HITLER’S DISCIPLESUnit III The Third Reich

Hitler’s Disciples The Men behind The Man

Hitler relied upon the support of thousands of followers to build and manage the National Socialist movement

For help in planning and managing the Nazi “state,” Hitler selected the friends and party members he felt were most loyal and dedicated

Top party leaders were given positions of power with the promised incentive of future wealth

Hitler’s Disciples Hermann Goering Rudolf Hess Josef Goebbels Alfred Rosenberg Heinrich Himmler

Hitler’s Disciples Hermann Goering

Background Son of a wealthy judge Popular and decorated WWI “ace” pilot Joined the Nazi party as a prize recruit in

1921 Becomes addicted to morphine after

being shot in Beer Hall Putsch Pre-Third Reich leadership

Appointed by Hitler to command the SA in December 1922.

Used his aristocratic background and war-hero status to recruit political and financial support from conservative business and army elites

Hitler’s Disciples Rudolf Hess

Background Son of a wealthy German merchant Twice-wounded WWI vet who reached

the rank of lieutenant Joined the Nazi party in 1921 after

hearing one of Hitler’s first speeches Became one of Hitler’s closest friends

Pre-Third Reich leadership Helped Hitler write Mein Kampf while

both were imprisoned at Landsberg Served without official party rank as

Hitler’s personal secretary

Hitler’s Disciples Joseph Goebbels

Background Born into a strict, working-class Catholic

family in 1897 Studied history and literature at the

University of Heidelberg Rejected from service during WWI

because of a crippled foot/leg Joined the NSDAP into 1922

Pre-Third Reich leadership Regional business manager District

leader Reich Propaganda Leader Designed propaganda posters and

articles, staged parades, organized street and beer-hall brawls

Hitler’s Disciples Alfred Rosenberg

Background Born in Russia in 1893 where he joined a

eventually joined a pro-German group Supported the Russian monarchists

during the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia before escaping to France and moving to Germany in 1918

Rosenberg joined NSDAP in 1923 and became Hitler’s close friend

Pre-Third Reich leadership Served as editor of Nazi-sponsored paper

Voelkischer Beobachter Founded the League for German Culture

in 1929, then appointed to coordinate NSDAP ideological training and education programs

Hitler’s Disciples Heinrich Himmler

Background Son of a very religious Catholic teacher

who had once tutored the Bavarian Crown Prince

Served as an officer cadet at the end of World War I

Joined the NSDAP in 1923 and participated in the Beer Hall Putsch

Pre-Third Reich leadership In 1929, Hitler appointed Himmler to

head his personal bodyguard, the black-shirted Schutzstaffel (SS),

Himmler worked to make his small force of 200 men a superior organization within the Nazi “state”