This cover was created by Heinrich Hoffmann, the NSDAP’s official photographer, for the photobook Hitler on Germany, published by Franz Eher Nachfolger in 1932.
Hitler on Germany It was one of the most significant pieces of Nazi propaganda concerning the 1932 presidential elections. In the first round of those elections, Hindenburg beat Hitler, but failed to secure the 50 % required to avoid a second round. For the second round, President Hindenburg imposed the Easter Truce, which prohibited any campaign activity between 30 March and 3 April. Hitler, who relied on direct contact with the masses, was left with just seven days to reach as many Germans as possible. The solution was a Rohrbach Ro VIII Roland aircraft, registration D-1720, chartered from Lufthansa, which enabled him to hold 23 rallies in different cities, attended by tens of thousands of people, in just seven days.
Hitler lost the second round of the elections, but photographs from the campaign were compiled in the Hitler on Germany, of which 500,000 copies were printed. Its cover shows Hitler’s aeroplane flying over Germany and scattering swastikas across the entire country. Flight was not merely a means of transport; rather, the Nazi Party’s visual rhetoric sought to elevate him above Germany as if he were a political messiah.
The map also features another important detail. The territory of the Weimar Republic is shown in yellow, but there is a yellow line on the black background that also includes the Polish Corridor and Alsace-Lorraine – the two territories lost under the Treaty of Versailles that the Nazis actively claimed in all their statements. These two regions were the party’s central irredentist argument. The front page does not state this explicitly in text: it depicts it, discreetly, within the outline of the map.
Although Hitler lost the presidential election to Hindenburg in the second round on 10 April, his support increased by two million votes compared with the first round. Nine months later, he became Chancellor of Germany.
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