Weimar Republic

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  10/29/2022
  

  A Warning from Weimar: The Danger of Courts Hostile to Democracy

  by Samuel Huneke

  Far from being guardrails for democracy, Weimar courts were implacably hostile to it, and paved the way for its overthrow by leniency toward right-wing political violence. 

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• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  10/8/2022
  

  The Nazi use of Legalism to Consolidate Power and Eliminate Democracy

  by Christopher R. Browning

  Hitler's lesson after a token prison sentence for organizing a coup attempt was to work to seize power through legal means with the support of ideologically sympathetic courts. Non-MAGA conservatives appear to be missing important lessons. 

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• SOURCE: People's World
  2/14/2022
  

  Historians Urge Stronger Anti-Fascist Commitment or US Risks Following Weimar Germany

  by Berry Craig

  The coalition assembled by Donald Trump includes enough white nationalists, violent extremists, and anti-democracy ideologues that the Biden administration's faith in institutional protections may be insufficient to contain it through normal means. 

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  11/10/2021
  

  Framing Political Violence as Patriotism is Even More Dangerous Than it Sounds

  by Jeremy Best

  The Republican Party has agreed to label the Capitol rioters of January 6 as patriots resisting a dubious (if not stolen) election result. This is a step toward endorsing more political violence and endangering democratic government.

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• SOURCE: Public Seminar
  4/8/2021
  

  Why Weimar is an Imperfect Mirror

  by Helmut Smith

  Peter Gay's "Weimar Culture: The Outsider as Insider" became a key text for understanding the Weimar era as an allegory for understanding political conflict when it was published in 1968. But his psychoanalytical approach can be an impediment to understanding the historical specificity of the era. 

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• 2/21/2021
  

  Cynicism and Political Blunder: A Postscript to “The January 6th Assault on Congress and the Fate of the GOP’s Faustian Bargain"

  by Jeffrey Herf

  Mitch McConnell's decision to condemn Trump after voting for his acquittal wasn't just an act of cowardice. The acts taken together constitute a major tactical blunder in the emerging battle for control of the Republican Party. 

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• SOURCE: Public Seminar
  1/21/2021
  

  Embracing Democracy: The Storming of the US Capitol and the Positive Lessons of Weimar Germany

  by Andrew I. Port

  A 1922 political assassination rallied the German public and political class against the far right. The Weimar Republic's failure to consolidate itself around the idea of democracy shows that the January 6 Capitol riot cannot be allowed to fade from discussion lest the authoritarian beliefs behind it return even stronger.

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  11/30/2020
  

  1918 Germany Has a Warning for America

  German editorialist Jochen Bittner warns that Trump's insistence that the election has been stolen from him echoes the Dolchstosslegende rhetoric which sustained the ascendant National Socialists for years after the end of World War I.

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  9/6/2020
  

  ‘Weimar America’? The Trump Show Is No Cabaret

  by Niall Ferguson

  Popular culture and lazy historical comparisons have elevated Weimar Germany as an analogue for contemporary America. Ferguson suggests reasons to dial back the comparisons; while current events are troubling, US democracy is more stable and stronger than the Weimar Republic.

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  2/19/19
  

  Emergency powers helped Hitler’s rise. Germany has avoided them ever since.

  by Jeffrey Herf

  The lessons of the Weimar Republic.

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• SOURCE: The New Republic
  10-3-13
  

  The Shutdown Standoff Is One of the Worst Crises in American History

  by John B. Judis

  Welcome to Weimar America.