<p>The little town of Weimar was the crucible of German high culture, democracy, and dictatorship.</p><p>It was home to Goethe and Schiller, Nietzsche and Liszt. It gave its name to the Weimar Republic. And it was an early stronghold of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party.</p><p>It’s easy to look back this period and diagnose how it all went wrong. Why did so many people sleepwalk into disaster?</p><p>Hindsight is always deceptively clear. But life looks very different when you’re living it.</p><p>Historian Katja Hoyer tells the story of Weimar — and by extension, Germany’s descent into chaos — through the lives of ordinary people, giving us a vivid sense of what it must have been like, year by year, as they tried to put food on the table, build businesses, and feed their families.</p><p>Katja is the author of Weimar: Life on the Edge of Catastrophe.</p><p>We spoke about Weimar as the centre of German culture, how Elizabeth Nietzsche tarnished her brother’s legacy, and how democratic hope turned to Nazi terror.</p><p>Personal Landscapes relies on the support of listeners like you to keep going. Please consider joining my Member's Club on Substack, where you'll find show notes for each episode, book reviews, reading-related videos, and more. </p><p>You’ll be supporting an independent ad-free podcast that publishes carefully curated conversations like this one, backed by decades of reading. Go to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.personallandscapespodcast.com/p/start-here">https://www.personallandscapespodcast.com/p/start-here</a></p><p>Follow my travels — and buy my books — on <a target="_blank" href="https://ryanmurdock.com/">https://ryanmurdock.com/</a></p><p></p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://www.personallandscapespodcast.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_2">www.personallandscapespodcast.com/subscribe</a>