How did Hitler gain the trust of the people to commit the Holocaust that followed?

Question

Since history repeats itself, does the world have another Hitler in the making?

I am impressed with the many informative answers. All give many insights into how WWII began and what we can avoid in the upcoming election.

Your responses include:
brainwashing, threats, charisma, intimidation, theory of evolution to degrade "unevolved" races, deception, claiming religion but not practicing beliefs of same, socialist dependency on government, blame for a race of people instead of actual people involved, a complacent society of people who relied upon the government for life - the government controlled their lives, mind control, lack of patriotism as socialists, prejudism, and more.

These are all ways in which a Dictator begins and then promises to do things they have no intentions or ability to do. People who are oppressed seek any hope that is offered.

Answer 1

there was a terrible depression in Germany
the people were desperate for leadership....


Because Bush turned on the nation by gving in to the nasty media, and not running the war as it should have been run......the American citizens may elect a devilish person (such as Hillary) thinking she will turn things around

I believe Mitt Romney will get things done in 08 and will make America GREAT again....thats why my vote goes to him

Answer 2

The Germans were really desperate. They were punished after WWI, and during the 20s when the rest of the world was having a big boom, Germany was having a depression. After the stock market crash in '29, when the rest of the industrialized world slid into depression, Germany got the worst of it.

Hitler was not just a strong leader promising to make Germans proud of their heritage and country once again, he was also the darling of the industrialists of the US and Britain. They were scared stiff of communism and Hitler was seen as their best defense against communism taking hold in Germany. He could never have gotten as powerful as he got without their help. They knew he scapegoated Jews but nobody liked Jews much in those days, and this was years before 'the final solution', before they realize that his plan was to simply exterminate all the Jews in Europe.

Many famous high-profile Americans were fans of Hitler in the early days. Our current president's grandfather, Prescott Bush, had a joint venture with Hitler! They owned a bank together. At the start of WWII the US govt. confiscated its funds.

Even when Hitler began rampaging through Europe many Americans (conservatives) believed we should not get involved.

Answer 3

Chi Guy is right... Germany was in the midst of a depression similar to the one in America 10 years prior. In times a desperation or fear, the emergence (or in case "creation") of a common enemy is the best way to unite a group into a common goal. Hitler had a deep seeded hatred for the Jewish people; therefore, he manipulated the people's stereotypes about the group and blew things way out of proportion. He made it seem as though Jewish business owners were the root cause of their economic troubles.

"Hitlers" exist even now.. Just think of what is going on in Africa and the middle east right now. As long as prejudice exists, there were always be someone there to exploit that hate with a hidden agenda. I don't think the world would allow a DICTATOR of such a big, powerful nation to emerge again like Hitler, .... but within smaller, less powerful nations... of course they will exist.

Answer 4

He fed the people what they wanted. They wanted an explanation for how they lost the war...blame the Jews. They wanted an explanation for why they were out of work...blame the Jews. They wanted to know why there was so much communist agitprop activity...blame the Jews.

Fast forward. Now we don't dare speak against the Jews, that's not PC. Blame Islam for everything. Declare a crusade for freedom. Start a war...war is always good for distracting the sheep from what's really going on.

Do you want to sleep soundly in bed at night...or live in fear or terrorism? What good do those civil rights do you if the Muslims are coming to rape your daughters and burn you alive? Join the Crusade! Death to Islam!

Even now, we are just a short hop away from totalitarianism. We already have the concentration camps and the soldiers trained to carry ou long-term torture of whole populations.

In short, we have several Hitlers, right here, right now. Just because Rove is not working in the West Wing this week does not mean that he has gone away, nor that the whole apparatchik of repression and Christianity is any less ready, willing and able to remove what little freedom we have left.

Answer 5

Hitler gain the trust of the people the very same way religions get their sheep. Mind control. The masses if people do not have the ability to think on there own and wants some one else to think for them. The techniques Hitler used are the like the ones used today.

Answer 6

The Third Reich did not publicly acknowledge the concentration (and especially the death camps) camps. The German people were not completely aware of the Final Solution. They were rumors though... and afterall, you can't just brush millions of people under the rug and think that people would forget them. The German people should be, in some part, accountable for the Holocaust and allowing their government to do this.

Every generation and culture has the possibility of a Hitler type of person taking power. It could happen anywhere at anytime.

Answer 7

As mentioned there was a terrible economic depression in Germany. Gear up a war machine that helps boost the economy and people will be more willing to follow.

I think the world has had many forms of Hitler. Look at the Middle East. There's countless groups out to kill anyone who is not part of their 'elite' group.

Answer 8

Do you think that the German public was constituted of a bunch of soft hearted naive people who happen to follow an evil genius man like Hitler?

If so, you are the one who is naive. If there was a new Hitler today, people would vote for him knowing how he will use that power.

As long as you are powerful no one would care if you are a thug or not, just look at Russia and Putin.

Answer 9

1. He told the people what they wanted to hear.
2. He blamed corporations and other greedy and wealthy people (JEWS) for all of their problems.
3. He made people believe all of their problems were the fault of others. Here part of what he said was correct. War reparations were strangling the German Economy.
4. He helped the people feel proud again about their nation.

He played the typical socialist play and put classes of people against one another while allying hiumself with tthe groups and classes that had the most political power.

Answer 10

Hitler promised the German people that he would return Germany to its position of a world power, and rectify the terms of their first world war surrender, (treaty of Versailles)
Once he took power, he began to outlaw all other political parties, build an army that was loyal to him, and by the time people became wise as to what he was doing, he had solidified his position as dictator of a Fascist nation.
The holocaust, and many other horrible crimes against humanity were then committed, and the second world war was what ended it.

Answer 11

Its called the Big Lie Theory

He told many Big Lies and tons of smaller ones to cover the big ones then they started to come apart as No one who tells a lie can keep track of it

If its the truth it comes out the same each time told

In my Opinion ALANA, from Cornell Nebraska

IS One