Takeover

A dramatic narrative of the six months leading up to President Paul von Hindenburg''s decision to appoint Adolf Hitler as chancellor of Germany on 30 January 1933. Takeover brings to life the secret meetings, political manoeuvrings, and shifting loyalties involved in Hitler''s rise , using contemporary sources without the advantage of historical hindsight. Historian Timothy W. Ryback illuminates just how close Hitler came to not ascending to power. The ageing von Hindenburg had promised to never appoint the Nazi leader as chancellor and succeeded in humiliating Hitler during their meeting on 13 August when refusing his demands. The Nazi party was facing electoral defeats, internal divisions, declining membership and was hemorrhaging cash, as was Hitler himself. Yet, despite these challenges, Hitler continued his quest ''to destroy democracy with democracy'', holding rallies in sixty German cities, and he emerged victorious. Deeply researched with newly accessed archives, Takeover vividly captures this decisive historical turning point while providing fresh insights into Hitler''s private and political life along with those in his circle.

Auteur
Timothy W. Ryback has written on history and politics for more than three decades. He is the author of Hitler's Private Library, a Washington Post Best Book of the Year, and The Last Survivor, a New York Times Notable Book. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic and the Financial Times. He is cofounder and director of the Institute of Historical Justice and Reconciliation, in The Hague.

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Advance Praise for Takeover

How does a flawed republic become something entirely different? We know how the Nazi regime ended, but we think too little about how it began. This admirable account shows us how fragile and avoidable were those beginnings and helps us to reflect upon our own predicament. - Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny

Timothy Ryback has written an engrossing clock-ticker of a narrative about the behind-the-scenes machinations and open politicking that vaulted Hitler and the Nazi Party to power. Nothing was inevitable about their triumph, and plenty of contemporary observers were caught off guard by it, as Ryback shows to chilling effect. The relevance to authoritarianism today is urgent and unmistakable. Takeover is a vital read for anyone who cares about the future of democracy. - Margaret Talbot, staff writer, The New Yorker

If you ever thought that history is moved only by big, sweeping forces, whether of economics or creed or nature itself, think again. In this riveting, intimate account of the final months in Hitler's rise to power, Timothy Ryback makes it plain that simple luck, bald ambition, and fallible human hearts can be drivers of earth-changing events. - Max Rodenbeck, Berlin bureau chief, The Economist

Timothy W. Ryback tells a grippingly important tale. His meticulous detailing of the dramatic days before Hitler assumed power make for salutary reading in our times. Will the tragic failure of civil courage and political will be repeated - Germany 1933, America 2024? It's hard not to imagine. - Philippe Sands, author of East West Street

Résumé

From the internationally acclaimed author of Hitler's Private Library, a dramatic recounting of the six critical months before Adolf Hitler assumed power, when the Nazi leader teetered between triumph and ruin.

In the summer of 1932, the Weimar Republic was on the verge of collapse. One in three Germans was unemployed. Violence was rampant. Hitler's National Socialists surged at the polls. Paul von Hindenburg, an aging war hero and avowed monarchist, was a reluctant president bound by oath to uphold the constitution. The November elections offered Hitler the prospect of a Reichstag majority and a path to political power. But instead, the Nazis lost two million votes. As membership hemorrhaged and financial backers withdrew, the Nazi Party threatened to fracture. Hitler talked of suicide. The New York Times declared he was finished. Yet somehow, in a few brief weeks, he was chancellor of Germany.

In fascinating detail and with previously un-accessed archival materials, Timothy W. Ryback tells the remarkable story of Hitler's dismantling of democracy through the democratic process. He provides a fresh perspective and insights into Hitler's personal and professional lives in these months, in all their complexity and uncertainty-backroom deals, unlikely alliances, stunning betrayals, an ill-timed tax audit, and a fateful weekend that changed our world forever. Above all, Ryback makes clear why a wearied Hindenburg, who disdained the "Bohemian corporal," ultimately decided to appoint Hitler chancellor in January 1933.

Within weeks, Germany was no longer a democracy.