First Paragraph

 In November 1932, fourteen years after it was put in place, Germany's first parliamentary democracy found itself mired in its deepest crisis. The election on 6 November - the second that year - proved disastrous for the moderate parties that constituted the Weimar Republic. A full third of the workforce was unemployed, more than five million people in all, and many of those still in work had been hit with punishing wage cuts. The economy was at rock bottom, and political culture had taken a cutthroat turn. On the streets of Germany's cities, the situation frequently erupted into violent conflicts that left hundreds dead. Senior politicians, businessmen and journalists spoke in hushed tones of a civil war.

- From The Gravediggers: The Last Winter of the Weimar Republic by Rudiger Barth and Hauke Friederichs