For those driving by my place they may notice a preponderance of German vehicles: Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Volkswagens, and even the Mercury Capri. I’ve always admired German engineering, physicists, and metallurgy. So I was always in a quandary as to how Hitler came to power. If the Germans were so smart and accomplished, how could they allow a fascist dictator to rule? Pushing ultra-nationalism and xenophobia, creating unfounded fears, and blaming others for problems, whether they existed or not, were all tools of this dictator. Hitler admired Mussolini, another dictator, who had rose to power in Italy with the slogan “Drain the Swamp”, And after obtaining power his slogan became, “Mussolini is Always Right”. Hitler’s slogan was Make Germany Great Again”. But note that once Hitler obtained power he quickly established “camps” to imprison his political rivals and those that spoke out against him. He called those individuals “vermin and enemies from within”. Later he put immigrants, homosexuals, and Seventh Day Adventist into these camps and lastly, he put the Jews. And as any fascist dictator knows, you can’t allow alternative thinking, so certain books were not only banned they were burned. And then there were the Brown Shirts, supporters of Hitler, thugs that, with total impunity, roamed the streets destroying property, beating and killing those that didn’t bow to Hitler.
So how did the German people allow this? Well, it seems that Hitler convinced enough good Germans that whatever fear or grievance they had, real or not, was due to Hitler’s political opponents, immigrants, homosexuals, Seventh Day Adventist, or the Jews, and that he was the only one who could solve their problems. In fact, he was their “Retribution”.
Sinclair Lewis said, “When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross”.
Ed Ray
Big Sandy, MT
