"Crisis and Constitution: Hitler’s Rise to Power"

Lessons from a dark anniversary

On January 30th, the 80-year anniversary of Hitler's rise to power quietly passed. The consequences of Hitler’s 1933 election as Chancellor, however, are still present today, and the political lessons are equally meaningful. In “Crisis and Constitution: Hitler’s Rise to Power,” Dr. Anthony Bradley warns that constitutional circumvention can prove deadly to freedom.

Bradley writes, “Hitler’s rise to power is a sobering story of how a crisis and calls for quick solutions can tempt citizens and leaders to subvert the rule of law and ignore a country’s constitutional safeguards.” As history shows, coercive government power in the wrong hands is disastrous.

In March of 1933, just three months after Hitler became Chancellor, he successfully suppressed Communist, Socialist, and religious opposition to the “Enabling Act,” which allowed Hitler’s Cabinet to introduce legislation without parliamentary involvement. By mid-March, Hitler had built legal justification for dictatorship.

The rest is history.

“It would serve us well to remember,” Bradley concludes, “that among the best protections citizens have against tyranny and oppression is insistence that all, including politicians, be held accountable to the same laws and that due process is always honored.”

Click here to read Dr. Bradley's detailed account of Hitler's rise to power.

The King’s College educates students in the ideas upon which nations rise and fall. With a focused curriculum in the liberal arts tradition, students are prepared to help shape, and eventually to lead, the institutions of government, civil society, media, law, business, education, the arts, and the church. King’s is a Christian college located in New York City.

For more information about The King's College please contact: Matthias Clock
Communications Coordinator
212.659.3602