Experience what the ordinary, moral German felt in the mid-1930s

To Allen and Forwarded to Walter

I thought I would never be able to experience what the ordinary, moral German felt in the mid-1930s. In those times, the savior was a former smooth-talking rabble-rouser from the streets, about whom the average German knew next to nothing. He edged his way onto the political stage through great oratory and promises.

Economic times were tough, people were losing jobs, and he was a great speaker. And he smiled and waved a lot. And people, even newspapers, were afraid to speak out for fear that his "brown shirts" would bully them into submission.

And then he was duly elected to office, with a full-throttled economic crisis at hand. Slowly but surely, he seized the controls of government power, department by department, person by person, bureaucracy by bureaucracy.

How did he get the people on his side? He did it by promising jobs to the jobless, money to the moneyless and goodies for the military-industrial complex. He did it by indoctrinating the children, advocating gun control, health care for all, better wages, better jobs, and promising to re-instill pride once again in the country, across Europe, and across the world.

He did it with a compliant media. And he did this all in the name of justice and change.

Germany was the most educated, cultured country in Europe. And in less than six years, it was rounding up its own citizens, killing others, abrogating its laws, turning children against parents and neighbors against neighbors. All with the best of intentions, of course. The road to Hell is paved with them!

From
John