Recently I have been doing extensive reading about Adolph Hilter’s rise to power. The more I read, the more sense it makes, as tragic as it turned out to be.
Before saying anything else, though, I want to underscore the fact that I believe Hitler was personified evil, making any parallels to specific people today unjustified and irresponsible.
Yet there are lessons to be learned from that horrible chapter in history, not least the reasons why the German people failed to see who Hitler really was and/or chose to ignore all the warning signs.
Here is a brief summary of what happened. It is the story of someone rising to power by being both smart and sinister enough to use a convergence of economic, social, and political factors to his personal advantage.
By 1929 Hitler had become the leader of the National Socialists German Worker Party (National-sozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei), or the Nazi Party.
When the American Stock Exchange collapsed, and caused an economic depression, the U.S. called in all its foreign loans. The practical effect on Germany of that action was to destroy the economy of the Weimar Republic.
Unemployment shot up to almost 10 percent. Unfortunately German Chancellor Heinrich Brüning, appointed by President Paul von Hindenburg, made the fatal mistake of cutting government expenditures at the worst possible time, causing a dramatic drop in wages and pushing unemployment higher.
Almost overnight the government and the country were in chaos. Based on Article 48 of the German Constitution, dire circumstances allowed Hindenburg to invoke emergency powers to do what he wanted to without prior consent of the Reichstag, or German Parliament.
One of his first steps was to replace Brüning with Franz von Papen as Chancellor. Papen’s political support soon withered and he was in turn replaced by Kurt von Schleicher.
Needing Nazi support, the Hindenburg government negotiated a political deal with Hitler to name him vice-Chancellor in exchange for the Nazi Party’s political support in the Reichstag. Hitler refused, insisting that he be named Chancellor. Hindenburg finally agreed, convinced as he was, along with Schleicher and Papen, that together the three of them would be able to keep Hitler under their control.
They were wrong. Hitler immediately began to seize power in the government. Then, in 1934 Hindenburg died unexpectedly. Soon thereafter Hitler persuaded the German public to make him both President and Chancellor under a new title, “Führer und Reichskanzler (“leader and chancellor”), garnering 90% of the vote.
Later that year the Nazis killed Schleicher, and Papen left the government out of fear for his own life. In a time span of little more than a year, Hitler used Article 48 that Hindenburg had invoked to gain complete control of Germany.
What is striking are the reasons ordinary Germans proved so gullible to Hitler’s propaganda:
1 – They were angry and bitter because of the extreme reparations Germany was forced to pay based on the Treaty of Versailles that ended WWI.
2 – In the wake of economic troubles, they had grown disillusioned with Germany’s traditional political parties that seemed no longer capable of getting anything done.
3 – They had been inculcated with years of church teachings that nurtured an attitude of Christian exceptionalism that formed the basis for German Christians supporting religious discrimination in its many forms.
4 – Under economic distress, suspicious attitudes among non-Jews easily evolved into resentment of Jews because of the perception of their economic success.
5 – Alarmed by the rising influence of communism on workers, wealthy businessmen thought Hitler would be stronger against the communist movement than his opposition.
Does any of this sound familiar?
While there is no Hitler type leader among us ready to seize power and do what he did, are there lessons here for us in regard to how easily and tragically people can be persuaded to support extremism?
While most of us believe that nothing even close to what happened in Germany could ever happen here, can we really be sure we are not making many of the same mistakes ordinary Germans made before they realized what was happening?
I ask that question in light of the following.
The events of 9/11 scared us so badly that most Americans have been willing to give up constitutionally guaranteed rights in the name of national security.
Heinous actions such as racial and religious profiling and inflammatory rhetoric that seeks to turn us against one another have strong support among conservatives across the country.
White supremacist groups have been emboldened to promote their racists beliefs publicly because of sympathetic responses by politicians who welcome their support.
A growing acceptance of anti-government propaganda used by political and religious extremists who want people to believe the government is their enemy.
A news media easily manipulated by politicians and consumed by triviality because it has abandoned its commitment to reporting the truth with the bogus designation of “fair and balanced” news.
An easy acceptance by the public of stories that have no basis in fact, but which, once believed, cannot be corrected or erased.
Proposals by political candidates to politicize the relationship between the government and the military.
When I see all of this happen, I cannot help but worry about where we are headed as a nation.
I want to believe our nation will not give in to extremists.
I want to believe we are a better people than the demagogues who care more about winning than they do about our democracy.
And I absolutely want to believe not even a hint of what happened in Germany would ever happen here.
But I confess that I am worried. What about you?
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