"HOW COULD THIS HAVE HAPPENED?" Götz Aly on the rapid descent into dictatorship

FALSE PATRIOTS – THE OPEN SOCIETY AND ITS ENEMIES

Nationalist-tinged, aggressive authoritarianism is gaining momentum internationally; in Germany and Austria, German nationalist and far-right parties such as the AfD and the FPÖ are now at the forefront and pose a threat to the democratic order. Götz Aly is a journalist, historian, author and one of the most distinguished researchers on National Socialism, its origins, mechanisms and consequences. Whilst he considers a comparison between the AfD and the NSDAP to be inappropriate, he believes that a debate on banning the party – which is classified as definitively far-right in some federal states – is necessary.

This makes it all the more important to ask: „How could this have happened? Germany 1933 to 1945“ (the title of Aly’s current bestseller). It is therefore essential to study the Nazi system – and to learn what can, indeed must, be done to prevent authoritarian regimes from coming to power in the first place and to push them back where they do exist.

On 28 September, the renowned historian will be speaking at the Kreisky Forum on Cathrin Kahlweit to discuss just how quickly and powerfully, following the Nazis’ rise to power, the psychology of fascism and people’s susceptibility to manipulation became apparent; how Adolf Hitler, in the space of a few years, was able to turn a society into one of followers, profiteers, supporters, war profiteers – and whether there are patterns and social milieus in which right-wing extremism is particularly well-suited to flourish.

Aly’s book is already regarded as the definitive work on the social psychology of National Socialism. His theories have certainly attracted opposition and criticism – and this is one of the topics to be discussed a year after the monograph’s publication.