Hitler speaks during a cornerstone-laying ceremony marking the start of construction of the Volkswagen factory at Fallersleben - June 1938
Not that long ago.
It wasn’t crazy, the rise of the Third Reich. It happened. The consequences of that government’s rule were brutal and exceptionally vile, but its inception… after nearly two decades under the thumb of the Treaty of Versailles who wouldn’t fall in line with a charismatic and powerful leader like Hitler? He promised hope and a future. Economic recovery instead of starvation and handouts doled out by the very people he felt kept Germany down.
The Germans in the years following WWI were a joke, mocked and hated by all. They were blamed for WWI. Which was fought, for many reasons, other than simple German ambition. But, a scapegoat was needed, not that they weren’t guilty (who WASN’T guilty in WWI? I mean, who didn’t have blood on their hands?) but they fit the bill. They were the aggressor, therefore they should be openly and publicly humiliated, a humiliation of international proportions, jeered and laughed at the world over.
We, and by we I mean the creators of the Treaty of Versailles maybe not so much ‘created’ that state, but we set a framework in which a government and a leader with mad ambition and hate could thrive and be continually fed power and drink the blood of his enemies. It was a construct of our own design.
I like to hope it was an accident. And I also like to imagine that we learned from our mistakes.
via Tumblr http://thenelsontwins.tumblr.com/post/53898466146
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