Re:Footage of life in Nazi Austria, thanks to a new video ar...
by coldtea on Wednesday November 11, 2015 @04:34PM
(#10549465)
>I can tell you from stories of my grandfather of how dire his childhood and the one of everybody in the area was. They were ready to rally behind anyone who would take them out of starvation and suffering.
Not sure how much this holds as a reason compared to "cultural affiliation" etc. As far as European countries go, Austria was one of the most affluent at the time -- and afterwards too. Vienna in particular was legendary. What to say about people in places such as Southern Spain and Italy, Greece, Eastern Europe, etc, that were several times as dire?
Re:Footage of life in Nazi Austria, thanks to a new video ar...
by the_mitsuhiko on Wednesday November 11, 2015 @04:58PM
(#10549635)
Austria after the first world war was left as a non functioning country. The industry was largely in parts of the country that were lost in the war, there were high reparations to pay and the government apparatus was largely broken. Things got so bad that Austro fascism started which was terrible in it's own right: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austrofascism
The vote was manipulated but it would not have mattered. I can tell you from stories of my grandfather of how dire his childhood and the one of everybody in the area was. They were ready to rally behind anyone who would take them out of starvation and suffering. Hitler came with popular support because he found an enemy who is to blame and he managed to unite people to be motivated to move themselves out of misery.
There is a fine line behind a populist approach that motivates people to do something and overstepping the line and doing a lot of damage in the process.