I was trying to figure out what I was going to write about this week and couldn’t think of anything until I started reading the book “Germans into Nazis.” I haven’t gotten through every last word of it yet but every time I pick it up I tend to fly through a dozen pages or so in a matter of minutes so I’m not too worried. As I read through the introduction I was amazed at the part describing a conversation between the photographer and the Nazi Party leader, Adolf Hitler.
What got me so interested in this was the fact that the photographer had taken a picture of Hitler at a rally in 1914 before the beginning of World War I. Whenever I read history, the thought that rushes through my mind more frequently than any other is the question: “What if?” In the huge mass of people gathered in the picture, where Hitler is seen at such a young age, what would have happened in the twentieth century if things had changed that day? All it would have taken is one person that thought the mindset of Germany was going to a bad place; one mugger in the crowd that would have happened to walk up to a young Adolf Hitler and try to take his wallet. I’ve never seen history as a series of random events, but what if the slightest change had occurred THAT day that killed the man named Adolf Hitler. No one would have known his name and other than maybe the slightest mention in the paper the following morning, there is a good chance that very few people would have even known about some seemingly tiny event that got some stranger killed.
I can’t help but think about those things. The thought that if one person in the crowd that day, one person with a good heart and a good head on their shoulders could have known what the guy next to him would do one day. What would have changed? How different would the world be today? If one person happened to look over, see this young man who probably blended in with every other person in the crowd, and knew what he was going to do in the future. In the fervor of a national pride and the shift in the ideals of Germany in the early 1900’s a man started a course that would change the passage of time.
I know that this thought probably has an effect on all of my blogs, but it’s what makes me like history as much as I do. Looking back on the series of events and seeing times when the slightest event could have changed the world.
As I said earlier on, what if that day in 1914, on his way back to his home or his apartment or wherever, the young man whose name would soon be known by virtually everyone else on the planet ran into an accident: a car crash or a mugging. One simple event that could have prevented all of the things that occurred in the Holocaust and in World War II would have only taken a moment. If you do stop to think about the small details of that day, the possibilities and the way the people were reacting to the changes taking place. Even IF Hitler had met some unfortunate end before he committed all of the deeds that he is famous for today; would someone else have come along to take his place? If not Hitler, would there have been someone else that came along to commit the same kinds of atrocities? Would we have known the same of some other nationalist that came along and changed the course of the Twentieth Century?
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It's definitely an intriguing (and vexing) way to look at history. Hitler was not the only charismatic, nationalistic personality in politics, I think it's likely that Germany would have fallen under the power of one radical organization or another, given the circumstances in the wake of the Versailles Treaty. Germany was humiliated, and needed someone or something to unify the country against those countries and peoples who had placed the burdens of the WWI aftermath on their shoulders. While I think that the details of the Third Reich may have varied, Germany was searching desperately for a "Hitler" and probably would have found him one way or another. Though this view presumes the Sonderweg theory...
ReplyDeleteIt is very tempting to play a historical version of "what if" but I definitely agree with Elizabeth that if Hitler had died, or otherwise been removed from the political landscape, someone else would have risen to power and perhaps committed the same atrocities. I feel like that's the major point of the book Germans into Nazis, World War 1 had completely ruined Germany's economy (though the Germans themselves had something to do with this thanks to inflation, but that's another story all together) and the masses wanted someone to believe in, and that person just happened to be Hitler.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that the 'what if' game is a part of the charm of history. Trying to understand how an event or person altered (or failed to alter) the course of history is always a challenge. As for your particular what if, I agree with commentators that had there been no Hitler, there still would have likely been a strong man leader that rose to power in Germany. By the early 30s, democracy had more enemies than supporters in Germany and prospects for its survival were growing incresingly dim.
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