THE DAWN OF NAZISM

How do we explain the rise of Nazism? How did an ultranationalist fringe party, initially little more than a marginal political movement, emerge from obscurity to become the ruling power of one of Europe’s greatest nations? What led to the sudden and spectacular collapse of Germany’s Weimar Republic?

There have been countless studies on the rise of Nazism, yet our understanding of how National Socialism took root during the interwar period remains incomplete. Hitler is often thought to have come to power suddenly – and inevitably – through the ballot box. The reality, however, is far more complex. The Nazis did not so much seize power as have the doors to power opened for them. Why? Because German democracy did not simply collapse; it self-destructed, paving the way for the rise of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP), or Nazi Party.

To dispel the many myths surrounding the origins of Nazism – whose roots were firmly in place well before Adolf Hitler became chancellor in 1933 – we must examine the movement from within. Drawing on the work of three leading historians of Nazism, co-authors of the landmark study Le Monde Nazi (“The Nazi World” – 2024), as well as an exceptional collection of primary sources, this three-part documentary series retraces the pivotal stages in the transformation of the democratic Weimar Republic into the totalitarian dictatorship of Nazi Germany. In re-examining these events, the series offers an indispensable perspective on the mechanisms that continue to threaten democracies today.