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Beware of Another Reichstag Fire
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Posted on Feb 28, 2017
By Helene Sinnreich
The Nazis used the 1933 Reichstag fire as an excuse for a terror
campaign that swept away parliamentary democracy in Germany. (AP)
As various commentators compare President Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler, a
flurry of responses has claimed that this is an inappropriate comparison
because the Nazi regime murdered millions of men, women and children. It is
important to remember, however, that when Hitler came to power in 1933, he
did not begin with murder. His regime first sought to encourage emigration
as a means of ridding Germany of the Jews and turned to genocide only when
these efforts failed. One important motive for studying genocide is to be
able to recognize early warning signs so that atrocities might be prevented
rather than waiting for them to happen.
As a scholar of the Holocaust, I frequently teach about the Nazi rise to
power and the attributes of authoritarian regimes. Such attributes include:
a rise to power which is nationalist in nature, with calls to restore the
nation to greatness or making reference to a mythic great past; racist or
anti-foreign rhetoric; violence or the threat of violence; attacks on the
free press and the promulgation of propaganda; marches or rallies to
reinforce group cohesion; quashing of political opponents and democratic
institutions after rising to power; and stripping away civil liberties.
There is often an assumption made by existing elites that the radical leader
will normalize once in power, but this normalization does not happen. What I
just described were the attributes of Hitlers rise to power
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler%27s_rise_to_power) , Mussolinis
rise to power (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benito_Mussolini) , and the
rise to power of a number of other authoritarian leaders as well.
What is disturbing to scholars of the Holocaust and genocide is that this
also describes President Trumps actual activities. His slogans, such as
Make America Great Again or American First,
(https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/01/trump-america-first/51
4037/) and other nationalist rhetoric align with rhetoric historically
espoused by authoritarian leaders. America First not only has American
Nazi historical roots, but it is eerily close to Hitlers slogan
Deutschland über Alles! (Germany Above All.) In terms of exhibition of
racist and anti-foreign sentiment, President Trumps attacks on Muslims and
Latinos particularly Mexicans, have been pronounced. He has tried to ban
foreigners from seven Muslim nations from coming to the United States and
taken an aggressive approach toward deporting undocumented immigrants, while
calling for a wall between the United States and Mexico. His rhetoric toward
Muslims, Latinos, and immigrants includes claims that they are the source of
crime and terrorism. This enables the president to attack Muslims and
Latinos under the cover of protecting national security or crime prevention.
The president made numerous threats during his campaign predicting violence
and revolution if he were not elected. Since coming to power, he has
encouraged shows of force, including escalation of aggressive policing, and
expressed a desire to display the countrys power with military armaments
(http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-inauguration-parade-tanks-missile-laun
chers-2017-1) in the streets of the capital during his inauguration. A
cabinet member recently alluded to the possible need for a rapid increase in
the number of prisons.
At the same time, Trumps attacks on the free press have been extreme,
including describing the news media as the enemy of the people, and
excluding several major media outlets from White House briefings. This
control of which media outlets have access to administration news
conferences and willfully delegitimizing news sources by calling stories he
disagrees with fake news
(http://www.npr.org/2017/02/17/515630467/with-fake-news-trump-moves-from-alt
ernative-facts-to-alternative-language) creates an atmosphere that
encourages propaganda and erodes government transparency.
The presidents immediate declaration of his candidacy for 2020 enables him
to hold rallies under the pretense of campaigning for a second term. These
rallies also serve to reinforce the notion of the Trumps popularity.
Since taking office, Trump has raged against his political opponents,
democracy and civil liberties. He has attacked the judiciary, particularly
when it serves as a check on his authority. He has bypassed Congress, using
executive orders to make drastic changes in policy. His cabinet has revoked
protections for transgender students. He has attempted to ban Muslims from
seven countries from coming to the United States and suggested mass
deportations. And he has championed the use of torture. This is just a short
list of attributes of authoritarian regimes that also characterize the Trump
administration.
For most scholars, it is not difficult to see how, in the current climate,
with a president whose activities closely parallel those of historic
authoritarian leaders, a single crisis might be used to solidify
authoritarian power. Trump has repeatedly warned against a terrorist attack
that might be perpetrated by an undocumented immigrant. For Hitler, it was
the Reichstag fire (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichstag_fire) on Feb.
27, 1933, that led to his political opponents being incarcerated in Dachau.
Helene Sinnreich is a holocaust scholar and director of the Fern and Manfred
Steinfeld Program in Judaic Studies at the University of Tennessee at
Knoxville.
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