From Weimar to Hitler

Though often depicted as a rapid political transformation, the Nazi seizure of power was in fact a process that extended from the appointment of the Papen cabinet in the early summer of 1932 through the Röhm blood purge two years later. Across fourteen rigorous and carefully researched chapters, From Weimar to Hitler offers a compelling collective investigation of this critical period in modern German history. Each case study presents new empirical research on the crisis of Weimar democracy, the establishment of the Nazi dictatorship, and Hitler’s consolidation of power. Together, they provide multiple perspectives on the extent to which the triumph of Nazism was historically predetermined or the product of human miscalculation and intent.

Hermann Beck is Professor of History at the University of Miami. He is the author of Conservatives, Bureaucracy, and the Social Question in Prussia, 1815-1870 (1995), and The Fateful Alliance: German Conservatives and Nazis in 1933 (2008).

Larry Eugene Jones is Professor of Modern European History at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York. He is the author of German Liberalism and the Dissolution of the Weimar Party System, 1918-1933 (1988), and Hitler versus Hindenburg (2015).

“These detailed, readable essays offer valuable evidence of how particular actors made the Nazi takeover possible, whether through active choice or passive behavior…This volume shows the combination of bad faith, naiveté, and outright moral hollowness that prevailed between 1932 and 1934, offering lessons about Germany’s past that remain relevant to our current political moment.” • Central European History

“The editors have brought together a dozen contributions that are concise as well as gratifyingly homogenous and succeed in offering various corrections to a fairly well-known historical terrain.” • Historische Zeitschrift

“The issues that the volume raises are not new…However, the essays offer valuable new perspectives on longstanding questions. The editors have written very helpful introductory and concluding essays which both provide an overview as well as suggesting future avenues of historical inquiry…This review cannot do justice to the high level of research and analysis which characterizes the scholarship in this volume. The essays provide an outstanding overview of new scholarship on the Nazi seizure of power and the early years of the Nazi dictatorship. From Weimar to Hitler should be of great interest to any scholar working in the field of modern German history.” • German History

“This excellent, accessible volume will be of great interest to scholars and informed readers looking to gain new insight into the topic of Hitler’s seizure and consolidation of power.” • Barry Jackisch, University of Saint Francis