Tucked away in a corner of the Reichstag, the German parliament building in Berlin, there’s a quiet memorial to the tenuous history of German democracy. Referencing an old communication system, walls of a small dark space are covered in tiny mailboxes with the names of every single individual elected to parliament. In the middle one mailbox is labeled with an ominous name: Adolf Hitler.
An often-overlooked fact is Adolf Hitler’s reign was entirely legal. He was democratically elected to parliament, he was legally appointed Chancellor and he legally declared martial law as a means to usurp control of Germany in 1933. For 12 years the Nazi party controlled Germany and waged war and genocide based on a constitution from 1919. It’s dictatorship via democracy.
Contemporary Russia is officially a constitutional democracy. The government is elected, there’s an elected parliament and commissions and then there’s Vladimir Putin. Since 1999, he has held one of the two highest offices in the federation’s government, flip-flopping between President and Prime Minister. He’s following the rules of the constitution, but for all intents and purposes, he may as well be a dictator.
History, in all its wonderfully cyclical and frustrating ability to repeat itself, is at it again. The Russian government under Putin is mimicking the German government under the Nazi Party in the 1930s. Never has the mantra “we study history in order to never repeat it” been so true. As easy at it is for us to declare discriminatory laws in Kansas and Arizona as reflections of Nazi Germany, it is important that we abandon such superficial declarations in order to see when history is really repeating itself.
That brings me to the northern coast of the Black Sea and Crimea. The region has become a flash point of the Ukrainian conflict and the reason behind Russia’s intervention in the conflict. The argument from Moscow is that their intervention is a humanitarian move to protect ethnic Russians and Russian citizens. This seems to disregard the fact that the tumult in the Ukraine began because of attempts by Russia to extend economic and political influence over the country. Also it does not seem to acknowledge the politically and militarily strategic Crimean coast, the location of Russia’s Black Sea naval fleet.
Diplomatic negotiations are attempting to ease the pressure and navigate away from the possibility of all out war. Russia flexed its muscles and the international community scrambled. Putin has shown he’s potentially more irrational than anybody thought and commentators from the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung said, “rationality no longer dictates Putin’s decisions.” That’s not very comforting.
These actions are eerily similar to 1938. In March that year Hitler annexed Austria and later that year the Sudentenland, an ethnically German region along the German-Czech boarder. Western leaders later handed over control of the Sudentenland to Germany after the Munich Conference. It was an act intended to appease Hitler’s aggressiveness and prevent war. A year later Poland was invaded and the Second World War commenced.
In 1936, Berlin hosted the Olympics. Discriminatory signs and laws were removed or went unenforced during the games; even Berlin’s infamous gay bars were reopened for a number of weeks in the summer after being shuttered by the Nazi government three years earlier. The Games were intended to show off a wealthy, successful and above all “ideal” Germany. That reality was a facade and meant to depict a country that wasn’t indeed in the grips of a fascist dictatorship.
Russia’s first Winter Games in Sochi cost a record $51 billion and were obviously intended to show post-Soviet Russia’s modernity. The costs of the Games couldn’t cover up the controversy surrounding already increasing pressure on the Ukraine and the well-publicized anti-gay propaganda laws. Putin reassured foreigners about their fears for the safety of athletes, spectators and media personnel. Nonetheless, arrests of Russian citizens were made across the country, because they dared to protest the laws to an international audience. These moves are more than desperate but shallow efforts against the LGBTQ community, they’re sincere and direct attacks with real support.
It’s history on a platter to view in real time. The real question for us is how to approach these events. We know what happened almost eight decades ago. Negotiations can work to an extent, but they don’t mean any underlying force has been quelled. War is a possibility, but how much or how little do international forces take part in a violent conflict? This standoff opens many questions and is an anxiety raising moment.
The cyclical nature of history is frightening. It’s also comforting, because it provides us with the lessons to make wiser decisions now than we did in the past. An awareness of history is perhaps the greatest weapon we have. The pursuit of peaceful resolution has become a hallmark of modern international relations; let’s hope now we don’t forget history’s ghosts. It might just be what saves us from another war.
Do you agree with Michael in that we can prevent a large scale war with Russia? Is force the only viable option to stop the Russian invasion of Ukraine? Do you believe that the United States and Europe can put enough pressure on Putin economically to halt his aggression? Send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
