From "The American Mercury": At the time Hitler began to prowl the land the Jew was suspect in Germany for another reason, to wit, his entanglement with Bolshevism. This entanglement, in large part, was imaginary, and at best it was much exaggerated, but nevertheless it had some reality, at least in the plain man’s eye. There were plenty of Jews among the Moscow master-minds, and they had proved their puissance by putting down Jew-baiting in Russia, for long the chief field sport of the Christian masses there. Moreover, the bloody Räterepublik at Munich–long forgotten elsewhere, but only too well remembered in Germany—had been set up and bossed by a Jew, and there were other Jews high in the councils of the Communist party, which proposed openly to repeat the Munich pillages and butcheries all over the country. It was thus easy for Hitler to convince his customers that there was peril in Israel, and in the end he managed to convince the more credulous of them that even the Jewish bankers, judges, doctors and store-keepers of Berlin were suspicious characters, though actually nine-tenths of them were quite as orthodox, politically speaking, as the men of their several classes in New York. What followed was certainly not creditable to the German people, nor indeed to the human race in general. Once the paranoiacs on the lower levels were turned loose they proceeded instantly to extravagant barbarities, and the most innocent man, when he came under their fire, was no safer than the actually guilty. If Hitler had been able to confine the hunting to Communists there would have been no complaint in the United States and very little in England, for the Communists openly condone the even worse brutalities that have gone on in Russia, and would repeat them all over the world if they had the means. But when the Brown Shirts began to harass and intimidate, flay and murder perfectly innocent and helpless people, some of them Jews but probably more of them Christians, and very few of them Communists, then the world was shocked indeed, and Hitler has now discovered that shocking it is a very serious and dangerous business, with results not to be disposed of by oratory...
Interesting hoist from the archives. I am currently reading, "Last Call at the Hotel Imperial: The Reporters Who Took On a World at War" by Deborah Cohen. (I think it was recommended by Adam Tooze on his Substack). It's a fascinating view of this time period through the eyes of the foreign correspondents. There are a couple of passages on Hitler and his 'media-like' approach that are reminiscent of former President Trump. Pretty scary stuff. The book is well written and worth reading.
People tend not to take people like Hitler seriously and then act surprised at what they do when they come to power. Mein Kampf was translated and published in its entirety in the US though a lot of the rhetoric was softened. It was only published in part in the UK. Apparently, the ruling class in England didn't want people to get the wrong idea. There was a pirated translation in France but Hitler and his lawyers managed to have it suppressed and a later version was produced that cut a lot of the harsher material.
I find it useful to take people seriously, especially if they seem to be raving lunatics. No, they are not funny. They are not pathetic. They are scary.
Interesting hoist from the archives. I am currently reading, "Last Call at the Hotel Imperial: The Reporters Who Took On a World at War" by Deborah Cohen. (I think it was recommended by Adam Tooze on his Substack). It's a fascinating view of this time period through the eyes of the foreign correspondents. There are a couple of passages on Hitler and his 'media-like' approach that are reminiscent of former President Trump. Pretty scary stuff. The book is well written and worth reading.
People tend not to take people like Hitler seriously and then act surprised at what they do when they come to power. Mein Kampf was translated and published in its entirety in the US though a lot of the rhetoric was softened. It was only published in part in the UK. Apparently, the ruling class in England didn't want people to get the wrong idea. There was a pirated translation in France but Hitler and his lawyers managed to have it suppressed and a later version was produced that cut a lot of the harsher material.
I find it useful to take people seriously, especially if they seem to be raving lunatics. No, they are not funny. They are not pathetic. They are scary.