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It's not "just propaganda": many Germans got rich at that period, there was an actual economic overturn of germany before the war, and Hitler played on the fact

It's not "just propaganda": many Germans got rich at that period, there was an actual economic overturn of germany before the war, and Hitler played on the fact that many felt victims and humiliated by the versailles treaty after WWI. This was also consequences of some parts of the "nazi ideology". Yelling "Nazi is bad", while absolutely true for the war, the racist ideology and the holocaust, is often used as nothing else than a tribal rally cry to make us feel better than what happen (often with good intention). But it hides the whole complexity of the situation and individual experiences at that time, and the most important fact: same stuff like the holocaust and wars could re-happen in the same conditions. People can justify absolutely anything crazy against a perceived enemy as soon as they feel "victims" in a way and it happens every day.

jacquesm 4y ago
Absolutely, 'it can't happen here' is a complete delusion, it can happen here and in fact to a certain degree it is already happening here. But from my reading without that massive propaganda engine, especially Hitlers radio broadcasts of Goebbels poison there would have been more Germans still thinking clearly. I can't recommend this book enough for a - chilling - insight into the runup to World War II and how the propaganda engine set the stage for what followed: https://www.amazon.com/Nazi-Conscience-Claudia-Koonz/dp/0674011724 https://www.amazon.com/Nazi-Conscience-Claudia-Koonz/dp/0674... It is especially sobering when you realize how much of that parallels developments today.