Vermont Humanities

How Did Germany’s Weimar Democracy Become the Third Reich?

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Speakers Bureau
Image of rally in Germany
Image Credit: Massive crowd gathered at the Zeppelin Field during a Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg, Germany, c. 1930s. Photo courtesy of the German Federal Archives (Bundesarchiv).

Defeated, humiliated, and in chaos, Germany after World War I was imperiled by leftist revolution and right-wing violence. Jack Mayer recounts the origins of the Third Reich through the story of Ernst Werner Techow, a member of the para-military Free Corps and the murderous Organization C, who was recruited into a clandestine assassination network trying to bring down the fledgling Weimar democracy.

Techow participated in the 1922 murder of Foreign Minister Walther Rathenau, the highest-ranking Jew in the Weimar Republic. But an offer of forgiveness while on trial for his life set him on a complex journey of redemption.

Questions?

Contact Jacob Pelletier at jpelletier@vermonthumanities.org.

About the Presenter

Talks by Jack Mayer

Image of rally in Germany

How Did Germany’s Weimar Democracy Become the Third Reich?

By Vermont Humanities | August 5, 2016

Jack Mayer recounts the origins of the Third Reich through the story of Ernst Werner Techow, a right-wing assassin who reversed his politics while on trial for his life.

Posted in History, Speaker Talk, Speakers Bureau

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Vermont Humanities*** August 5, 2016

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