this post was submitted on 26 Dec 2023
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The German social democrats, the moderate party during the Weimar Republic, were the only party to vote against the enabling act (nazi takeover)
The KPD was banned from voting on the Enabling Act. If they hadn't been, its hard to imagine they would have voted for it.
I don’t doubt that, the KDP would definitely vote against it, but my point is the “social democrats and moderates love appeasing fascists” is not true
The social democrats were the left-wing, Zentrum would have been the moderate party, and Zentrum voted for the Enabling Act.
That’s true, but in terms of Weimar politics, the social democrats were pretty moderate compared to the… other political forces
Neville Chamberlain thought he could appease nazis. Stepped off that plane waving the worthless agreement he thought he had with Hitler. Thought he could go through proper channels and meet nazis in the middle. The whole world saw how that worked out, and what irredeemable foolishness it is to try to appease fascists.
Those who appease nazis today do so with the clarity of hindsight, and know that appeasement and collaboration are one in the same. So long as Chamberlain's folly is remembered, there will never be another Neville Chamberlain. But there can be other Vidkun Quislings.
This whole "Chamberlain appeased Hitler" meme might be trivially true. But it's also banal, obtuse, and a confession that one has never read a history that didn't have to be turned back in at the end of the year.
I've seen prominent politicians and public intellectuals shitpost the Chamberlain meme every time they've wanted to justify aggression or discredit diplomacy. Not to mention that Chamberlain was doing exactly what the vast majority of British citizens demanded of him. Scared as they all were after the Great War. Or the little detail that British Intelligence had produced a report saying that preventing Germany from taking Czechoslovakia militarily was "impossible".
The whole premise is fucked. GB was in no position to dictate anything to Hitler. Would history look more kindly on impotent sabre rattling? Would Hitler have been cowed?