what does the germany of today have to do with the via our republic of nearly a century ago what do they have in common what parallels can we draw to a time just before the nazi regime seized power sweeping away hope freedom and peace. is. a simple and catchy slogan but when is not weimar that's a trivialization of history historical constellations don't repeat themselves in this one to one kind of a way we go the slogan also offers a kind of false reassurance it implies we don't need to give much thought to anti democratic developments that might be on the way suggests that this comparison is meaningless but i believe that some of what's happening now requires us to do exactly that to undertake this comparison the same kind of assault on democracy that happened in the weimar republic is being revived in a big way. tuloy if. history might not repeat itself but we can still learn from