this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2024
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Not sure whether you mean “mindless obliviousness” or “mindless rage” here, because I think reality was much closer to the latter. The Nazi party went from nothing to hundreds of thousands of members and 44% of the vote in parliamentary elections in less than a decade. They were extremely popular and their brand of ethno-nationalism resonated with a German public that was disillusioned by the humiliation they all felt (due to the treaty of Versailles) and the economic disaster of hyperinflation (deliberately created to pay down the old war debts as well as Versailles-imposed reparations).
Today most people think of Hitler as a devil single-handedly responsible for the Holocaust and all the invasions of neighbouring countries but that’s an oversimplification. There were tons of other nasty, ideological men in the Nazi party who would’ve done the same or worse had Hitler never existed. The conditions for a wildfire existed, Hitler just happened to be the spark which became ground zero of the blaze.
This is really well said. Thank you