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Arnold Brecht witnessed and participated in the course of German history from the late 19th century to the present. Serving under seven Reich chancellors, he became acting Secretary of State, and was finally removed from office by Hitler in 1933.

This is an absorbing account of these momentous years: a Germany preoccupied with conquest, the catastrophe of World War I, the nerve-wracking decisions of the Armistice, the fateful Kapp Putsch, the failures of the Weimar Republic, the tragedy of the death of Rathenau and the ensuing swing to the Right.

Professor Brecht depicts in detail the social milieu of pre-war Germany and the political decisions—internal and external—of a country abased before the world. He is able to write from firsthand knowledge of Hitler, Chancellor Max von Baden, President Friedrich Ebert, Matthias Erzberger, Gustav Stresemann, Walter Rathenau, and many others.

This book is an autobiography, full of rich and detailed accounts of the author’s personal philosophy and life as a private individual. It is also an impressive eye-witness account of Germany in the 19th and 20th centuries. Finally, it is in effect a work of applied political theory, a suitable companion to his Political Theory.

Originally published in 1970.

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