The Nazis, to enforce their grip on every citizen's allegiance, developed a social system unprecedented in history. It was rigidly hierarchical, with the seemingly beneficent and ascetic figure of Hitler at the top -- the focus for the homage and aspirations of every German man, woman, and child. How did the "ordinary citizen" live under such a system? This book is filled with the facts, the data, and the details. The 12-Year Reich is the first comprehensive one-volume social history of Nazi Germany showing how Germans lived, worked, relaxed, and regarded themselves and others between 1933 and 1945. - Jacket flap.