Potato beetles as weapons of war and pigs for educating the masses – under National Socialism, animals weren’t exempt from (mis)appropriation. Jan Mohnhaupt tells their stories vividly and with an eye for everyday detail. Dog breeding served the Nazis as a model for their racial fanaticism. In primary school, insects were used to prepare children for war. And the stag was used to buttress the myth of the »German forest«. Mohnhaupt discovers animals and their unique role in National Socialism in diaries and specialist journals, school textbooks and propaganda material. In the style of a historical reportage, he follows in their footsteps, from horses on the Eastern Front to cats in German living rooms. And he makes clear: »The Nazi perspective on the world is reflected with surprising clarity even in this aspect of the Third Reich.«