This very rare book, Volksgenossen aus dem Westen Oberdonau bietet Euch eine neue Heimstatt, was produced in 1943 by the Gaupropaganda Leadership of Reichsgau Oberdonau for distribution to German evacuees coming from the bombed out Rheinland to be resettled along the Danube river in Reichsgau Oberdonau or Upper Danube in the area around Linz (now in Austria).

This Third Reich publication is very rare for a variety of historical reasons:

1)  the area of resettlement was the homeland of the Nazi Führer and German Reichschancellor Adolf Hitler;

2)  Oberdonau was an extremely rural part of the world in 1943 and the people being resettled in it were coming from the most populous and industrialized cities of the German Ruhrgebiet along the border with Holland and Belgium;

3)  the book is superbly written and illustrated with the obvious purpose of integrating the evacuees on a long-term basis.

Little had changed from the time Adolf Hitler left Oberdonau in 1907 and the time this book was published in 1943. Oberdonau was still a very backward place and the book was essential to integrating Germans who had come from a part of Germany 800 kilometers away. The book explains that the people of Oberdonau were happy to have their Volksgenossen or fellow Germans from the west take refuge with them and escape the horrors of "Total War."

There is a wonderful explanation of Reichsgau Oberdonau in terms of its size, its geography and its varied Kreise or districts, from the Alps to the low meadows along the Danube river. The reader is introduced to the types of houses to be found there (very different from those of the Rhineland), the castles and monasteries, rivers and forests. The book contains many children's verses and clever puzzles written in the dialect of Oberdonau, so different from the ordinary German spoken and read in the Rheinland.

Using many black & white illustrations the book contrasts city life in the Rheinland with country life in Oberdonau by showing manufactured things / natural things, items made of metal / items made of wood, people working in factories / people working outdoors, goods of all sorts / a very limited amount of merchandise, all the modern comforts / very simple life, indoor plumbing / outhouse, an exaggerated use of cosmetics / very simple hygiene, spectacular amusements / local talent, fancy clothing / local costumes, etc., etc. The section ends with a picture of German soldiers above a caption that says "Yet what is the difference - we are all one people". The book contains an excellent multi-page dictionary of words that are unique to Oberdonau and their equivalent in normal German.

The lyrics to the Franz Stelzhamer anthem "The Homeland Song of Oberdonau Land" are written out at length in the Oberdonau dialect and give the reader an excellent opportunity to read aloud and hear the dialect spoken by Hitler's ancestors, parents and neighbors. That would have been how Hitler spoke as an uneducated young man in the days before he joined the German Army.

The book explains that while there were 730 residents per square kilometer in the Rheinland in 1943 there were only about 73 residents per square kilometer in Reichsgau Oberdonau and that there were no cities in Oberdonau on the scale of Duisburg, Dusseldorf, Essen or Wuppertal.

Volksgenossen aus dem Westen Oberdonau bietet Euch eine neue Heimstatt is a rare look into the time and circumstances of the Third Reich in Germany and provides insights that absolutely can not be found elsewhere. It is unique. We have never seen another. It would be absolutely fundamental to anyone undertaking an objective examination of the life and times of Adolf Hitler, the Third Reich in general, or the resettlement of evacuees during the Third Reich. As you can see in our pictures the GI that brought the book home had a German add some translations here and there with a fountain pen. Everything is completely readable. The original cover of the book has been laminated to preserve it and was rebound to the original contents. Nice used condition.

Other Nazi era publications about Oberdonau for sale on USMBOOKS.com:

•  Des Führers Jugendstätten (Places From The Führer's Youth), illustrated 1939 book

•  Aus Adolf Hitlers Heimat (From Adolf Hitler’s Homeland), 1933 Nazi photo book

•  1940 Hardcover book Oberdonau die Heimat des Führers

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