Overview

• Aly’s book, titled "Wie konnte das geschehen? Deutschland 1933 bis 1945," is being published on Wednesday, accompanied by a dpa interview on August 26.
• He sees far more differences than similarities between 1933 and today and says there is no reason for alarmism about German democracy.
• He rejects equating the AfD or Alice Weidel with the NSDAP leadership, while noting racist and violent groupings within the party and stressing there is no 1931/32-style street-fighting climate.
• He identifies recurring methods of authoritarian rule, citing language control such as Putin’s insistence on calling the Ukraine war a "special military operation" and Goebbels’ wartime bans on terms like "war" and later "peace."
• He highlights social-policy giveaways as a consolidation tool, pointing to Hitler’s 1941 pension hike and parallels in Hungary under Viktor Orbán, Poland under PiS, and Russia under Vladimir Putin, while emphasizing that these leaders are not equivalent to Hitler and that even President Donald Trump should not be treated as such.