The ‘Stab in the Back’ Myth That Ushered Nazism to Germany
And why the #BigLie that the presidential election was stolen must be debunked to preserve democracy in the U.S.
All German schoolchildren learn about the “Stab in the Back” myth that spread throughout the country after World War I. Much like the #BigLie that Donald Trump has been telling that he won the presidential election “in a landslide,” the “Stab in the Back” myth was made popular by the right wing and claimed that Germany hadn’t really lost World War I on the battlefield, but had been forced to capitulate by Jews, Communists, and Social Democrats.
The fact that the myth was obviously untrue didn’t diminish its popularity. It was seized on by people humiliated by the the loss of the war, and used by Adolf Hitler to energize his rise to power.
I’m not really a history buff. I first heard about the myth from Jochen Bittner on public radio. Then I searched out the column he wrote about it in the New York Times in which he’s careful to say that the point is not to compare Trump to Hitler. (Although the comparison isn’t outrageous. Trump’s first wife Ivana said he kept a copy of Adolf’s speeches by his bed.)
Yet at the same time, Bittner warns against dismissing the “Stop the Steal” #BigLie as…
