The time of Adolf Hitler and his tyranny over Germany is one of the most gruesome eras in history. But as time has continued to pass since this time, we have become more desensitized to just how terrible this era was. We have also lost some direct context and emotional impact as a society in understanding just how much the Jewish people suffered during their persecution by Hitler. We may jokingly or legitimately compare friends or foes to Hitler as an insult. Some may hurl the word Nazi at someone to infer their bad behavior is similar. But while these insults are still no comparison to the actual Nazi leader and his followers, there are actually some aspects of our current society that are dangerously similar to this previous era. To gain some insight into this unfortunately accurate parallel, read on about these 10 ways today’s society is like pre-war Nazi Germany.
The Global Pandemic
The Great War resulted in the deaths of 20 million people by the time it ended in 1918. What is even more tragic is that the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic claimed what some estimates place at close to 100 million lives. There are many similarities to that pandemic and the one we are currently enduring now. Like the Spanish flu, the coronavirus pandemic has devastated the entire world, started in a foreign location and resulted in widespread xenophobia.
Scapegoating Entire Ethic Groups
Hitler targeted and persecuted Jewish people based on their race, heritage and religious beliefs. He believed that the German race, which he dubbed Aryan, was superior and should remain pure by cleansing the world of Jewish people. He blamed them for the problems of society during that time. The same is true for many cultures around the world, who target immigrants and migrants of their specific countries. They are used as scapegoats for that society’s challenges, and are often treated poorly, with attempts to drive them out of those geographical eras.
