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@wdlindsy@toad.socialA question framing Richard J. Evans' book Hitler’s People (2024):
“Why did so many leading Germans in responsible positions, in the key institutions of society, go along with dictatorship, war and genocide? And what did those of them who survived the war think about their conduct under the Third Reich? Did they gain a moral perspective on it, did they repent, did they come to an understanding of what they had done?”
#Hitler #Trump #EconomicElites #TechBros #CorporateLeaders #media
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"“How do we explain the rise and triumph of tyrants and charlatans? What causes someone to be gripped by a lust for power and domination? Why do such men — and they are almost always men — manage to gather around them disciples and supporters willing to carry out their commands?”
~ Ibid.
#Hitler #Trump #EconomicElites #TechBros #CorporateLeaders #media
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https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/653631/hitlers-people-by-richard-j-evans/
“What permeated the whole process and drove it on was the violence Hitler encouraged, a rage and hatred against Socialists and Communists and democrats and indeed virtually everybody who did not support him that also consumed his rank-and-file followers as well as his cheerleaders and acolytes such as Goebbels and Göring.”
~ Ibid.
#Hitler #Trump #EconomicElites #TechBros #CorporateLeaders #media
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@wdlindsy Shot from the hip, here, but my guess is that the majority of them did not.
@GeePawHill I'm assuming you're answering that last question. I suspect you're right with that answer. I have a number of friends in Germany who were children during the war or born immediately after it ended — and this is their assessment of the generations before them: even after the war, they were not willing to learn, many of them.
@wdlindsy
My husb has read it and said its v gd.
(He also recommended "Nazi Billionaires" by David de Jong and "Hitlers Benficiaries" by Götz Aly. Also "Fascism: 100 questions asked and answered" by Oswald Moseley the British dictator which shows the appeal of fascist arguments to regular ppl)
I think personally that we have to take on board the nature/nurture dilemma that some ppl are just born vile with a tendency to grotesque narcissism and brutality. IF that is nurtured AND is underpinned by wealth then that becomes a perfect storm.
Equally there are ppl who are not born vile but are susceptible to and nurtured by the persuasive arguments of the snake oil merchants like Moseley (above). They provide the votes that enable fascism.
Then you have those who at individual and national level say and do nothing.
As i often say and 100% believe: silence is complicit.
@Godfrey642 Good analysis. I like your statement that if the tendency to narcissistic brutality towards others is nurtured and underpinned by wealth, it then becomes a perfect storm. That seems very right to me, and ominous to recognize right now.
@wdlindsy
There were many many ppl who did resist in Nazi Germany (famously Schindler, the members of The White Rose and other resistance groups around the country. )
The ones who didn't or couldn't resist, and to all extents and propose "went along with it", DID repent and regret when faced with what they had done . Which is why in WGermany they vowed never again and developed a politics of humanity and de-Nazification. They also banned Nazi free-speech which would be a problem for your 1st Amendment.
In EGermany that self reflection NEVER happened under the manipulation and censorship of the USSR overlords until 1989. They didn't want ppl to THINK. Nowadays that historical lack of regret and repentance is evident in East German cities like Dresden and Leipzig where Fascists are very strong and prominent.
@Godfrey642 Yes. I don't think that recognizing that a huge percentage of influential people went along with and laid the foundations for Nazism obliterates the legacy of those courageous people who resisted. On the differences in how East and West Germany chose to deal with the Nazi heritage, you may find Susan Neiman's book Learning from the Germans really good.