1932: Flying Flags

The story of the residents of Weimar during the rise and reign of Hitler.

Weimar – On the Edge of Catastrophe is written by Katja Hoyer.
The reader is Sian Thomas.
The abridger is Julian Wilkinson.
The producer is Lu Kemp.

Despite the economic stress Germany is under, Weimar is celebrating the 100th anniversary of Goethe. The town is alive with all things Goethe – busts and postcards are sold, Goethe cake is eaten and people can go to the theatre to see Goethe plays. The Nazis seize the opportunity to take Goethe for themselves – to make him an emblem not of globalism, but of all things German.

The Nazi party becomes the largest party for the first time – getting 33% of the vote. And, despite Hindenburg’s resistance, being leader of the biggest party, Hitler navigates opposition to become Chancellor of the Reichstag. The Weirich's listen to the broadcast on their new Seibt radio.

Jews in Weimar are doing their best to show they are patriotic Germans. Jewish shop owners fly the flag of the republic, but SA troops tear them down. Investigations into ancestry to identify Jews begin, and baptismal registers are checked. Forced sterilisation begins in Weimar.

After Hitler assumes office, 38 million people vote for Hitler to have total power transferred to himself.

Weimar explores ‘the question of how and why a nation that prided itself on its culture and civility enabled the catastrophe of Nazism haunts us to this day because we fear a repeat.’ The book is about the tension between individual and collective responsibility and sounds a warning for our own times.

Katja Hoyer is a German-British historian, journalist and the author of the international bestseller Beyond the Wall as well as Blood and Iron. A visiting Research Fellow at King's College London and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, she writes for Bloomberg and Berliner Zeitung and is a commentator on German current affairs for many British newspapers. She was born in Germany and is now based in the UK.