歷史學家福爾克·烏爾里希（Volker Ullrich）在《決定性時刻》（*Fateful Hours*）一書中，詳述了魏瑪共和國引人入勝的歷史，描繪了一個國家及其民眾在深淵邊緣搖搖欲墜的境況。 透過書信、回憶錄、報紙文章及其他史料，整理了當時諸多未能實現的方案與錯失的機遇，正是這些因素導致了德國民主制度的崩塌。烏爾里希以一種令人身臨其境的筆觸，帶我們深入政治權力的核心。他指出，直至1933年1月，歷史的走向依然充滿變數。當時絕不缺乏阻止國家滑向法西斯主義的機會。如同今天一樣，民主制度的存續與否，依然掌握在我們自己手中。......紀念 Peter Gay, part III-- 彭淮棟 談：《威瑪文化》一個失敗的國家塑造了20世紀 (脆弱的民主政體魏瑪共和國在納粹奪取政權前，曾在德國短暫建立。A Failed State Shaped the 20th Century. Can Today’s Leaders Avoid Its Fate?)如今，魏瑪的崩潰被視為一個警告。。今天的領導者能否避免重蹈覆轍？博物館肩負著一項意義非凡的使命：完整講述魏瑪時代的故事，並提醒人們，這段歷史的教訓至今仍然具有現實意義——不僅在極右翼政黨德國另類選擇黨（AfD）勢力日益壯大的德國，而且在越來越多民主政體突然變得脆弱的國家。

紀念 Peter Gay, part III-- 彭淮棟 談：《威瑪文化》



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紀念 Peter Gay, part III-- 彭淮棟 談：《威瑪文化》



Weimar Dispatch

A Failed State Shaped the 20th Century. Can Today’s Leaders Avoid Its Fate?

A fragile democracy, the Weimar Republic, briefly took hold in Germany before the Nazis seized power. Now, Weimar’s collapse is seen as a warning.


The German National Theater in Weimar, Germany, where leaders met in 1919 to create a new national Constitution.Credit...





魏瑪紀事




一個失敗的國家塑造了20世紀。今天的領導者能否避免重蹈覆轍？




脆弱的民主政體魏瑪共和國在納粹奪取政權前，曾在德國短暫建立。如今，魏瑪的崩潰被視為一個警告。




1919年，德國領導人在魏瑪國家劇院會面，並制定了新的國家憲法。 （圖片來源…）

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如今，魏瑪共和國大廈紀念皇帝與獨裁者之間那段短暫的時期。它坐落在寬闊的廣場對面，與當年制憲代表們開會的莊嚴劇院遙遙相望。 這座小型博物館肩負著一項意義非凡的使命：完整講述魏瑪時代的故事，並提醒人們，這段歷史的教訓至今仍然具有現實意義——不僅在極右翼政黨德國另類選擇黨（AfD）勢力日益壯大的德國，而且在越來越多民主政體突然變得脆弱的國家。

Today that brief stretch of time between an emperor and a dictator is memorialized by the House of the Weimar Republic, which sits across a wide plaza from the stately theater where the constitutional delegates met.

This small museum has an outsize mission: to tell the full story of the Weimar era, and to remind people that its lessons remain relevant — not only in Germany, where the far-right Alternative for Germany party, or A.f.D., is on the rise, but in a growing number of suddenly fragile democracies.

民主制度是​​脆弱的。看似穩固的自由，也可能喪失殆盡。在歷史上，很少有事件能像魏瑪共和國的覆滅那樣，如此生動地印證了這一點。德國的這一首個民主政體在動盪中維持了十四年，最終卻走向了「第三帝國」那令人驚駭的崛起。正如一位評論者在1933年7月所寫的那樣：希特勒「幾乎沒費什麼力氣就贏得了這場博弈……他只需吹口氣——德國政治大廈便如紙牌屋般轟然倒塌。」然而，這場悲劇並非不可避免。

在《決定性時刻》（*Fateful Hours*）一書中，屢獲殊榮的歷史學家福爾克·烏爾里希（Volker Ullrich）詳述了魏瑪共和國引人入勝的歷史，描繪了一個國家及其民眾在深淵邊緣搖搖欲墜的境況。這初生的民主政體誕生於第一次世界大戰的廢墟之上，從建立之初背負著沉重的債務與政治動盪。在建國初期，接連不斷的危機──惡性通貨膨脹、外國入侵，以及來自左右兩翼的動亂──不斷衝擊著這個共和國；僅在20世紀20年代曾有過一段短暫的穩定期。當時的社會與文化準則被徹底顛覆，政治暗殺更是屢見不鮮。儘管面臨重重挑戰，魏瑪共和國並非注定要迎來那般可恥的結局。

烏爾里希透過書信、回憶錄、報紙文章及其他史料，整理了當時諸多未能實現的方案與錯失的機遇，正是這些因素導致了德國民主制度的崩塌。烏爾里希以一種令人身臨其境的筆觸，帶我們深入政治權力的核心。他指出，直至1933年1月，歷史的走向依然充滿變數。當時絕不缺乏阻止國家滑向法西斯主義的機會。如同今天一樣，民主制度的存續與否，依然掌握在我們自己手中。

Democracies are fragile. Freedoms that seem secure can be lost. Few historical events illustrate this as vividly as the failure of the Weimar Republic. Germany’s first democracy endured for fourteen tumultuous years and culminated with the horrific rise of the Third Reich. As one commentator wrote in July 1933: Hitler had “won the game with little effort. . . . All he had to do was huff and puff—and the edifice of German politics collapsed like a house of cards.” But this tragedy was not inevitable.

In FATEFUL HOURS, award-winning historian Volker Ullrich chronicles the captivating story of the Republic, capturing a nation and its people teetering on the abyss. Born from the ashes of the First World War, the fledgling democracy was saddled with debt and political instability from its beginning. In its early years, a relentless chain of crises—hyperinflation, foreign invasion, and upheaval from the right and left—shook the republic, only letting up during a brief period of stability in the 1920s. Social and cultural norms were upended. Political murder was the order of the day. Yet despite all the challenges, the Weimar Republic was not destined for its ignoble end.

Drawing on letters, memoirs, newspaper articles, and other sources, Ullrich charts the many failed alternatives and missed opportunities that contributed to German democracy’s collapse. In an immersive style that takes us to the heart of political power, Ullrich argues that, right up until January 1933, history was open. There was no shortage of opportunities to stop the slide into fascism. Just as in the present, it is up to us whether democracy lives or dies.

Available now in paperback.

https://wwnorton.com/books/fateful-hours

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