Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumDoes this sound familiar?
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/28/books/hitler-ascent-volker-ullrich.html?smid=tw-share&_r=1A host of earlier biographers ... have focused on the social and political conditions in post-World War I Germany, which Hitler expertly exploited bitterness over the harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles and a yearning for a return to German greatness; unemployment and economic distress amid the worldwide Depression of the early 1930s; and longstanding ethnic prejudices and fears of foreignization.
Other writers including the dictators latest biographer, the historian Volker Ullrich have focused on Hitler as a politician who rose to power through demagoguery, showmanship and nativist appeals to the masses.
...
* Hitler was often described as an egomaniac who only loved himself a narcissist with a taste for self-dramatization and what Mr. Ullrich calls a characteristic fondness for superlatives.
* A former finance minister wrote that Hitler was so thoroughly untruthful that he could no longer recognize the difference between lies and truth and editors of one edition of Mein Kampf described it as a swamp of lies, distortions, innuendoes, half-truths and real facts.
* Hitler was ... adept at assuming various masks and feeding off the energy of his audiences. ... Hitler adapted the content of his speeches to suit the tastes of his lower-middle-class, nationalist-conservative, ethnic-chauvinist and anti-Semitic listeners, Mr. Ullrich writes. He peppered his speeches with coarse phrases and put-downs of hecklers. Even as he fomented chaos by playing to crowds fears and resentments, he offered himself as the visionary leader who could restore law and order.
* Hitler increasingly presented himself in messianic terms, promising to lead Germany to a new era of national greatness, though he was typically vague about his actual plans. He often harked back to a golden age for the country, Mr. Ullrich says, the better to paint the present day in hues that were all the darker. Everywhere you looked now, there was only decline and decay.
* Hitlers repertoire of topics, Mr. Ullrich notes, was limited, and reading his speeches in retrospect, it seems amazing that he attracted larger and larger audiences with repeated mantralike phrases consisting largely of accusations, vows of revenge and promises for the future.
* There was an erosion of the political center and a growing resentment of the elites. The unwillingness of Germanys political parties to compromise had contributed to a perception of government dysfunction, Mr. Ullrich suggests, and the belief of Hitler supporters that the country needed a man of iron who could shake things up. Why not give the National Socialists a chance? a prominent banker said of the Nazis. They seem pretty gutsy to me.
* Politicians, for their part, suffered from the delusion that the dominance of traditional conservatives in the cabinet would neutralize the threat of Nazi abuse of power and fence Hitler in. As far as Hitlers long-term wishes were concerned, Mr. Ullrich observes, his conservative coalition partners believed either that he was not serious or that they could exert a moderating influence on him.
* The independent press was banned or suppressed and books deemed un-German were burned. By March 1933, Hitler had made it clear, Mr. Ullrich says, that his government was going to do away with all norms of separation of powers and the rule of law.
------------------
Imagine Donald Trump running for President at a time when the US has just lost a major war and is going through an economic crisis.
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
0 replies, 478 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (7)
ReplyReply to this post