The Nazi period could have happened only in Germany because the German education of obedience to any law and order was the main problem.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
In 1933, the Nazis came to power and the more systematic persecution of the Jews followed quickly. Laws were enacted which excluded Jewish children from higher education in public schools.
Hitler had a police state of the first order. And those who showed any sign of being weak-kneed faced prison or often summary execution. That prevented a lot of people who knew that the war was not going to turn out well for Germany from giving up.
Most of the victims of Nazi aggression were before the war less well off than Germany. They should not be expected by Germany to bear, unaided, the major costs of Nazi aggression.
Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.
As Eric Weitz argues, the Weimar Republic (1919-1933) was not responsible for the Reich; it was a democratic, socially aware and progressive government, way ahead of many other European governments in its introduction of workers' rights, public housing, unemployment benefit and suffrage for women.
I am not saying that during the Second World War Germany did not, under the leadership of the National Socialist government, commit crimes.
The Nuremberg trials of Nazi leaders, in open court before an international tribunal, had a profound long-term effect in bringing Germans back to democracy and humanity.
Nazism promoted Germany from a low to a fantastic physical and ideological status.
I was a student in Germany when Hitler came to power.
Very early, it became clear to me that East Germany could not function.