'Death of a Democracy': Exploring the rise and fall of Weimar Germany - review

A review of Victor Sebestyen's book 'Weimar Germany: Death of a Democracy,' which examines the rise and fall of the Weimar Republic from 1918 to 1933. The review highlights the republic's cultural flourishing amid hyperinflation, antisemitism, and political extremism, and notes the author's argument that Hitler's rise was not inevitable.

Colin Shindler reviews Victor Sebestyen's 'Weimar Germany: Death of a Democracy,' a book that paints a vivid picture of the Weimar Republic from its birth after World War I to its collapse in 1933. The review describes a Berlin of contradictions: a place where culture, literature, and music flourished alongside hyperinflation, antisemitic nationalism, and political violence. The book covers the 'golden years' under President Friedrich Ebert, the stab-in-the-back myth, the Freikorps' violence against leftist revolutionaries, and the assassination of Jewish foreign minister Walter Rathenau. The author argues that Hitler's rise was not inevitable but resulted from a combination of unprecedented circumstances, moral weakness, and political opportunism. The review notes that the nationalists labeled Weimar 'the Jew republic' and that Albert Einstein was on a Freikorps hit list. The book also covers the Beer Hall putsch, Hitler's lenient sentence, and his electoral breakthrough amid soaring unemployment. The review concludes with the observation that if events had taken another course, Hitler might have been a mere footnote in history.