Posted on 11/13/2008 8:40:57 AM PST by fightinJAG
Economy in a freefall. Political rhetoric. An apathetic electorate dismayed by the slide of their country into irrelevence. Theological liberalism. Doctrinal indifference.
America, 2008?
No. Germany, just before electing Adolf Hitler to lead their country, with the apparent support of the majority of those who considered themselves Christians.
We're rereading a book []by Erwin Lutzer []. In it Lutzer looks at the holocaust and the rise of Hitler and asks the question: where was the Church? This book is a fascinating read, particularly in this time of economic upheaval and election year rhetoric.
[snip]
Did you know that Hitler was elected to power through a democratic process? He only became a dictator after he had risen to power through the voting process. And the people elected him in large part because they were convinced he would fix the deteriorating economy and restore Germany to the prominence and prosperity it had once enjoyed. Writes Lutzer:
...he would give the appearance of being one of the masses, but in reality he would be quite another...At times he could be charming and forgiving...Privately (and sometimes publicly) he prided himself in his honesty, yet often he reveled in his abilty to deceive. "The German people must be misled if the support of the masses is required," he mused.
And
Hitler holds a fascination for us because his dictatorship enjoyed such wide support of the people. Perhaps never in history was a dictator so well liked. He had the rare gift of motivating a nation to want to follow him. Communist leaders such as Lenin or Mao Tse-tung rose to power through revolutions that cost millions of lives; consequently they were hated by the masses. Hitler attracted not only the support of the middle class but also of university students and professors.
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.worship.com ...
Coincidentally enough, Hitler is on the cover of this month’s “Military History” magazine. The advertised article covers how he rose to power.
‘electing Adolf Hitler’
Hitler was appointed.
Because they wanted 'Change They Could Believe In'.
One must consider what Marin Luther had to say about the Jews in context of what Christian Germans history of Jewish relations were, and were to become. Hitler knew all the right buttons to push to get them on his side and whip up some hatred and blame for ‘the other’.
ping for future study
Ahhhh yes the much ballyhooed intellectuals who are supposed to know so much that we should worship the very ground they walk on because they are soooo wise.....LOL! Steyn was right.....Intellectual morons....to hell with them.
” Confiscation of guns will start as soon as the brown shirts are organized to go door to door. “
Buy, buy buy now while you still can.
I know how it works.
Hitler lost in the ‘Elections’. The people didn’t want him.
I think that might be a bit simplistic.
IIRC, some of the strongest proponents of surrender in WWI were Jews. As a result it was easy to stereotype them as the cause of all the misery that followed with losing in WWI. In addition, Jews had been very succesful in business and were not in the trades which was the sector that was first affected by the depression.
His party won a third of the seats and it was through strong arming a coalition was formed. Nobody would stand up to him.
I agree.
Future implications: We aren’t Germans.
What about registration?
Obviously many of the German people did want the Nazi party, some 43.9% to be precise.
This piece is very over-simplistic in it’s explanations.
Part of the reason for the rise of Adolph Hitler and the National Socialists was the treatment Germany received at the hands of the triumphant Europeans after the First World War, in particular the French who tried to occupy the Ruhr and Rhine valleys.
If you think that the Iraqi insurgency is bloody, do some reading about the period immediately after Versailles and the the rise of the Third Reich about what kind of time the French had during their occupation...
It’s a very complex story and does not lend itself to simple explanations.
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