Humanizing Hitler

History As It Happens

With democracy in global decline amid the rise of autocrats and ongoing armed conflict, many politicians and pundits invoke the emergency of fascism a century ago in an attempt to make sense of our current dilemmas. Such comparisons are fraught with problems, not least the unique nature of Nazism’s ambitions for global conquest and genocide. In this episode, historian Richard J. Evans discusses the new urgency surrounding what “made and sustained” the Third Reich and Adolf Hitler’s dictatorship as they relate to today’s threats to democratic institutions. Mr. Evans is the author of “Hitler’s People,” which aims to explain what motivated the Nazi leaders and bureaucrats to carry out their crimes. The book was reviewed in The Washington Times on Aug. 1.