How Hitler Seized Power: Could it Happen in America?

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This is a very brief book, maybe 20 pages in length. It provides a brief overview about the Nazi seizure of power. The author argues that the Nazis took power not through winning an election, but by making strategic alliances with the power bases of German society, who then turned power over to the Nazis.

This is generally accurate. Of course, one of the things that put the Nazis in this position was that they had unambiguously won at electoral politics, outdistancing their closest rivals in 1933. This fact made them the obvious choice to turn to in forming a government since they and their allies held almost a majority of the seats in the Reichstag.

Clearly the power elites believed that they could control Hitler or that he would be tempered into responsibility by being given power.

The author accurately describes the condition of Germany after World War I with respect to the Treaty of Versailles. She also makes the fair point that it was not inflation that brought Hitler into power since that had been an event nearly a decade in the past by the time that Hitler took power in 1933. She also makes what I think is a fair point that the German people did not become Nazis because of anti-semitism; Hitler downplayed the anti-semitic policies of the Nazis, albeit he never gave it up.

However, this statement was entirely wrong:

“Hitler ranted that if the Communists, (everyone left of center) took over the country they would destroy the church as they had done after the Russian revolution. Both Catholic and Protestant churches urged their flock to support Mr. Hitler. Alliance with power.”

Although this might have been true to some extent with the Protestants, but for the Catholics, it is entirely wrong. German Catholic bishops actually told Catholics that they could not vote for the Nazis and Nazis were prevented from obtaining the sacraments from approximately 1930 to 1933. The excommunication of Nazis was not lifted until after the Nazis took power in 1933.

The author concludes with a warning about how similar techniques might play out in modern America. Certainly we should be careful, but to be fair we are not living in a country in a depression where large chunks are under military occupation and large amounts of money are being sent to victorious foreign countries.

This book does give a general overview and might be very useful for the novice. For those with more knowledge, it probably is not a good investment.