Kevin M. Kruse: Read this, share this widely — Subium • Bluesky web client

Read this, share this widely

I will bang this drum forever: in THEY THOUGHT THEY WERE FREE: THE GERMANS, 1933-45 Milton Mayer interviewed 10 ordinary Germans after WW2 to learn how fascism took hold. There was never a moment when everyone woke up:

“the spirit, which you never noticed because you made the lifelong mistake of identifying it with the forms, is changed.” Good Lord this hits.

Yeah, it’s perfect

I am not an historian, however, it's my understanding there was a deep, deep strain of anti-Semitism in Germany before Hitler ever showed up. So it wasn't just the regular volk taking unsuspecting steps toward fascism. They wanted it; even yearned for it. Not unlike racist MAGAs.

There was anti-Semetism in many European countries & America. That's part of why so many countries turned away Jewish refugees, & why there was an international performance of guilt after the war that was used to advocate for the creation of the state of Israel.

Yep, he clearly had a solid base to build upon, just like Trump did with his current base...

Strain, sure. But it needn't ever have grown as much and surfaced as much as it did. At the start of the 20th century, Germany was seen as one of the best places in Europe for Jews

Yes there was, but that was also the case for much of Europe at the time (see for instance The Dreyfus Affair). It was only in Germany that it evolved into full-fledged nazism and genocide. The reasons for this are complex.

I received “The Coming of the Third Reich” by Richard Evans. It’s not crazy long and it goes a good job linking pre-Nazi trends in German society to the pathologies of post 1933 Germany

the SC decision *5 days ago* making presidents immune from prosecution for crimes committed in office and ratifying presidential pardons are unreviewable was the moment…but the press, pundits, columnists & pols have decided their time is best critiquing Biden’s debate performance.

It is dysfunction in action.

I read that book about 6 years ago. I'm at my wit's end. I can't do any more to persuade people. I can't grab them by the scruff of the neck and smash their face into reality while shouting "LOOK!" I am utterly powerless.

You have to give them something to *do* about it. "Waking up" is horrifying if there are no concrete steps to take. Give them a letter to write, a person to call, a meeting to attend, an org to donate to, a group to join. But first find those things for yourself, so you stop feeling powerless.

I guess I'll write to my senators Cruz and Cornyn. That will surely do the trick.

I'm sorry you're depressed. I hope you find some inspiration and purpose in life.

I have a Jewish relative who, as a child, escaped with her family from Germany/Hitler, leaving behind a prosperous business/relatives, eventually making it to the US. It can/will happen again if we hide our heads in the sand and pretend it can't.

It’s just people piling nonsense on top of nonsense to try to make sense of what does not make sense.

That second one made me immediately think of this.

(though of course in this case he was undoubtedly dressed by his parents, so not really the same)

God I hope that kid grew up and realized what a hateful environment he was raised in, got out, and grew into a more compassionate person. Sadly, though, it’s hard to break out from these cycles of hatred and bigotry. 😢

This reminds me of how so many people can ignore climate change until it's too late

Do you think Trump/Project 2025 plan to swiftly implent their policies? And if they do would that not generate mass resistance? It seems the proponents of Project 2025 are not incrementalist

I think Chevron is a pretty big increment, but I hear you. P2025 proponents are the more knee jerk, scorched earth types. Literally.

They still haven’t really woken up www.spiegel.de/internationa...

A Holocaust Survivor Speaks of Her Anger: "It's Difficult to Put Up with These Old Germans"www.spiegel.de As a young child, Eva Umlauf spent several months in Auschwitz. Today, she speaks to German schoolchildren and is a sought-after orator for commemoration ceremonies. She still can't forgive the German...

Read it in college in 1970. Even more cogent today.

This is another good one on the legacy of WWI -the rise of fascism, N*zi ideology, communism. It also delves into economic issues leading to depression and the root causes of issues in the Middle East.

Putin jailed him 25 years. 2021: "You know, Mussolini, I think it was, who said .... when he consolidated his own regime, he said that you should do this. “You should pluck the chicken feather by feather, to lessen the squawking.” Meaning don’t do it all at once." thedispatch.com/article/kara...

‘It’s Not Difficult to Win an Election When Your Opponents Are Not on the Ballot’thedispatch.com Russian opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza on the Putin regime, Alexei Navalny, and what gives him hope for the future.

This was the core text in the History of Nazi Germany course taught by my favorite professor, Dr. Kramer. I’ll never forget the first time I encountered these pages.

Brilliant. Thank you for amplifying.

In the midst of reading it. Yikes.

jeffreysaltzman.wordpress.com/2018/07/01/a...

Authoritarianismjeffreysaltzman.wordpress.com In the aftermath of WWII there was a great deal of research interest in how the atrocities of that war could have taken place. How could regular German citizens simply follow orders to willingly parti...

Wow. Powerful.

In 1986, I read an article in a think-tank booklet about Anatoly Marchenko, who'd recently died. He was only in his late 40s but died of broken health because he'd spent most of his adult life in harsh Soviet prisons, probably similar to the one where Navalny died this year.

When I got to the line in the article that said he'd died a free man, it hit me like a bullet. In Soviet Russia, people learn early in life to speak guardedly, not to say what they really think. It's verboten. But Marchenko did.

This is what Americans could be facing if Trump and Project 25 aren't stopped in their tracks.

Certain American communities could be facing this fascism AGAIN.

This is something that depresses me. I felt like we were finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel around 2010. Then the tea party came. Then Trump and MAGA and it was like someone slamming a door in my face and all that progress started to slip away. I’m tired.

Remember that the Tea Party started with the Rick Santelli rant--on Feb 19, 2009, just 30 days after Obama was inaugurated. Then it was propped up as a fake grassroots movement by Americans for Prosperity, funded by (of course) the Koch brothers. This has been a planned, long-term project.

Please rest. You deserve rest.

I just checked this out from the library, will be reading it immediately.

we are on step c

How have I never seen this? I just ordered it.

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