August 10, 2009

I finished book 10 of The Wheel of Time last night. It was a lot slower than others in the series. There were times when I really wanted it to speed up and quit talking about the scenery or how they were dressed and just dialogue. I enjoyed it but it was taxing on my patience at times.



I'm nearly finished with The Hitler of History by John Lukacs. It is an absorbing read, probably because it illuminates so much about Hitler I'd never known. Its only 270 pages long but sometimes more than half the page is filled with notes at the bottom elaborating a subject Lukacs passes over. Some of the notes only point you to the origin of quotes, others take up whole paragraphs with information Lukacs didn't include in the actual text of the book. Most of the notes are as interesting as the text itself.

Hitler is as interesting as other, similar, leaders in history: Pol Pot, Mao, Stalin and Attila. I consider them similar not because of their ideology but because they killed millions each. In my mind, it seems hard to understand such violence against humanity. What kind of man would you have to become to murder so heartlessly? What kind of people follow such a man? What sort of ideology drives men to such evil?

An interesting subject Lukacs brings up throughout the book is how Hitler unified Germany. He mentions the rise of his popularity under nationalist ideals. Politicians and leaders from the Right and Left came to support him. Catholic bishops and other Christian leaders included.

There were people who opposed him. Bonhoeffer and Stauffenberg (Valkyrie) are memorable to me. But they were ineffective, representing a minority.

What I would have done? Followed or opposed?

Hitler had a charismatic appeal. He was a revolutionary, even if he was taking advantage of the political currents at the time. In this way, he reminds me of Obama. Not in a negative way, but in his ability to speak directly to the people. In Obama and McCain's debates, it was easy to see who held the stage. Obama has a magnetic appeal that initially drew me to him before he ever got popular. I admit I am more passionate about Obama's ability to connect with the American people than I am about his policies. Don't get me wrong, that wasn't my primary reason for voting for him. I love and believe in him. But it was a close second or third.

Germany also loved and believed in Hitler. Would I have been swayed as they were?

It might seem like a silly question to ask. Who cares about that, right? You weren't there so it doesn't matter. But history can give us a sharper lens for the present. More paint for the portrait.

I think it is important to study evil and its affects. But also, it is important to know the evil in us, the flesh we have to fight, the Enemy to defeat. I can't look at Hitler and say I'm nothing like him. We both have (or had) a corrupt nature inside our souls. What is different is the progression of evil and the corruption that Hitler allowed to consume himself and Germany. Understanding how Hitler, and others like him, thought might help me to understand how better to follow God and avoid the corruption that can so easily consume the soul.