History repeats (?)

Dealing with Germany's Nazi history has been difficult for the modern German people. They have passed stringent laws against Holocaust denial and laws forbidding the display of the swastika or anything that incites hatred against segments of the population.

Yet, they have collectively been (understandably) slow to have open discussions about the role of the German people in the rise of Hitler and Nazism.

Now an exhibit is about to open in Berlin at the German Historical Society which, in its display of prosaic artifacts of ordinary people from that time, tacitly emphasizes the abetting role of just such ordinary people. For example, one item is a tapestry designed to glorify the union of the church and the Nazi party; and it was woven by church members at the behest of the priest.

One of the curators says: "As a person, Hitler was a very ordinary man. He was nothing without the people." That is not to say that the people were motivated by the evil and cruelty that became the Nazi rule; rather, they were motivated by complex fears and were too easily led through incremental steps into that morass of tolerating gross inhumanity.

As pointed out in today's New York Times article:

[T]he show focuses on the society that nurtured and empowered [Hitler]. It is not the first time that historians have argued that Hitler did not corral the Germans so much as the Germans elevated Hitler. But one curator said the message was arguably more vital for Germany now than at any time in the past six decades, as rising nationalism, more open hostility to immigrants and a generational disconnect from the events of the Nazi era have older Germans concerned about repeating the past. . . .

Increasingly, Germans have put the guilt of the past behind them, reasserting their pride in national identity in many positive ways. But there have also been troubling signs seeping from the margins into the mainstream.

A spokesman for the museum said it would be presumptuous to say that an exhibition could counter the radiance of populism, but they are trying to achieve what they can afford. A fellow with the German Marshall Fund said:

This exhibition is about Hitler and the Germans -- meaning the social and political and individual processes by which much of the German people became enablers, colluders, co-criminals in the the Holocaust. That this was so is now a mainstream view rejected only by a small minority of very elderly and deluded people, or the German extreme right-wing fringe. But it took us a while to get there.

According to the Times article, the exhibit explains the early appeal of the Nazis, who demonstrated a keen appreciation for the politics of populism's creating a sense of unity and purpose among the people. It was not simply the imposition of power and control over the helpless masses.

By holding up heroic resistance fighters who did not go along, the display also debunks the notion that the Nazis were impossible to resist. But that, of course, runs counter to the stories their elders have always told their young about why they got involved instead of resisting.

So the exhibit should provoke a national conversation that is needed.

My interest in this was piqued, not just out of interest in the Holocaust and the German character, but what it might say about where we are in our own country right now. With the populist anti-government rage washing over us as we approach the November election and then 2012, I do not feel altogether comfortable that, given a charismatic enough figure to jump in front of the parade, we could wind up with a disaster. Something along the lines of Glenn Beck revving up the fervor and then handing them off to Newt Gingrich. Glenn apparently knows he is not presidential material; Newt "knows" that he is. It wouldn't likely be a holocaust, but it could be a very sharp turn to the right.

Newt is probably sitting in his office right now contemplating how to become that charismatic one. I see him as the most dangerous politician we know, dangerous because he is smart enough and articulate enough to convince people he knows what he's talking about -- and, at the same time, unprincipled enough to exploit that talent. Our only hope with Newt is that his narcissism also knows no bounds, and he tends to self-immolate sooner or later. Let's hope he never learns how to rein that in.

Ralph