Dr. Timothy W. Ryback, PhD is an historian and director of the Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation in The Hague. He previously served as the Deputy-Secretary General of the Académie Diplomatique Internationale in Paris, and Director and Vice President of the Salzburg Global Seminar.

Timothy Ryback has written on European history, politics and culture for numerous publications, including The Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker, and The Wall Street Journal.

He is the author of numerous books, including Hitler’s Private Library: The Books That Shaped His Life, which has appeared in more than 25 editions around the world; his book, The Last Survivor: Legacies of Dachau was a New York Times Notable Book; and Rock Around the Bloc: A History of Rock Music in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.

His latest book is TAKEOVER: HITLER’S FINAL RISE TO POWER (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2024). It explores the final days of the Weimar Republic and its incredibly rapid transformation into the Third Reich of Nazis Germany in just a few months. We discuss it and two of his other books, HITLER’S PRIVATE LIBRARY: THE BOOKS THAT SHAPED HIS LIFE, and HITLER’S FIRST VICTIMS: THE QUEST FOR JUSTICE.

Although there is some disputing it, Mark Twain is generally credited with observing that “History does not repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” In researching that quip, I came across this by humorist, Max Beerbohm from 1896. “History,” it has been said, “does not repeat itself. The historians repeat one another.” How many rhymes can you find in this interview with historian, Timothy Ryback, from his home in Berlin, Germany, recorded via Skype on Dec. 3, 2024?

Articles pertinent to this interview:

How Hitler Came To Power, with Timothy Ryback and Jim Bittermann https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3HhfPoavwc

What Will Happen To Everyone Who is Not White, Straight, & Male If We Don’t Speak Out? https://hartmannreport.com/p/what-will-happen-to-everyone-who?utm_source=publication-search

Margaret Atwood: Democracy Under Her Eye https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hij5MbcICm4

Trump Pentagon pick attacks UN and Nato and urges US to ignore Geneva conventions https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/25/pete-hegseth-book-attacks-nato-alliances

The deep historical forces that explain Trump’s win https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/30/the-deep-historical-forces-that-explain-trumps-win

Why I’m Not Giving up on American Democracy https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/30/opinion/trump-orban-hungary-journalists-persecution.html

Ex-official exits running for Trump team over Sebastian Gorka appointment https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/25/sebastian-gorka-michael-anton-trump

Montana supreme court blocks ban on gender-affirming care for trans minors https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/11/montana-blocks-ban-gender-affirming-care-trans-minors

United States v. Skrmetti: The Trans Medical Care Case Before the Supreme Court Is About Bodily Autonomy for Everyone https://www.americanprogress.org/article/united-states-v-skrmetti-the-trans-medical-care-case-before-the-supreme-court-is-about-bodily-autonomy-for-everyone/

Nikki Giovanni poetry reading at Emory University https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wr7587oAdpQ

Nikki Giovanni Reads her own Poems https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMFP9ZNYCPs

How Nikki Giovanni’s Black American consciousness changed the world https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/dec/14/nikki-giovanni-black-arts-literary-consciousness

How to Kill a Democracy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKlkETrxCkc

Timothy Ryback – Hitler’s Private Library – Part 1 of 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKKfohBPy7s

Timothy Ryback – Hitler’s Private Library – Part 2 of 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sOIkTr4aVw

The Books He Didn’t Burn | Inside Hitler’s Private Library. Official Trailer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uj5O8LDB2k

Polarization, Democracy, and Political Violence in the United States: What the Research Says https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2023/09/polarization-democracy-and-political-violence-in-the-united-states-what-the-research-says?lang=en

US founder of neo-Nazi network sentenced to two years of time served https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/13/neo-nazi-founder-robert-rundo-sentencing