Judge Dennis Davis
The Trial of Adolf Hitler: Legalities and Propaganda, Part 2
Summary
A continuing discussion of how Hitler used his 1924 trial as a political and theatrical stage to showcase his charisma and narcissistic qualities, and how Hitler was ultimately absolved due to the conservative nature of the presiding judge. Part 2 of 2.
Judge Dennis Davis
Dennis Davis is a judge of the High Court of South Africa and judge president of the Competition Appeals Court of South Africa. He has held professorial appointments at the University of Cape Town and University of the Witwatersrand, as well as numerous visiting appointments at Cambridge, Harvard, New York University, and others. He has authored eleven books, including Lawfare: Judging Politics in South Africa.
Professor David Peimer
David Peimer is a professor of theatre and performance studies in the UK. He has taught at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and New York University (Global Division), and was a Fulbright Scholar at Columbia University. Born in South Africa, David has won numerous awards for playwriting and directing. He has written eleven plays and directed forty in places like South Africa, New York, Brussels, London, Berlin, Zulu Kingdom, Athens, and more. His writing has been published widely and he is the editor of Armed Response: Plays from South Africa (2009) and the interactive digital book Theatre in the Camps (2012). He is on the board of the Pinter Centre in London.
Well, I think from my perspective, I would say that if it happens, they’ll seize it as an opportunity. And because the irony always of prison is martyrdom and how that can be used later at a certain point. I think that Hitler realised it pretty early on… In the ancient Greek times, ancient Greek theatre, it was often banishment and exile… It was a gift that he got from the government. He became a hero, he used the six months.
As Germany got into more and more trouble, he was able to articulate a vision of a world. He was able to speak across boundaries to the way in which people felt that their conditions could be explained.