Hitler’s dismantling of Weimar Republic chronicled

In late January 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany. He moved quickly to consolidate his power, effectively entrenching himself as an unchecked ruler within less than two months.

European historian Timothy Ryback recounts Hitler’s transformation of the German political system in 53 Days, an interesting but conventional narrative that does provides little in the way of original insights.

Ryback claims that he has invoked “fresh perspectives from previously unexplored archives and primary sources.” But there is little evidence of this in his retelling of a familiar story.

Ryback details the steps which Hitler took to dismantle Germany’s democratic regime known as the Weimar Republic. The opposition press was suppressed, the civil service was purged and the infamous Reichstag fire was exploited to crack down on political opponents.

These measures culminated in an Enabling Act that was passed in the German parliament and gave Hitler dictatorial powers.

Thus Hitler maintained a veneer of legality in implementing his plan to create an authoritarian state with himself as leader, a state that would repudiate the “wheedling and finagling” of parliamentary democracy, which Hitler despised.

As Hitler’s chief propagandist, Joseph Goebbels, observed, “the big joke on democracy is that it provides its mortal enemies the means to its own destruction.”

In his quest to centralize power, Hitler was opposing the federal character of the Weimar constitution and much German history. This puts Ryback in the ironic position of defending states’ rights, a constitutional principle that he would be unlikely to endorse in the American context.

In 2016, a professor of Holocaust studies, Nathan Stoltzfus, published Hitler’s Compromises, an insightful book which argued that Hitler, when his policies aroused popular discontent, would change course, adopting a tack less likely to provoke disapproval.

Ryback provides an anecdote that confirms Stoltzfus’s thesis.

He notes that public concern over Nazi excesses prompted Hitler to try to rein in his followers. “I command you to observe the strictest discipline from now on,” Hitler said in a radio broadcast.

But Nazi thugs ignored this directive.

Ryback has written an engaging narrative, but its lack of originality makes it a disappointing effort. He may think that he has produced a cautionary tale for America, but he is only deluding himself.

Graeme Voyer is a Winnipeg writer.