Living with Hitler: Liberal Democrats in the Third Reich

by Eric Kurlander

This book addresses key questions about liberal democrats and their activities in Germany from 1933 to the end of the Nazi regime. While it is commonly assumed that liberals fled their homeland at the first sign of jackboots, in reality most stayed. Some even thrived under Hitler, personally as well as professionally. Historian Eric Kurlander examines the motivations, hopes, and fears of liberal democrats―Germans who best exemplified the middle-class progressivism of the Weimar Republic―to discover why so few resisted and so many embraced elements of the Third Reich. German liberalism was not only the opponent and victim of National Socialism, Kurlander suggests, but in some ways its ideological and sociological antecedent. That liberalism could be both has crucial implications for understanding the genesis of authoritarian regimes everywhere. Indeed, Weimar democrats’ prolonged reluctance to oppose the regime demonstrates how easily a liberal democracy may gradually succumb to fascism.

Genres: Sociology, Nonfiction, World War II, History

288 pages, Hardcover

First published August 11, 2009

About the author

Eric Kurlander is a professor of history at Stetson University. He received his BA from Bowdoin College, and his MA and PhD from Harvard University. Kurlander is a specialist in modern German history and particularly of the Nazi era about which he has written three books.

Reviews

[Erica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel terrible about this review because of a personal connection to the author (though we've never met or spoken). But honestly, this book is such a dry bore. The vocabulary is stilted but is never used to express anything. It's chock full of historical facts but never puts any humanity behind them. When it is about an era so full of human suffering and drama, I should be riveted by the subject matter, and I just wasn't. Every page felt flat and I honestly couldn't finish more than half of it (though I really tried). Stars for accuracy, content, and a wide range of subjects pertaining to politics and socioeconomic viewpoints of the time. This will make an excellent text book.