“That you have found me… among so many millions is the miracle of our time! And that I have found you, that is Germany’s fortune!” -Adolf Hitler
I just finished reading “In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin”, a nonfiction book by Erik Larson that tells in somewhat graphics about the ascent of Hitler from chancellor to absolute tyrant. In 1933 President Roosevelt appointed a new ambassador to Germany, and the book was based on first-hand eyewitness experience of the Dodds family living in Berlin. There are a few things that I saw as striking resemblance of what happened then with what is happening nowadays:
- On the surface everything was fine, but underneath a foundational transformation was taking place.
- Everything changed quickly in one day without warning.
- People were immune to their surrounding. They applauded evil as good and good as evil.
- Only few people saw what’s coming.