Collection of cards for the Germany Awakens album. Berlin, 1933

Collection of 44 cards intended for insertion into the album Deutschland erwacht – Germany Awakens: The Rise, Struggle, and Victory of the Nazi Party, issued as a propaganda showcase of the Nazi Party’s rise to power. Berlin, 1933.

Cards featuring color and black-and-white photographs documenting Adolf Hitler’s consolidation of power and the rise of the Nazi Party. Photographed by Heinrich Hoffmann, official Reich photographer of the Nazi Party and Adolf Hitler’s personal photographer, these cards were intended for insertion into the Deutschland erwacht (Germany Awakens) album, designed by Wilfrid Bade and published in 1933. 

The cards dramatically depict key events of the Nazi Party, which employed a variety of crowd-appealing elements. They focus primarily on the rise of the Führer and the enthusiastic public response to the Nazi Party and all it represented, flags, massive street parades, symbols, orchestras, folk singing, the Hitler Youth (Hitlerjugend), and other tools used to rally party members and supporters. These cards had a profound influence, especially on German youth who were first exposed to Nazi ideology in their teenage years and later went on to serve the movement as SS soldiers during World War II. The album completion cards were distributed in installments inside cigarette packs. Cards from this series are also on display in the permanent exhibition at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.

Cards all uniform in size: 12x8 cm. (Various numbers, non-sequential.) Overall good condition.