Berlin, Topography of Terror, Hitler (#2845)

A photo of Hitler being jubilantly cheered by supporters after taking control of the government in 1933. Two quotes from the exhibit stood out for me as of particular concern given the status of democratic forces across the globe:

“The establishment of the Nazi dictatorship was possible because broad segments of German society had rejected the Weimar Republic and the Treaty of Versailles and feared a descent into civil war-like conditions. They saw Hitler as the guarantor of internal security and order, and thus overlooked the fact that the Prussian Secret State Police Office (“Gestapa”) established in April 1933 represented an increasingly powerful special agency whose aim was to control German society.”


“Like the mood in August 1914, that of 1933 represented the actual power base of the coming Führer state. There was a very widespread sense of release and liberation from democracy. What is a democracy to do when the majority of population no longer wants it? There was a desire for something genuinely new: popular rule without parties, a popular leader figure.” Sebastian Haffner, Journalist and author, 1987.