Soapbox

I devour books about the inter-war period. There’s a plethora of non-fiction and fiction. I post my thoughts from time to time about my reading journey. Here’s my review of The Black Orchestra by JJ Toner. When committed Nazi and Abwehr signalman Kurt Muller discovers …

Democracy did not end when Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany on 30 January 1933. Its demise began with the legislative election of September 1930 and was hurried along by Hitler’s three predecessors.  Germany had three chancellors in 1932: academic economist Heinrich Brüning, an aristocratic dilettante, Franz …

The 84th anniversary of Adolf Hitler’s assumption of power is in just a few days. There will be a vote in Turkey in just a few months for a new constitution that could give President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (above) unchecked power. History has a litany …

The first election in Germany after the Great War was just 14 months after the signing of the Armistice.  Voting method was proportional representation for the election of 421 legislators on Sunday, 19 January 1919. Proportional representation is often criticised on the basis it was the system that “elected …

Tony Blair is back. After almost a decade out of politics, the controversial former New Labour UK Prime Minister is taking tentative steps to be involved, albeit not directly. Blair’s intention to contribute more to the political debate is welcome because his is a persuasive …

Pervitin was a shopping staple in Nazi Germany. And it propelled the Blitzkrieg of 1940 when Nazi troops occupied six countries in the first nine months of World War II. Pervitin was a methamphetamine. It fuelled the German army. It fuelled the civilian population’s happiness. This …

If there is one phrase that describes the United States Constitution, it is checks and balances.  So concerned were the founders that the power of government had to be restrained, checks were imposed at every level – even on the people. It is why the …

Eighty years ago this weekend, the uncrowned British King Edward VIII abdicated.  “I have made this, the most serious decision of my life, only upon the single thought of what would, in the end, be best for all,” he said in a radio broadcast on …

The violence against Jewish people in Germany on 8 and 9 November 1938 was an omen of annihilation. What became known as Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Crystal) wasn’t the first European Jewish pogrom. But it was the first that was not only sanctioned by the …

  The most tumultuous day in German history would have to be 9 November 1918. Some historians refer to it as Schicksalstag (Day of Fate). On that day in: 1989, the Berlin Wall, that had divided Germany since 1961, fell. 1938, there was a state-sponsored …