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142 reviews for:
The Death of Democracy: Hitler's Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic
Benjamin Carter Hett
4.21 AVERAGE
142 reviews for:
The Death of Democracy: Hitler's Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic
Benjamin Carter Hett
4.21 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
informative
medium-paced
This book is a must read for any American today. The past doesn't repeat, but it rhymes
A very good and concise overview of the collapse of the Weimar Republic and Hitler's rise to power in the early 1930s. This book covers political games played by the leading figures at the top of Weimar Republic and, at times, it feels like an episode of House of Cards. It's concerning that the history can repeat itself if we're not careful. This is an important read if you're concerned about the future of democracy or if you want to learn about the beginnings of Hitler's dictatorship in Nazi Germany.
Fantastic. Focuses on the key events and people of the Weimar Republic without digressions in a page turning, compact account.
Dispels common conceptions that led to Hitler’s rise, such as depression or reparations, while also focusing on the psyche of the German nation and its post WWI leaders.
Lays out well the Nazi propaganda victories and their rapid rise to prominence through synchronizing their message with rural Protestant voters. Later the book describes the consolidation of power through elimination of the press and rule of law.
The book illustrates the political intrigue and mishandling of the situation by establishment politicians (and at times nazi leaders) and the aftermath well. Some of the results are shockingly ironic.
Most fascinating is the description of the Weimar constitution and its shortfalls, and the dilemmas of preserving rule of law while ineffectually trying to bring the nazi party into a legitimate coalition government to moderate their views and defeat legislative gridlock.
While there are some passages that focus on the terrors faced by individuals, and the specter of horrific violence and genocide is never forgotten, this was not a book that was painful to read because it focuses on the politics of the era before the emergence of mass tragedy.
Incredible as both a historical account and as a description of a state in constitutional crisis. Many of the propaganda positions, rhetoric, and hopes of compromise mentioned will seem alarmingly similar to present day politics.
Dispels common conceptions that led to Hitler’s rise, such as depression or reparations, while also focusing on the psyche of the German nation and its post WWI leaders.
Lays out well the Nazi propaganda victories and their rapid rise to prominence through synchronizing their message with rural Protestant voters. Later the book describes the consolidation of power through elimination of the press and rule of law.
The book illustrates the political intrigue and mishandling of the situation by establishment politicians (and at times nazi leaders) and the aftermath well. Some of the results are shockingly ironic.
Most fascinating is the description of the Weimar constitution and its shortfalls, and the dilemmas of preserving rule of law while ineffectually trying to bring the nazi party into a legitimate coalition government to moderate their views and defeat legislative gridlock.
While there are some passages that focus on the terrors faced by individuals, and the specter of horrific violence and genocide is never forgotten, this was not a book that was painful to read because it focuses on the politics of the era before the emergence of mass tragedy.
Incredible as both a historical account and as a description of a state in constitutional crisis. Many of the propaganda positions, rhetoric, and hopes of compromise mentioned will seem alarmingly similar to present day politics.
informative
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
The concluding paragraph:
"Few Germans in 1933 could imagine Treblinka or Auschwitz, the mass shootings of Babi Yar or the death marches of the last months of the Second World War. It is hard to blame them for not foreseeing the unthinkable. Yet their innocence failed them, and they were catastrophically wrong about their future. We who come later have one advantage over them: we have their example before us.
(Bolding is mine.)
"Few Germans in 1933 could imagine Treblinka or Auschwitz, the mass shootings of Babi Yar or the death marches of the last months of the Second World War. It is hard to blame them for not foreseeing the unthinkable. Yet their innocence failed them, and they were catastrophically wrong about their future. We who come later have one advantage over them: we have their example before us.
(Bolding is mine.)
This is one of a slew of books about Hitler’s rise to power. It’s okay, but not as good as “Takeover: Hitler’s Final Rise to Power,” which I read a couple of months back. This one has a little broader view than Takeover, but isn’t quite as focused overall. That it has application to today is beyond doubt. A couple of relevant quotes:
“The sharp-eyed political reporter Konrad Heiden was also frustrated by his own inability to make his readers grasp the Nazi’s contempt for truth and to counter their lies effectively.”
Or:
“Similarly, judges, lawyers, and the law were among the things Hitler most despised, and his regime was one long assault on the rationality, predictability, and integrity of the law.”
Say what you will about the Supreme Court decision about the President and his absolute immunity in some areas and presumed immunity in others, but it’s undeniable that after this decision, there is one person in the United States who stands above he law. Hitler would have liked that.
I’ll finish with this last quote which aptly demonstrates the danger of giving any person dictatorial power:
“Walter Kiaulehn, a seasoned Berlin reporter, concluded an elegiac book about his native city written after the war with the words, ‘First the Reichstag burned, then the books, and soon the synagogues. Then Germany began to burn, England, France, Russia…’”
Let the reader beware.
“The sharp-eyed political reporter Konrad Heiden was also frustrated by his own inability to make his readers grasp the Nazi’s contempt for truth and to counter their lies effectively.”
Or:
“Similarly, judges, lawyers, and the law were among the things Hitler most despised, and his regime was one long assault on the rationality, predictability, and integrity of the law.”
Say what you will about the Supreme Court decision about the President and his absolute immunity in some areas and presumed immunity in others, but it’s undeniable that after this decision, there is one person in the United States who stands above he law. Hitler would have liked that.
I’ll finish with this last quote which aptly demonstrates the danger of giving any person dictatorial power:
“Walter Kiaulehn, a seasoned Berlin reporter, concluded an elegiac book about his native city written after the war with the words, ‘First the Reichstag burned, then the books, and soon the synagogues. Then Germany began to burn, England, France, Russia…’”
Let the reader beware.
Recounting of the fall of the Weimar Republic and the political machinations that put Hitler and the Nazis in power and established a vicious genocidal dictatorship. Important to forensically analyze the death of democracy.
informative
reflective
slow-paced