These seldom-seen photos reveal what “normal” life in Nazi Germany looked like for most citizens as the Third Reich rose to power.
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1 of 38 2 of 38 3 of 38 4 of 38 5 of 38Students salute their teacher in Berlin, January 1934.
Most teachers in Nazi Germany were required to join the National Socialist Teachers League, which mandated that they take an oath of loyalty and obedience to Hitler. If their lessons did not conform to party ideals, they risked being reported by their students or colleagues.Wikimedia Commons 6 of 38Children buy a frozen dessert from a street vendor in Berlin, 1934.Wikimedia Commons 7 of 38Volunteers gather Christmas donations for the poor in Berlin, December 1935.Wikimedia Commons 8 of 38Children wave flags before leaving Berlin, circa 1940-1945.
These children are being evacuated from the city to live in Kinderlandverschickung camps, where they will be safe from air raids. Many will be separated from their families.Wikimedia Commons 9 of 38Young women belonging to the League of German Girls, the female division of the Hitler Youth, practice gymnastics, 1941.Wikimedia Commons 10 of 38German children learn geography in a Nazi-run school in the Silesia region of Poland, October 1940.
Schools received a new curriculum that focused on racial biology and population policy. Teachers regularly showed propaganda films in the classroom, and worked racial politics into every part of education.Wikimedia Commons 11 of 38Hitler Youth boys play tug of war while wearing gas masks in Worms, 1933.Wikimedia Commons 12 of 38People at a resettlement camp in Lublin, Poland receive framed photos of Adolf Hitler to hang in their apartments, 1940.Wikimedia Commons 13 of 38Hitler Youth members camp out in a tent at an unspecified location, 1933.Wikimedia Commons 14 of 38A group of men read a propaganda billboard titled “The Jews Are Our Misfortune” in Worms, 1933.Wikimedia Commons 15 of 38Members of the Reich Labor Service at work, circa 1940.
This state-run labor program both helped lessen the effects of unemployment and create a Nazi-indoctrinated workforce, requiring each young man to serve for a six-month period.Wikimedia Commons 16 of 38Children with Down syndrome sit at Schönbrunn Psychiatric Hospital, 1934.
Mentally challenged children were forcibly sterilized to keep them from breeding. They were, initially, taught in separate classrooms, but then considered to be “unteachable.” Later, children like these would be killed in order to remove them from the population.Wikimedia Commons 17 of 38Members of the League of German Girls put up posters for their group in Worms, 1933.Wikimedia Commons 18 of 38A family gazes lovingly at their boy, a member of the Hitler Youth, February 1943..Wikimedia Commons 19 of 38A Jewish woman peruses the wares of a street vendor in Radom, Poland, 1940.Wikimedia Commons 20 of 38Members of the League of German Girls at work cleaning in a Berlin tenement house, date unspecified.Wikimedia Commons 21 of 38A long line of Jewish citizens wait in line outside of a travel company in hopes of fleeing Germany. Berlin, January 1939.Wikimedia Commons 22 of 38A proud new husband wears his SS uniform on his wedding day in December 1942.Wikimedia Commons 23 of 38Nazi party members display election propaganda outside of a church in Berlin on July 23, 1933.Wikimedia Commons 24 of 38Boys ceremonially jump over a fire as part of a traditional summer solstice festival in Berlin, 1937.Wikimedia Commons 25 of 38Reichsbischof Ludwig Müller gives a speech, the Nazi flag draped upon his pulpit, at the Berlin Cathedral in September 1934.Wikimedia Commons 26 of 38Nazi party members post signs on a Jewish storefront encouraging Germans to boycott the shop in Berlin on April 1, 1933.Wikimedia Commons 27 of 38Newlyweds admire their rings at an unspecified location, 1944.Wikimedia Commons 28 of 38Newborn babies from the Lebensborn Program. These children are the offspring of carefully selected “racially-pure” parents. September 1941.Wikimedia Commons 29 of 38Two SS men participate in the christening of a baby, 1936.Wikimedia Commons 30 of 38Relocated children salute the flag at an unidentified Kinderlandverschickung camp, date unspecified.Wikimedia Commons 31 of 38A Jewish-owned shop sits vandalized in Berlin on November 10, 1938, following Kristallnacht, the infamous pogrom that left thousands of synagogues and Jewish businesses destroyed.OFF/AFP/Getty Images 32 of 38A French woman, conscripted into labor, works at a factory in Berlin, 1943.
As the war raged on, more and more women were made to enter the workforce.Wikimedia Commons 33 of 38A group of foreign laborers eats lunch at the Scherl publishing house in Berlin, February 1943.
The “OST” on their shirts signifies that they were Eastern Europeans who have been forced into labor.Wikimedia Commons 34 of 38Children and their parents walk down into an air shelter in Berlin, October 1941.Wikimedia Commons 35 of 38Young boys ride out the night in the air raid shelter of the National Air Transport Ministry in Berlin, 1940.Wikimedia Commons 36 of 38Men, women, and children work together to put out the fires following an air raid, location unspecified, 1942.Wikimedia Commons 37 of 38In 1945, as Allied troops took Germany, many officials, fearing reprisals, committed suicide. Here, the mayor of Leipzig has taken his own life at his desk.Wikimedia Commons 38 of 38Like this gallery?Share it:
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Everyday Life In Nazi Germany: 33 Photographs Of “Normal” Life In The Third Reich View Gallery
Life has a way of forging on — even in the face of evil. A new political regime may present and enact policies that harm many, but for those who benefit from the policy or regime (or at least are not immediately affected by them), many just wake up, get ready, and go about their days.
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How Hitler And The Nazi Party Convinced Germany To Vote For Fascism
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Albert Einstein’s Letters Expressing Fears About Nazi Germany To Be Auctioned
1 of 38 2 of 38 3 of 38 4 of 38 5 of 38Students salute their teacher in Berlin, January 1934.
Most teachers in Nazi Germany were required to join the National Socialist Teachers League, which mandated that they take an oath of loyalty and obedience to Hitler. If their lessons did not conform to party ideals, they risked being reported by their students or colleagues.Wikimedia Commons 6 of 38Children buy a frozen dessert from a street vendor in Berlin, 1934.Wikimedia Commons 7 of 38Volunteers gather Christmas donations for the poor in Berlin, December 1935.Wikimedia Commons 8 of 38Children wave flags before leaving Berlin, circa 1940-1945.
These children are being evacuated from the city to live in Kinderlandverschickung camps, where they will be safe from air raids. Many will be separated from their families.Wikimedia Commons 9 of 38Young women belonging to the League of German Girls, the female division of the Hitler Youth, practice gymnastics, 1941.Wikimedia Commons 10 of 38German children learn geography in a Nazi-run school in the Silesia region of Poland, October 1940.
Schools received a new curriculum that focused on racial biology and population policy. Teachers regularly showed propaganda films in the classroom, and worked racial politics into every part of education.Wikimedia Commons 11 of 38Hitler Youth boys play tug of war while wearing gas masks in Worms, 1933.Wikimedia Commons 12 of 38People at a resettlement camp in Lublin, Poland receive framed photos of Adolf Hitler to hang in their apartments, 1940.Wikimedia Commons 13 of 38Hitler Youth members camp out in a tent at an unspecified location, 1933.Wikimedia Commons 14 of 38A group of men read a propaganda billboard titled “The Jews Are Our Misfortune” in Worms, 1933.Wikimedia Commons 15 of 38Members of the Reich Labor Service at work, circa 1940.
This state-run labor program both helped lessen the effects of unemployment and create a Nazi-indoctrinated workforce, requiring each young man to serve for a six-month period.Wikimedia Commons 16 of 38Children with Down syndrome sit at Schönbrunn Psychiatric Hospital, 1934.
Mentally challenged children were forcibly sterilized to keep them from breeding. They were, initially, taught in separate classrooms, but then considered to be “unteachable.” Later, children like these would be killed in order to remove them from the population.Wikimedia Commons 17 of 38Members of the League of German Girls put up posters for their group in Worms, 1933.Wikimedia Commons 18 of 38A family gazes lovingly at their boy, a member of the Hitler Youth, February 1943..Wikimedia Commons 19 of 38A Jewish woman peruses the wares of a street vendor in Radom, Poland, 1940.Wikimedia Commons 20 of 38Members of the League of German Girls at work cleaning in a Berlin tenement house, date unspecified.Wikimedia Commons 21 of 38A long line of Jewish citizens wait in line outside of a travel company in hopes of fleeing Germany. Berlin, January 1939.Wikimedia Commons 22 of 38A proud new husband wears his SS uniform on his wedding day in December 1942.Wikimedia Commons 23 of 38Nazi party members display election propaganda outside of a church in Berlin on July 23, 1933.Wikimedia Commons 24 of 38Boys ceremonially jump over a fire as part of a traditional summer solstice festival in Berlin, 1937.Wikimedia Commons 25 of 38Reichsbischof Ludwig Müller gives a speech, the Nazi flag draped upon his pulpit, at the Berlin Cathedral in September 1934.Wikimedia Commons 26 of 38Nazi party members post signs on a Jewish storefront encouraging Germans to boycott the shop in Berlin on April 1, 1933.Wikimedia Commons 27 of 38Newlyweds admire their rings at an unspecified location, 1944.Wikimedia Commons 28 of 38Newborn babies from the Lebensborn Program. These children are the offspring of carefully selected “racially-pure” parents. September 1941.Wikimedia Commons 29 of 38Two SS men participate in the christening of a baby, 1936.Wikimedia Commons 30 of 38Relocated children salute the flag at an unidentified Kinderlandverschickung camp, date unspecified.Wikimedia Commons 31 of 38A Jewish-owned shop sits vandalized in Berlin on November 10, 1938, following Kristallnacht, the infamous pogrom that left thousands of synagogues and Jewish businesses destroyed.OFF/AFP/Getty Images 32 of 38A French woman, conscripted into labor, works at a factory in Berlin, 1943.
As the war raged on, more and more women were made to enter the workforce.Wikimedia Commons 33 of 38A group of foreign laborers eats lunch at the Scherl publishing house in Berlin, February 1943.
The “OST” on their shirts signifies that they were Eastern Europeans who have been forced into labor.Wikimedia Commons 34 of 38Children and their parents walk down into an air shelter in Berlin, October 1941.Wikimedia Commons 35 of 38Young boys ride out the night in the air raid shelter of the National Air Transport Ministry in Berlin, 1940.Wikimedia Commons 36 of 38Men, women, and children work together to put out the fires following an air raid, location unspecified, 1942.Wikimedia Commons 37 of 38In 1945, as Allied troops took Germany, many officials, fearing reprisals, committed suicide. Here, the mayor of Leipzig has taken his own life at his desk.Wikimedia Commons 38 of 38Like this gallery?Share it:
Share
Like this gallery?Share it:
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And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts:
How Hitler And The Nazi Party Convinced Germany To Vote For Fascism
Meet The Edelweiss Pirates: The Little-Known Teenaged Resistance Fighters Of Nazi Germany
Albert Einstein’s Letters Expressing Fears About Nazi Germany To Be Auctioned
1 of 38 2 of 38 3 of 38 4 of 38 5 of 38Students salute their teacher in Berlin, January 1934.
Most teachers in Nazi Germany were required to join the National Socialist Teachers League, which mandated that they take an oath of loyalty and obedience to Hitler. If their lessons did not conform to party ideals, they risked being reported by their students or colleagues.Wikimedia Commons 6 of 38Children buy a frozen dessert from a street vendor in Berlin, 1934.Wikimedia Commons 7 of 38Volunteers gather Christmas donations for the poor in Berlin, December 1935.Wikimedia Commons 8 of 38Children wave flags before leaving Berlin, circa 1940-1945.
These children are being evacuated from the city to live in Kinderlandverschickung camps, where they will be safe from air raids. Many will be separated from their families.Wikimedia Commons 9 of 38Young women belonging to the League of German Girls, the female division of the Hitler Youth, practice gymnastics, 1941.Wikimedia Commons 10 of 38German children learn geography in a Nazi-run school in the Silesia region of Poland, October 1940.
Schools received a new curriculum that focused on racial biology and population policy. Teachers regularly showed propaganda films in the classroom, and worked racial politics into every part of education.Wikimedia Commons 11 of 38Hitler Youth boys play tug of war while wearing gas masks in Worms, 1933.Wikimedia Commons 12 of 38People at a resettlement camp in Lublin, Poland receive framed photos of Adolf Hitler to hang in their apartments, 1940.Wikimedia Commons 13 of 38Hitler Youth members camp out in a tent at an unspecified location, 1933.Wikimedia Commons 14 of 38A group of men read a propaganda billboard titled “The Jews Are Our Misfortune” in Worms, 1933.Wikimedia Commons 15 of 38Members of the Reich Labor Service at work, circa 1940.
This state-run labor program both helped lessen the effects of unemployment and create a Nazi-indoctrinated workforce, requiring each young man to serve for a six-month period.Wikimedia Commons 16 of 38Children with Down syndrome sit at Schönbrunn Psychiatric Hospital, 1934.
Mentally challenged children were forcibly sterilized to keep them from breeding. They were, initially, taught in separate classrooms, but then considered to be “unteachable.” Later, children like these would be killed in order to remove them from the population.Wikimedia Commons 17 of 38Members of the League of German Girls put up posters for their group in Worms, 1933.Wikimedia Commons 18 of 38A family gazes lovingly at their boy, a member of the Hitler Youth, February 1943..Wikimedia Commons 19 of 38A Jewish woman peruses the wares of a street vendor in Radom, Poland, 1940.Wikimedia Commons 20 of 38Members of the League of German Girls at work cleaning in a Berlin tenement house, date unspecified.Wikimedia Commons 21 of 38A long line of Jewish citizens wait in line outside of a travel company in hopes of fleeing Germany. Berlin, January 1939.Wikimedia Commons 22 of 38A proud new husband wears his SS uniform on his wedding day in December 1942.Wikimedia Commons 23 of 38Nazi party members display election propaganda outside of a church in Berlin on July 23, 1933.Wikimedia Commons 24 of 38Boys ceremonially jump over a fire as part of a traditional summer solstice festival in Berlin, 1937.Wikimedia Commons 25 of 38Reichsbischof Ludwig Müller gives a speech, the Nazi flag draped upon his pulpit, at the Berlin Cathedral in September 1934.Wikimedia Commons 26 of 38Nazi party members post signs on a Jewish storefront encouraging Germans to boycott the shop in Berlin on April 1, 1933.Wikimedia Commons 27 of 38Newlyweds admire their rings at an unspecified location, 1944.Wikimedia Commons 28 of 38Newborn babies from the Lebensborn Program. These children are the offspring of carefully selected “racially-pure” parents. September 1941.Wikimedia Commons 29 of 38Two SS men participate in the christening of a baby, 1936.Wikimedia Commons 30 of 38Relocated children salute the flag at an unidentified Kinderlandverschickung camp, date unspecified.Wikimedia Commons 31 of 38A Jewish-owned shop sits vandalized in Berlin on November 10, 1938, following Kristallnacht, the infamous pogrom that left thousands of synagogues and Jewish businesses destroyed.OFF/AFP/Getty Images 32 of 38A French woman, conscripted into labor, works at a factory in Berlin, 1943.
As the war raged on, more and more women were made to enter the workforce.Wikimedia Commons 33 of 38A group of foreign laborers eats lunch at the Scherl publishing house in Berlin, February 1943.
The “OST” on their shirts signifies that they were Eastern Europeans who have been forced into labor.Wikimedia Commons 34 of 38Children and their parents walk down into an air shelter in Berlin, October 1941.Wikimedia Commons 35 of 38Young boys ride out the night in the air raid shelter of the National Air Transport Ministry in Berlin, 1940.Wikimedia Commons 36 of 38Men, women, and children work together to put out the fires following an air raid, location unspecified, 1942.Wikimedia Commons 37 of 38In 1945, as Allied troops took Germany, many officials, fearing reprisals, committed suicide. Here, the mayor of Leipzig has taken his own life at his desk.Wikimedia Commons 38 of 38Like this gallery?Share it:
Share
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And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts:
How Hitler And The Nazi Party Convinced Germany To Vote For Fascism
Meet The Edelweiss Pirates: The Little-Known Teenaged Resistance Fighters Of Nazi Germany
Albert Einstein’s Letters Expressing Fears About Nazi Germany To Be Auctioned
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1 of 38 2 of 38 3 of 38 4 of 38 5 of 38Students salute their teacher in Berlin, January 1934.
Most teachers in Nazi Germany were required to join the National Socialist Teachers League, which mandated that they take an oath of loyalty and obedience to Hitler. If their lessons did not conform to party ideals, they risked being reported by their students or colleagues.Wikimedia Commons 6 of 38Children buy a frozen dessert from a street vendor in Berlin, 1934.Wikimedia Commons 7 of 38Volunteers gather Christmas donations for the poor in Berlin, December 1935.Wikimedia Commons 8 of 38Children wave flags before leaving Berlin, circa 1940-1945.
These children are being evacuated from the city to live in Kinderlandverschickung camps, where they will be safe from air raids. Many will be separated from their families.Wikimedia Commons 9 of 38Young women belonging to the League of German Girls, the female division of the Hitler Youth, practice gymnastics, 1941.Wikimedia Commons 10 of 38German children learn geography in a Nazi-run school in the Silesia region of Poland, October 1940.
Schools received a new curriculum that focused on racial biology and population policy. Teachers regularly showed propaganda films in the classroom, and worked racial politics into every part of education.Wikimedia Commons 11 of 38Hitler Youth boys play tug of war while wearing gas masks in Worms, 1933.Wikimedia Commons 12 of 38People at a resettlement camp in Lublin, Poland receive framed photos of Adolf Hitler to hang in their apartments, 1940.Wikimedia Commons 13 of 38Hitler Youth members camp out in a tent at an unspecified location, 1933.Wikimedia Commons 14 of 38A group of men read a propaganda billboard titled “The Jews Are Our Misfortune” in Worms, 1933.Wikimedia Commons 15 of 38Members of the Reich Labor Service at work, circa 1940.
This state-run labor program both helped lessen the effects of unemployment and create a Nazi-indoctrinated workforce, requiring each young man to serve for a six-month period.Wikimedia Commons 16 of 38Children with Down syndrome sit at Schönbrunn Psychiatric Hospital, 1934.
Mentally challenged children were forcibly sterilized to keep them from breeding. They were, initially, taught in separate classrooms, but then considered to be “unteachable.” Later, children like these would be killed in order to remove them from the population.Wikimedia Commons 17 of 38Members of the League of German Girls put up posters for their group in Worms, 1933.Wikimedia Commons 18 of 38A family gazes lovingly at their boy, a member of the Hitler Youth, February 1943..Wikimedia Commons 19 of 38A Jewish woman peruses the wares of a street vendor in Radom, Poland, 1940.Wikimedia Commons 20 of 38Members of the League of German Girls at work cleaning in a Berlin tenement house, date unspecified.Wikimedia Commons 21 of 38A long line of Jewish citizens wait in line outside of a travel company in hopes of fleeing Germany. Berlin, January 1939.Wikimedia Commons 22 of 38A proud new husband wears his SS uniform on his wedding day in December 1942.Wikimedia Commons 23 of 38Nazi party members display election propaganda outside of a church in Berlin on July 23, 1933.Wikimedia Commons 24 of 38Boys ceremonially jump over a fire as part of a traditional summer solstice festival in Berlin, 1937.Wikimedia Commons 25 of 38Reichsbischof Ludwig Müller gives a speech, the Nazi flag draped upon his pulpit, at the Berlin Cathedral in September 1934.Wikimedia Commons 26 of 38Nazi party members post signs on a Jewish storefront encouraging Germans to boycott the shop in Berlin on April 1, 1933.Wikimedia Commons 27 of 38Newlyweds admire their rings at an unspecified location, 1944.Wikimedia Commons 28 of 38Newborn babies from the Lebensborn Program. These children are the offspring of carefully selected “racially-pure” parents. September 1941.Wikimedia Commons 29 of 38Two SS men participate in the christening of a baby, 1936.Wikimedia Commons 30 of 38Relocated children salute the flag at an unidentified Kinderlandverschickung camp, date unspecified.Wikimedia Commons 31 of 38A Jewish-owned shop sits vandalized in Berlin on November 10, 1938, following Kristallnacht, the infamous pogrom that left thousands of synagogues and Jewish businesses destroyed.OFF/AFP/Getty Images 32 of 38A French woman, conscripted into labor, works at a factory in Berlin, 1943.
As the war raged on, more and more women were made to enter the workforce.Wikimedia Commons 33 of 38A group of foreign laborers eats lunch at the Scherl publishing house in Berlin, February 1943.
The “OST” on their shirts signifies that they were Eastern Europeans who have been forced into labor.Wikimedia Commons 34 of 38Children and their parents walk down into an air shelter in Berlin, October 1941.Wikimedia Commons 35 of 38Young boys ride out the night in the air raid shelter of the National Air Transport Ministry in Berlin, 1940.Wikimedia Commons 36 of 38Men, women, and children work together to put out the fires following an air raid, location unspecified, 1942.Wikimedia Commons 37 of 38In 1945, as Allied troops took Germany, many officials, fearing reprisals, committed suicide. Here, the mayor of Leipzig has taken his own life at his desk.Wikimedia Commons 38 of 38Like this gallery?Share it:
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1 of 38
2 of 38
3 of 38
4 of 38
5 of 38Students salute their teacher in Berlin, January 1934.
Most teachers in Nazi Germany were required to join the National Socialist Teachers League, which mandated that they take an oath of loyalty and obedience to Hitler. If their lessons did not conform to party ideals, they risked being reported by their students or colleagues.Wikimedia Commons
6 of 38Children buy a frozen dessert from a street vendor in Berlin, 1934.Wikimedia Commons
7 of 38Volunteers gather Christmas donations for the poor in Berlin, December 1935.Wikimedia Commons
8 of 38Children wave flags before leaving Berlin, circa 1940-1945.
These children are being evacuated from the city to live in Kinderlandverschickung camps, where they will be safe from air raids. Many will be separated from their families.Wikimedia Commons
9 of 38Young women belonging to the League of German Girls, the female division of the Hitler Youth, practice gymnastics, 1941.Wikimedia Commons
10 of 38German children learn geography in a Nazi-run school in the Silesia region of Poland, October 1940.
Schools received a new curriculum that focused on racial biology and population policy. Teachers regularly showed propaganda films in the classroom, and worked racial politics into every part of education.Wikimedia Commons
11 of 38Hitler Youth boys play tug of war while wearing gas masks in Worms, 1933.Wikimedia Commons
12 of 38People at a resettlement camp in Lublin, Poland receive framed photos of Adolf Hitler to hang in their apartments, 1940.Wikimedia Commons
13 of 38Hitler Youth members camp out in a tent at an unspecified location, 1933.Wikimedia Commons
14 of 38A group of men read a propaganda billboard titled “The Jews Are Our Misfortune” in Worms, 1933.Wikimedia Commons
15 of 38Members of the Reich Labor Service at work, circa 1940.
This state-run labor program both helped lessen the effects of unemployment and create a Nazi-indoctrinated workforce, requiring each young man to serve for a six-month period.Wikimedia Commons
16 of 38Children with Down syndrome sit at Schönbrunn Psychiatric Hospital, 1934.
Mentally challenged children were forcibly sterilized to keep them from breeding. They were, initially, taught in separate classrooms, but then considered to be “unteachable.” Later, children like these would be killed in order to remove them from the population.Wikimedia Commons
17 of 38Members of the League of German Girls put up posters for their group in Worms, 1933.Wikimedia Commons
18 of 38A family gazes lovingly at their boy, a member of the Hitler Youth, February 1943..Wikimedia Commons
19 of 38A Jewish woman peruses the wares of a street vendor in Radom, Poland, 1940.Wikimedia Commons
20 of 38Members of the League of German Girls at work cleaning in a Berlin tenement house, date unspecified.Wikimedia Commons
21 of 38A long line of Jewish citizens wait in line outside of a travel company in hopes of fleeing Germany. Berlin, January 1939.Wikimedia Commons
22 of 38A proud new husband wears his SS uniform on his wedding day in December 1942.Wikimedia Commons
23 of 38Nazi party members display election propaganda outside of a church in Berlin on July 23, 1933.Wikimedia Commons
24 of 38Boys ceremonially jump over a fire as part of a traditional summer solstice festival in Berlin, 1937.Wikimedia Commons
25 of 38Reichsbischof Ludwig Müller gives a speech, the Nazi flag draped upon his pulpit, at the Berlin Cathedral in September 1934.Wikimedia Commons
26 of 38Nazi party members post signs on a Jewish storefront encouraging Germans to boycott the shop in Berlin on April 1, 1933.Wikimedia Commons
27 of 38Newlyweds admire their rings at an unspecified location, 1944.Wikimedia Commons
28 of 38Newborn babies from the Lebensborn Program. These children are the offspring of carefully selected “racially-pure” parents. September 1941.Wikimedia Commons
29 of 38Two SS men participate in the christening of a baby, 1936.Wikimedia Commons
30 of 38Relocated children salute the flag at an unidentified Kinderlandverschickung camp, date unspecified.Wikimedia Commons
31 of 38A Jewish-owned shop sits vandalized in Berlin on November 10, 1938, following Kristallnacht, the infamous pogrom that left thousands of synagogues and Jewish businesses destroyed.OFF/AFP/Getty Images
32 of 38A French woman, conscripted into labor, works at a factory in Berlin, 1943.
As the war raged on, more and more women were made to enter the workforce.Wikimedia Commons
33 of 38A group of foreign laborers eats lunch at the Scherl publishing house in Berlin, February 1943.
The “OST” on their shirts signifies that they were Eastern Europeans who have been forced into labor.Wikimedia Commons
34 of 38Children and their parents walk down into an air shelter in Berlin, October 1941.Wikimedia Commons
35 of 38Young boys ride out the night in the air raid shelter of the National Air Transport Ministry in Berlin, 1940.Wikimedia Commons
36 of 38Men, women, and children work together to put out the fires following an air raid, location unspecified, 1942.Wikimedia Commons
37 of 38In 1945, as Allied troops took Germany, many officials, fearing reprisals, committed suicide. Here, the mayor of Leipzig has taken his own life at his desk.Wikimedia Commons
38 of 38Like this gallery?Share it:
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Everyday Life In Nazi Germany: 33 Photographs Of “Normal” Life In The Third Reich View Gallery
Everyday Life In Nazi Germany: 33 Photographs Of “Normal” Life In The Third Reich View Gallery
Everyday Life In Nazi Germany: 33 Photographs Of “Normal” Life In The Third Reich View Gallery
Everyday Life In Nazi Germany: 33 Photographs Of “Normal” Life In The Third Reich View Gallery
Everyday Life In Nazi Germany: 33 Photographs Of “Normal” Life In The Third Reich
View Gallery
While the Nazis, for example, perpetrated atrocities against Jews and others they deemed second-class citizens, many other Germans were simply living their lives.
They went to school, joined clubs, got married, went to work, went shopping… They did everything that every normal person does – but they did it before the backdrop of one of the darkest periods in history.
Yet in the shadows of everyday life in Nazi Germany, horror became quotidian.
Government officials indoctrinated children as school curriculums were shifted to push the radical new political agenda. Propaganda films took over classrooms, and teachers who stepped out of line risked being reported.
Worse yet, families deemed undesirable were marked and ushered into ghettos in Germany’s occupied territories. Their shops were vandalized and they were harassed on the streets. The disabled were forcibly sterilized. Millions of people were forced into work camps and ultimately exterminated.
Soon, war broke out. Husbands rushed off to the front lines to fight and die while their wives and sometimes children worked in factories, hid in shelters, or escaped into the countryside and even abroad.
But throughout it all, life went on. The people of Germany lived in and often simply accepted the new normal that came with the rise of fascism –- a state of normalcy that, if the war had ended differently, could have become normal, everyday life for much of the rest of Europe as well.
The photos above reveal what “normal” life looked like on the German homefront both before and during the war, as the horrors of the Nazi regime, for many, only gradually began to sink in.
Intrigued by this look at life in Nazi Germany? For more glimpses into life during World War II, have a look at 44 Holocaust photos from the tragic to the inspiring, as well as an overview of Japan’s World War II-era reign of terror.
