Author: Götz Aly
_Götz Aly_
Reading time: 24 minutes
Synopsis
There is a question that stays with every German: How could a whole country follow the criminal Nazi regime into ruin? In Wie konnte das geschehen? (2025), we look at the social, political, and psychological forces that supported the Nazi state and made it possible. We also learn what lessons we can take from this for today.
What’s in it for you: Understand how German society slowly moved towards disaster under Nazi rule.
The numbers from World War II are hard to imagine: at least 5.3 million Jews were killed, over 70 million people died all over the world, and whole cities were destroyed. The images from Auschwitz, Treblinka, and other death camps stay in our minds. They make us ask: How could the German people become such a violent society? Why did so many people join the Nazis and stay loyal to them for many years?
In Wie konnte das geschehen? (2025), we look at how a democracy with normal, mostly honest people slowly became a state that committed crimes.
Blink 1 – Winning over the Middle Ground
In the summer of 1932, 37.3 percent of the 40 million eligible voters in Germany voted for the Nazi party (NSDAP). This helped a party gain power that openly supported breaking laws, violence, and racist ideas against others. Why did normal people – who were mostly not criminals, desperate people, or radicals – vote for a clearly authoritarian and anti-Jewish government? How could it be that people from all social classes and education levels saw the Nazis as the answer to their problems? And why did they at least passively, if not actively, support the horrible acts of the Nazi regime later?
To answer these questions, we must look at the main part of society at that time, not just the usual idea of Nazis. This is because “the Nazis” as a single group did not truly exist. It is a general term that creates distance and makes it harder to truly understand what happened.
Many Nazi voters were not radical. Instead, they looked for answers to the main problems of the time: social unfairness, economic troubles, and the feeling of no future in a stuck and struggling republic. The Nazi party knew how to use this mix of impatience and frustration – especially among young voters – for their political gain.
The generations born between 1900 and 1915 were among the largest in German history. Most of them avoided World War I. This also lowered the average age of society. In the 1930 parliamentary elections, a large part of Nazi voters came from this young generation. They were either voting for the first time or felt lost politically. In 1932, their situation was difficult: High school graduates with good grades could not find jobs in a crowded job market. Hundreds of thousands wanted to go to universities, offices, and companies. But they mostly found closed doors or rigid rules.
The Nazi party seemed to offer a future: It presented itself as young, active, and focused on progress – a party of new beginnings. 42 percent of its members were under thirty. Its parliamentary group was, on average, ten years younger than the rest of parliament. The party offered leadership roles that were not open anywhere else. It cared less about family background and more about energy. It promised to break down the social and cultural barriers that had become unbearable for many young people. These included old class differences, religious borders, and regional rivalries like between Bavaria and Prussia. Hitler used this to create the ideal image of a modern national community.
But besides social progress, there was another reason why the Nazi party grew. In a society where people competed for jobs and status, it was easy for the party to stir up envy against Jewish success in education and work. In 1901, 56 percent of Jewish students had a higher degree than elementary school. For Christian students, this was only 7 percent. The Nazis twisted this difference in achievement for their anti-Jewish propaganda. They presented it as proof of deep unfairness that supposedly existed: “The others” had gained advantages unfairly and were moving ahead faster.
In short: The Nazi party did not gain its support from extreme groups. It gained it from the middle of society: from young, ambitious, clear-thinking people who looked for job prospects, social progress, and recognition.
Blink 2 – In a Rush of Speed and Distraction
When the Nazi regime finally came to power, everything seemed to change quickly. Speed became a political goal – and a promise that excited people and made them numb at the same time.
Germany sounded different now: New engines roared. Large building sites rattled. Machines hummed. Hundreds of kilometers of highways were built across the country. Rivers were straightened. Train stations were made bigger. In 1935, the national railway put the fastest steam engine in the world on tracks, reaching 200 km/h. A year later, the Mercedes Silver Arrow reached an unthinkable speed of 398 km/h. The rush for modern things was real. The German public believed: They had finally arrived in the modern age!
But the power of these changes – in speed and effect – was not by chance. It was a tool used on purpose to control people. In the first weeks after taking power, Hitler and his ministers started popular immediate social actions. These included more protection for tenants, state help for farmers, and a law to stop property seizures to prevent people from losing everything. The clear message was: Here, actions are quick and firm! But behind these social policies was not care. It was a clever plan to buy loyalty. For example, soon after he was made Chancellor, Hitler declared as a symbol that he would not take his Chancellor’s salary. Instead, he would earn money as a writer from selling Mein Kampf.
At the same time, the organization Kraft durch Freude (Strength Through Joy) was created. It was a huge state-run leisure organization. It made holidays, theatre visits, and weekend trips affordable for workers. The number of paid holiday days was increased. Millions of people went to the sea or mountains for the first time in their lives. In 1936, work began on the Prora seaside resort. This became a symbol of this plan: Mass tourism as a state project. Rest and entertainment as political tools.
The entertainment industry was also very busy. Popular songs like Das kann doch einen Seemann nicht erschüttern (That Cannot Shake a Sailor) were played over and over from 1939. The chorus “keine Angst, keine Angst, Rosmarie” (no fear, no fear, Rosmarie) became a common saying. Movies like Die große Liebe (The Great Love) with Zarah Leander offered cheerful distraction to about 27 million viewers. The song from the movie, Ich weiß, es wird einmal ein Wunder gescheh’n (I Know a Miracle Will Happen One Day), was meant to give comfort on purpose. Many actors and artists, like Gustaf Gründgens or Heinz Rühmann, did not see themselves as political supporters. But because they were popular, they played a key role in the regime’s plan: Entertainment as glue to lift people’s spirits, while war and persecution got stronger.
New technologies, always new laws, threats in foreign policy, party meetings, drama, entertainment, shows – the speed was dizzying. A journalist from Cologne wrote in 1938: “It is as if you are married to a bold, young artist who works on the flying trapeze. It is never boring, but it is a disaster for the nerves.” This is how many people saw the years between 1933 and 1939: with a mix of admiration and feeling overwhelmed.
All of this had one purpose: to get people slowly used to a war that the Nazi leaders had long planned. The fast pace of daily life changed what seemed normal. It created a feeling of being part of a shared, active project. In this way, Germans were emotionally led to accept the idea of war. Their view was narrowed. Their loyalty became strong. Their doubts were quieted.
Blink 3 – Wealth on Credit
After taking power in 1933, the Nazis immediately focused on the world of work and trade unions. If you win over factories, businesses, and employees, you control the middle of society. These are the millions of people who support a government, either through open agreement or quiet silence.
Unlike what is often said, the takeover of trade unions was not a brutal attack. Instead, it was a slow move into a new system. This was made easier because the trade unions were very weak after the economic crisis. On May 2, 1933, SA troops took over the offices of the General German Trade Union Federation. But instead of arresting thousands of officials, the government offered them jobs in the newly created German Labor Front (DAF).
At the same time, Hitler presented himself as a supporter of hard-working Germans. He openly praised the strength of workers and farmers. This message was well received because after years of crisis, people were tired, unsure, and open to praise. When the government also declared May 1st “National Labor Day” and a paid holiday, many people saw the DAF not as a way to take away their power, but as a group that worked for their interests.
Families also liked the large tax breaks and the child benefit system started in 1935. Direct payments to families? This was new in German social policy. But the message was clear: If you work hard, have children, and fit into the national community, you will be rewarded. No one needed to know that this planned generosity cost huge amounts of money and brought the state’s finances close to collapse. From 1934, the national budget was kept secret. This was not only to hide the huge state debt, but also the quickly rising costs for weapons.
So, the often-talked-about “economic miracle” of the early Nazi years was not real economic growth. It was borrowed. It was wealth on credit. Between 1933 and 1938, the Reich’s new debt *quadrupled*. Company profits were moved into state-controlled funds. Private investments gave way to large state projects and a state-managed war economy. A free market economy no longer existed.
But people first felt things getting better. Unemployment dropped to almost full employment by 1936. A steady job, a stable income, chances for promotion – that was suddenly all possible. This created political loyalty.
However, the new wealth could not be kept without stealing. So, in 1938, all Jewish Germans had to register their wealth: about 7.4 billion Reichsmark. This money went into the state budget to pay for social benefits and weapons. The expansionist foreign policy had the same goal: Austria, Czechoslovakia, and later Poland were invaded not only for political reasons, but also for economic ones – to gain resources. These resources then helped to control their own people.
Social bribery and growing dependence tied millions of Germans to the Nazi regime. Those who gained from tax breaks, child benefits, loans, stable wages, or goods from occupied areas asked few questions. In this way, economic policy became the main support for silent complicity. Instead of ruling only through terror or propaganda, the Nazis created a wealth-based society paid for by credit. Its beneficiaries willingly stayed silent, looked away, or even took part.
Blink 4 – Getting Used to the Unthinkable
Long before trains went to the Auschwitz death camp, the regime began to systematically kill people with disabilities, mental illnesses, or learning difficulties. And the German people reacted with surprising calmness.
In 1934, the “Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring” started. Because of this law, 350,000 people were forced to be sterilized. From 1939, the regime went even further: Under the cruel name “mercy killing,” they began killing 70,000 Germans with disabilities. This was called “Action T4.” So, Germans thus committed the first large mass murder against other Germans. For the political leaders, it was an important test of public opinion: If these murders were accepted without much protest, how would people then react to the persecution of Jews, who had been called “enemies of the people” and pushed aside for years?
The sick idea behind this was: If someone accepted that their disabled son or schizophrenic aunt was moved and supposedly “freed” from suffering, they would not ask questions later when Jewish families had their property taken or were sent away. The moral line had already moved lower. People had accepted the idea that the state could kill people on purpose. So it was not a big step to take away the rights of other groups.
The plan worked: In September 1941, all Jews were forced to wear the yellow star. Many Germans first felt shame and mild discomfort. But they quickly got used to it. Also, when Jewish neighbors were taken away for supposed “work in the East,” this was hardly questioned. Not wanting to know became an easy way for many to avoid responsibility. Also, anti-Jewish feelings were nothing new: For generations, Jews had been called a “danger to the people and nation.” The Nazi party pushed these enemy images to an extreme and used them for its propaganda. If you feel like part of a threatened but superior majority, it’s easier to get you to act against a supposedly dangerous minority.
However, the systematic killing of Jews was not a plan made since 1933. It was a strong worsening of a longer process. Only with the Wannsee Conference in January 1942 was the coordinated decision made to build death camps across Europe and organize mass murder. By this time, hundreds of thousands of Jews had already been shot in the occupied areas. Now, this was to become a project coordinated across Europe.
The worsening situation followed deadly ideas, but also cold, practical thinking: The war had led Germany into a serious economic and supply crisis. From the Nazis’ point of view, killing European Jews meant millions fewer mouths to feed. It also meant access to their money, property, and labor. Over a million Soviet prisoners of war suffered the same fate because of this thinking. They starved to death in a few months because food from the conquered areas first had to feed the German army and people at home.
All of this shows: Nazi society did not fall into the Holocaust overnight. Instead, it went through a slow, but no less dangerous, lowering of moral values. Extreme ideas and cold planning, mixed with many small acts of looking away and staying silent, created a deadly mix where humanity was lost.
Blink 5 – Fighting to the Last Breath
As the war went on, Nazi rule changed. For a long time, it relied on public agreement. Now it was mostly driven by fear. The first motto “Strength Through Joy” gave way to “Strength Through Fear.” The Nazis deliberately spread the belief that the end of the war would mean the certain ruin of the German people. They said it would also bring about cruel, bloody “revenge from the Jews” and the world community.
The idea of collective guilt was a key reason. Hitler and especially Goebbels made people believe early on that they shared direct blame for the regime’s crimes. The November pogroms were shown as an outburst of public anger. The persecution of Jews was shown as a shared act. Goebbels’ famous Sportpalast speech about “Total War” in 1943 also created the image of a united public will, which never truly existed. The worse the situation at the front, the more extreme the propaganda became. The message acted like chains: Everyone was guilty. So there was no way back. That would be treason.
The war and the violent crimes committed during it made this feeling even stronger. Many soldiers at the Eastern Front experienced unimaginable things: mistreatment and shooting of prisoners, violence against civilians, burning villages. Their personal involvement – whether active or passive by looking away – made the end of the war seem like a threat. This fear of revenge and consequences was deliberately stoked to tie soldiers mentally to the regime. People said, “Joined in, caught in, hanged in.” This was a deadly agreement that made many obedient until the last days of the war.
A dictatorship based on agreement had become a dictatorship of no escape. It acted more and more harshly and did not shy away from terror against its own people. For example, the number of death sentences for political crimes rose quickly from 1942. By the end of the war, the Nazis had 35,000 people executed. The killings of supposed “underminers of military strength” and “joke-tellers” were meant to set an example: Public doubts about the war or the regime were not allowed and punished with death.
The change in mood was also seen in death notices: In 1940, 90 percent of death notices used the phrase “fallen for leader, people, and fatherland.” By August 1943, this was only 25 percent. The public emotion was gone. What remained was a tired, resigned, and scared population.
This mix of state terror, fear, and personal involvement perhaps explains why Germany fought to the very end. It also explains why it showed no real resistance after the unconditional surrender: Most Germans were not fanatical. They just believed for a long time that there was no way back.
The last months of the war show how deadly this attitude was: In just four months of 1945, about 1.5 million German soldiers died. This was about 30 percent of all German war dead in the whole of World War II. If the assassins of July 20, 1944, had succeeded, 2.3 million German soldiers would have lived who died between the attempt on Hitler’s life and the end of the war. Also, Germany would have been spared 72 percent of all bombs dropped.
Blink 6 – Small Steps to Disaster
The Nazi state did not work only through terror or extreme ideas. It worked through a mix of power tools. These tools, on their own, do not seem special and can also be found in democratic countries. They include: changing the media, limiting public discussions, state debt to pay for social benefits, purposefully making political talks emotional, and stirring up prejudice against minorities.
These power tools alone would not push a society into a war of extermination and mass murder. It was the mix, the length, and the great power of these actions that created a deadly force. This force slowly, then completely, broke down legal, moral, and religious rules. It was a huge loss of feeling: People got used to being watched, special rules, and a state of emergency. And finally, they got used to losing their rights and to violence.
When criticism is stopped, information is controlled, language is changed, and people are constantly taught only one view, their ability to see what is wrong gets smaller. Most people in 1939 were not eager for war. But the trauma of World War I and memories of hunger, chaos, and high prices were deep. Hitler knew how to turn these fears to his own use. He presented taking away Jewish property as a protective measure. He called the war of attack a rightful way to gain living space. And he described the killing of European Jews as a supposed act of freeing the European continent. Violence was re-explained until it seemed needed or unavoidable.
Nazism presented itself as a mass movement about identity. It promised an end to supposed shame. And it claimed that the future belonged to the supposedly “better people.” But even if certain stories, like anti-Jewish feelings, ran through the whole period of rule, it would be wrong to speak of one single Nazi ideology. In truth, these were programs changed to fit the situation. They mainly served one purpose: keeping power at any cost.
Conclusion
To the question “How could this happen?”, we can say this: The darkest time in German history was *not* just because of a few extreme criminals or a bad government. But it became possible because this government got support from the middle of society. Millions of people adapted, helped, or looked away. This was whether from trust, laziness, greed, envy, wanting to gain something, or the proud belief of belonging to a superior group.
On their own, such reasons are not nice, but usually harmless. It was the explosive mix of *all* these reasons, along with clever political use and a strong desire for power, that paved the way to disaster.
Nazism was unique in history. But the ways of power that made it possible are not. Modern societies are not automatically safe from making people less human or losing moral values. Systems that turn groups against each other and use fear as a political tool still exist today. That is why studying history remains so important. Not because it will happen again in the exact same way. But because it shows us how fragile even a democratic system can be.
Source: https://www.blinkist.com/https://www.blinkist.com/de/books/wie-konnte-das-geschehen-de