PN1501

Reinhard Heydrich was born on March 7, 1904, into an ordinary middle-class family. His father, Richard, was an opera singer and composer. The young Heydrich played the violin and took part in sports such as fencing and swimming. His father was not very political but was staunchly nationalistic, with great reverence for the state and … Read more

Rudolf Hess died on August 17, 1987, in Spandau Prison in Berlin. For 21 years he had been its only inmate. One of the leading figures of the Nazi regime, he had been convicted for his role in the start of World War II. His story remains shrouded in conspiracy. Hess was born on April … Read more

Margarete Himmler is remembered less for her own actions than for her place beside one of the most feared men in Nazi Germany. As the wife of Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, she shared his hatred of Jews and never questioned the morality of his work. Yet behind the scenes she was mocked by … Read more

Edith Frank, the mother of Anne Frank, was born on January 16, 1900, in Aachen, then part of the German Empire. Her parents, Abraham and Rosa Hollander, were wealthy Jews who traded in industrial equipment. Edith was the youngest of four children. She was 14 when her sister Betina died, and she had two brothers, … Read more

On the evening of January 30, 1933, in Berlin, just hours after Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany, his supporters marched through the Brandenburg Gate carrying torches. Within six months, every rival political party had been banned or dissolved, and Germany had become a one-party dictatorship. The Nazis promised more than a new political … Read more