In Germany, a charismatic, young socialist politician rose to the pinnacle of power; by dint of organizational skills and superior public speaking skills. He was a master of the media of the day — in particular large rallies. He turned ethnic groups against each other; and especially appealed to his own identity group for support. He used a serious financial and economic crisis as a reason to impose direct government control over key industries. He took complete control over the mass media & made propaganda a cabinet-level concern. He confiscated firearms from the civilian populous. He liked dogs.
Imagine, if you can, that such a thing occurred in the U.S. Would there not be tens of millions of “good Americans”, who opposed this totaltitarlan leader — but, were powerless to do anything about it?
The German story is worthless without recounting Germany’s history from 1920 on. I’ve met a lot of uneducated people who simply didn’t understand why we rebuilt Japan, and to a lesser extent Germany after WWII. Many seemed to think it was misplaced altruism or compassion.
It was neither. We had learned our lesson. Germany was heavily punished at Versailles, and as a result a broken Germany was ripe for a man like Hitler. Desperate people will seek any port in a storm, and they did. They latched on to the first leader who appeared to be able to deliver any level of prosperity and any sense of pride. He just happened to be the epitome of evil.
The German people were "powerless" in relative terms mainly because they were unarmed.
One of the very first things that the
National
Socialist
Worker's
Party
Did was to outlaw private firearm ownership.
Certainly, if the Jews had weapons, there would have been bloody Hell to pay in merry old Germany.
It may not have been the only aspect, but We are not "powerless" against an oppressive National Socialist Party as long as we remain armed. - Well armed.