They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 (1955)
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They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 (1955)
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Re: They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 (1955)
#2"What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if the people could not understand it, it could not be released because of national security."
Very good read, thanks for this.
Re: They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 (1955)
#3Reads like a mirror of whats currently happening regarding all the covid associated law changes.
/edit I added some more context in a child comment
Re: They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 (1955)
#4Reads like a mirror of whats currently happening regarding all the covid associated law changes. /edit I added some more context in a child comment
Can you give an example?
Re: They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 (1955)
#5This however goes only for some non Jewish Germans - nazi party sympathizers.
The social democrats and their sympatizant were attacked in 1933, right after Hitler got to power. That is when first camps were created. They housed political opponents. Plus, politically unreliable people and Jews they were excluded from civil service in 1933.
The German Jews were also under no illusion that they were free. In April 1933, German law restricted the number of Jewish students at German schools and universities. In the same month, further legislation sharply curtailed “Jewish activity” in the medical and legal professions. Subsequent decrees restricted reimbursement of Jewish doctors from public (state) health insurance funds. The city of Berlin forbade Jewish lawyers and notaries to work on legal matters, the mayor of Munich forbade Jewish doctors from treating non-Jewish patients, and the Bavarian interior ministry denied admission of Jewish students to medical school.
Re: They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 (1955)
#6This is a powerful piece about a time in Germany where people couldn't, to paraphrase, see where things could go, and so couldn't really understand when things have started.
I suspect that readers will see this piece as a reflection of their greatest fears about our own Republic. Unfortunately, the message will be lost by those who are most in need of hearing it. That includes many of the readers of this piece who think their side are the victims and the other side are the creeping fascists.
Hate to break it to you, in the United States we're screwed two ways over. Both the left and the right in the US have paramilitaries (antifa, proud boys). Both the left and the right in the US have enemies lists, and have effective propaganda wings that eviscerate opponents and call basic and decent democratic norms into question (free speech, elections). Both sides use identity and demographics to sow division and resentment between groups.
Maybe there's some hope for the shrinking, rational middle that two creeping fascisms cancel each other out, and will in the future. But that's a pretty long bet to make, too.
For the rest of us paying attention and who, in the words of the piece, "think about fundamental things", it has already started and it is very, very scary where it may end up.
Re: They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 (1955)
#7Reads like a mirror of whats currently happening regarding all the covid associated law changes. /edit I added some more context in a child comment
The current law changes are definitely terrifying, but I too would like to hear some specific points about how these are similar situations.
Re: They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 (1955)
#8Reads like a mirror of whats currently happening regarding all the covid associated law changes. /edit I added some more context in a child comment
Can you give an example?
Not the OP, but HN could hardly stomach Snowden coming out without twisting themselves over with “oh yeah we knew that already, right fellas?”, never mind Assange who they still claim is a Russian shill.
I would keep conspiracy talk far away from this board.
Re: They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 (1955)
#9This is a powerful piece about a time in Germany where people couldn't, to paraphrase, see where things could go, and so couldn't really understand when things have started. I suspect that readers will see this piece as a reflection of their greatest fears about our own Republic. Unfortunately, the message will be lost by those who are most in need of hearing it. That includes many of the readers of this piece who th…
Antifascists aren't holding rallies chanting "Jews will not replace us" and showing up to peaceful protests with weapons to kill protesters. The amount of paramilitary activity on the left is minimal, especially when compared to the right, adherents of which been caught in several (edit: at least one, Governor Whitmer, I can't find evidence of others right now) plots over the past few months to kidnap and even murder Democratic government officials.
I'm not denying that the left has ever used extreme violence in the US. The Weather Underground is the most famous example. I will however argue that those days are over for the left, with the vast majority of leftists being nonviolent and pacifists, and a small few committed to armed defense, but not offense.
Re: They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 (1955)
#10This is a powerful piece about a time in Germany where people couldn't, to paraphrase, see where things could go, and so couldn't really understand when things have started. I suspect that readers will see this piece as a reflection of their greatest fears about our own Republic. Unfortunately, the message will be lost by those who are most in need of hearing it. That includes many of the readers of this piece who th…
Who exactly is rational middle in your view? Who exactly is right wing side and who exactly is left wing side? Is democratic party along with Joe Biden really controlling violent antifa? Is antifa actually killing people and attempting kidnappings? Is democratic party really attacking elections the way president is now?
The rational middle will be dwindling as long as they are always referred to in abstract without ever naming names.