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Excerpt from The Cage

Published in 1986

Germany was in a state of political and economic chaos at the end of World War I (1914-18). (See Winston Churchill entry in chapter one for more information on Germany before World War II.) Future German leader Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) spent much of the 1920s building up the Nazi Party (pronounced "NOHT-see"; taken from the full German name of the National Socialist German Workers' Party) to restore order and glory to the German nation. The Nazis organized a strong nationalistic movement in Germany—a movement that glorified all things German—and demanded blind devotion to their party's teachings.

After becoming the leader of Germany in 1933, Hitler launched a frightening campaign of suppression built on fear and hatred. Hitler was an ardent anti-Semite, meaning he held a deep-seated hatred for Jewish people. He blamed the Jews for the depressed...