"Hitler and the Nazis: Evil on Trial"

Netflix trailer: rb.gy/mrxhgk

I just wasn't satisfied by the fake. No drama was resonating, from the foreign to the domestic, from crime to relationship comedy, nothing was floating my boat. I needed down home reality.

Which is why I watched the Titan documentary.

That having resonated, I watched a great documentary on the Mafia, which I should write about separately.

And that led me to this Hitler doc, made by Joe Berlinger, of West Memphis Three and Metallica fame.

Now Tony Soprano loved to watch the History Channel, which used to be World War II 24/7, but I never cottoned to that, and does that still even exist, in a world where streaming has eclipsed network and cable combined? I don't know, but I figured I'd give Hitler a shot.

And I was stunned how much I didn't know.

Maybe you know it, kudos. But growing up in the sixties, we never studied World War II. Our teachers had lived through it so they thought we knew all about it, even though this was untrue. We learned about World War II through osmosis, the words of our parents, society in general, it was palpable, at least what they now call the Holocaust, never again we were told, and now it's happening to a degree never seen previously in my lifetime. If you think most people separate Israel from the Jews, you're not Jewish, you've never experienced antisemitism. If any other country was fighting Hamas would there be this uproar? And this Hitler documentary is a great analogue. Hitler, like Hamas, refused to surrender, so the Allies bombed the hell out of Germany, killing so many people. But Hitler had to be defeated. As for Hamas, should it be allowed to stand?

You need to read Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib's piece in the "Washington Post":

"The first step to saving Gaza is seeing Hamas for what it is"

Free link: https://wapo.st/4k9IAgx

Money quote?

"The war in Gaza has killed 35 members of my extended family and destroyed both of the homes in which I lived as a child."

Unlike all the nincompoops on campuses living in safety, this guy has been directly affected, yet he knows where the blame lies.

And all the musicians... Funny how you can take a stand on Palestine yet not Trump. Talk about going with the flow...

I know this is a dangerous topic. My inbox is filled with pro-Palestinian rhetoric excoriating me for not calling for Israel to immediately stop the war and vacate Gaza. But it's very simple, Hamas could stop the war tomorrow, they could just cough up the rest of the hostages. But they refuse to do this, putting the entire populace at risk.

But Hitler knew the score, the problem in the world is very clear, it's the JEWS!

But we already knew this. Then again, today Holocaust denial is a thing. I wonder what these naysayers would say if they saw the piles of corpses, where did those come from?

No, I'm not telling you to watch this Hitler documentary to learn about the killing of Jews, although it's not a bad bonus, but because of TRUMP! You see in many ways the landscape was the same.

The populace was disillusioned, they felt they'd' been dealt a raw deal. They were angry and Hitler tapped into this discontent.

It was all about the Treaty of Versailles, which ended the first World War. The terms were just too onerous. The average German was suffering, chafing under these restrictions. Beware of settlements within which you demand too much, they often backfire. And if you don't know a treaty, a contract, is just a piece of paper, you're naïve.

The Weimar Republic? Seen as good for some, but they were the few, and much of the public was suffering.

Hitler comes from nothing and takes power with about 35% support. Sound familiar? Like the hard core Trumpers?

Oh, don't get your knickers in a twist, don't claim TDS, don't be ignorant, calm down and watch the first two episodes, your jaw will drop and you'll feel queasy, the parallels are just too clear. A charismatic leader is given an entry and then he takes over, excludes all comers and becomes a dictator.

I'm living in these United States, explain again why ICE wears masks? If the government can't fight its battles in the open, with identities clear, maybe their cause is not just. If ICE members are fearful of retaliation... Why don't all members of Congress hide their identities, and CEOs too. This is not the solution to the problem, if you're fearful about violence speak to the core, the motivation and how to prevent people from taking action, not defense.

Now I must warn you, this documentary has a few quirks. First, the images are colorized. We fought that battle with Ted Turner decades ago, I haven't seen someone talk about it recently, yet it's still offensive.

Second, there are re-enactments. But the real problem is that you sometimes can't separate the re-enactments from the real footage.

Then again, when you see the real Nazis in the dock in Nuremberg...

There's all this damning information, the Nazis were meticulous note keepers. But what does each and every Nazi say (except for one, who accepts a smidge of responsibility), IT WASN'T ME! IT WAS ALL HITLER! I HAD NO IDEA!

Yeah, right.

Will we have a Nuremberg style trial for all the Trump enablers? The Congresspeople who are afraid to go against Trump for fear of retaliation, just like with Hitler? You got in line or you were excommunicated. The Führer could fathom no bad news, no contradictions.

It's eerie.

Do you need to watch all six episodes?

Maybe not, but you do need to watch the first two.

Now don't roll your eyes and shrug your shoulders, saying analogies to Hitler are employed too frequently and don't apply. Trump has been operating from the authoritarian playbook, which was laid out clearly in Project 2025, just like in "Mein Kampf." And Stephen Miller is Joseph Goebbels.

Don't tell me I'm being histrionic, you can ignore my words completely, as long as you watch the first two episodes of this documentary.

As for me, those Nuremberg Nazis hanged because they couldn't say no, they couldn't stand up to Hitler, they couldn't see that certain actions were immoral.

And it's not like we've never seen this in America before. McCarthyism? A black stain on American history, but how many went along with it back in the fifties, afraid to look soft on Communism?

This is the American spirit we've lost, in a world that has become totally about money, even though so many have been left behind. America was always about the rugged individual, free to be themselves, walk their own way, not put up with the b.s.

Today everybody is a sheep, and it's not only in politics. People are afraid to go against conventional wisdom, stand up to the bullies. They're afraid of being excoriated by the minions.

But not me.


--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1

If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=828178025010391a0f83cf7802ae715b

To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=828178025010391a0f83cf7802ae715b