Nazi wives : the women at the top of Hitler's Germany /

Goering, Goebbels, Himmler, Heydrich, Bormann, Hess - names synonymous with power and influence in the Third Reich. Perhaps less familiar are Carin, Emmy, Magda, Margaret, Lina, Gerda and Ilse. These are the women behind the infamous men - complex individuals with distinctive personalities who were captivated by Hitler and whose everyday lives were governed by Nazi ideology. Throughout the rise and fall of Nazism these women loved and lost, raised families and quarrelled with their husbands and each other, all the while jostling for position with the mighty Fuhrer himself. And yet they have been treated as minor characters, their significance ignored, as if they were unaware of their husband's murderous acts. This book explores these women in detail, skilfully interweaving their stories through years of struggle, power, decline and destruction into the post-war twilight of denial and delusion.