Kayla’s Reviews > On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century > Status Update

“At the beginning, certainly they were not Nazis. About fifteen of us would get together to talk and to try to find arguments opposing theirs… From time to time, one of our friends said: “I don’t agree with them… but on certain points, nevertheless, I must admit, for example, the Jews…” etc… Three weeks later… would become a Nazi… Towards the end, only three or four of us were still resisting.”

“Forjust this reason, people and parties who wish to undermine democracy and the rule of law create and fund violent organizations that involve themselves in politics. Such groupscan take the form of a paramilitary wing ofa political party, the personal bodyguard of a particular politician—or apparently spontaneous citizens’ initiatives, which usually turn out to have been organized by a party or its leader.”

“We do not subscribe to the view that Mr. Hitler and his friends, now finally in possession of the power they have so long desired, will implement the proposals circulating in [Nazi newspapers]; they will not deprive German Jews of their constitutional rights, nor enclose them in ghettos… They cannot do this because a number of crucial factors hold powers in check…” — Feb 2, 1933 newspaper