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BELIEF IN GERMANY - WAR EXPERIENCES FROM VERDUN TO THE [NAZI] OVERTHROW

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This is a fine 1937 edition of Der Glaube an Deutschland Ein Kriegserleben von Verdun bis zum Umsturz which translates as Belief in Germany, War Experiences from Verdun to the Overthrow (or Revolution), and has an unusual and highly complimentary Foreword by Adolf Hitler himself!

This book was written by German World War I veteran and author Hans Zöberlein, who joined Freikorps Epp after the end of World War I, and the NSDAP and SA in 1921. His name is barely recognizable today but at the time the Nazi Party was becoming a force to be dealt with in Germany, he was very much at the center of things that happened in the vicinity of Adolf Hitler.

In November 1923 Zöberlein participated in the Hitler Putsch in Munich and by 1928 he was the leader of the SA in the city of Munich. He held several positions in the NSDAP-Stadtrat of Munich and in 1934 he was appointed the Head of the Nazi Party Culture Office in Munich.

Der Glaube an Deutschland was one of the most popular German books about World War I, and after publication in 1931 it was made into the movie called Stosstrupp 1917. Zöberlein wrote the screenplay, directed and produced this 1934 movie about the plight and suffering of a German unit that was surrounded and attacked by French and British forces during various World War I battles.

He also wrote and produced a 1934 Nazi propaganda film about the Freikorps movement in post-World War I Germany called Um das Menschenrecht (For the Rights of Man).

By 1940 Zöberlein was a Leutnant as well as a Kriegsberichter or war correspondent in the Luftwaffe. He remained in that position until 1943 and by 1944 he was the leader of a Volkssturm unit at Tegernsee in Bavaria. He played a pivotal role in the massacre of German civilians in the town of Penzberg south of Munich in April 1945 for which he was sentenced to death in 1948. The conviction was overturned but he remained imprisoned until 1958. He died in 1964. Hans Zöberlein was the recipient of the Nazi Blood Order and the Golden Party Badge as well as several other military and civilian decorations.

Der Glaube an Deutschland starts with a Foreword by Adolf Hitler (shown above) about the importance of this book, that it contains something meaningful for everybody, soldiers, politicians, and contributing Germans of all layers of society. Chapters cover World War I battles at Verdun, Douamont, Cambrai, Flanders, Marne and the eventual massive retreat of German forces from France.

This is a fine 23rd edition of Der Glaube an Deutschland dated 1937, published by the Central Publishing House of the Nazi Party, Zentralverlag der NSDAP, Franz Eher Nachfolger of Munich. It is complete with the frontispiece portrait of Hans Zöberlein and has a Christmas 1937 dedication to “Dear William” on the first title page. William Borm’s library book plate is still inside the front cover.

William Borm was another German World War I veteran, and as the founder of an electro-acoustics company was appointed as a Nazi Wehrwirtschaftsführer during World War II. He became a politician after WW2 and served as a member of German Parliament from 1965 - 1987. He was rumored to be an informant of the Stasi in the DDR.