1939. As war engulfs Germany for the second time, Carl Weirich loses his family once more to the violence and upheaval of global conflict. In Weimar, the shadow of a nearby concentration camp darkens both the landscape and the lives of residents, while Rosa faces mounting pressure as officials investigate and challenge her Jewish heritage.

Katja Hoyer’s Weimar: Life on the Edge of Catastrophe traces the experiences of ordinary people during the rise and rule of Hitler, revealing how fear, conformity and shifting loyalties reshaped a cultured and intellectual town. The narrative explores the growing demands placed on individuals to prove their identity and allegiance as persecution intensifies.

In the early twenty first century, Hoyer returns to Weimar to research these histories and meet those who still remember the era. The book examines how a nation celebrated for its culture enabled the rise of Nazism, probing the tension between personal responsibility and collective guilt, and warning of how fragile democratic societies can be in times of crisis.