Germany - 1920's & 30's -- What would you have done ... ?

[Rogue]

The best part about the quote is how its chronologically correct, as following Hitler's Chancellorship in January of 1933 to the March 1933 elections and onward the Nazis and their support base did basically target the Communists and Social Democrats and Trade Unionists first. The Jews actually came in fourth, aft, to speak in extremely broad terms.

The KPD was organized and have a few hundred thousand active members, including a militant paramilitary wing (the RFB or Red Front Fighters) that was larger then the Versailles limited German Army. Unfortunately (or fortunately?), the RFB were banned in 1930 and so when Hitler gained the Chancellorship, he had the formidable power of the State (army and police) as well as almost a half million strong paramilitary army in the form of the SA backing his efforts. Needless to say, none of the other factions could match that kind of force or power. But it certainly wasn't for a lack of trying on the part of the KPD. They essentially declared war on the Nazis years before anyone else did and tens of thousands of them were in resistance organizations long before any German troops entered the Rhineland or invaded Poland.

By then said Communist resistance had been crushed and dismantled by the formidable growing power of Nazi Germany backed by the state (thanks to Goering becoming the Interior Minister at the time), the SA and SS, and their newly formed Gestapo organization.

So maybe some of you braver types didn't just end up in Concentration Camps. Maybe you were beaten to death in some working class district outside of a Nazi-owned pub!

Or shot dead during a street battle!

Or maybe executed by the police after being arrested/captured as opposed to whisked off to the camps!

*coughs* Actually.... When I was doing research to try to do a thorough timeline, the Jews were one of the first to be persecuted. Not to the point of holocaust... just little things.... There's more info here...

Just for some levity...

I died a little when I saw that. That episode just made me so happy.....

[TheGlyphstone]

*coughs* Actually.... When I was doing research to try to do a thorough timeline, the Jews were one of the first to be persecuted. Not to the point of holocaust... just little things.... There's more info here...

That wasn't really exclusive to Germany, though, was it? The Jews got mistreated and persecuted all over Europe for centuries before WW2.

[Neysha]

That wasn't really exclusive to Germany, though, was it? The Jews got mistreated and persecuted all over Europe for centuries before WW2.

Yeah France, Romania, Poland and parts of Hungary and Austeia were all a fair bit more anti semitic in comparison to Germany pre-1933.

[Oniya]

That wasn't really exclusive to Germany, though, was it? The Jews got mistreated and persecuted all over Europe for centuries before WW2.

At least back as far as the Crusades.  One of the first pogroms was the result of a decision along the lines of 'Why should we traipse across Europe to kill Muslims?  We all know who shouted "Crucify him".' 

[Neysha]

*coughs* Actually.... When I was doing research to try to do a thorough timeline, the Jews were one of the first to be persecuted. Not to the point of holocaust... just little things.... There's more info here...

I appreciate the link, it's actually a very well done timeline and picked up on a fair number of things I wasn't aware of chronologically so thank you. You're not wrong, but just in case of this I qualified my statement by stating it was in broad and general terms since it's obvious that the rise of Nazi Germany and its suppression of groups wasn't done on some strict, group by group time table. But between the time periods of when Hitler became Chancellor and the March 1933 elections, the Nazi Party really went all out with their suppression of both the Social Democrats and the German Communist Party and by association, a great many of the trade unions. With the backing of the state they now had a far greater deal of influence on, they were largely successful in those efforts and managed to recoup and gain even more seats in the Reichstag, largely at the expense of the previously most powerful political bloc, the Social Democrats. Thousands of communists and socialist and union members were intimidated, assaulted, imprisoned or killed in these efforts. Now I'm sure this time period wasn't fun for the Jews as well, make no mistake, but I feel when speaking in general terms, the quote by Niemoller as made earlier seems to be chronologically correct, generally speaking.

[Serephino]

What would I do?  If my past life regression is anything to go by... join the Nazi party and become a military strategist.  There are a lot of things you could say helped the Nazis take power, but the clincher was Hitler himself.  He was dangerously charismatic.  Something about him, you hung on his every word when he spoke.  He was good at appealing to people from all walks of life.  It was all too easy to buy what the Nazi party was selling.  That's one of the premier traits of a predator.  He could beat you upside the head with a cane in a fit of schizophrenic bi-polar rage, then when he apologized later you believed him.   

[yobo]

That wasn't really exclusive to Germany, though, was it? The Jews got mistreated and persecuted all over Europe for centuries before WW2.

Very true. Jews was often the scapegoats of societies for centuries leading up to World War II, like if there was sickness in a town the Jews could be blamed for poisoning the water. People often needed someone to blame and the Jews was an easy target. In the Norwegian constitution from 1814 Jews didn't have access to the country, and the paragraph wasn't removed until 1851, so anti-Semitism was certainly not exclusive to Germany in this time period.