According to historian Richard Evans in The Coming of the Third Reich, many Germans couldn’t accept defeat at the end of World War I, because the war ended in an armistice, not surrender. Most German territory was never occupied by foreign forces. So, it was easy for those who led Germany into a disastrous war to claim that they hadn’t really lost; the truce was called a “stab in the back.”
This was total fantasy. By 1918 the German economy was in shambles. They couldn’t keep up the war effort, so they tried to win a quick victory by denying food and supplies to the allies; they used submarines to sink supply ships. This policy brought the U.S. into the war, making Germany’s loss inevitable.
Unwilling to admit defeat, the German people were led by military and political elites to accept lies. International Jewish bankers had betrayed Germany. Being international, Jews weren’t tied to the “blood and soil” of Germany, even if they were born in Germany and fought to defend it in WW I. Together with the vindictive (and unrealistic) reparations required of Germany in the Treaty of Versailles, a sentiment of grievance prevailed in much of the population.
Politically motivated violence became common, according to historian Evans. Each party had armed military guards to “impress the public by marching in military order through the streets, and to intimidate, beat up and on occasion kill members of other paramilitary units associated with other political parties.” The communists and fascists were the most violent.
We see today in the U.S. a growing number of individuals wanting military-style weapons and organizing in militias, although in our case they support only the right, not the left. But increased gun purchases today may reflect a general cultural trend, as more Americans believe they need a gun for self-defense.
The functions of the German Parliament were impaired by rancorous, bitter partisanship which had not existed in earlier decades. Antisemitism, which had long been a feature of German culture, became more popular, especially among aggrieved right-wing partisans, leading to increased violence against Jews. Books by Jewish authors were banned, along with any works that suggested flaws in Germany’s history or culture.
Like the political rhetoric of many of his contemporaries, Hitler’s speeches concentrated on telling people repeatedly only what they wanted to hear. He used simple language, short sentences, and emotive slogans. Evans writes, “There were no qualifications in what he said; everything was absolute, uncompromising, irrevocable, undeviating, unalterable, final.”
Many political and military elites supported Hitler because he had become popular and they thought they could use his popularity to advance their own political agenda, which included opposition to communism, continued advantages for the elite (which communists promised to remove), and antifeminist policies that relegated women to having babies and raising children.
Most high profile Republicans, including members of Congress, are acting like the German elites 100 year ago by suggesting that violence against political opponents is acceptable, even required. Some Republican candidates promise to pardon those convicted of crimes for their participation in the insurrection on January 6, 2021, thereby repeating the call to violence that characterized the Nazi rise to power.
MAGA politicians refuse to inform their constituents of facts, such as the legal differences between the Biden and Clinton cases as compared with Trump’s legal troubles. Nevertheless, I don’t expect our country to come to the ruin that beset Germany when it abandoned democracy and acted violently on its fantasy-filled grievances. So far, our judiciary and military have required evidence before accepting claims of a stolen election.
But years ago it was unthinkable that people in Congress of either party would support a political leader who had obviously engaged in multiple illegal acts. This is why Nixon resigned. It’s an open question if MAGA Republicans will start to stand up for facts, or if the climate of opinion trending in Congress toward destructive fantasy will infect the judiciary and military.
As Lao Tzu is credited with saying, “If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.” To avoid ending up with a totalitarianism that ruins the country and devastates most of its people, Americans need more education in history. Like General Mark Milley, they need to know enough history to recognize the January 6 insurrection as a “Reichstag moment,” which was an event that ended democracy in Germany.
Denial of defeat, grievance, threats of political violence reducing free speech, private militias with guns, baseless accusations, misleading slogans, book banning, elites stoking fears, antisemitism, antifeminism, and unapologetic insurrection characterize current America as it did Germany before the Nazi takeover. Perhaps we must replace the norm of K-12 education with K-14 education so there’s time to teach the next generation enough history to recognize the signs of impending totalitarianism.
You are invited to reply to this post at wenz.peter@uis.edu, and I’ll try to respond.
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