The Great Depression of the thirties wiped out the fortunes of many families. A third of the workforce had lost their jobs; their families were starving. Hitler gave them hope and promised them work and bread. The author's family had survived the Crash of 1929 and the depression. To them, as to many others, Hitler was an uncouth, uneducated, ruthless rabble-rouser. Roswitha was born in that fateful year when a political deal between conservative Hindenburg and the National Socialist Party allowed Hitler to slip into the Chancellery — without a single vote.