The Surprising Parallel Between Modern Germany and Pre-Hitler Germany

For most of Germany’s post World War Two history, their political scene has been largely devoid of any right-wing rhetoric. The reason why is obvious enough. Living under a brutal fascist regime that contributed to the deaths of millions has a habit of making any right-wing idea seem unappealing.

Japan’s culture has gone through the same process. After living under an openly militaristic regime that ended with two nuked cities, Japan has developed one of the most pacifistic foreign policies on the planet. When Japan’s parliament passed a law allowing their troops to deploy overseas, tens of thousands of Japanese citizens took to the streets to protest the decision. It’s not just a cornerstone of their legal code, being anti-war is a big part of their culture too.

Where Germany and Japan differ however, is how the Germans have succumbed to debilitating guilt over the actions of their ancestors. For decades they have been relentlessly shamed by the rest of Western civilization for what they did in World War Two. Unfortunately, that shame has been so devastating that as a culture, Germany has no sense of self-preservation.

Among many young Germans, there is almost a sense that they don’t care about the future of their nationality, and that perhaps it would be better if they just died off. You can’t even sport a German flag in that country without being called a Nazi. And above all else, this shame has led directly to the acceptance of millions of people from the Middle East.

Germany is so guilt-ridden by the actions of their ancestors, that they feel the need to make up for it by helping these refugees. Many of them don’t want to set a limit on how many people they let in, no matter how insane that might be, because to them this is penance for the sins of their fathers. It doesn’t matter if it amounts to cultural suicide. In their minds, they deserve it.

However, this poisonous guilt is starting to dissipate for the first time in decades. Now that Germans are starting to see what cultural suicide is really like in practice, their political beliefs are rapidly changing. The mass sexual assaults that occurred all over their country on New Year’s Eve has led many Germans to look towards right-wing political beliefs for answers.

Germany’s eurosceptic right-wing party has hit a new all-time high in the opinion polls as concern about migration rises in the country.

Alternative for Germany (AfD) would take 11.5 per cent of the vote if a federal general election were held today, according to a poll for Bild magazine.

The party is in third place after Angela Merkel’s CDU/CSU, who are on 35 per cent. The centre-left social democrats are on 21.5 per cent.

To put this in perspective, Alternative for Germany only received 4.7% of the votes from the 2013 federal election, which wasn’t even enough to be given any seats in Germany’s parliament. And before 2013, there wasn’t a single viable right-wing party with any shot of gaining national popularity. Within about a 5 year period, right-wing ideologies have gone from being accepted by practically nobody, to being accepted by more than 10% of the population.

Though some of these Germans aren’t content to simply vote and express an opinion. While the media was more than willing to cover up the mass sexual assaults that have been going on Europe, they’ve been quick to point out when German youths start randomly assaulting foreigners.

Vigilante gangs have been roving the streets of Cologne on a “manhunt” for asylum seekers as the backlash to the New Year’s Eve attacks continues.

Among the 11 victims were Pakistani men beaten by a 20-strong mob and Syrian refugee targeted minutes later by a smaller group nearby.

Police said they had reinforced officer numbers in the city centre earlier on Sunday after receiving warnings about a group searching for “provocation”.

It came after a Facebook page created by a gang of “rockers” and football hooligans had called for supporters to “clean up” Cologne.

It’s at this point that I ask, does any of this sound familiar? Because to me, it sounds Germany has been here before.

After World War One the Germans were relentlessly shamed for causing the war, though in that case it included crippling economic sanctions. Those sanctions created the perfect breeding ground for right-wing nationalism to thrive. In this case, Germany has been shamed for decades by other Western cultures for something that the vast majority of living Germans never had anything to do with. In both cases, that shame led to the disintegration of German society.

What we’re seeing right now is the early stages of a crisis, caused by the collective guilt that has been foisted on the German people. They feel bad about World War Two, so now they’re letting in all these refugees who are now wrecking German society. And in this chaos, we’re seeing an unprecedented resurgence of right-wing nationalism, and in some cases violence against minorities.

Are we seeing the rise of a Fourth Reich and a new Hitler? Probably not. The PEGIDA movement that has been in the news lately, nearly crumbled into oblivion last year when a now discredited photo surfaced, showing their leader posing as Hitler. While Germany is seeing renewed interest in right-wing politics, that’s not the particular brand of right-wing that they want to bring back. The vast majority of them are not interested in beating up minorities and genocide.

But in any case, we are seeing the return of nationalism in Germany, and a massive shift in their cultural beliefs. This has strong implications for a country that just took in over a million refugees, is at the heart of the European Union, and is one of the largest economies in the world. It may take a few years or so, but big changes are coming to Germany, Europe, and by extension the world.