It is August 13th, 1932, Berlin. I welcome Timothy Ryback. He's the author of a new book, Takeover: Hitler's Final Rise to Power. Tim is the co-founder and director at the Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation at The Hague. He speaks to me from Berlin itself, and we're speaking of moments between August 13th, 1932 and January 30th, 1933, in which everything changes for Germany, for Europe, and I will say for the 20th century. And it's still underway, with the transformation of the maps and of loyalties these many decades.
At that date, the DOW is at 41.22, its lowest ever. Berlin has a clear sky, and meeting importantly are two men whose fates will be intertwined forever.
One is Paul von Hindenburg, the 84-year-old statuesque German military man who has become the president of the Reich, giving him constitutional power to name and un-name governments, to name and un-name chancellors.
He is being introduced to a man, Adolf Hitler, who believes he's about to be the new chancellor of Germany. And he says to Hitler at one point, without sitting down, Are you personally willing to place yourself at my disposal for participating in the government? To which Adolf Hitler answers, Nein.
Why is Hitler there? Why is Hindenburg offering participation in the government? Why the nein?
Watch the full interview above, or listen to an audio version available below:
LINKS:
CBS Eye on the World with John Batchelor on YouTube
Takeover by Timothy Ryback on Amazon
The John Batchelor Show on Apple Podcasts:
Hitler's Rise to Power