In 1923 Adolf Hitler incited an insurrection against the
German government. He was tried, given a slap on the wrist, and became a
convicted felon. Despite being treated charitably by the judge, Hitler claimed
the trial was political persecution and successfully portrayed himself as a
victim of the “corrupt" Social Democrats.
Hitler cleverly positioned himself as the voice of the
"common man," railing against the "elites," cultural
"degeneracy," and the establishment, who he all labeled as
"Marxists." He claimed the education system was indoctrinating
children to hate Germany and promised to return Germany to greatness.
To solidify his base, Hitler masterfully scapegoated
minorities for the nation's problems, exploiting societal divisions with an
"us vs. them" narrative. Many Germans took the bait. Hitler's Nazi
Party continued to gain traction, until he became Chancellor in 1933.
Hitler appointed German oligarchs as his economic advisors.
He proceeded to privatize government run utilities, solidifying support of the
economic elite.
With the working class divided along cultural and ethnic
lines, the Nazis shut down workers unions and abolished strikes. Progressives
and trade unionists were imprisoned and sent to concentration camps. Corporate
profits skyrocketed while working class Germans lived paycheck to paycheck.
Hitler, who became a billionaire while in office, knew he
and his clan of oligarchs could get away with the scam if they constantly had
an "enemy within" to blame while the corporatocracy robbed the
country blind.
An easy target was one of the smallest minorities. Hitler
removed birthright citizenship rights of Jews and started rounding them up for
mass deportations for being "illegally" in the country. The German
press under Nazi rule highlighted instances of violence by Jews to convince the
public that Jewish immigrants were a danger to the "real Germans."
Hitler wasted no time dismantling democratic institutions.
Loyalty wasn't just encouraged; it was demanded. Opponents were silenced. Media
that dared to questioned[sic] him were vilified as "the enemy" and
"Marxists."
Hitler's Propaganda Minister, Joseph Goebbels, bragged about
how the Nazis were able to intimidate the media into giving them favorable
coverage, and didn't need to give direct orders. The Nazi regime and its
followers collected all books they saw as promoting "degeneracy" or
what would be considered "woke" today and burned them in large
bonfires. They also burned books that promoted class consciousness.
Berlin had a thriving LGBTQ community in the 1920s and even
had the first transgender clinic. The Nazis burned it to the ground. LGBTQ
people were sent to concentration camps and forced to wear triangle badges.
Many were killed in the Holocaust.
The Nazis also saw manhood as under threat by independent
women who didn't rely on men. In 1934, Hitler proclaimed, “A women’s world is
her husband, her family, her children, her house." Laws that had protected
women's rights were repealed and new laws were introduced to restrict women to
the home and in their roles as wives and mothers.
Reproductive rights were severely rolled back, and doctors
who performed abortions could face the death penalty. Despite all of this, the
German people didn't have a similar historical parallel to look upon as a
warning. Most Germans never acted like the sky was falling.
Most just went along with their lives as usual, until many
of their lives were snuffed out. By the time Hitler's reign was forced to an
end by the Allied Powers, 11 million people were murdered in the Holocaust, and
70-85 million were killed in WW2.
-Monica Aksamit
Instagram Thread, Bluesky
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