About this day
This fascinating programme for year 11,12 and 13 students is designed to challenge and enthuse all those studying 20th century Germany. With a focus on the period 1918-45, it is specifically designed to appeal to A-level, IB and year 11 GCSE students preparing for the Edexcel, AQA and OCR specifications. Delivered by world-class historians, presentations will cover the aftermath of WW1 and the Weimar Republic through to the rise of Hitler, propaganda and control in Nazi Germany and WW2.
All talks will draw on recent cutting-edge academic research and there will be plenty of opportunity for questions throughout the day. The day will include two separate lunchtime exam sessions for A-level and GCSE students, providing first-hand guidance and insights to help boost confidence and grades. Useful handouts containing key information on the topics covered and suggested further reading will be provided.
Book now to secure your places!
“Superb! We enjoyed every presentation. A very valuable day.”
— St Thomas More School, Autumn 2025 —
“The opportunity to ask questions and have further discussions with the speakers in the break was a real highlight.“
— Student, Autumn 2025 —
Programme & speakers
Weimar and the triumph of Nazism Richard J Evans, Historian and author
Sir Richard J Evans returns to this event with an exciting new talk based on recent research. Why did the Weimar Republic, Germany’s first democracy, collapse in 1933, giving way to Hitler’s dictatorship? This lecture looks critically at a range of explanations, from the weaknesses of the Constitution, including proportional representation and the power of the President to rule by emergency decree to the political effects of hyperinflation in 1922-23 and the world economic depression in 1929-33. The populist appeal of the Nazis, it is argued, owed as much to broader circumstances as to the charisma of the Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler.
About Sir Richard J Evans
Sir Richard J Evans is one of the world’s leading historians of Nazi Germany. He has published widely, winning numerous prizes, including for his large-scale history of the Third Reich, which appeared in 15 languages. As one of the world’s leading experts of Nazi Germany, he regularly appears on radio and TV documentaries. He is a Fellow of the British Academy, the Royal Historical Society and the Royal Society of Literature.
Coercion and consent in Nazi Germany Mary Fulbrook, University College London
Professor Fulbrook will explore the balance of terror and repression, conformity and enthusiasm in Nazi Germany, and analyse ways in which Germans were both affected by and involved in the radicalisation of Nazi policies and practices.
About Professor Mary Fulbrook
Mary Fulbrook is Professor of German History at UCL and a Fellow of the British Academy. A powerful and passionate speaker, she has written widely on German history, including both popular textbooks and specialist monographs. Among her many books are the Fraenkel Prize-winning “A Small Town near Auschwitz: Ordinary Nazis and the Holocaust” and, most recently, “Reckonings: Legacies of Nazi Persecution and the Quest for Justice”, which was winner of the 2019 Wolfson Prize.
Voting in Weimar: A Sensory History of German Democracy’s Collapse Alexander Watson, Goldsmiths, University of London
At the root of the Weimar Republic’s collapse was ordinary Germans’ disillusionment with democracy. In the last free elections before Hitler took power, nearly 60% of voters supported parties – Nazis, Nationalists or Communists – promising to abolish democracy. This talk uses sensory history, a new way of thinking about the past, to explain how extremists’ propaganda cleverly exploited sight, sound, touch, taste and smell to radicalise voters, win followers and break the republic.
About Professor Alexander Watson
Alexander Watson is Professor of History at Goldsmiths, University of London and an award-winning author of many books and papers on East-Central Europe and Britain during the First World War. His most recent book, The Fortress: The Great Siege of Przemysl, was hailed as a masterpiece by The Times newspaper. He is currently working on a book on Weimar voting and the collapse of democracy.
The origins of the Holocaust Nikolaus Wachsmann, Birkbeck College London
Drawing on recent research, Professor Wachsmann outlines the road to the Holocaust, from pre-war Nazi anti-Semitic measures aimed at brutal discrimination and forced emigration to wartime plans for destructive mass deportations, culminating in the Nazi policy to exterminate the Jews of Europe.
About Professor Nikolaus Wachsmann
Professor Nikolaus Wachsmann teaches modern European history at Birkbeck College, University of London. He has published widely and is the author of the highly acclaimed, award-winning book KL: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps (2015). He is currently writing a new history of Auschwitz.
Bread and Games: How Hitler's Regime Projected Progress and Prosperity Katja Hoyer, King's College London
When people think of Nazi Germany, they often think of terror and dictatorship. Yet, for a time, Hitler’s regime also enjoyed broad consent, not least because it invested heavily in sport, holidays, entertainment and grand public spectacle to project success. Through the Berlin Olympics, affordable cruises and other initiatives, the Nazis presented a vision of a modern, prosperous and united Germany. This lecture explores the myth and reality of the “German Dream” under Hitler. (Image credit: The U.S. National Archives via Picryl.com)
About Katja Hoyer
Katja Hoyer is a German-British historian. She is the author of the international bestsellers Beyond the Wall: East Germany 1949-1990 and Blood and Iron: The Rise and Fall of the German Empire. Her latest book, Weimar: Life on the Edge of Catastrophe, came out in May and was also a Sunday Times Bestseller in the UK and a Spiegel Bestseller in Germany. She is a Visiting Research Fellow at King’s College London and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Katja is a columnist for Berliner Zeitung and a regular contributor to British and American news outlets such as the BBC, Bloomberg, The Telegraph and The Guardian. She co-hosts the German history podcast Reichs & Republics and publishes a biweekly Substack newsletter called ZEITGEIST.