How did Hitler become so popular in the first place?
ON THE COVER: ALAMY X1, THE WOMEN’S LIBRARY COLLECTION/LSE LIBRARY X1, GETTY X4, COVER IMAGE ENHANCEMENT - CHRIS STOCKERDESIGN.CO.UK/ON THIS PAGE: ALAMY X1
It’s hard for us to comprehend now, but in 1933, the Reichstag (essentially Germany’s parliament) passed an act that allowed the new Chancellor, Adolf Hitler, to enact laws without having to have them approved by anyone else. What seems today like turkeys voting for Christmas was a key moment in the chain of events that would bring the entire world to the brink of destruction. But how did it come to this? Who was this Hitler character anyway, and how had he managed to become so powerful that he had dictatorship bestowed on him? Roger Moorhouse explains all in his enthralling cover feature, which begins on page 28.
By contrast, we have some lighter features elsewhere this month, such as the birth of the modern circus (p40), and the extraordinary history of that most everyday of objects – the toilet (p60). Indeed, one might say we’ve flushed out the best stories for you this issue.