[trompetenaccoun]

The German love for authoritarianism did that. And WW1 Allies who bled the country dry with reparations as the article mentions. Which lead to desperation in the population and hatred for the establishment. You can see it play out in leading Nazi figures like Goebbels who was constantly broke, struggling to pay bills and ranted about financial enslavement of his people.

The excessive treatment made them see themselves as freedom fighters. Of course, that's not what people are taught in school in Britain or France, it's an inconvenient narrative.

[bestouff]

And then that's more or less what I remember from my history classes in France (30-35 years ago) : they were broke because of how we put way excessive sanctions on them, and Hitler was seen as (and partly really was) the savior who put the country economically back on track.

That was in public school so the same program as for the vast majority of French students.

[netsharc]

French indemnity? I remember reading this in regards to the Grexit crisis: https://creditwritedowns.com/2015/02/syriza-and-the-french-i...

[trompetenaccoun]

Interesting, that's not what they teach these days from what I've seen. The economic aspect is a side note and the focus is on the politics, racism, Holocaust, etc. Which imo doesn't really how teach the kids the root cause.

Communism is usually also not discussed enough. In the Weimar Republic in the 30s it was inevitable that either Communists or Nazis would come to power. The mainstream parties had completely failed the country so the people were desperate and sought refuge in radical ideologies. It was either or, there was no alternative.

[panick21_]

You are just repeating the same old story, that was pushed by Waimar and Nazi propaganda, that has long been overturned by modern scholarship.

Germans didn't love authoritarianism. Well over half the population voted Communist, Social democrat or with the center party. And usually far more, only in the middle of massive economic depression did the Nazis gain ground. Arguable the communist are 'authoritarians' but they don't think of themselves that way. And many who did vote for the Nazis weren't authoritarians either. Germany had the largest social democratic movement in the world.

The whole 'bled the country dry with reparations' is just weimar/nazi propaganda. Germany reparations were not that extreme, and specially when you compare on what reparations Germany forced on its enemies. Germany could heave paid the reparations without much issue. All the claims that poor little Germany couldn't handle it is Waimar propaganda that the Nazis continued and intensified. Somehow they can spend 20+ of GDP on building a military, but the reparations are somehow impossible.

> Nazi figures like Goebbels who was constantly broke, struggling to pay bills and ranted about financial enslavement of his people.

What if I told you that there are poor people in all nations? And people struggle in lots of place. Germany in 1920 did better then most nations on the plant. And Goebbles was likely in the Top 1 of global population. And you are literally quoting the propaganda minister, of course that is the impression he wants to give.

> The excessive treatment made them see themselves as freedom fighters. Of course, that's not what people are taught in school in Britain or France, it's an inconvenient narrative.

Except that's exactly what people are thought in school. The whole 'extreme reparations' nonsense is the standard view. Its only in the last couple decades that this was seriously questioned by economists and historians.