Historian Reveals How Hitler 'Dismantled' Democracy in Less Than Two Months

[rasputin1952]

23. Interesting question...

Initially, after Hitler grasped the reins of power, he had most of the nation working, and inflation dropped.
A loaf of bread didn't cost 10,000 DM. He also played up the the reality that Germany would (could) not pay reparations (particularly to France, especially Clemenceau) really blew it at Versailles.

There were "good Germans." There is a somewhat famous film clip taken by the husband of a woman who was looking at the windows of a Jewish-owned store. When she attempted to enter, a Brown-Shirt "guard" prevented her from entering. She tried to go around him, they had some brief words, and then she left. The entire episode was filmed so that people could see what was on the horizon.

Germans went back to work, essentially building up war stock, the Autobahn, and factories. Without being taxed to death for war reparations, the middle class expanded quickly.

Most of the disabled were seen as "worthless, albeit that took a little time, but they were essentially disposed of. Hidden, then killed, the lame, the insane, and others that didn't "fit the mold" were euthanized. The "enemy" in plain sight was the Jew. Germany lost a huge number of highly skilled and a good portion of the intellectual community when those who could afford it fled. Some, (those on the SS St. Louis are a prime example) were turned away, only to return to Germany and eventually killed.

By that time, fear was the dominant factor. Neighbors turned against each other in a vain attempt to keep the Gestapo at bay. That did not work out so well for most of them.

In September of 1939, Germany invaded Poland. From there on in, if you spoke ill of any action Germany took, you became a target, with the threats directly aimed at your family if you spoke out, and quite a few did, but far more went along with the action. Communists and Jews, Roma, and Slavs, all became targets, and what was left of "Good Germans" went underground.

After the war, those that had survived (not Nazis) began to rebuild the nation, with a lot of help under the Marshal Plan. The West Germans prospered, the East Germans fled until the barriers went up to confine them.