ABSTRACT
Heinrich Mann, a democrat and pacifist, writing in December 1931, offers his explanation for the growth of support for the Nazi Party. Were Germans able to examine their situation with a clear head, Hitler would not win them over the condition of Germany is above all a psychological fact. All external facts pale in comparison. The economy is collapsing everywhere, but only in Germany does the process achieve its maximum effect on spirits. Only in Germany did it succumb utterly to ruin; the Germans let it become ruined without any external necessity, for reasons of spirit, from a deficiency of inner resistance. Thus it could be that they now allow National Socialism to come to power because they are hearing once again the call from the abyss. Speaking for the victory of National Socialism, above all, is the fact that in Germany democracy has never won in bloody battle.
