About this episode

Historian Katja Hoyer discusses the lives of ordinary Germans during the rise of the Nazis and the transformation of Weimar from a cultural hub to a Nazi stronghold.

Historian Katja Hoyer was born in 1985, under the old regime of the GDR and grew up in the 1990s, watching many former East Germans struggle in the years after reunification. Learning about the Nazi era was a big part of her education but Katja left school feeling unsatisfied about what she’d been taught about the period when the Nazis rose to power. She knew about all the big political moments, but not much about the lives of ordinary Germans and how they responded to the dramatic changes that unfolded around all around them. So Katja the historian traced the lives of residents in the town of Weimar from 1919 to 1939 to examine how a cultural hub of democracy transformed into a Nazi stronghold.Further information Weimar: Life of the Edge of Catastrophe is published by Penguin. Katja's earlier book is Beyond the Wall: East Germany 1949-1990 Learn more about Katja Hoyer on her website This episode of Conversations was produced by Jen Leake and the Executive Producer was Nicola Harrison. It explores German history, the rise of the Nazis, Weimar, the Weimar Republic, Adolf Hitler, the Stasi, secret police, the Berlin Wall, Communism, Fascism, World War II, East Germany, the GDR…

People in this episode

Hosts: Richard Fidler, Sarah Kanowski

Guest: Katja Hoyer

Topics covered

• German history
• Nazism
• Weimar Republic
• East Germany
• democracy
• Fascism
• Communism

Keywords

• Nazis
• Stasi
• Weimar
• East Germany
• democracy
• Fascism
• World War II
• Jewish persecution
• Buchenwald
• Nazi era history

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: ABC Australia

Books & works: Weimar: Life of the Edge of Catastrophe, Beyond the Wall: East Germany 1949-1990

Places: Germany, Weimar

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