directly responsible for the Holocaust.

• Directly responsible for the Einsatzgruppen, the special task forces that travelled in the wake of the German armies to round up and kill Jews and others deemed undesirable by the regime.

• Died (June 4 1942) from wounds received after a bomb was thrown in his open-car by Czech resistance fighters on 27 May 1942.

● One of Hitler’s oldest friends.

● Crucial in gaining Hitler and Nazi Party initial power during Reichstag elections. Appointed Chief of Staff in 1931 to bring discipline to group.

● Built up numbers of SA – thought they needed to consolidate their power by

merging the SA and the army. Opposed Hitler’s desire to work with military.

● Arrested during Night of Long Knives (Jun, 1934) and shot the next day

• Joined the NSDAP 1921. Served as Hitler’s private secretary in early years of Nazi party.

• Took dictation of Hitler’s Mein Kampf during imprisonment.

• One of Hitler’s closest friends and confidants, and was dedicated fanatically to Hitler. Deputy leader of Nazi Party (1933)

• Second in line of succession (after Goring) and would become head of state if something happened to either of them.

• Lost favour with Hitler after he flew to Scotland to try and negotiate a peace settlement (May 1941).

• Was arrested by British officials and imprisoned for duration of war.

• Died in 1987 at Spandau Prison of an apparent suicide, aged 93.

• Born in 1905

• Joined Austrian Nazi Party in 1932

• Returned to Germany in 1933 and joined German SS

• Appointed to Dachau Concentration Camp

• Joined SD in 1934 and acquired the position of ‘Jewish Specialist’

• Set up Central Office for Jewish Emigration in order to deport Austria’s Jewish Population

• Transferred to the Gestapo in late 1939

• Director of Jewish Affairs in 1941

• Known throughout WW2 as the ‘Chief Executioner of the Third Reich’

• Arrested in 1935, escaped US custody… until 1960 when he stood trial in Israel. Executed in 1962.

• Born in 1905

• Followed his father into architecture

• Attended a Nazi Party rally in 1930, where he was immediately impressed by Hitler’s oratory skills and vision for Germany

• Renovated Nazi Headquarter’s and Goebbels's Ministry of Propaganda building – as such appointed as First Architect of the Reich

• Responsible for co-ordinating the Nuremburg Rally’s after renovating the site

• Reich Minister of Armaments and War Production – used slave labour and potentially prolonged the war by up to 2 years

• Denied he knew anything about the Holocaust and treatment of minority groups … left Spandau Prison and lived out the remainder of his life comfortably

• Born 1902

• Dancer, film-maker and actress

• Employed by Hitler to film the 1933 and 1934 Nuremberg Rallies, called ‘Victory of Faith’ and ‘Triumph of Will’

• Also filmed 1936 Berlin Olympics

• Considered a propagandist film-maker, although she denied it after WW2