(April 2, 2016 at 6:29 pm)abaris Wrote:(April 2, 2016 at 5:38 pm)Rev. Rye Wrote: After the Nazis took over all social groups in the town (even bowling leagues), they wound up just mostly going through the motions; not totally embracing it, but not revolting because there was simply no point in doing so. It's not perfect, but any understanding of the effects of Hitler's rule on the average German (even before the war) really needs to grapple with it.
That's not so hard to grasp. The average person, and that probably makes up more than 90 percent of any given population, isn't a born hero. So, when living under totalitarian rule, they try not to get noticed. Even more so, if it's a known fact that there are concentration camps and people vanishing.
I don't know the absolute numbers, but a relatively large percentage of the population actually did support the regime in the 30ies. The Nazis handed out goodies by the numbers. Low earners paid less taxes, pensions were raised dramatically, and most of all, they got jobs. Workers didn't care that it was all on borrowed money and that it was all in preparation for war. Even more so, if they already had been unemployed in the wake of the depression. When war broke out, as opposed to 1914, people were rather depressed and in no way enthusiastic. And that's well documented by the regime itself.
That behavior explains how a small group of mean guys can control a large city or even a country. If people really had any balls they could easily overthrow them without too much trouble. Instead they meekly obey because humans are programmed to obey people in authority, or someone who acts like he knows what he's doing. The Castro gang took over Cuba with a small force. Castro took over Cuba with a force of about 300 men. He's been in power since then because people are too gutless to kill him and his family. The same thing is true in North Korea and in Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe, and countless other countries.
