What people forget about Hitler

Recently it's become a trend to compare Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler. Leftists, for as much as they smugly accuse conservatives of using Godwin's Law, are only too quick to use it themselves, and are doing so now. This is accompanied by the overuse of the word "fascist" - a word which for most Americans means nothing else but something bad that they don't like. (Few Americans are able to intelligently explain why National Socialism and Fascism are not immediately interchangeable.)

It's all stupidity, of course; one would have to jump major hurdles to try to say that Donald Trump is exactly like Adolf Hitler, or vice versa; similarities between the two would be superficial at best. That being said, one thing you can't help notice whenever there's cries of "history is repeating itself" is that you're only told half a story when it comes to the Weimar Republic. You always hear warnings about another Hitler arising, but you never hear people talk about why a Hitler arose in the first place.

Permit me to explain:

According the narrative given by most people, Germany was this little democratic nation trying to get by, like any other nation. Then they went through a nasty economic time, during which there arose an evil man by the name of Adolf Hitler. Within a few years, he took over the country with all his evil Nazi henchmen. He proceeded to remove the rights of Germans, killed off millions of Jews who were otherwise minding their own business, and invaded his neighbors who were likewise just minding their own business. This is the extent that most people think about in regards to the rise of Hitler.

Those who have studied the period between the world wars know the story is slightly more complicated than this.

While most people are aware of the economic conditions in Germany at this time, due largely to the harsh Treaty of Versailles and the Great Depression, it goes well beyond that. In the 1920's, because of conditions in the treaty, German industry barely functioned, which further aggravated the situation regarding reparations. The French and Belgians, believing that Germany's inability to fulfill their obligations was more a swipe at them than a sincere difficulty, militarily invaded the industrial Ruhr valley and used German industry and German workers for their benefit. This action shocked Germans, and caused right-wing parties to grow in popularity.

Add to this the political turmoil that was going on in the period shortly after the war. The German Revolution left the nation temporarily in chaos: Soviet Republics popped up in various locations, most noticeably Bavaria in 1919, with communists attempting to establish rule. Because of the violence brought about by socialist groups, fascist (and later national socialist) groups began to fight back. Though eventually all parties turned to more political, rather than revolutionary, aims, the bad blood of that conflict with communist and socialist groups

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