How did Hitler rise to power? - Alex Gendler and Anthony Hazard

翻译人员: Tingting Zhong 校对人员: 梦佳 庄

How did Adolf Hitler,

阿道夫希特勒，

a tyrant who orchestrated one of the largest genocides in human history,

一个策划了人类历史上-

最大规模种族屠杀的暴君，

rise to power in a democratic country?

是如何逐渐掌控 一个民主国家的呢？

The story begins at the end of World War I.

事情要从一战结束开始说起。

With the successful Allied advance in 1918,

1918年协约国的兴起，

Germany realized the war was unwinnable

使德国意识到无法赢得战争，

and signed an armistice ending the fighting.

便签署了停战协议。

As its imperial government collapsed,

随着帝国主义政府的垮台，

civil unrest and worker strikes spread across the nation.

全国各地开始内乱、以及罢工。

Fearing a Communist revolution,

因为害怕共产主义革命，

major parties joined to suppress the uprisings,

主要政党便联手打压这些暴动，

establishing the parliamentary Weimar Republic.

建立魏玛共和国。

One of the new government's first tasks

新政府的首要任务之一便是-

was implementing the peace treaty imposed by the Allies.

执行由协约国颁布的和平条款。

In addition to losing over a tenth of its territory and dismantling its army,

除了损失了十分之一的领土

并解散了军队以外，

Germany had to accept full responsibility for the war and pay reparations,

德国不得不 承认战争的全部责任，

并需支付赔款。

debilitating its already weakened economy.

这对德国本就孱弱的 经济来说更是雪上加霜。

All this was seen as a humiliation by many nationalists and veterans.

许多民族主义者和 老兵们更视其为耻辱。

They wrongly believed the war could have been won

他们错误地以为 如果军队没有被那些政客-

if the army hadn't been betrayed by politicians and protesters.

和抗议者背叛的话，战争会胜利。

For Hitler, these views became obsession,

希特勒无法摆脱这些思想，

and his bigotry and paranoid delusions led him to pin the blame on Jews.

他即偏执妄想又顽固，

于是把责任都怪罪到犹太人身上。

His words found resonance in a society with many anti-Semitic people.

而那些反犹主义的人也同意他的看法。

By this time, hundreds of thousands of Jews

那个时候，成百上千的犹太人-

had integrated into German society,

虽然已经融入到德国社会，

but many Germans continued to perceive them as outsiders.

许多德国人还一直将他们视为“外来者”。

After World War I, Jewish success led to ungrounded accusations

一战后， 犹太人果然背上了推翻政府

of subversion and war profiteering.

和在战争中 投机倒把的无端罪名。

It can not be stressed enough that these conspiracy theories

必须着重强调的是，

这些阴谋论都是出于恐惧，

were born out of fear,

anger,

愤怒，

and bigotry,

和顽固不化，

not fact.

而不是事实。

Nonetheless, Hitler found success with them.

尽管如此，希特勒还是逮住了机会。

When he joined a small nationalist political party,

在他加入一个小民族主义政党后，

his manipulative public speaking launched him into its leadership

他带有操控性的公开演讲

让他走上领导位置，

and drew increasingly larger crowds.

并惹人注目。

Combining anti-Semitism with populist resentment,

利用反犹主义 和民粹主义者的不满，

the Nazis denounced both Communism and Capitalism

纳粹党公然抨击 共产主义和资本主义，

as international Jewish conspiracies to destroy Germany.

都是全球犹太人 企图消灭德国的阴谋。

The Nazi party was not initially popular.

纳粹党起初是不受欢迎的。

After they made an unsuccessful attempt at overthrowing the government,

他们企图推翻政府，但是失败了。

the party was banned,

因此被禁止。

and Hitler jailed for treason.

希特勒也因叛国罪而坐牢。

But upon his release about a year later,

但一年后，希特勒被释放了，

he immediately began to rebuild the movement.

他立即重新发起反犹运动。

And then, in 1929, the Great Depression happened.

而那时正值1929年， 经济大萧条发生了。

It led to American banks withdrawing their loans from Germany,

美国银行选择 赎回借给德国的贷款，

and the already struggling German economy collapsed overnight.

这使得颓废的 德国经济瞬间崩塌。

Hitler took advantage of the people's anger,

利用人们的愤怒，希特勒-

offering them convenient scapegoats

为他们找替罪羊，

and a promise to restore Germany's former greatness.

并许诺重振德国辉煌。

Mainstream parties proved unable to handle the crisis

主流政党无法处理这个危机，

while left-wing opposition was too fragmented by internal squabbles.

与此同时，

左翼反对派 也因内部矛盾而分崩离析，

And so some of the frustrated public flocked to the Nazis,

再加上绝望的人民纷纷加入纳粹，

increasing their parliamentary votes from under 3% to over 18% in just two years.

仅两年，纳粹党的国会投票

便从不到3%上升至18%。

In 1932, Hitler ran for president,

1932年，希特勒竞选总统，

losing the election to decorated war hero General von Hindenburg.

败给了授勋的战争英雄----兴登堡将军。

But with 36% of the vote, Hitler had demonstrated the extent of his support.

但36%的票数也说明 希特勒有广大的支持者。

The following year, advisors and business leaders

第二年，商业领袖和顾问们-

convinced Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as Chancellor,

说服兴登堡任命希特勒为总理，

hoping to channel his popularity for their own goals.

希望将希特勒的人气为己所用。

Though the Chancellor was only the administrative head of parliament,

尽管总理只是议会行政元首，

Hitler steadily expanded the power of his position.

希特勒仍然稳定的扩张自己的权力。

While his supporters formed paramilitary groups

正当他的支持者组建议会团体，

and fought protestors in streets.

打击街头游行的抗议者时，

Hitler raised fears of a Communist uprising

希特勒 对共产主义者的兴起感到担忧，

and argued that only he could restore law and order.

并声称只有他能恢复法律和秩序。

Then in 1933,

于是1933年，

a young worker was convicted of setting fire to the parliament building.

国会大厦被纵火， 一名年轻人被定罪。

Hitler used the event to convince the government

希特勒便利用这次契机说服政府-

to grant him emergency powers.

给他紧急权利。

Within a matter of months, freedom of the press was abolished,

仅几个月的时间，

希特勒便禁止了媒体自由，

other parties were disbanded,

废除了其他党派，

and anti-Jewish laws were passed.

并通过了反犹太人法案。

Many of Hitler's early radical supporters were arrested and executed,

许多早期支持希特勒的激进人士 和潜在的对手，

along with potential rivals,

都遭到了逮捕，并被处决。

and when President Hindenburg died in August 1934,

1934年，辛登堡总统死后，

it was clear there would be no new election.

不再会有新一轮的总统竞选， 这一点已非常明确。

Disturbingly, many of Hitler's early measures didn't require mass repression.

令人不安的是 很多希特勒早期的举措-

His speeches exploited people's fear and ire

他的演讲利用人们的恐惧和愤怒，

to drive their support behind him and the Nazi party.

促使他们支持自己和纳粹党。

Meanwhile, businessmen and intellectuals,

同时，商人和知识分子，

wanting to be on the right side of public opinion,

因为想要站在舆论的一边，

endorsed Hitler.

也支持希特勒。

They assured themselves and each other

他们非常肯定的 告诉自己和其他人，

that his more extreme rhetoric was only for show.

希特勒的极端演讲 只是在表演而已。

Decades later, Hitler's rise remains a warning

几十年后，

希特勒的崛起 仍然起到警钟的作用。

of how fragile democratic institutions can be in the face of angry crowds

提醒人们面对愤怒的群众，

和一个播散并利用人民恐惧的领袖，

and a leader willing to feed their anger and exploit their fears.

民主制度是多么的不堪一击。