Rare color photos from pre-war Nazi Germany, 1933-1939

The photos displayed here are taken by Hugo Jagger, Adolf Hitler's former personal photographer. He came to power and traveled with Hitler during World War II.

He was one of the few photographers who were using color photography techniques at the time. When the war was ending in 1945, Jagger hid the photographs in a leather suitcase. He then faced US troops, raising fears of possible arrest and prosecution for carrying so many images of such a wanted man.

When the soldiers opened the case, however, their attention was distracted by a bottle of cognac found there, which they opened and shared with Jagger.

Jagger buried the photographs inside 12 glass jars outside Munich. The photographer returned to the burial site over several years to make sure they were safe. He dug up all the photographs ten years later in 1955, placing them in a bank vault. In 1965, Jagger sold them to Life magazine.

The Nazi Party was not just a political organization, it was an evil psychological propaganda machine. The Nazis had an incredible sense of aesthetics and fully understood the power of iconography and branding.

Here we see the Nazi world through these rare color photographs. The symbols and colors of Nazism were carefully arranged for maximum psychological impact.

There was nothing accidental about the structure of the crooked cross or the use of dramatic colors such as red, white and black. Long, draping banners and standards with Roman eagles and gilded leaves were all designed to evoke images of power, power and connection to history.

Nazi symbols are fascinating. They look as good as bad. They are sharp, carefully tailored to catch the eye, and built to inspire passion. The armbands worn over the black uniform are a remarkable statement of virility and supreme confidence.

The totenkopf, in addition to the skull and cross bones on the SS uniform, was a deliberate move to instill fear and terror in the hearts of anyone who encountered the uniform. The men wearing it felt dangerously empowered by the uniform's appearance.

Ceremony was treated as an art form. There was nothing accidental or accidental about the Nazi spectacle. Everything was carefully staged and arranged.

Night processions consisted of fires and bonfires on which books were lit, all effectively choreographed. They rejoiced in tales of valor and glorified war. Images of the Nuremberg rallies still impress us today with the absolute precision and dramatic scale of the stage set by the Hitler regime on the Zeppelin fields.

The black-white-red color scheme is based on the colors of the German Empire's flag, the black-white-red color commonly associated with anti-German nationalists from the Weimar Republic after the fall of the German Empire.

Adolf Hitler in Mein Kampf defined the symbolism of the swastika flag: the red one represents the social idea of ​​the Nazi movement, the white disc represents the national idea, and the black swastika, used in Aryan cultures for millennia, " represents the mission of the mission. Arya Purusha's struggle for victory, and by the same token, the victory of creative work”.

Hitler knew that the colors red, white and black combined create a psychological sense of intimidation and power, which is why a lot of propaganda such as these banners use the same color combination.