Description

What does the rise of authoritarianism look like while it is happening in real time? Historian Pamela Toler, author of The Dragon from Chicago: The Untold Story of an American Reporter in Nazi Germany, joins The Clio Dialogues to tell the remarkable story of Sigrid Schultz, the Chicago Tribune’s Berlin bureau chief who reported on the fall of the Weimar Republic and the rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany.

Toler and host Jennifer Robin Terry discuss how economic and political instability contributed to the collapse of German democracy, what Schultz recognized about Hitler and the Nazi movement before they came to power, and why warnings that appear unmistakable in hindsight can be much harder to recognize in real time. They also explore Schultz’s extraordinary relationship with Hermann Göring.

At its heart, The Dragon from Chicago is the story of a pioneering woman foreign correspondent, as well as that of journalism under authoritarianism, the fragility of democracy, and the importance of a free and engaged press.

In this episode

• Sigrid Schultz and the Chicago Tribune
• the Weimar Republic and the rise of Nazism
• Schultz’s 1931 interview with Adolf Hitler
• the collapse of German democracy
• Hermann Göring and “The Dragon from Chicago”
• the Reichstag fire
• Nazi censorship and surveillance
• freedom of the press under authoritarianism
• foreign correspondents in Nazi Germany
• journalism, democracy, and recognizing authoritarian warning signs

Featured Guest

Pamela D. Toler is the author of ten works of historical non-fiction, for both adults and children, including, most recently, The Dragon From Chicago: The Untold Story of An American Reporter in Nazi Germany. Toler holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of Chicago. You can find out more about her books and her ideas about history, writing, and writing about history at www.pameladtoler.com.

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The Dragon From Chicago: The Untold Story of An American Reporter in Nazi Germany

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