History

Historical Figures of the Third Reich

This section contains information about historical figures of the Third Reich that appear or are mentioned in Sisters. The actions these men did were evil, criminal, and horrific. The information provided here is for educational purposes only.

Josef Dietrich

28 May 1892 – 21 April 1966

Dietrich was Hitler’s chauffeur and bodyguard and played a key role during the Night of the Long Knives. He led the squad which executed SA personnel deemed to be traitors. During WWII, he was one of the highest ranking officers in the Waffen-SS. He commanded the 1st SS Panzer Corps in the Battle of Normandy and commanded the 5th Panzer Army later in the war.

Rank: SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer und Generaloberst of the Waffen-SS (SS General and General of the Waffen-SS)

Joseph Goebbels

29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945

Goebbels was head of the propaganda ministry, which controlled film, radio, and the press. This office was responsible for spewing Nazi views on all public fronts. At the end of WWII, he and his wife committed suicide and euthanized their six children rather than face the wrath of the Allies.

Office: Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda

Reinhard Heydrich

7 March 1904 – 4 June 1942

Known as “The Man with The Iron Heart,” Heydrich was the most fearsome member of the Nazi elite. He committed brutal crimes against humanity and orchestrated the Final Solution (he chaired the Wannsee Conference to organize its implementation). He was assassinated in Prague.

Rank: SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Polizei (SS-General and General of the Police)

Heinrich Himmler

7 October 1900 – 12 May 1945

One of the most powerful men in the Third Reich, Himmler was head of the infamous security force, the Schutzstaffel (SS). He controlled concentration camps and was one of the men directly responsible for the Holocaust. He was fascinated with the occult and mysticism, incorporating those themes into the SS.

Rank: Reichsführer of the Schutzstaffel (There is no direct English translation. He was the head of the SS).

Adolf Hitler

20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945

Hitler was the absolute ruler and dictator (Führer) of the Third Reich. He is the most famous of all the Nazis. He wrote Mein Kampf (My Struggle), an autobiography/manifesto of his warped interpretation of the world.

Offices: Führer of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (the Nazi Party), Chancellor of the German Reich, Führer of the German Reich

Erwin Rommel

15 November – 14 October 1944

Known as “The Desert Fox,” Rommel was a highly decorated officer. He commanded the 7th Panzer Division during the invasion of France and the German and Italian forces in the North African Campaign. He was respected by both sides. After a military plot to overthrow Hitler, Rommel was implicated in it, arrested, and given the option to commit suicide. His role in the plot is unknown.

Rank: Generalfeldmarschall (Field Marshal)

Other Historical Figures

This section contains information about historical figures outside of the Third Reich that appear or are mentioned in Sisters. The information provided here is for educational purposes only.

Michael Dukakis

Born 3 November 1933

Dukakis was the Democratic candidate for the 1988 United States presidential election. His running mate was Lloyd Bensten. George H.W. Bush won the election

with 426 electoral votes. Dukakis received 111 electoral votes.

Matthias Koehl

22 January 1935 – 9 or 10 October 2014

Koehl was an American neo-Nazi Politian and was the longest serving leader of the American Nazi Party (47 years).

The Third Reich

This section contains information about projects, plans, organizations, and polices of the Third Reich that appear or are mentioned in Sisters. They are listed here for educational purposes only.

The Madagascar Plan

In June, 1940, this proposal called for the deportation of Jews to Madagascar. It would have involved the resettlement of Jews over a four-year period. This plan was ultimately dropped because of the British naval blockade and the eventual Final Solution

The Final Solution

This was, essentially, what we refer to as the Holocaust today. It was the Nazi plan for the extermination of Jews. It’s code name was Die Endlösung der Judenfrage (The Final Solution to the Jewish Question). Between the years of 1933 and 1945 an estimate of six million Jews were murdered, with a reported seventeen million victims overall.

The National Socialist German Workers' Party

Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei

Abbreviated as NSDAP

Commonly known as the Nazi Party, the NSDAP was Hitler’s political party (1920 – 1945). One could write a novel on its origins alone. In 1933, the Nazi Party seized power and dissolved all other parties. It established a

monopoly over the German parliament and eventually controlled all government functions.

Hitler Youth (Hitlerjugend)

Abbreviated as HY/HJ respectively

The HY was a youth branch of the Nazi Party (1933 – 1945, officially. It originated in 1922). It was a scout-like organization for males ages 14 – 18. Its uniform comprised of a tan shirt with pockets, a black neckerchief, black shorts, and an HY version of the Party armband. The group’s purpose was to indoctrinate young men with Nazi ideals.

League of German Girls (Bund Deutscher Mädel)

Abbreviated as BDM

The BDM was the female counterpart of the Hitler Youth organization (1930 – 1945). Its uniform comprised of a long blue skirt, a white blouse, and a black neckercheif. Its role was to train young women to be proper German wives, mothers, and homemakers; however, BDM activities included outdoors and sports such as camping, horseback riding, and gymnastics.

Lebensborn

Fount of Life

Lebensborn was a breeding program created by the SS to produce more Aryan children. Eligible women were encouraged to have intercourse with members of the SS and bear children. The women and children were cared for in special facilities. Himmler personally oversaw this program. After WWII, numerous mothers and children in the program were ostracized by their communities and often mistreated.

Night of the Long Knives

30 June 1934 – 2 July 1934

The Night of the Long Knives was a political purge executed by the Nazi Party. The purpose of it was to cement Adolf Hitler’s position in power. It was mostly directed at the leaders of the Sturmabteilung (SA), but included other political rivals as well.

Schutzstaffel

Commonly known as the SS

The English translation of Schutzstaffel is Protection Squadron. The SS was a paramilitary organization under the Nazi Party that served as a security and surveillance agency. The SS grew beyond its roots of providing security for NSDAP meetings and rallies and became one of the most powerful organizations in the Third Reich. The agency was responsible for concentration camps, instilling terror, and countless war crimes during WWII. Had Germany won the war, the SS would have become the central police agency and force.

Sturmabteilung

Commonly known as the SA or “Brownshirts”

The SA provided security at early Nazi rallies. They intimated rival political organizations by disrupting their meetings and fighting their security units. They incited violence against Jews (smashing Jewish storefront windows and raiding Jewish homes, for instance). The SA were absorbed into the SS after the Knight of the Long Knives.

The Waffen-SS

The Waffen-SS was the “army” of the SS. During WWII, they committed many atrocities and numerous crimes against humanity.

The Wannsee Conference

See “The Final Solution.”

Chaired by Reinhard Heydrich, this was the fateful meeting that brought the holocaust into being.

The Wehrmacht

The Wehrmacht was Germany’s armed forces in WWII. It included the Heer, the Kriegsmarine, and the Luftwaffe (Army, Navy, and Air Force).

Ranks of the SS and Heer

The following tables display the ranks next to their NATO code and US Army counterparts. Character Thomas Colburn (and later James) enlisted in the Heer.

References

Books, documentaries, and electronic media used in the research that went into writing Sisters. Read or watch if you're interested in learning more.

Applen, Tudor (Director), Greenwald Jr., John (Producer), & Grossman, Gary (Producer). (2007). National Geographic: Hitler and the Occult [Documentary]. United States: Wellar/Grossman Productions.

Barrett, Matthew (Producer), Hughes, Martin (Producer), Jones, Phil Howard (Producer), Nugus, Philip (Producer), & Oliphant, Antony (Producer). (2009). World War II in HD Colour [Documentary]. United Kingdom: NM Productions.

Dietrich, Otto (2010). The Hitler I knew - The Memoirs of the Third Reich’s Press Chief. New York, New York: Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

Frey, Christian (Director) & Knopp, Guido (Producer). (2002). Die Waffen-SS [Documentary]. Germany: Story House.

Gilbert, G.M. (1995). Nuremberg Diary. United States: Da Capo Press. Hitler, Adolf (1925). Mein Kampf. Location: Publisher.

Kubizek, August (1955). The Young Hitler I knew. Retrieved from https://archive.org/stream/TheYoungHitlerIKnew/TheYoungHitlerIKne wJr

Lobenstein-Reichmann, Anja (2008). Houston Stewart Chamberlain - Zur textlichen Konstruktion einer Weltanschauung: Eine sprach-, diskurs- und ideologiegeschichtliche Analyse. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. (p. 347).

Nursing, Cizik School of [Cizik School of Nursing]. (2017, February 24). CARING CORRUPTED – The Killing Nurses of the Third Reich [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/Rz8ge4aw8Ws

Ruffner, Kevin, & History Staff. (2003). Eagle and Swastika: CIA and Nazi War Criminals and Collaborators (U). Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency.

Adolf Hitler. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved 2016, 2017, & 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler

Erwin Rommel. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved 2016, 2017, & 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erwin_Rommel

Final Solution. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved 2016, 2017, & 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Solution

Hitler Youth. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved 2016, 2017, & 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler_Youth

League of German Girls. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved 2016, 2017, & 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_German_Girls

Madagascar Plan. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved 2016, 2017, & 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madagascar_Plan

Nazi Songs. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved 2016, 2017, & 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_songs

Ranks and insignia of the Waffen-SS. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved 2016, 2017, & 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranks_and_insignia_of_the_Waffen-SS

Schutzstaffel. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved 2016, 2017, & 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel

Uniforms of the Heer (1935-45). (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved 2016, 2017, & 2018, fromhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniforms_of_the_Heer_(1935%E2%80%93 45)

Untersturmführer. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved 2016, 2017, & 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Untersturmführer