Fateful Hours: The Collapse of the Weimar Republic. Dieser Artikel ist nicht verfügbar.Fateful Hours: The Collapse of the Weimar Republic

Democracies are fragile. Freedoms that seem secure can be lost. Few historical events illustrate this as vividly as the failure of the Weimar Republic. Germany’s first democracy endured for fourteen tumultuous years and culminated with the horrific rise of the Third Reich. As one commentator wrote in July 1933: Hitler had “won the game with little effort. . . . All he had to do was huff and puff—and the edifice of German politics collapsed like a house of cards.” But this tragedy was not inevitable.Fateful HoursDrawing on letters, memoirs, newspaper articles, and other sources, Ullrich charts the many failed alternatives and missed opportunities that contributed to German democracy’s collapse. In an immersive style that takes us to the heart of political power, Ullrich argues that, right up until January 1933, history was open. There was no shortage of opportunities to stop the slide into fascism. Just as in the present, it is up to us whether democracy lives or dies.

Volker Ullrich is a German historian and the best-selling, award-winning author of Hitler: Ascent, 1889-1939; Hitler: Downfall, 1939-1945; Eight Day in May; and Germany 1923. He lives in Germany.

Jefferson Chase has translated works by Thomas Mann and Wolfgang Schivelbusch, among others. He lives in Berlin.