When do every day social processes become more dangerous? Who is the first to notice? Are we really interested in, and able to, confront evil or do we embrace, assimilate, accommodate, and normalize evil? Why Germany? Why the Nazis? To what degree was support gained through coercion and/or consent?
Hitler was not inevitable. It would be a critical misunderstanding to buy the self-propagated Hitler myth that it was his “will” and genius that brought him to power. Hitler was always rescued by others who underestimated him, but utilized him for their own purposes. Indeed, many were drawn to Nazism and Hitler more for shortterm gain then an admiration of Hitler. What are the myths and realities about the Nazi rise to power and how does it challenge our understanding of our civic responsibilities in a democratic society?
Dissatisfaction led to a “hazardous adventure.” - Carl von Ossietzky1
Hitler, y"sh, was inevitable. If not him, someone like him. Between the ecnomic chaos forced on Germany by the Allied Powers and the pressure from the USSR-supported communists, the only way to save Germany from collapsing was a fascist dictatorship capable of standing up to the West and pushing back against the USSR.
ReplyDeleteIf Versailles hadn't been a "Let's crush Germany forever" festival but had arranged a just peace that allowed Germany to rebuild as a prosperous democracy, there would've been no Hitler.
And anyway, comparing Trump to Hitler means you don't know anything about Hitler. It's just a name you throw out as an insult
He was born, and took power. He might have been stopped by Britain if they had foreseen his horrors, but even so it took 6 years of war to stop him.
ReplyDeleteIt could've taken 5 minutes to stop him.
DeleteThe German army never liked him and chafed for an excuse to get rid of him and his private SS army. But he was successful and the people loved him so they couldn't.
Their hope was that he'd push too far too fast and make it obvious he was a national disaster waiting to happen. So when he ordered the army into the Rhineland in violation of Versailles in 1936, the generals thought that this was their change. Britain and France would either declare war over the violation or at least mobilize to show their disapproval. The generals would use that as their excuse to overthrow him and restore the prior government.
But Britain and France said, "Meh." So Germany took back the Rhineland and he got more popular than ever.
Did you ever read Ephraim Kishon? He has a satire piece in which he starts by describing the events that lead to the Munich conference but as the story goes on, he slowly starts replacing names, like Britain become the US, the Germans becoming the Arab League and guess who the Czech become.