Sunday, March 06, 2016

ANS -- NYT first article about Hitler (1922): his "anti-Semitism not so genuine or violent as it sounded"

This has been going around.  It's a 1922 New York Times article about Hitler as he begins his rise to power.  It sounds a lot like Drumpf (Trump), doesn't it?
--Kim


NYT first article about Hitler (1922): his "anti-Semitism not so genuine or violent as it sounded"

HitlerNewYorkTimes

Does this sound like anyone you know who is running for president in 2016?

He is credibly credited with being actuated by lofty, unselfish patriotism. He probably does not know himself just what he wants to accomplish. The keynote of his propaganda in speaking and writing is violent anti-Semitism. His followers are nicknamed the "Hakenkreuzler." So violent are Hitler's fulminations against the Jews that a number of prominent Jewish citizens are reported to have sought safe asylums in the Bavarian highlands, easily reached by fast motor cars, whence they could hurry their women and children when forewarned of an anti-Semitic St. Bartholomew's night.

But several reliable, well-informed sources confirmed the idea that Hitler's anti-Semitism was not so genuine or violent as it sounded, and that he was merely using anti-Semitic propaganda as a bait to catch masses of followers and keep them aroused, enthusiastic, and in line for the time when his organization is perfected and sufficiently powerful to be employed effectively for political purposes.

A sophisticated politician credited Hitler with peculiar political cleverness for laying emphasis and over-emphasis on anti-Semitism, saying: "You can't expect the masses to understand or appreciate your finer real aims. You must feed the masses with cruder morsels and ideas like anti-Semitism. It would be politically all wrong to tell them the truth about where you really are leading them."

Vox: The New York Times' first article about Hitler's rise is absolutely stunning

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