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Weimar
Life on the Edge of Catastrophe
Contributors
By Katja Hoyer
Formats and Prices
- On Sale
- Jun 9, 2026
- Page Count
- 512 pages
- Publisher
- Basic Books
- ISBN-13
- 9781541605794
Price
$34.00Price
$45.00 CADFormat
Format:
- Hardcover $34.00 $45.00 CAD
- ebook $19.99 $25.99 CAD
Buy from Other Retailers:
The Central German town of Weimar is perhaps most familiar to non-Germans for giving its name to the Weimar Republic. After Germany’s inglorious defeat in World War I, the signing of a new constitution in Weimar marked the nation’s first experiment with full-fledged democracy. And yet this storied town, long known as a center of German culture and tradition, was also the place where Nazis were first welcomed into a local government, a milestone in Adolf Hitler’s fateful rise to power.
In Weimar, historian Katja Hoyer examines Weimar as a microcosm for the entire German nation between the world wars. The Weimar Republic saw a flourishing in culture and the arts, including the establishment in Weimar of the Bauhaus school of architecture. But after Hitler seized the chancellorship in 1933, the town underwent rapid Nazification, with many ordinary Weimarers basking in the attention they and their town received from the regime and from Hitler personally.
Combining gripping narrative with deep historical analysis, Weimar explores both the political upheavals and the rhythms of daily life in one town, revealing how fascism took hold first there, and then across the nation.
Genre:
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“Britain's favourite German historian... Hoyer has been beavering away in the archives to tell the story of the crack-up of democracy in interwar Germany, through a vivid cast of characters.”Sunday Times
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“A bright, young historian... Strap in to watch the slow collapse of a society, amid a throng of fascists, socialists, artists and politicians.”Telegraph
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“The city of Weimar — home to many of the giants of European culture — gave its name to Germany's ill-fated republic; it was also where the Nazis gained an early foothold. Historian Hoyer charts that journey of cultural experimentation and political upheaval through the stories of those who witnessed it and whose choices and fates reveal the human experience of a descent into tyranny.”Financial Times
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“A fresh and gripping account of the interwar years seen through the lens of Germany’s most legendary town. By skilfully weaving into the political narrative the stories of ordinary people, Katja Hoyer gives readers a vivid sense of what it was like to be alive then and there. Brilliantly researched, this is history at its very best.”Julia Boyd, author of Travelers in the Third Reich
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