Poster promoting the Reich Party Day, 1937. By 1937, the Party and the Army were capable of putting on a much more impressive (if rather delusionary) display for the Reichparteitag, including substantial numbers of soldiers, tanks and military aircraft following on Germany's rearmament, than would have been available to Leni Reifenstahl for the movie, "Triumph of the Will" in 1934. However, the official film record is by lesser cinematographers, and is relatively sparse and uninspired. By this time, the Nazis were securely in power, and a Reich Party demonstration had been relegated from primary to routine propaganda significance. Best regards, JR. 

Reichparteitag, 1937

"So you don't want to be protected.  Eh ?".  New Zealand-British cartoonist David Low's comment on "protective custody" as practiced in Nazi Germany (translation: being arrested and thrown in a concentration camp without trial or process), October, 1941.  Himmler washes his hands, in vaguely Pontius Pilate style, having carried out some vigorous "protection".  Best regards, JR.

Protection racket.

1937 photo of what appears to be a similar part of the façade of Berlin's Stadtschloss as shown in the recent "maypole" post.  The "City Palace" was the principal seat of the rulers of Brandenburg prior to the fall of the German Empire in 1918.  It had a complex history, particularly in the architectural sense.  The first palace was constructed in the 16th century; thereafter, its development was much affected by the vagaries of politics and style, and involved a number of total and partial demolitions.  By the mid-18th century, it had assumed its final form (at least to date) as a complex palace incorporating a number of (mainly Baroque) styles.

By the Nazi period, the great days of the palace were in the past.  It was occupied, in the main, by offices of a number of ministries and government agencies, and did not feature in any major way in Albert Speer's plans for the "New Berlin".  However, the attraction of the palace as a backdrop for official events and demonstrations could not entirely be resisted, in particular, because of the proximity of the open area of the Lustgarten.

The Lustgarten had a complex history of its own.  As the name suggests, the area had originally been laid out as a pleasure garden associated with the adjacent Stadtschloss.  Subsequently, it yo-yoed between pleasure garden and parade ground, depending on the varying inclinations of successive Brandenburg/Prussian rulers.  Not surprisingly, the Nazis favoured the parade ground option, paving over a large part of the area for use as a major rally venue.  Notable among the occasions for which the Stadtschloss and Lustgarten were employed were May Day celebrations, which were blown up from traditional community events to (in Berlin's case at any rate) huge pseudo-volkisch rallies on a Nuremburg-like scale.  Through the late-1930s, huge May Day rallies and parades, starring the Fuhrer, were focused on the Lustgarten and Stadtschloss area.  Best regards, JR.