I went on the best tour of my life in Berlin last June--"The 3rd Reich in Berlin". The guide was incredibly knowledgeable and a good story-teller--better than any college professor I ever had. Everyone in the group was spellbound and before long I started taking notes on scraps of paper (the back of receipts, fliers, etc) because I didn't want to forget everything we had been told. I've hesitated writing this blog post because I don't want to sound like a textbook, however I do want to share the information. (This isn't particularly fun or easy reading, so if you want something more cheerful you might want to skip one.)
"Those who start by burning books will end by burning people."
The scene is set by the ravages of the Great Depression and the aftermath of WWI. In 15 years Germany had 20 governments, an average of 4 months a piece. Germany was the worst hit industrial country and this economic depression combined with the restrictions and the humiliation of the Treaty of Versailles is what many people believe to be the final blow to Germany's Parliamentary government. 
There was what is called the "Grab for power". In the elections the Social Democrats and the Communists combined got 14 millions votes while the Nazi party got 12 million; however, unfortunately the social democrats and the communists were unable to come together and form a left wing government. Then, February 27, 1933, the Reichstag (Germany's building of Parliament) burned down and as it burned Hilter gave a speech blaming the Communist Revolution for Germany's current situation domestically as well as it's lower status on the world scene. During the speech he unleashed 25,000 members of his private police force into the crowd to murder the opposition; his troops are commanded by generals that Hitler bribed with promises of getting back the land and respect that Germany last in WWI.
Hilter then takes the Parliament by force and surrounds the politicians with Nazi thugs while they vote on the "Enabling Act"
("special power allowed by the Weimer Constitution" to give the Chancellor the power to pass laws by decree without the involvement of the Reichstag" (wikipedia). Out of 230 members of Parliament, 96 voted against Hilter and they were all subsequently killed. (to right: monument at the top of the rebuilt Reichstag--the glass is to represent the effort of government at transparency in laws)
Although only 20% of the country joined the Nazi party people loved Hilter because he was charismatically promising to regain Germany's former stature and most importantly, Hilter promised to get rid of communism and find jobs for the 20% of the population that was unemployed. After Hitler takes control he immediately set about spreading the Nazi philosophy. Teachers were required to educate students about the Nazi world view so that students close to the age of 18 would be ready for Hilter's military tactics before the war begins. Also, a boy scout-esque organization called Hitler's Youth was formed for educational purposes. The rest is well known history. Hitler begins by rounding up the "lebensunwertes" (the life unworthy of life), cripples, homosexuals, mental deranged, etc and ordering doctors to use them for a series of cruel medical experimentations called T4 (the program was named after the street on which the building was located--pictured below). Then the "Mishlinger" (mixed blood- in this case meaning the Jews) are sent to ghettos; the ghettos were close to train stations so that they could be transported more easily to the concentration and work camps in eastern European cities (Prague, Warsaw, Krakow, etc). The cruelty to these populations is unfathomable and I'll only include two details that I found the most disgusting. Many soldiers found executions to be good entertainment for their families during picnics and female hair was found woven in some of the SS uniforms.
Of course, there were revolutionaries who tried to take Hitler out of power, but all attempts were unsuccessful. On July 20th, 1943, one group of senior level officers in Hilter's Army tried to assassinate him with a bomb during a meeting. When Ludwig Beck, the leader of the assassination plot, was discovered he was sent into a room with a gun and ordered to commit suicide; however, Beck only succeeded in wounding himself and another officer had to finish off the wounded general. Another group of insurgents were hung with a piano wire (middle c, to be exact, because Hitler found after extensive testing on humans that the middle c wire kept victims alive the longest while not breaking during the hanging). 
(Memorial for the "middle c" hangings)
Eventually, Russia was able to invade the city and every single remaining German was ordered to fight--man, women or child. School children were armed and anyone thought to be deserting the effort was hung on lampposts to serve as a warning to others. People however, were not able to go outside because of the constant shelling and nearly the entire population of the city moved permanently into the underground train tunnels-if a German didn't die for desertion, or by enemy gunfire their chances in the tunnels were still slim due to starvation and disease. Even after Hitler's death when a defeated people emerged from the tunnels they weren't safe from the sex starved and angry Russians who raped and killed thousands of Germans; this is known as "The Rape of Berlin"
By the end of the war Hitler, the murderer of hundreds of thousands of people, was a drooling 56 year old drug addicted stoke victim whose left side was completely dead. He lived entirely in his bunker and was only seen, dragging his left foot behind him, when meeting with his military council. Eventually, when all hope was lost for the Nazi army he married his mistress, Eva Braun, and passed out cyanide tablets to all the guests. The attendees' bodies were burned in the garden. Since then Hitler's bunker has been completely destroyed and there isn't even a sign posted in it's location for fear of Neo-Nazi uprisings.
(to right: the only swastika legally allowed to be displayed in Germany. It is in the floor boards of the Ministry of Propaganda building and remains for historical reasons).
(Below: the Jewish memorial--based on a Jewish tradition and designed to look like the pebbles left by loved ones on headstones)
