Can one really penetrate the psychology of a tyrant? Do citizens really play a role in the rise of dictatorship? Do intellectuals have a responsibility when faced with the rise of these perils? Answering yes to these questions led Manes Sperber to examine the wrath of the Nazis. The magistral "Analysis of Tyranny", written in 1937 and destroyed by the Gestapo, is published here for the first time in French. With lucidity, the author paints a portrait of a tyrant, behind which one discovers Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin. He affirms that tyranny comprises not only a tyrant, but also his subjects and his victims. He determines that the conditions conducive to the rise of a tyrant are in the heart of a society where cowardice and faith in the magic of power are omnipotent.