Thread by @TanjaBueltmann

Hi @BBC,
As a German I can tell you this: when politicians speak in a language not dissimilar to that used in 1930s Germany, I recognise it. Why? Because I have been taught about it all my life—and that it needs to be called out and rejected. It’s a duty to do so, in fact. 🧵

The language we have heard from this Govt, no matter how many times they claim otherwise, is not dissimilar in some ways to that used in 1930s Germany. So while we need to be mindful of the specific contexts of 1930s Germany and should not draw direct parallels with today, …

… when common characteristics, eg in the use of a not dissimilar language, are there, we can—and should—say so. If some don’t like that, the answer is that those who push such rhetoric need to stop, not to threaten those who call out the vile dehumanisation of vulnerable people.

The crimes my country of birth committed in the past were attrocious crimes against humanity. But let me also remind everyone of this: those crimes did not start with concentration camps—that is where they ended. So if we want ‘never again’ to have actual meaning …

… we cannot start at that horrific end point. The roots of what happened lay earlier and they included the othering and dehumanisation of vulnerable and minority groups, using a language we sometimes hear again today. This does *not* mean the same wider goals are also there.

I am not saying that they are. But what it does mean is that we are seeing similar mechanisms of the populist playbook being employed. The politicians who do so already do not control this anymore. The recent far right riots have shown that without doubt.

Yet those same politicians continue with ever more extreme versions of this familiar populism. That is why it is right to call this out and why it is appropriate to make reference to historical developments where not dissimilar techniques eventually fuelled a horrific ideology …

… that led to mass murder. What is history for if not to look back and use the knowledge we have to comment on current events. Doing that does not equal saying the UK is Nazi Germany. @GaryLineker didn’t say that and I didn’t say it here either. It is about similarities in …

… the populism that fuels hate. The problem here is not pointing that out: the problem lies with those who keep drawing on that populism to dehumanise others just so they can distract from their policy failures and pander to a fringe of xenophobes. /end

PS: I’m muting this now because some of the usuals have seen the thread. For me the bottom line will always be this: as a German I cannot just say something once things have escalated to even more extreme forms of hate etc. We cannot treat fellow human beings in these ways.

This is something that does not just apply to refugees and immigrants. Denying some of our communities their very existence based on who they are, for instance, is another example where populism is escalating hate in ways that are entirely unacceptable.

Plus, as a migration historian I also know that all forms of movement are the foundation of our very human existence. Moreover, the climate emergency will make sure numbers of displaced people will increase. For that reason too, populism is never the right solution.

So anyway: thanks for reading and sharing this. Germans are regularly (and rightly) reminded of our horrific history. That history cannot repeat itself, but people can choose to employ the playbook that delivered it. Even very small parts of that would be unacceptable. /endPS