First published in Munich in 1999 by C. Bertelsmann Verlag.

During the past twenty years, innumerable books about the Third Reich have been published, but little attention has been paid to the women who lived alongside the Nazi leaders. Magda Goebbels (1901-1945) is arguably the most contradictory and the most intriguing among them. What made a beautiful and intelligent woman go from being deeply in love with the ardent Zionist leader Victor Chaim Arlosoroff to marrying Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's minister of propaganda and a ferocious anti-Semite? Indeed, in the eyes of many people she was the 'First Lady' of the Reich, owing to Hitler's lifelong attachment to her. How could the devoted mother of six, the poster-child of family values during the Third Reich, turn into Medea and poison these six children? Anja Klabunde's thoroughly researched and remarkable biography for the first time brings together these stunning facts.

Magda is born at the beginning of the 20th century, the illegitimate child of a maidservant who feels burdened with a daughter she does not want. The girl grows up to become an ambitious woman, desperate for love and recognition. When Magda meets Joseph Goebbels, he appears to answer all her needs, and together they have six children. Towards the end of the Second World War, Magda has become physically and emotionally sick. As she takes her children into the Führer's bunker, her eldest daughter Helga experiences an overwhelming sense of foreboding.

First Published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.