Adoring Hitler: Color Photos of a Tyrant Among the Crowds

2 minute read

Billions of words, hundreds of books, scores of movies and plays and countless articles—in newspapers, magazines and online—have been written about Adolf Hitler. Most of those writings have tried, at some point, to explain or at least examine how a nondescript, failed artist was able to bend millions of people to his will, overrun a continent and pull much of the globe into a catastrophic world war.

That Hitler was a galvanizing speaker is evident to anyone who has ever heard recordings or seen footage of him in action. That his blather about “Aryan” racial superiority and a Thousand Year Reich appealed to Germans who felt subjugated by other Western powers after World War I is beyond dispute. That his reliance on scapegoats—Jews, communists, homosexuals, Slavs and others—helped cement his control of a regime headed by gangsters, degenerates and sociopaths is both a confirmation of the power of propaganda and a distressing commentary on the primal hatreds lurking beneath the veneer of “civilized” societies.

Whatever the true, core source of his malevolent charisma, there’s simply no getting around the fact that, for more than a decade in the middle part of the 20th century, men, women and children were drawn, in droves, to Hitler and his message. Here, LIFE.com offers color pictures by Hitler’s personal photographer, Hugo Jaeger, that testify to the Führer’s mass popularity, and the often frenzied response he was able to elicit from otherwise staid citizens of the Reich.

[Read the stranger-than-fiction tale of how Time Inc. came to own Jaeger’s archive, and see more of his photos]

Adolf Hitler greets the cheering throng at a rally in 1937.
Adolf Hitler greets the cheering throng at a rally in 1937.Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg, Germany, 1937.
Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg, Germany, 1937.Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Austrians cheer Adolf Hitler during his 1938 campaign (before the Anschluss) to unite Austria and Germany.
Austrians cheer Adolf Hitler during his 1938 campaign (before the Anschluss) to unite Austria and Germany.Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Austrians cheer Adolf Hitler during his 1938 campaign (before the Anschluss) to unite Austria and Germany.
Austrians cheer Adolf Hitler during his 1938 campaign (before the Anschluss) to unite Austria and Germany.Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Crowds greet a saluting Adolf Hitler at a cornerstone ceremony at a Volkswagen factory, 1938.
Crowds greet a saluting Adolf Hitler at a cornerstone ceremony at a Volkswagen factory, 1938.Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Crowds greet a saluting Adolf Hitler at a cornerstone ceremony at a Volkswagen factory, 1938.
Crowds greet a saluting Adolf Hitler at a cornerstone ceremony at a Volkswagen factory, 1938.Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Crowds at a cornerstone ceremony at a Volkswagen factory, 1938.
Crowds at a cornerstone ceremony at a Volkswagen factory, 1938.Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Torchlight rally honoring Adolf Hitler's 50th birthday, 1939.
Torchlight rally honoring Adolf Hitler's 50th birthday, 1939.Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Hundreds of thousands gather at a harvest festival and Nazi Party rally in Germany, 1937.
Hundreds of thousands gather at a harvest festival and Nazi Party rally in Germany, 1937.Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Guests of honor at a military demonstration for Hitler's 50th birthday celebration in Berlin.
Guests of honor at a military demonstration for Hitler's 50th birthday celebration in Berlin.Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
A crowd cheers in Florence, Italy, during Hitler's state visit in 1938.
A crowd cheers in Florence, Italy, during Hitler's state visit in 1938.Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Italian fascists during Adolf Hitler's 1938 state visit.
Italian fascists during Adolf Hitler's 1938 state visit.Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
A crowd in Munich, Germany, around the time of the 1938 Munich Conference.
A crowd in Munich, Germany, around the time of the 1938 Munich Conference.Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Paying tribute to Hitler during celebrations for his 50th birthday, Berlin, 1939.
Paying tribute to Hitler during celebrations for his 50th birthday, Berlin, 1939.Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

More Must-Reads From TIME

Contact us at letters@time.com