this post was submitted on 06 Nov 2024
2100 points (95.0% liked)

Leopards Ate My Face

3375 readers
944 users here now

Rules:

Also feel free to check out [email protected] (also active).

Icon credit C. Brück on Wikimedia Commons.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Because you now did it to yourself.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] rsuri 75 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (10 children)

I mean it's quite different. Hitler wasn't elected (at least not prior to seizing power and effectively banning all opposition). Instead the Nazis got a plurality of just 33% in the Reichstag election, which led to failure to form a government. Then Hitler somehow convinced the center right President to grant him powers which he promptly started abusing and the rest is history.

In other words, 1930s Germany can kind of defend itself in ways the US can't.

[–] CitizenKong 21 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

He got elected democratically. In the German system, one party gaining the absolute majority is very rare and coalition governments are the norm. The cancellor is usually the candidate of the party with the largest percentage in that coalition. In the case of the NSDAP, that was Hitler. The conservatives formed a coaltion with him because they were sure the conservative president would be able to keep Hitler in check. Unfortunately, said president did the opposite and was instrumental in giving Hitler absolute power.

load more comments (9 replies)