Re-Enchanting Re-enchanting... The Age Of Hitler - Alec Ryrie
Jan 7, 2026
Alec Ryrie, a Professor of the History of Christianity at Durham University and author of 'The Age of Hitler and How We Will Survive It,' explores why Hitler's legacy looms large in our moral landscape. He discusses the unsettling idea of Hitler as a secular exemplar of evil, tracing its influence in modern myth and literature. Ryrie highlights the crumbling societal taboos against fascism, pushing for a resurgence of deeper moral frameworks rooted in tradition. His insights urge us to confront fear-based politics with a vision of beauty and goodness.
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Actor Defined By Playing A Nazi
- Alec interviewed Daniel Truhitte, who played Rolf in The Sound of Music, and found the role defined his career.
- Truhitte described how playing cinema's most famous fictional Nazi shaped his life decades later.
Hitler As The Dominant Moral Exemplar
- Our era has swapped Jesus as the primary moral exemplar for Adolf Hitler as the emblem of evil.
- That shift replaces a positive model of goodness with a negative model based on rejecting atrocity.
WWII Created A Shared Moral Framework
- The Second World War produced a new, powerful moral framework that structured postwar politics and public debate.
- Institutions like the UN and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights embodied that wartime moral consensus.
