All these things are still apparent today. You Americans can see for yourselves how impossible it is to feed the German people from the German soil itself. From the viewpoint of a historian, one can say that Hitler never would have arisen if the Allies had not treated Germany so poorly. Justice Jackson said so himself. Today things are more impossible than ever. The East has been taken away from Germany - in other words, hunger created Hitler, and paradoxically, Hitler created still greater hunger.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Frank blames Allied treatment and hunger for the rise of Hitler, claiming hunger creates dictators and dictators create more hunger.
- In plain terms
- He argues poverty and Allied policy caused Hitler, who then made conditions worse.
- What can you take from it?
- Attribute political extremism to economic hardship and external pressure.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Does hunger justify authoritarianism?
- How do external sanctions impact regimes?
Another view
Blaming the Allies shifts responsibility from Nazi agency to external factors.
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