Mark Mazower’s

Hitler’s Empire: How the Nazis Ruled

Europe

A Presentation by Laurel Petti

Hitler’s Fantastical Version of Future Germany

“As it was, this entire campaign of conquest and racial annihilation rested on a fantastic

illusion.” –Mark Mazower

Mazower’s Hitler’s Empire is a detailed manuscript that follows the beginning of Hitler’s Germanic reign till the end of the war and beyond. It is mostly an accurate account of people, places, battles, deaths, and dates, that on occasion gives slight hints at personal feeling of people involved. But, there is an undertone message that Mazower expresses and that is that Hitler guaranteed his people more than he could have ever feasibly hoped to accomplish.

What did Hitler Promise?

After WWI Germany was in a horrible place. What Hitler did was gave Germany a fantastic amount of hope. He promised them a New Germany. A Germany that was free of worry, free of strife, and free of “evildoers”. What he offered them was rebirth, a chance to start over. He offered them a paradise. And, with some of his promises he suceeded. No one can argue that he didn’t bring change, prosperity, and power to Germany. But, the main thing he promised that never came true was the amount of time they would have their paradise. Hitler promised forever, and forever ended more abruptly than ever anticipated.

When Paradise Collapsed

After Hitler’s first defeat in the Battle of Britain, everything spiraled down from their for the Germans. Before that, he had been considered undefeatable. And this is where all his power was held; being an invincible force. In 1945 the Nazi Regime was destroyed, Hitler was dead, and Germany’s fantasy Paradise was officially no more. This is where Hitler truly failed, never giving his absolutely undying people everything he promised them.

Final Words

Mazower’s book is a thoroughly detailed and extremely interesting manifesto of the many facets of the Nazi’s exploits. The question that he truly leaves you with is whether Hitler truly cared about Germany as much as he claimed to or if he was only deceiving the people that loved him with all their hearts.