The Coming of the War

Historians often say that World War I and World War II were really two parts of a single process. They believe the "German problem" began in the 19th Century and was still there even after the slaughter in the trenches of World War I. It led to Hitler and to World War II. In its simplest form, the "problem" was this: Germany was becoming the most powerful country in Europe, and the other countries didn't want that to happen.

World War I was the largest European war up to its time. Ten million soldiers were killed. Great Britain and France actually lost more people in World War I than in World War II. The Treaty of Versailles, in 1919, tried to prevent another such war by disarming Germany, forcing it to pay war reparations, and setting up a new system, the League of Nations, to keep the peace in Europe. At the same time, the Allies did not disarm, and the Treaty took territory from Germany. In Germany, and later on in much of Europe, most people thought the Treaty of Versailles was unfair.

During the 1920s, Germany had a domestic constitution much like that of the United States. She also had serious domestic problems. Her army had been disbanded, but thousands of ex-soldiers formed themselves into Freikorps (free corps), or private armies who began as border guards but later became, in many cases, right-wing political parties backed by force. War reparations were so punitive that the famous English economist John Maynard Keynes, in his book, The Economic Consequences of the Peace , predicted "disastrous consequences," including the possibility of another war, if the Allies actually carried out reparations policies. German inflation in the 1920s became so bad that

Men and women rushed to spend their wages, if possible within minutes of receiving them. Notes were trundled to the stores in wheelbarrows--or baby carriages... [T]here was resort to virtually every printing press that was capable of printing money. Notes were in literal fact churned out. And, on occasion, trade stopped as the presses fell behind in producing new bills.

During these desperate days, the United States refused to provide financial aid to the German government (the Weimar Republic). Some years later, British, French, and American financiers like Henry Ford did advance aid to Hitler to support him as a bulwark against Communism.

The inflation ended in 1925, but in 1929 the Great Depression began. Not only America, but the rest of the Western world, suffered high unemployment and economic collapse. In Germany,

by 1930 what had been a bothersome problem turned into an acute disaster. In just one month, January, the number of unemployed soared from 1.5 million to almost 2.5 million. From then on, the figures kept climbing steadily.

Germans blamed the unemployment on many things. Some thought war reparations caused it. Some blamed it on dishonest, incompetent politicians. Many believed Nazi propaganda that blamed it on the Jews.

Looking back, it's hard to imagine, but Hitler was a popular figure in Germany in the early 1930s. His party never received a majority in a free election, but by 1930 it had won 107 seats in the German parliament. He came to power when the President of Germany, Hindenburg, appointed him Chancellor. He reduced unemployment by increasing public spending. He built public works like the Autobahn (a highway system) that are remembered today. Most of all, to Germans who thought of themselves as surrounded by hostile nations, he appeared to be a welcome savior and protector. He was not. Once in power he gradually consolidated his dictatorship and escalated his campaign against the Jews, other "non-Aryan" peoples, gays, and political opponents.

Overseas, he had many sympathizers--ranging from industrialists like Henry Ford to the writer Anne Morrow Lindbergh, wife of Charles Lindbergh. In an article in Reader's Digest , she wrote:

Much that is happening in Hitler's Germany is bad...but perhaps it will lead to some ultimate good. We, as Americans, do not have the moral right to judge what is happening...What was pushing behind Communism? What's behind fascism in Italy? What's behind Naziism?...Something one feels is pushing up through the crust of custom...One does not know what...some new conception of humanity and its place on earth. I believe that it is, in its essence, good.

Lindbergh, who devoted her life to humanitarian causes, later came to regret these words. But she wasn't alone. Many people deceived themselves about Hitler. Many others secretly agreed with him.

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