THE ESSAYS WERE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN VIERTELJAHRSHEFTE F UR ZEITGESCHICHTE. The essays were originally published in Vierteljahrshefte feur Zeitgeschichte.

The Weimar Republic in eclipse -- The role of the personality in the crisis of the Weimar Republic -- The downfall of the old Social Democratic Party in 1933 -- The Third Reich : the period of consolidation -- Stages of totalitarian "integration" (Gleichschaltung) : the consolidation of National Socialist rule in 1933 and 1934 -- The Reichstag fire and its political consequences -- The "Second Revolution" : June 30, 1934 -- The totalitarian state : police, propaganda, national expansionism, culture -- The position of the SS in the Third Reich -- Goebbels' speech on total war, February 18, 1943 -- National Socialist Europe ideology -- Art in the political power struggle of 1933 and 1934 -- The origins of inhumanity -- Social Darwinism in Germany, seen as a historical problem.