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Plain History: How Adolf Hitler Destroyed German Democracy in Six Months

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May 30, 2025

Guest

Richard J. Evans

Richard Evans, a leading historian on Nazi Germany and author of 'Hitler's People,' reveals how Hitler dismantled German democracy in just six months. He discusses the personal narratives of those affected, including a poignant story of a Jewish child's escape. Evans criticizes contemporary revisionist histories that downplay Hitler's true intentions and antisemitism. He uncovers the ideological foundations of Nazi expansionism and the ordinary individuals who participated in the regime, challenging perceptions of them as mere psychopaths.

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ANECDOTE

Personal Family History

Richard Evans shares his grandmother's story spanning Germany's shift from democracy to Nazi dictatorship.
She experienced the harsh transformation and escaped via Kindertransport, a rescue for Jewish children.

insights

INSIGHT

Fragmented Germany in Crisis

Germany was deeply divided by religion, class, and region, complicating political unity.
Economic disasters like hyperinflation and the Great Depression shattered societal confidence before 1932.

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INSIGHT

Hitler's True Ambition

Hitler openly planned from the start to achieve global domination via war.
Publicly he concealed ambitions, but broke all treaties, revealing true aims to his followers.

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Hitler's Rise and the Shattering of Democracy

02:21 • 20min

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The Ideological Underpinnings of Lebensraum in Nazi Expansionism

22:19 • 5min

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The Rise of Hitler and the Collapse of Democracy in Germany

26:54 • 4min

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From Democracy to Dictatorship: The Rise of Hitler

30:29 • 20min

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Understanding the Perpetrators of Nazism

50:09 • 13min

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COMING OF THE THIRD REICH

Richard J. Evans

This book is the first volume of a three-part history of Nazi Germany. It provides a detailed and accessible narrative of how Germany, from the late 19th century through the Weimar Republic, became fertile ground for the Nazi ideology. Evans integrates a vast body of scholarly work with new research and interpretations, highlighting the complex interplay of political, economic, and cultural factors that led to the Nazi takeover. The book covers the period from German unification in the 1870s to Hitler's rise to power in 1933, including the impact of World War I, the Treaty of Versailles, hyperinflation, and the Great Depression on German society.

The Wages of Destruction

The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy

Adam Tooze

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the economic history of Nazi Germany, highlighting how economic constraints and strategies influenced Hitler's decisions and the outcome of World War II. Tooze argues that Hitler's aggression was a response to the rise of the United States as a global hegemon and Germany's relative economic poverty. The book details the rapid mobilization of Germany's economy for war, the use of slave labor, and the impact of strategic bombing campaigns. It challenges several myths about the Nazi economy, including the idea of an armaments miracle under Albert Speer and the potential for greater mobilization of women in the war economy.

The Third Reich at War

How the Nazis Led Germany from Conquest to Disaster

Richard J. Evans

This final volume in Richard J. Evans’s trilogy on the history of Nazi Germany chronicles the major events of World War II from the Nazi perspective. It interweaves a broad narrative of the war’s progress with personal testimony from a wide range of people, including generals, front-line soldiers, Hitler Youth activists, and middle-class housewives. The book details the daily experience of ordinary Germans in wartime, the mass bombing of Germany’s towns and cities, and the Nazi extermination of Europe’s Jews within the context of Hitler’s genocidal plans. Evans provides a detailed account of key battles, such as the Battle of Stalingrad, and Hitler’s eventual suicide, offering a masterful historical narrative that serves as a warning for the future as much as a judgment on the past.

The Third Reich in Power

Richard J. Evans

Hitler's People

The Faces of the Third Reich

Richard J. Evans

In 'Hitler’s People: The Faces of the Third Reich,' Richard J. Evans presents a detailed and meticulously researched biographical study of the men and women who were instrumental in implementing Hitler’s plans. The book delves into the lives of twenty-four individuals, ranging from top Nazi leaders like Göring, Goebbels, and Himmler to lower-level perpetrators and sympathizers. Evans examines their early years, reasons for joining the Nazi party, their roles during the war, and their postwar fates. He argues that these individuals were not inherently evil but were ordinary people whose moral compasses were distorted by their involvement with the Nazi movement. The book aims to understand how a society can come to carry out such horrific acts and highlights the importance of historical context in explaining the rise and impact of Nazism.

Mein Kampf

Adolf Hitler

Mein Kampf, written by Adolf Hitler while he was imprisoned following the failed Beer Hall Putsch in 1923, is a two-volume work that combines autobiography and political treatise. The book details Hitler's early life, his experiences during World War I, and his increasing antisemitism and militarism. It outlines his vision for Germany, including the need for Lebensraum (living space) in Eastern Europe, and his racist and anti-Semitic views. The work became the central text of National Socialism and a blueprint for Hitler's policies, including aggressive foreign policy and the persecution of Jews and other minority groups.

In November 1932, Germany was a republic. By the spring of 1933, it was a dictatorship. How did it all happen so quickly?

Fascination with Adolf Hitler requires no news peg, but I’ve been particularly interested in understanding the story of Hitler's rise, because in the past few months, several prominent podcast hosts—including Joe Rogan and Tucker Carlson—have mainstreamed revisionist histories of the Nazi regime and WWII. These new histories often soften Hitler’s antisemitism and treat him as a man of limited ambition; a guy who just wanted to give Germans a bit more living room, who was pulled into a continental war by Winston Churchill.

The best book that I’ve read that makes use of the trove of documentation on the subject is 'Hitler’s People,' by the historian Richard Evans, who is today's guest. Evans is the author of a famous three-volume history of Hitler—'The Coming of the Third Reich,' 'The Third Reich in Power,' and 'The Third Reich at War'_—_and he is widely considered the most comprehensive historian of Nazi Germany in the world. His new book distills his multi-thousand-page history into an elegant 100-page synthesis of Hitler’s life, followed by profiles of his most important advisers. The end of the book is particularly interesting, as it profiles ordinary Germans of the time, for the purpose of explaining how normal, non-psychopathic people found themselves involved in a regime so brutal that it’s become a synonym for evil.

If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at PlainEnglish@Spotify.com.

Host: Derek Thompson

Guest: Richard Evans

Producer: Devon Baroldi

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