Darkness falling : the strange death of the Weimar Republic, 1930-33

**An enthralling narrative history of Weimar Berlin in the three years before the Nazi takeover and a dramatic account of Germany's slide from parliamentary democracy to dictatorship.** Combining meticulously researched historical writing on the one hand with gripping storytelling on the other, Peter Walther examines the mounting crisis during the dying years of the Weimar Republic through the prism of nine principal protagonists, whose lives are profiled deftly and in fascinating detail; they include leading Weimar politicians of the right, left, and center and prominent emigre's resident in this most cosmopolitan of capital cities. The louche and febrile nightlife of early 1930s Berlin – "a playground for charlatans and prophets, madmen and crooks" – is memorably and atmospherically evoked. Peter Walther pulls together the threads of these nine lives to chart the demise of German parliamentary democracy and the rise of National Socialist tyranny, the story ending with the terrifying "Finale furioso" of Hitler's seizure of power in January 1933. Along the way, we gain remarkable insights into the machinations in the corridors of power to try to keep the 'Bohemian corporal' from the chancellorship and the venality of the Nazi elite and its fellow travelers from the demi-monde of early 1930s Berlin. "In March 1930, after the collapse of the coalition that had ruled Germany since 1928, President Hindenburg asked Heinrich Bruning, bespectacled and scholarly leader of the Catholic Centre Party, to form a government. Some three years later, in January 1933, Hindenburg appointed as chancellor the demagogic, virulently anti-Semitic leader of the National Socialist party. Within weeks, Adolf Hitler has begun the process of dismantling the flawed democracy of the Weimar Republic and replacing it with a one-party totalitarian state. Darkness Falling depicts in compelling fashion the serial crises and mounting violence of a febrile era. Peter Walther examines the slow death of Weimar through the prism of nine colourful protagonists, including leading German politicians of right, left and centre, the clairvoyant and occultist, Erik Jan Hanussen and the formidable American journalist Dorothy Thompson. He profiles these heterogeneous characters in intriguing detail, pulling together the threads of their lives to chart the demise of German parliamentary democracy and the rise of National Socialist tyranny. Along the way we gain fascinating insights into the machinations in the corridors of power to keep the 'Bohemian corporal' from the chancellorship, and the venality of the Nazi elite and its fellow travellers from the demi-monde of early 1930s Berlin. Walther evokes the louche nightlife of the German capital - 'a playground for charlatans and prophets, madmen and crooks' - memorably and atmospherically. A masterly fusion of meticulously researched historical writing and vividly propulsive storytelling, Darkness Falling is a distinctive and enthralling account of Germany's slide from democracy to dictatorship"--Publisher's description An enthralling narrative history of Weimar Berlin in the three years before the Nazi takeover and a dramatic account of Germany's slide from parliamentary democracy to dictatorship. Combining meticulously researched historical writing on the one hand with gripping storytelling on the other, Peter Walther examines the mounting crisis during the dying years of the Weimar Republic through the prism of nine principal protagonists, whose lives are profiled deftly and in fascinating detail; they include leading Weimar politicians of the right, left, and centre and prominent migrs resident in this most cosmopolitan of capital cities. The louche and febrile nightlife of early 1930s Berlin 'a playground for charlatans and prophets, madmen and crooks' is memorably and atmospherically evoked. Peter Walther pulls together the threads of these nine lives to chart the demise of German parliamentary democracy and the rise of National Socialist tyranny, the story ending with the terrifying 'Finale furioso' of Hitler's seizure of power in January 1933. Along the way, we gain remarkable insights into the machinations in the corridors of power to try to keep the 'Bohemian corporal' from the chancellorship and the venality of the Nazi elite and its fellow travellers from the demi-monde of early 1930s Berlin.