Hitler was not initially recognized as a monster, but merely the latest in a long line of political strongmen going back at least to Bismarck. He even seemed to many to be a breath of fresh air as he swept away the chaos, alienation and social disintegration of the Weimar era. If Christians have a failing it is that we are quick to mistake domestic tranquillity and order for goodness. Alas, Hitler was not in the remotest sense good, but by the time most German Christians knew it, it was death to speak out. Those that dared dissapeared and the rest silently went about their business in fear and resignation. From my comfy chair seventy years hence I am unwilling to judge them. I like to imagine I would have had the courage to stand against the tyrant, but who knows?
There's a lot of validity in what you posted - however the Creation Journal article made some valid points that partially address these issues. It is true that Germany in the 18th Century was at the vanguard of the 'Higher Criticism' movement. They tore down Scripture, and turned it into some Grimm's Fairy Tale myth, that contained some nuggets of truth. They denied the infallibility and inerrancy of the Word of God, and by so doing - they built their houses on shifting sand rather than solid rock.
In addition, they were also on the vanguard of the evolution movement (goo to you). They embraced Darwinism. One German Biologist of the times, Haeckel, came up with some fairy tale of recapitulation - and basically forged diagrams of different embryos to show how similar all animals were during their early stages (diagrams that existed in many biology books until recent times) - to 'prove' evolution.
So what you had in this environment (the 1920s and 1930s), were Christians who weren't able to stand on the Word of the God. They might have had some 'fuzzy feelings' about God - but they just went through the motions of attending a Church and singing hymns, but not knowing what their faith was built upon. So, when you had some charismatic man show up on the scene - rebuilding the pride of a Nation and espousing the name of 'God' in some of his speeches - many 'Christians' gravitated towards him. Hitler may have blasted Jesus' Sermon on the Mount - but since the Bible was 'unreliable' - who were they to criticize the Fuhrer? Without the Bible as a Reference, and a Light to get them through this dark world - they were lost. Any Christian who believed the Bible was the Word of God - no matter how prideful they were of their Country - would have instantly recognized that this Hitler was evil, and speaking and working in a way contrary to God's Word. And that is where they failed.
Psalm 11:3 If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?
A poignant book I recently read was, “They Thought They Were Free” by Milton Mayer. Can’t happen here?