Weimar

This clever inter-war study takes the city of Weimar as a microcosm of the doomed republic that bore its name. We meet a rich cast of ordinary Germans, struggling to survive – then turning on each other. Hoyer is one of our brightest young historians: Weimar is another triumph to her name

The Telegraph

Britain's favourite German historian... Hoyer has been beavering away in the archives to tell the story of the crack-up of democracy in interwar Germany, through a vivid cast of characters

Sunday Times

Most histories of interwar Germany focus on Berlin (sleaze, cabarets, expressionist art) or Munich (beer, Nazis in lederhosen), so it’s clever to tell the ill-starred story of the Weimar Republic through the 35,000-strong town of Weimar itself, home to Goethe and so many parks. Katja Hoyer weaves her story using the lives of various locals — book-keepers, hoteliers, party activists — to show what it was like to live on “the edge of catastrophe” and show why so many Germans succumbed to Nazi fever

The Times

There has been a renewed uptick in books about the Weimar Republic, with many observers worrying about possible contemporary parallels. Historian Hoyer opts for a different tack, going to the picturesque Thuringian town that gave its name to Germany’s first ill-fated experiment with democracy to explore, via a collection of individuals, how the home to many of Europe’s cultural giants became an early Nazi stronghold

Financial Times

From literary and artistic gem to Nazi stronghold, how a quaint town encapsulated the best and worst in German history ... Weimar is an excellent read

Financial Times

Hoyer's book confronts us with troubling ambiguities ... Understanding why ordinary, even likeable, people turned away from democracy is, she argues, essential to safeguarding freedom ... that task could scarcely be more urgent

Guardian

A bright, young historian... Strap in to watch the slow collapse of a society, amid a throng of fascists, socialists, artists and politicians

Telegraph, Books to Look Forward to in 2026

Superb... Katja Hoyer finds the town of Weimar a perfect microcosm for a country teetering into darkness... intelligent, original and well-researched... an exemplary insight into a grim chapter in German history

Simon Heffer, Daily Telegraph

Weimar is populated not by abstractions but by people... Hoyer writes with verve and a keen eye for telling detail... She shows with quiet acuity how ordinary, self-respecting Weimarers succumbed to the siren call of Nazism

The Times