I taught European history at the secondary level for 40 years before retiring in 2018. Hannah Arendt, a German scholar and activist who fled the Nazi regime in the 1930s and went on to become one of the greatest philosophers of the 20th century, was and will always be one of my greatest inspirations. She understood all too well the powerful lessons that history can teach us, something I tried to pass on to my own students throughout my career.

Arendt is famous for many statements that illuminate the dangers of authoritarianism, but this one, gleaned from Hitler’s Germany, seems especially relevant in these turbulent times: “Mass propaganda discovered that its audience was ready at all times to believe the worst, no matter how absurd, and did not particularly object to being deceived because it held every statement to be a lie anyhow.”

Would-be dictators like Donald Trump understand this dark truth and exploit the weakest part of our collective human nature. That is why teachers, parents and all of us who care about young people and our nation must continue to pass on the lessons of history. As another great thinker, George Santayana, once said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” With awareness and vigilance, we can help the best, most compassionate part of our nature to carry the day, and we can truly have hope for the future.

Alice Brock
Cumberland Foreside

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