Quote:
Originally Posted by kevinm
They would have had plenty of opportunity in the years BEFORE 1938 when the Nazi's were just a radical mob fighting with the communists for control of the government.
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History says otherwise.
The most mistaken thing in your sentence was the apparent belief the Nazis were the only radical right-wing mob that existed. The fact is the National Socialists were only one of many small mobs that were all the same.
The Communists were the same. There were dozens of factions in each side, and in the middle, was the Weimar Republic.
Most Germans sincerely supported the Republic. It was fragile and weak, but the German people really wanted it to succeed. It was seen as their last, best hope for the survival of their race, culture, and nation.
The Jews were the most fervent Republic supporters of them all. Germany had been good to the Jews for a long time. It was the land where a Jew could realize his ambitions in safety and with support in a country that tolerated them and allowed them to prosper.
But because the Jews believed themselves to be Germans, and they shared the same national passions as the Christian Germans, there were Jews who were members of far-right fascist groups, and Jews who joined Communist groups. They all fought against other Jews, just as the Christians did.
Post-war Germany after its crushing defeat of WWI was a very delicate balance between civilization and anarchy. The scales only had to tip very slightly, and they did. Anarchy prevailed. And the Jews, always the late-coming outsiders, were trapped in the middle. Along with the rest of the Republic's supporters.
Once the scales tipped, the events that followed only escalated the slide into anarchy. The despots stopped the slide.
But for a few small events, and the deaths of a few people, the scales could have stayed centered, with the Republic ruling Germany, or it could have tipped to the left, and Germany could have become Communist.
Guns could never have saved the Jews. They all had plenty of guns, and they all warmed their guns many times. The only thing that could have saved the German Jews was many more German Jews. In a nation of many factions, the Jews were always the smallest, most different, and most united minority.
Because they were so few, they made the easiest targets for all the others. It's very possible that the Communists may have tried to exterminate them if they had won the day. That's why the Jews clung to the Weimar Republic so loyally and desperately as the events slowly unfolded.
1938 was not the beginning of the struggle. It was the end. The factional struggle began in 1919, and it took the Nazis over 10 years to triumph. 1930 was the year the scales tipped in their favor. By 1938, the Nazis' hold on power was secure, and in 1939, as a way to hold their power, the Nazis invaded Poland, starting World War II.
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