Who were the driving forces behind the destruction of democracy in the early 1930s? The Nazis, of course. The communists, even if their destructive role turned out to be quite different. But weren’t the most dangerous enemies of the Weimar Republic rather the “national-conservative” power elites and the social forces behind them? In any case, the sole blame for the downfall of the Weimar Republic must by no means be dumped on the NSDAP and its “Führer”, and certainly not on the “extremists from the right and left”.