Zen 698: Brand managing the Nazis

Fascinating piece on the New Design Observer blog. Journo Steve Heller has finally tracked down the semi-mythical 'graphics standard manual' for the National Socialist German Workers Party a.k.a. the Nazis.

Not camp at all. Really. Not a hint of campness.

Nestling within the pages of the 'Organisationsbuch der NSDAP' - a handbook "detailing the organizational principles and mechanics of building the Nazi movement" - is a 70-page chapter explaining just what you could and couldn't do with the badges, uniforms, banners, flags, armbands and other symbols of the Hitler state.

Says Heller: " The book 'over-explains the obvious' and leaves no Nazi Party organization question, regardless of how minute, unanswered. "

Heller also gives a really interesting whistlestop tour through the design Who's Who of the Third Reich, explaining who managed all the key elements, from monumental architecture (Albert Speer) to the swastika itself (Dr Robert Ley).

I doubt the ODN is going to be available in paperback on Amazon anytime soon, but this is a genuinely insightful and intriguing piece of cultural history, even if it is for and about bastards.


Article: The Master Race's Graphic Masterpiece [LINK]