Roots of Extremism – Social Dynamics and the Long Shadows of History in the Rise of the Nazi Party

How do ordinary people come to embrace political extremism? The conventional answer points to economic distress and social isolation. Yet evidence from Nazi Germany suggests a different story: extremism often spreads not through broken societies, but through strong communities.

This lecture provides insight into how local traditions of anti-Semitism in Germany persisted across centuries. Towns that carried out anti-Jewish pogroms during the Black Death in 1348 remained significantly more anti-Semitic nearly 600 years later, displaying greater participation in anti-Jewish violence during the Third Reich. These long-standing prejudices formed reservoirs of hostility that could be activated under the right conditions. Crucially, extremist ideas spread through everyday social networks. Germans active in civic associations, such as sports clubs, and professional groups, were more likely to join the Nazi Party, and towns with denser networks of clubs saw faster Nazi membership growth. Economic crisis intensified radicalisation, but mainly when hardship could be linked to a persuasive scapegoating narrative.

The findings challenge common assumptions about democratic resilience: extremism often advances not by mobilising society’s outcasts, but by capturing its joiners.

About the Speaker

An internationally renowned economic historian, Professor Hans-Joachim Voth is a UBS Foundation Professor at the Economics Department, University of Zurich and Scientific Director of the UBS Center for Economics in Society.

His principal areas of research include long-run economic growth, the history of sovereign debt, causes and consequences of the Nazi Party's rise to power, and the economic history of the Industrial Revolution.

A Fellow of The Econometric Society and former President of the Association for Comparative Economic Studies, Professor Voth has published extensively in leading journals including the American Economic Review and Quarterly Journal of Economics, as well as authoring multiple academic and popular books.

Hosted by Department of Economics.

For additional information please email fbe-lectures@unimelb.edu.au

Please note: This is an in-person only event. The recording will be available online after the lecture.

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