Time for another reminder. It happen and it can happen again. A short 5 min summary. Many of you can see parallel to today. Nationalist feeling of anger, fear and humiliation. Populist resentment toward elite and blaming Jews and other for the nation's problem through conspiracy theories. A normal party join up with Hitler for their own gain, assigning him power, believing that Hitler more extreme rhetoric was only for show. Then, a single event of violent happen and Hitler used it to declare emergency power, suppressing press, banning other political parties, restoring law and order by passing anti-Jews laws, executing radical (Hitler own early supporters and potential rivals)... it was then too late. Hitler went from having 3% support of the population to what he was within a few years. Decades after the fall of the Third Reich, it feels impossible to understand how Adolf Hitler, the tyrant who orchestrated one of the largest genocides in human history, could ever have risen to power in a democratic country. So how did it happen, and could it happen again? Alex Gendler and Anthony Hazard dive into the history and circumstances that allowed Hitler to become Führer of Germany.
It was a dire situation.....democracy wasn't as proven as is now. Population was rather impoverished and gullible. After WW I countries were not in their best state, economies unstable.....Nationalist movements began their rise. Should have sent him on his artistic way as a painter...... It could happen again.
Prior to Hitler taking power, the Nazis (National Socialist German Workers Party) party ran as socialists. The German economy was in a hyperinflation mode in the aftermath of WWII and the Treaty of Versailles and the people were desperate in the extreme. It was also the height of the great depression. Things were quite a bit worse in Germany than they were here during the same period. The Nazis promised a lot of free stuff and that they would make everything better. The Nazis did not run on a platform of the war or world conquest, or mass murder, although they did run on a platform of identity politics and ultimately implemented their own version of "political correctness". Two strains of socialism dominated the scene in Germany during this time, the communists and the Nazis. They hated each other, because each was an existential threat to the other. Once the Nazis got into power, they turned despotic, as we also saw the communists do in Russia and China. Of course what happened in all three of those places was not what the people wanted or expected. They had been sold a stack of spectacularly misleading lies. We are seeing another chapter of this sad tale play out in Venezuela at this time. Why can't people learn? It is not like we have not seen this experiment attempted enough times already. Socialism, even Democratic American Socialism, is a bait and switch proposition. It is a bunch of utopian lies. Don't believe it. It won't work like they say it will here either.
It's interesting. Upon his entrance into politics Hitler was actually hired to take tabs on the far right working class party at the beer gardens where they'd hang out, and then one day just took a turn speaking himself but with a ton of bluster, and ultimately turned that party into what became the Nazi party after a series of events got him power in first place. He has many Jew friends growing up too. This was a man who was abused by his father. He was aggrieved because he felt rejected by the class system where he always felt had to prove himself. Didn't get into the art school he wanted to get into because he refused to draw people. He was obsessed with his image as a larger than life strongman. And he lied about himself and his accomplishments.... stealing war hero stories from other soldiers during WW1 to build up a narrative about himself he could sell. And of course... he was always looking to blame someone else as a scapegoat. Basically Hitler was an opportunist more than anything, and took advantage of a very vulnerable working class through lies, bluster, and the use of propaganda.
To be honest that description and the nuances of Hitlers character and youth probably match up to many many horrible rulers over time. I think the presidential debates, question 1 out of Lester Holts mouth should be "Tell me about your relationship with your father?"
"You know, you gotta stop them at the beginning. Like they should have stopped Hitler at Munich, they should never let him get away with that, they was just asking for trouble." --- Peter Clemenza, The Godfather
It was the combination of authoritarianism and identitarianism (in the form of nationalism) That's why it's concerning how so many that call themselves the right and left are heading in the direction of authoritarianism these days. The real struggle is between authoritarianism and libertarianism instead of left vs right.
This, and Germans (especially in the government and military) were used to absolute authoritarian rule and deferring to the authority structure. After that culture was stripped from the government, and the continued rise of communists and anarchists and hyper inflation; many Germans wanted a superman to solve their problems. The Communists and the Nazi's both promised answers, but the Nazi's were more in tune with German culture and they won.
A country in a crappy economic situation coupled with an internal political identity crisis is a pretty potent breeding ground for awful things.
Crazy enough, 2 of the main groups who showed up in Charlottesville were the Communists and the Nazis. Hopefully we are smart enough to hate both groups and to reject them.
It almost did and the American people rised up and put a stop to Killary so Miss Piggy won't be able to finish what the filthy community organizer started. BTW- Read Dinesh D'Souza's latest book "The Big Lie". Hitler was a great admirer of your party and took a lot ideas from it.
I'd like to hope that we have more access to information than the German people did in the 30's. All they had was nazi propaganda. That being said, it's a double edged sword in that all of these avenues of information we now have access to can be used to spread hate much easier than the nazis did in the 30's.
Yep. Our country really needs to hit the next elections out of the park the next 10-15 years whether the president be Republican or Democrat, they need to be someone special.
The Treaty of Versailles. In Trump's case it's white men feeling like they're losing their spot at the front of the line.
Didn't you know? Liberals are the root of all evil! Just ignore FDR's impact on America and all those European countries that are so left of center and socialist that they'd make Bernie blush! Just blame the left for everything! Conservatism has never done anything wrong in the world, NEVER.
All of Europe is on the verge of Nazism. It's the necessary evolution of the socializm. Just look at Venezuela! Fear it! They're coming for your stuff!
