Saw this in Facebook earlier
Adolf Hitler is on my mind a lot at present as I am spending my days researching him and WWII. Up until December last year, I had spent over two years working almost every day doing what I could to Stop Brexit.
These two moments in time are starting to merge in my mind. Am I, therefore, seeing similarities that don't exist?
A great theme with Hitler was his violent opposition to the Treaty of Versailles. A control that Britain, France, Belgium etc had over his country and if only they, the Germans could take back control of their owns laws and rules and break free then Germany would be great again. He was riven with imperial nostalgia. How well it played to the elitist upper classes and to the gallery the poor who had little to lose by supporting him.
As Germany did not have much in the way of immigration Hitler selected the Jews as the enemy to blame for all that was wrong with Germany's predicament. Jews who contributed so much to the German economy and culture.
In 1933 Hitler won just 44% of the vote and had to join with another nationalist party in order to secure control. This gave him 52%.
The 48% of Germany were soon crushed and forced to accept the will of the people. In their case by acts of violence and intimidation.
A nation can only be defined as a Great country by how the government in power treats those who oppose their beliefs. A truly Great country is one where that government listens to those with opposite views and takes on board concerns and ideas and occasionally acts upon them because they realise that they are for the good of the country as a whole.
A really Great country is not one where the government of the day totally ignores those with different views. Germany never became Great again under Hitler. For a while, it did look as if Hitler had a unicorn but after a few years, it was plain for all to see that all the Emperor had was a knackered old cart horse with a carrot and a swastika on its head.
Well, not all. Some of his 52% still believed Hitlers lies for the rest of their lives even when the world had proved them wrong.
Those of the 48% of Germany in those pre-war days who survived everything that was done in their name went on to help devise and give birth to a Union that would bring all the countries of Europe to live and work together in peace and for the good of all the citizens of each and every one of those countries, trying as best they could to establish an equality for one and all and to irradicate the problems that allowed the rise and rise of one Adolf Hitler.