Who Was The Most Devoted Of Hitler's Inner Circle?

After World War I, a devastated Germany sought a savior. Adolf Hitler, fueled by anger and a belief that Germany was betrayed by 'left-wing Jewish politicians,' joined the German Workers' Party. He capitalized on the punitive Treaty of Versailles, which severely limited Germany's military and territory, to rally support against perceived enemies and national humiliation.

Hitler's passionate, tyrannical speeches quickly earned him the role of chief of propaganda within the German Workers' Party. He renamed it the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazi Party) and, through effective messaging and demagoguery, mesmerized audiences, significantly boosting the party's profile.

Rudolf Hess, inspired by Hitler's rants, became an early disciple. Hitler, aiming for power through force, formed the SA (Stormtroopers/Brownshirts) from disgruntled ex-soldiers to enact violence and intimidation. Hermann Göring, a WWI hero, joined the party, seeing an opportunity for personal power, despite not fully agreeing with its extremist policies.

In November 1923, Hitler and his stormtroopers attempted to seize power in the Beer Hall Putsch. The coup failed, resulting in casualties and Hitler's arrest for treason. Sentenced to five years, he used his time in prison to write 'Mein Kampf'.

During his imprisonment, Hitler wrote 'Mein Kampf' with Rudolf Hess taking dictation. The book served as a manifesto for Nazi ideology, outlining virulent anti-Semitism, anti-communism, the concept of an 'Aryan master race', and the desire to break the Treaty of Versailles to reclaim territory and build a powerful German army and 'Lebensraum' (living space).

Upon his release in 1925, Hitler refounded the Nazi Party, leveraging 'Mein Kampf' as his guiding text. Heinrich Himmler, initially perceived as weak, joined the party and steadily rose through its ranks, proving to be a brutal leader. Joseph Goebbels, an aspiring writer, became instrumental in crafting the party's propaganda, using short, repetitive slogans to sway public opinion.

The 1929 Wall Street Crash led to the Great Depression, causing widespread economic devastation and 6 million unemployed in Germany. This chaos provided fertile ground for extremist politics. Hitler's promises to restore Germany's greatness resonated with the desperate populace, propelling the Nazi Party to become the second-largest political force by 1930.

By 1933, the Nazis were the largest party, and Hitler was appointed Chancellor of a coalition government. He swiftly used events like the Reichstag fire to claim emergency powers through the Enabling Act, suspend the constitution, and ban other parties, transforming Germany into a one-party totalitarian state under his Führer title by August 1934 after President Hindenburg's death.

Hitler implemented Aryan race policies, including sterilization. The Gestapo (secret state police) was formed, using informers to police the population. Goebbels, as propaganda minister, took complete control of all media—press, radio, film, and arts—ensuring Nazism permeated every aspect of German life. Magda Goebbels, seen as the 'perfect Nazi woman,' helped project an image of social acceptability for the party.

Hitler sought to eliminate opposition, including his own paramilitary SA. Heinrich Himmler's elite SS bodyguards were tasked with this. On June 30, 1934, 'The Night of the Long Knives' saw the SS assassinate SA leaders, consolidating Hitler's power and gaining military support. Reinhard Heydrich, a ruthless SS officer, rose to prominence, eventually heading the Gestapo and security services, later becoming instrumental in the Holocaust.

Hitler overtly defied the Treaty of Versailles by establishing the Luftwaffe and rearming the army, delighting the German people who saw him restoring national pride. In 1935, the Nuremberg Laws were introduced, stripping Jews of citizenship and civil rights, prohibiting intermarriage, and intensifying anti-Semitic persecution. This escalated with Kristallnacht in 1938, where Jewish businesses and synagogues were destroyed, and thousands of Jews were sent to concentration camps.

Despite international warnings, Hitler continued his expansionist policies, reoccupying territories and building up the German army. On September 1, 1939, he invaded Poland, marking the beginning of World War II. Hitler's 'Blitzkrieg' (lightning war) swiftly conquered Poland, followed by Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium, and France by 1940, fueling his ego and popular support.

Despite a non-aggression pact, Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941 (Operation Barbarossa), driven by his anti-communist and racial annihilation ideologies. The invasion was initially successful but marked a brutal escalation of violence. Meanwhile, the Nazi regime's policies against Jews became increasingly radical, moving from ghettos and labor camps to systematic extermination through death squads and later, death camps.

As Hitler focused on racial extermination, Rudolf Hess, feeling marginalized, undertook a solo peace mission to Britain in 1941, hoping to negotiate a peace pact. He was captured and declared a traitor by Hitler. This event paved the way for Martin Bormann, Hess's former chief of staff, to become head of the Party Chancellery, giving him immense power over access to Hitler and party affairs.

In secret, the Nazi inner circle devised the 'Final Solution' for the extermination of Jews. Reinhard Heydrich chaired the Wannsee Conference, discussing efficient methods of killing. The T4 program, which had previously murdered 70,000 mentally and physically ill Germans using gas, provided a horrific blueprint for mass murder, demonstrating Hitler's sensitivity to public opinion when protests arose.

To hide the atrocities from the German public, death camps were established in Poland. Heinrich Himmler oversaw the creation of these camps, where millions of Jews from across Europe were transported and systematically murdered, often immediately upon arrival. Sites like Treblinka and Auschwitz became 'factories of death,' claiming the lives of millions. The shift to gas chambers was also partly to spare the sanity of the perpetrators.

Reinhard Heydrich, a key architect of the Holocaust, was assassinated in Prague in May 1942 by Czechoslovak resistance fighters trained in Britain. He died of complications from his injuries. By the end of 1944, six million Jews had been murdered under Hitler's regime, through both mass shootings and gassing.

As the war turned against Germany, Hitler's power waned, and his health deteriorated. Retreating to his Berlin bunker in 1945, he became a demented dictator, blaming the German people for failing him. His inner circle began abandoning him, with Göring attempting to assume leadership and Himmler negotiating with the Allies, leading to both being stripped of their powers by Hitler.

Eva Braun, Hitler's long-term mistress, remained loyal. She joined him in the bunker for his final days. Their relationship was kept secret from the public, as Hitler wanted to maintain an image of being solely dedicated to his nation. Despite her dependence and two suicide attempts, he never publicly acknowledged her until the very end.

On April 30, 1945, Hitler married Eva Braun in the bunker, just hours before they committed suicide together. Their bodies were burned. Germany surrendered a week later, and the full extent of the Nazi regime's horrors, including the death camps, was exposed to the world. Remaining Nazi leaders like Hess, Göring, and Himmler faced justice (or avoided it through suicide) in the Nuremberg trials, while Martin Bormann's fate remained a mystery.