After Hitler’s Fall: Germany’s Coming Reich -by the German nobleman Prince Hubertus Loewenstein – the man who foresaw Hitler’s downfall and Germany’s future return to democratic values. Published by Faber & Faber Limited. London, 1934 – first edition. A perfect copy with the original dust jacket.
An important publication written shortly after Hitler’s rise to power, at a time when his influence was rapidly growing and it had already become evident that Germany was heading toward dictatorship. At such an early stage, Loewenstein envisioned a post-Nazi Germany. He presents a vision for how Germany must recover from the Hitlerite poison, rebuild itself morally, politically, and culturally, and how a new “Reich” (i.e., a new political order) could emerge after the destruction of the Third Reich. At the time of writing, Germany was gripped by blind admiration and worship of Adolf Hitler. The author had the insight to recognize, at this early point, the moral ruin that Hitler would yet bring upon Germany, and he foresaw how, in the end, the country would recover from it. After Hitler’s fall, he envisions the rise of a fully democratic Germany—peaceful, friendly toward the other nations of Europe, and living in close cooperation with its neighbors. A Germany entirely freed from the destructive militaristic spirit of Potsdam—but only after it realizes that Adolf Hitler is not its savior, but the man destined to bring upon it the most ruinous regime in its history.
After Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor in January 1933, he moved swiftly to crush the republican democratic institutions of the Weimar Republic. The Reichstag fire served as a pretext for enacting the “Decree for the Protection of the People and the State”, through which he eliminated civil liberties, arrested his opponents, and imposed a regime of political terror. Following the death of President Hindenburg in August 1934, Hitler merged the offices of President and Chancellor under the title Führer, becoming the sole ruler. The German army’s oath of loyalty was no longer to the German constitution, but to Adolf Hitler personally. The admiration for him took on messianic dimensions—crowds greeted him with the Nazi salute, his portraits appeared in every home, and the regime’s propaganda cultivated his image as Germany’s redeemer, who had lifted the nation out of economic collapse and restored its national pride. The combination of sophisticated propaganda, the systematic elimination of opposition, and promises of stability and prosperity turned Hitler into a revered figure in the eyes of many in 1934 Germany—an admiration rooted in fear, illusion, and blind nationalism.
Despite the waves of adoration that swept through Germany in 1934 and the mass illusion that Hitler was the nation’s savior, Prince Hubertus Loewenstein had the foresight to recognize the looming danger. While the people saw order, he saw tyranny; while the masses cheered for national revival, he saw the uprooting of liberty, morality, and truth. In his book, Loewenstein warned—even then—that the Nazi leadership was steering Germany toward moral, political, and spiritual disaster. He believed that only if Germany could free itself from this dark dictatorship could it rebuild as a free, democratic, and ethical nation. In his eyes, Germany’s true redemption would not come through power and blind obedience, but through a return to the values of humanity, liberty, and national responsibility.
The author, Prince Hubertus zu Loewenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg (1906–1984), a twelfth-generation descendant of German emperors, was a German intellectual, writer, diplomat, and anti-Nazi journalist active in exile. He was among the small group of German nobles who openly opposed Hitler even before his rise to power. After the Nazis came to power, he fled to the United States, where he became engaged in political, intellectual, and diplomatic efforts against the Nazi regime.
XXXVI, 281 pages. Hardcover with original dust jacket, all intact. Light stains on some pages. Good – very good condition.
