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An even more difficult question to answer is what the Germans saw in Hitler. Americans and Brits lestening to Hitler's speeches are repelled and have a difficult time understanding how the this frenzied politican could have moved a great nation. We can understand how some of the nationalist issues resonated (war guilt, loss of territory, Germans left in foreign countries, military restrictions, and repriations). What is more difficult to understand is why Hitler captured the hearts of so many Germans. There is no doubt that he did. It might be argued that a totalitarian state can use its control of the media to turn anyone into a national hero. Perhaps, but we suspect tht more ws involved here. After all, Hitle developed a very substantial following before he had the resources of the state at his disposal. There seems to have been something compelling about Hitler Hitler that tapped into the yearings of the German people. This is probably a question that only the Germans themselves can answer. One German author who has made an important effort to address this question is Sebastian Haffner. Haffner grew up in Germany during the inter-war era. He fled Germany in 1938 when he was 27. He decribed his efforts to resist the NAZIS as "... a duel between two very unqual adversaries: an exceedingly powerful, formidable, and ruthless state and an insignificant unknown private individual". Haffner is not easy on the Germans. He tells us, "At the moment of truth when other nations rise spontaneously to the occasion, the Germans collectively and limply collapsed". [Haffner] And the Germans continue to follow Hitler even after the country physically collapsed around them. Even though the War was lost by 1943, the Germans continued to support Hitler and the NAZIs. There was no national uprising. Almost earily, Germany began to change only after Hitler's death in Berlin was broadcasted. It was almost as if magically his grasp on the national psyche was released.
Haffner, Sebastian. Defying Hitler.
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