Richard Evans - Conspiracy theories: from Nazi Germany to today

One of the things that concerns me as an historian is the spread of conspiracy theories in the last 20 years or so.

About Richard Evans 
"I'm Regius Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Cambridge.

I'm the author of a number of books, particularly on Nazi Germany, such as The Coming of the Third Reich, The Third Reich in Power, The Third Reich at War and The Third Reich in History and Memory. My latest book, The Hitler Conspiracies, is a study of conspiracy theories either allegedly influencing the Nazis or developed about them."

The spread of conspiracy theories

One of the things that concerns me as an historian is the spread of conspiracy theories in the last 20 years or so. Essentially, it’s a theory that whatever happens in the world, particularly in political events, is caused not by chance but by a conspiracy by a small group of people behind the scenes manipulating what goes on. An obvious example is the assassination of President John F. Kennedy of the United States, which the contemporary investigation showed was carried out by one man, Lee Harvey Oswald. However, there’s an enormous amount of conspiracy theory that alleges that that can’t have been possible, that it must have been a larger group of people in the CIA.

Key Points

• The mindset of the conspiracy theorists is that somehow chance events don’t happen and anyone who benefits from an event must be responsible for it.
• The rise of the internet and social media have encouraged conspiracy theories to spread because they bypass what you might call the gatekeepers of opinion formation.
• Since the economic crisis of 2008 to 2009, there’s been an emergence of populist politicians in a number of different countries. One thing that unites them is disbelief in their refusal to accept science.