Berlin Under the Third Reich

On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor, beginning a period that would see Berlin serve as the nerve center of one of history's most destructive regimes.

Consolidation and Persecution

The Nazi transformation of Berlin was swift. Following the Reichstag Fire in February 1933, civil liberties were suspended. On May 10, 1933, Nazi students burned books by Jewish and "subversive" authors on the Opernplatz. The city's Jewish population, which had reached 160,000, was systematically targeted by discriminatory laws, leading eventually to mass deportations to death camps beginning in 1941.

Germania: The Megalomaniac Vision

Hitler and architect Albert Speer planned to rebuild Berlin as "Germania," a monumental capital designed to dwarf all others. The plans included a massive north-south axis and the "Volkshalle," a domed hall so vast it could have held 180,000 people. While construction began, the war eventually halted most projects.

War and Destruction

During World War II, Berlin was subjected to intense Allied bombing. By 1945, much of the city center was in ruins. The final Battle of Berlin in April-May 1945 was a brutal street-by-street struggle against the Soviet Red Army. Hitler committed suicide in his bunker on April 30, and the city surrendered on May 2. Berlin was left a landscape of rubble, to be divided by its victors.