{"id":12933,"date":"2026-06-18T12:35:56","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T12:35:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/?post_type=kreisky_event&#038;p=12933"},"modified":"2026-08-19T11:47:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T11:47:48","slug":"how-could-that-have-happened","status":"publish","type":"kreisky_event","link":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/en\/veranstaltung\/wie-konnte-das-geschehen","title":{"rendered":"\"HOW COULD THIS HAVE HAPPENED?\" G\u00f6tz Aly on the rapid descent into dictatorship"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>FALSE PATRIOTS \u2013 THE OPEN SOCIETY AND ITS ENEMIES<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nationalist-tinged, aggressive authoritarianism is gaining momentum internationally; in Germany and Austria, German nationalist and far-right parties such as the AfD and the FP\u00d6 are now at the forefront and pose a threat to the democratic order. <strong>G\u00f6tz Aly<\/strong> 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 \u2013 which is classified as definitively far-right in some federal states \u2013 is necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This makes it all the more important to ask: \u201eHow could this have happened? Germany 1933 to 1945\u201c (the title of Aly\u2019s current bestseller). It is therefore essential to study the Nazi system \u2013 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On 28 September, the renowned historian will be speaking at the Kreisky Forum on <strong>Cathrin Kahlweit<\/strong> to discuss just how quickly and powerfully, following the Nazis\u2019 rise to power, the psychology of fascism and people\u2019s 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 \u2013 and whether there are patterns and social milieus in which right-wing extremism is particularly well-suited to flourish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Aly\u2019s book is already regarded as the definitive work on the social psychology of National Socialism. His theories have certainly attracted opposition and criticism \u2013 and this is one of the topics to be discussed a year after the monograph\u2019s publication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FALSCHE PATRIOTEN - DIE OFFENE GESELLSCHAFT UND IHRE FEINDE Der nationalistisch gepr\u00e4gte, aggressive Autoritarismus nimmt international Fahrt auf; in Deutschland und \u00d6sterreich liegen deutschnationale und rechtsextreme Parteien wie AfD und FP\u00d6 mittlerweile ganz vorn und bedrohen das demokratische Gef\u00fcge. G\u00f6tz Aly ist Journalist, Historiker, Autor und einer der profiliertesten Forscher zum Nationalsozialismus, seinen Urspr\u00fcngen, Wirkmechanismen [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":13603,"template":"","format":[29],"meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"schwerpunkt":[39],"class_list":["post-12933","kreisky_event","type-kreisky_event","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","schwerpunkt-geschichte-bildung-und-wissenschaft","format-podiumsdiskussion"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>&quot;WIE KONNTE DAS GESCHEHEN?&quot; G\u00f6tz Aly \u00fcber den schnellen Weg in die Diktatur - Kreisky Forum<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/en\/event\/how-could-that-have-happened\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"&quot;WIE KONNTE DAS GESCHEHEN?&quot; G\u00f6tz Aly \u00fcber den schnellen Weg in die Diktatur - Kreisky Forum\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"FALSCHE PATRIOTEN - DIE OFFENE GESELLSCHAFT UND IHRE FEINDE Der nationalistisch gepr\u00e4gte, aggressive Autoritarismus nimmt international Fahrt auf; in Deutschland und \u00d6sterreich liegen deutschnationale und rechtsextreme Parteien wie AfD und FP\u00d6 mittlerweile ganz vorn und bedrohen das demokratische Gef\u00fcge. 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