Many of the true-blue Nazis didn’t really see the big deal after World War II.
When I asked Herr Wedekind, the baker, why he had believed in National Socialism, he said, “Because it promised to solve the unemployment problem. And it did. But I never imagined what it would lead to. Nobody did.”
I thought I had struck pay dirt, and I said, “What do you mean, ‘what it would lead to,’ Herr Wedekind?”
“War,” he said. “Nobody ever imagined it would lead to war.”
None of them ever heard anything bad about the Nazi regime except, as they believed, from Germany’s enemies, and Germany’s enemies were theirs. “Everything the Russians and the Americans said about us,” said Cabinetmaker Klingelhöfer, “they now say about each other.”
From They Thought They Were Free: The Germans 1933-45 by Milton Mayer.
That’s a really good point. It makes more sense to me to ask, “What would it take for me to do that? What would it look like?” rather than just tell myself, “I would never…”
Many of the true-blue Nazis didn’t really see the big deal after World War II.
From They Thought They Were Free: The Germans 1933-45 by Milton Mayer.
Highly recommended.
Every time I look a little closer, it gets worse.
Reading that book really opened my eyes to how this kind of thing happens, how long it lasts, and how deep it goes.
The countries that think they’re safe are merely naive.
That’s a really good point. It makes more sense to me to ask, “What would it take for me to do that? What would it look like?” rather than just tell myself, “I would never…”
Vigilance and education (and vigilance in education) seem important, that’s all I got.
If anyone has the chance, I really do recommend reading the book. It looks academic but it’s really easy to read despite being written in 1953.
The author was Jewish, but kept that totally hidden while doing the interviews to avoid the obvious.
Which makes the above even more crazy. “I thought I’d hit paydirt” because someone was finally going to talk about killing his people. Nope.
Thanks again. I just requested a copy from the library.
Also purchasing the book, thanks for the recommendation
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The meaning of that quote is suffering dearly from the current changes in global politics.
To the kind of people that pretend they don’t understand historical context sure