Are we repeating history?
On this 80th anniversary of the Holocaust, it may be wise to review some of Adolf Hitler’s strategies on how he accomplished the brutal elimination of 6 million Jews during his time as Germany’s ruler.
He began by purging everyone from his government who did not agree with him or profess absolute loyalty to him.
He then began adding hate-filled disinformation and outright lies about the Jewish people during his popular public rallies. He called them evil criminals, parasites, vermin and other dehumanizing insults. Hitler repeated these lies thousands of times at every opportunity, until they were eventually believed by the German people.
He then proceeded to conduct massive arrests and deportations of Jews to concentration camps or heavily guarded ghettos, with minimal pushback from non-Jewish Germans, mostly due to fear.
In light of our current political situation in the United States, I would encourage everyone to reflect on these historical strategies and how they are being used by our current leaders. We must remain vigilant so that we don’t repeat history’s darkest past.
Tina Phillips,
Brunswick
Consequences of election affect us all
Whether you voted for Harris or Trump, or you did not vote, we all will live with the short- and long-term effects of the election.
Countless programs in every state, city and town depend upon federal dollars. Every life is affected by at least a few of these programs.
No state or municipality has the resources to sustain important programs without financial input from our national government. The arbitrary reduction or cutoff of these dollars will cause lasting harm to our health, education and safety.
Each of us can do something to curb the excesses of the Trump/Musk administration. Act to save democracy! Call and/or write your members of Congress. And take good care of yourselves; we are in this for the long haul.
Adair DeLamater,
Bath
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Join the Conversation
We believe it’s important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It’s a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others. Read more...
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
For those stories that we do enable discussion, our system may hold up comments pending the approval of a moderator for several reasons, including possible violation of our guidelines. As the Maine Trust’s digital team reviews these comments, we ask for patience.
Comments are managed by our staff during regular business hours Monday through Friday and limited hours on Saturday and Sunday. Comments held for moderation outside of those hours may take longer to approve.
By joining the conversation, you are agreeing to our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is found on our FAQs.
You can modify your screen name here.
Show less
Join the Conversation
Please sign into your Press Herald account to participate in conversations below. If you do not have an account, you can register or subscribe. Questions? Please see our FAQs.