History is what a photograph conveys through its ‘visual language.’

Paul von Hindenburg, Germany's national hero, who was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal in the first year of the First World War and served as Chief of the German General Staff between 1916 and 1919, served as President of Germany from 1925 to 1934.
Hindenburg was re-elected President in 1932 with the joint support of the centre-right and centre-left, defeating Adolf Hitler, the rising star of the Nazi Party, in an attempt to prevent him from being elected President. Nevertheless, on 30 January 1933, he was forced to appoint Adolf Hitler, leader of the far-right Nazi Party (NSDAP), which had received the highest number of votes in the elections, as Chancellor.

Following the death of Paul von Hindenburg in 1934, Adolf Hitler announced that he had abolished the office of President, stating that no one could replace Paul von Hindenburg as President, and that he would now assume both the office of Chancellor and President under the title of Führer.

It may be interesting to learn about the careers and life stories of the NSDAP leaders posing alongside Hitler in the photograph taken on 30 January 1933, also known as the day Adolf Hitler seized power.

In this cover photo, Hitler is flanked by two very important Nazis.

The name on Hitler's right is Dr Joseph Goebbels. He served as Germany's Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 1945. He is still the first name that comes to mind when propaganda is mentioned.

With the Russians entering Berlin, the German Führer Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his Berlin bunker on 30 April 1945.

Before committing suicide, Hitler had stipulated that Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz should become President of Germany and Dr Joseph Goebbels should become Chancellor of Germany.

After assuming the role of Chancellor of Germany, Goebbels committed suicide on 1 May 1945, along with his wife and six children, after his call for a ceasefire with the Russians was rejected.

To Hitler's immediate left is another very famous and interesting name.

Ernst Röhm, whom we see alongside Hitler wearing a swastika uniform, was the founder of the militant Storm Troopers (SA) that brought the Nazis to power, and he commanded the SA from its founding in 1931 until 1934. He was one of the few people who could address Hitler simply as Adolf.

On 30 June 1934, during a purge known as the Night of the Long Knives, SA leaders, including Röhm, were arrested on charges of treason on Hitler's orders. Röhm was shot dead with a pistol one day after his arrest.

Again, in the cover photo, right next to Ernst Röhm, we see another very famous Nazi, Hermann Göring. Hermann Wilhelm Göring was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1945. He was the founder of the German Secret Police, the Gestapo, and the legendary commander of the Nazi German Air Force.

After Germany's defeat in 1945, he was captured by American soldiers. Following a 218-day trial in Nuremberg, he was sentenced to death by hanging.

Hermann Göring committed suicide by ingesting cyanide before his death sentence could be carried out.

In the same photograph, next to Hermann Göring, we see another very famous Nazi. Heinrich Himmler was the commander of the notorious SS Guard Units, the Supreme Commander of the German Police, and the German Minister of the Interior.

He was one of the most powerful figures in Nazi Germany.

Due to his blind loyalty to Hitler, he was nicknamed Loyal Heinrich.

After Germany's defeat in 1945, he was captured by the British but committed suicide by drinking cyanide before he could be brought to trial.

The next person we will examine in the photo below is Adolf Hitler's deputy, Rudolf Hess. His story is as interesting as it is hard to believe.

Rudolf Hess was one of Hitler's closest associates. He was with him at almost every stage of the process that brought Hitler to power.

Rudolf Hess became one of Hitler's most ardent followers after hearing the Nazi Party leader's speech at a rally in Munich in 1920.

Rudolf Hess joined the Nazi Party as its 16th member on 1 July 1920 and was with Hitler during the famous Beer Hall Putsch on 8-9 November 1923.

Following the failure of this coup attempt, also known as Hitler's coup, he was arrested alongside Hitler.

While Hitler was in prison, he dictated the first chapters of his book, which he named Mein Kampf (My Struggle), to Rudolf Hess, who was in the same cell. The two-volume Mein Kampf, a political-ideological book with autobiographical features, was a propaganda book that did not feel the need to rely on evidence.

Rudolf Hess pictured alongside Himmler

The book sold 241,000 copies, excluding free distributions, placing it among the best-selling books.

Hitler did not forget this loyal friend when he came to power and appointed him to important positions. Rudolf Hess held the title of Deputy Führer and also acted as his representative when the Führer was absent.

But after taking off from Augsburg on 10 May 1940 in his own Messerschmidt Bf110 aircraft to fly to Great Britain, nothing was ever the same again.

A piece of the fuselage of Hess's Bf110 aircraft is now on display at the Imperial War Museum.

While Hitler was at war with Britain, he intended to launch Operation Barbarossa, a plan to invade Russia.

Opening a new front with Russia while at war with Britain worried Hess, and he embarked on a reckless venture. He would fly to Britain alone, carry a peace proposal to the British, and strengthen Germany's hand in its war with Russia.

Believing him to be one of the leading figures opposed to the British government's war policy, he flew alone to Scotland hoping to hold peace talks with the Duke of Hamilton.

In the photograph below, taken in Nuremberg in 1927, Rudolf Hess can be seen immediately behind Hitler and Heinrich Himmler at the front.

This flight has gone down in the history of the Second World War. While the war between the two countries raged on at full speed and even a fly in the sky was considered an enemy and shot down, the skilled pilot Rudolf Hess managed to avoid capture by both sides and reached a point just 20 kilometres from the Duke of Hamilton's estate in Scotland.

Rudolf Hess avoided being caught by British aircraft by flying very low and deviating slightly from his route. As a result, he was running low on fuel. In the final stage, he raised his aircraft and jumped out with a parachute.

The British, unable to catch and shoot down his aircraft in the air, captured Hess, who had injured his leg during the landing.

The Duke of Hamilton was summoned to the place where Hess was being held and confronted with Hess. The Duke said he had no connection with the matter.

The downside was that when Hitler heard about the incident, he declared Hess insane and said he had nothing to do with it.

Rudolf Hess was imprisoned in England until 1945, when England won the war. When the trial of the Nazi leaders began in Nuremberg, he was brought from England to Germany to stand trial.

Although everyone treated Rudolf Hess as mad because of his crazy act, the court decided that he should be tried and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

Rudolf Hess was placed in Spandau Prison in Berlin with six other Nazi leaders who had received heavy prison sentences.

Some of the other prisoners were released over time due to health problems or because they had served their sentences.

By 1966, Hess was the only one left. Despite various campaigns for his release, Hess was not released, mainly due to opposition from the Soviets. The Soviet Union had not forgiven Hess for Germany's plan (which never materialised) to make a peace agreement with Britain and then attack them with full force.

The 600-cell Spandau Prison was kept operational for its sole prisoner from 1966 until Hess's death in 1987, at an estimated annual cost of DM 800,000.

Hess died in Spendau in 1987 at the age of 93. He had spent the last 47 years of his life in prison. His death was recorded as a suicide.

Hess's grave in Wunsiedel became a site for neo-Nazi pilgrims and demonstrations every August on the anniversary of his death.

To prevent neo-Nazi visits, the church council did not renew the grave's lease when it expired in 2011. With the final consent of his family, Hess's grave was reopened on 20 July 2011. His remains were cremated and his ashes were scattered at sea by family members. The gravestone bearing the inscription ‘Ich hab's gewagt’ (‘I dared’) was destroyed.

Spendau Prison was also demolished in 1987 to prevent it from becoming a neo-Nazi shrine.

Now let's examine the less familiar faces in the photo on the cover.

Wilhelm Kube is on the far left of the photograph. He joined the Nazi party in 1927. When Hitler came to power, he appointed him Chief of all Prussian provinces. On 17 July 1941, following Germany's invasion of the western parts of the Soviet Union, Hitler appointed him General Commissioner of Belarus.

Wilhelm Kube established German authority in Belarus and carried out the extermination of the Jews.

On 22 September 1943, he was killed in his apartment in Minsk when a bomb planted under his bed by the resistance movement exploded while he was asleep.

In the photograph, we see Hanns Kerrl next to Wilhelm Kube. Hans Kerrl served as Prussian Minister of Justice from 1933 to 1934 and as Minister for Churches from 16 July 1935 until his death from heart failure in Paris on 15 December 1941.

The task of this newly created ministry was to ensure the churches' compliance with Nazi ideology.

In the photograph, we see Walther Darre, who would become Germany's Minister of Food and Agriculture, between Göring and Himmler.

Walther Darre was the developer of the Blut und Boden (Blood and Soil) concept, which supported the Lebensraum concept that fuelled Nazi ideology. He argued that the German master race was integrated with the land on which it lived. He maintained that agriculture was crucial for the country's future and that working the land would preserve the superior German race.

Saare, the seventh most important figure in the SS organisation, became Minister of Food and Agriculture in 1933. However, in 1942, he fell out of favour with Hitler on the grounds that he was too theoretical.

Arrested by the Americans in 1945 on charges of war crimes, Darre was sentenced to seven years in prison in 1949. He was released in 1950 after serving what was deemed to be sufficient time. He died in 1953 at a private clinic in Munich.

The last person we will examine in the photograph is Wilhelm Frick, who is posing seated in a chair.

Wilhelm Frick, who was tried alongside Hitler after his famous Munich Beer Hall Putsch, is the second person in civilian clothing alongside Hitler among the nine people in the picture below. The other seven are officers and are posing with their swords. The photograph was taken before the High Court hearing of the trial that followed the Munich Beer Hall Putsch.

Wilhelm Frick was Director of the Munich Police Criminal Investigation Department at the time of the coup. When Hitler came to power in January 1933, he appointed Frick as Reich (German) Minister of the Interior.

Frick was convicted at the Nuremberg trials at the end of World War II for initiating and waging war, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and planning and conducting the war.

Wilhelm Frick, found guilty on 1 October 1946, was executed on 16 October 1946. His last words were ‘Long live eternal Germany’. His body was cremated at the Ostfriedhof (Eastern Cemetery) in Munich and his ashes were scattered in the Isar River.

In this photograph, the only person apart from Hitler wearing civilian clothes is Wilhelm Frick.