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Originally Posted by tw
Brianna's post says evil exists - from the perspective of a god or from history - long after the fact. Therefore, she says evil must be confronted. But that is a completely different perspective. It assumes that evil can quickly be identified today and now. Not possible. Please tell me that an early 1930s Hitler was obviously evil in the early 1930s? You cannot. In fact, an early 1930s Hitler did good things for Germany - making him wildly popular among most all Germans and only suspected by his future victims. Even his victims did not see an "evil" Hitler. How does Brianna expect to see 'evil' during a time when Germans - people who lived with it - did not even see the evil?
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Many people at the time saw the evil in Hitler, yet were powerless to do much about it. A brief review of the events of 1932/1933:
In 1932 Hitler was extremely concerned that he might not be able to consolidate his power via popular vote. One week before the election was due to take place, the Reichstag building burned down. Hitler played on the fear of Communism to gain emergency powers for himself and his Nazi party by claiming that the act of arson was an attempt by the communists to take over Germany by force.
A known communist - Marianus van der Lubbe - was caught near the Reichstag building immediately after the fire had started. Those that arrested him - Nazi officials - claimed that Lubbe confessed to them that the fire was a signal to other communists to start the revolution to overthrow democracy in the country. Matches were allegedly found on van der Lubbe and those who arrested him claimed that he smelt of gasoline.
Hitler asked the President of Germany to grant him emergency powers in view of the 'communist takeover'. Using the constitution, Germany's president agreed to pass the Law for the Protection of the People and the State.
This law gave Hitler what he wanted - a ban on the Communists and Socialists taking part in an election campaign. The leaders from both parties were arrested and their newspapers were shut down. To 'keep the peace' and maintain law and order, the SA (the Brown Shirts) roamed the streets beating up those who openly opposed Hitler.
The election took place in March. Hitler did not get the number of votes he wanted but he did get enough to get over a 50% majority in the Reichstag.
Still, 12 million people had voted for what were effectively two outlawed parties (communist and socialist). This is remarkable when the intimidation of voters is taken into account. All in all, a total of 22 million Germans voted AGAINST Hitler. The Nazi party got a minority vote of 17.5 million.
On March 23rd, elected officials were due to meet to discuss and vote on Hitler's Enabling Law. As politicians neared the building where they were to meet, they found it surrounded by SS and SA thugs who tried to ensure that only Nazi or Nationalist politicians got in. The vote for this law was crucial as it gave Hitler a vast amount of power. The law basically stated that any bill only needed Hitler's signature and within 24 hours that bill would become law in Germany. With only Nazis and other right wing politicians able to vote, the bill was quickly passed into law.
On 7th April 1933, Nazi officials were put in charge of all local government in the provinces.
On May 2nd 1933, trades unions were abolished, their funds taken and their leaders put in prison. The workers were given a May Day holiday in return.
On July 14th 1933, a law was passed making it illegal to form a new political party. It also made the Nazi Party the only legal political party in Germany.
People were employed in each street, in each building complex etc. with the sole purpose of keeping an eye on others in their 'area' and reporting them to the authorities if they believed that something was amiss. The reputation of the Nazi police and the secret police lead by Himmler was such that no-one wished to cause offence. People kept their thoughts to themselves unless they wished to invite trouble.
Many Germans realized at the time that Hitler was very bad news. They didn't need the perspective of history to tell them this. Unfortunately, they were co-erced into silence. The rest of the world just hoped the whole thing would go away. It didn't.