Hitler's Henchmen

Without the evil dynamism of Adolf Hitler the Third Reich might never have existed. But to cement his grip on power, the Nazi dictator was reliant on an inner circle of henchmen who dedicated themselves entirely to his service. So who were these men who smoothed Hitler s path to power and became the perpetrators of a reign of terror unparalleled in history? What drove them to warmongering and mass murder, to unquestioning obedience and manic racial hatred?

Since the early 1980s Guido Knopp has talked to countless people who knew Hitler s paladins. He has interviewed family members, friends, colleagues and other eyewitnesses; and his has gained access to personal papers. His meticulous research has also uncovered new material from British and Russian archives. Here he draws the political and personal profiles of the men behind Hitler, men who became the most important pillars of the Nazi dictatorship.

Goebbels, Göring, Himmler, Hess, Speer and Dönitz: these were the supporters and executives of Hitler s regime, carrying out his orders with deadly efficiency. Their significance in the web of Nazi power and the extent of their implication in its crimes differed greatly. Yet their psychological profiles have one thing in common: they all provide answers to how the atrocities of the Nazi era came to be committed.

This radical new assessment of power under the swastika scrutinizes the leading personalities of the Third Reich. It reveals many hitherto unknown facts and offers a chilling glimpse behind the scenes of the Nazi regime.