I had the pleasure when I first came to Hollywood of knowing Billy Wilder. He once told me how an incident he saw on a street in Berlin in 1928 - how people didn't react to storm troopers beating and old Jew - led him to see the nazis were the threat they were. He tried to convince his friends of this, but they all told him the Nazis were clowns. "By 1932, I was considered a crank on the subject of the Nazis." The night Hitler was called to meet Hindenburg on January 31, 1933, he packed everything he owned in a steamer trunk, went to the Berlin railroad station and bought a one-way ticket on The Paris Express. "I returned 12 years later to find all my friends were dead. Killed by the clowns."
I keep coming back to that image of Billy Wilder at the Berlin train station, clutching his steamer trunk, buying that one-way ticket to Paris. Because here's the thing about seeing what others refuse to see - it's the loneliest kind of clarity. You're sharing this story of a man I deeply admire, whose genius for storytelling began with this brutal education in human nature: watching people avert their eyes from storm troopers beating an old Jewish man.
"Killed by the clowns." God, what a line. It's the kind of thing that makes you want to scream across time to those friends who laughed off his warnings. Who branded him a "crank" for having the audacity to believe his own eyes.
There's an excruciating truth here about how we process imminent catastrophe - how easy it is to dismiss the monstrous as merely ridiculous. I think about Wilder, sitting on that Paris Express as it pulled away from Berlin, probably hoping like hell he was overreacting. Imagine carrying the weight of being right about something so terrible.
Tom, thank you for sharing this. It's exactly the kind of story we need to keep telling, even when - especially when - it makes people uncomfortable. History has this way of trying to reshape itself into something more palatable, doesn't it? But sometimes we need the unpalatable truth, served straight up, no chaser.
And I just hit the "like" button, but that feels absurdly inadequate for a story like this. Maybe we need a "this haunts me and I'll carry it forward" button instead.
This article articulated exactly what I have been thinking - from my position as a Canadian, your northern neighbour. Interestingly, not too many of my friends think it can get that bad but I am very very worried that it can and will. I may not skew well for the next while either but thank you for giving me so much to think about nonetheless.
We would be more than happy to welcome you. Please keep in touch and if you have any questions whatsoever, feel free to reach out to me. Take care in these troubled times 💕
Great piece on the fall of Germany’s democracy. I am sharing it with others. With respect, I think you missed the point of Billy’s train depot story; Hitler packed his trunk and bought the one way ticket to Belin, not Billy. Hitler knew he was winning the effort to dismantle Germany’s democracy and culture and there would be no return for him or the country.
What a haunting story, TCinLA. Thank you for sharing Billy Wilder’s memory—it’s such a chilling reminder of how complacency and denial can lead to unimaginable tragedy. His foresight and the action he took to save himself stand in stark contrast to the inaction of so many who dismissed the Nazis as “clowns.”
I loved Wilder’s movies as a kid. I deeply admired his comical yet earnest way of addressing serious topics. He never stooped to being clamorous or ridiculous—his humor always carried a sharp truth, a reflection of his wisdom and experiences.
Living in Germany, I feel the weight of history every day.
Democracy didn’t die here because of one event—it crumbled because of indifference.
People told themselves, “That will never concern me,” until their friends suddenly vanished, their colleagues never came back to work, or even their relatives were taken away under hypocritical pretexts, never to return.
Gather people around you. Start the civil discourse. Don’t wait until it’s too late to take action. Don’t be one of those who stood by, indifferent, as history’s darkest moments unfolded. Let Billy Wilder’s story remind us all of the cost of complacency—and the power of vigilance.
Rayna, yes, exactly. That quote is such a stark and enduring reminder of the dangers of staying silent in the face of injustice. Each step of inaction chips away at our collective humanity until it’s too late to reclaim it. It’s a call to speak, to act, and to stand together—no matter how small the first step might feel. Thank you for drawing that powerful connection.. If you want to know what you really can do maybe you'll find some answers in my lastest essay: https://wildlionessespride.substack.com/p/what-you-still-can-do-when-they-take?r=1sss7q
I just learned this word and think it applies: uhtceare. From the BBC: An Old English word meaning to lie awake anxiously before dawn. Literally translated from the Old English it means the 'dawn-care'. It's similar to insomnia'(though more time-specific) in that it is a name (or noun) given to the state of being sleepless.
Currently, my name should be in the dictionary as an example of uhtceare. I do not care for the hours before dawn nor do I like to watch the sun rise when it isn't my choice. I do, however, adore learning new words...thank you!
You could be referring to Hitler or Trump or both. I see no difference. People then and people now have chosen a dictator. The only difference is there is no savior to swoop in to save us.
I am with every word, every line Gloria wrote. Her account isn’t just history to me; it’s personal. Northeim, the place she quoted from “The Nazi Seizure of Power,” is my district capital, just 15 kilometers from where I live today. What happened there didn’t just happen in a far-off past—it echoes in me, in my family, and in countless others who carry the weight of transgenerational trauma.
Both my parents were born during the war. My grandmothers and aunts endured its horrors; one lost her husband to it. This trauma wasn’t left behind when the war ended—it was carried forward, embedded in my family, my community, and my generation. The words Gloria recounted, “It was like being a bird in a magic circle drawn by a snake,” feel like they are part of my own inherited memory. The snake’s methods may have evolved—swapping the swastika for smartphones and social media—but the spell it casts remains chillingly similar.
I know from my own torturous, traumatic experiences that Emanuel Ringelblum’s words are devastatingly true: “They adjust. That’s the terrible thing – the human capacity to adjust to anything.” This capacity to normalize oppression and adapt to humiliation is a survival mechanism, but it also allows darkness to spread unchecked.
Gloria shed light on one side of Germany’s history, but there’s another part that also shaped us—the oppression from the left under Planwirtschaft and Communism. The German Democratic Republic, with its command economy and totalitarian control, suffocated its population just as thoroughly. People were brainwashed into believing in a system that starved them and robbed them of freedom, all while living under the ever-present surveillance of the Stasi. Conversations with loved ones on the other side of the wall were monitored, controlled, and drained of authenticity. The GDR made a mockery of democracy by including it in its name, yet its citizens lived as prisoners within their own state.
And yet, from this oppression, a different form of resistance emerged. The grassroots movements of the late 1980s showed the world another path. Against the backdrop of a world teetering closer to a third world war than today, ordinary people in East Germany overturned the GDR regime in just a few months. It was a regime built on lies, control, and fear, but they dismantled it with courage, persistence, and a collective refusal to stay silent. This is exactly the kind of engagement Gloria described—resistance that begins with visibility and grows through unwavering commitment.
You have more power than they want you to believe you have. At its core, your power lies in your choices—especially how you use your money. The truth is, you’re the ones who sustain 80% of their profits, not the traditionalists who repair what they have and resist consumerism. Every dollar, euro, or pound spent is a declaration of what you stand for. If you choose to fund those who destroy democracy and human dignity, you strengthen them. But if you choose to support those who fight for justice, equality, and freedom, you shift the balance of power.
The grassroots movements in East Germany proved that change is possible, even against a system designed to suppress it. Now, as Gloria reminded us, it’s time for that same energy, engagement, and visibility to light the path forward.
Gloria, thank you for reading and for your kind words. Sharing these reflections is my way of connecting the dots between history, personal experience, and the challenges we face today. It’s a heavy legacy, but it’s also a call to action. Stories like this remind us that resilience is not just about enduring but about choosing to resist in ways big and small. Thank you for shining your light, too—it makes all the difference. 🌟
"Mit einer Kranzniederlegung am Gedenkstein für die jüdischen Bürgerinnen und Bürger Northeims wird die Stadt Northeim am Jahrestag der Befreiung des Konzentrationslagers Auschwitz der Opfer des Nationalsozialismus gedenken."
You point out that left-wing totalitarianism can be horrific.
It seems the AfD holds sway in the Länder of the former DDR due to the fact that the DDR and SED did not work out the Nazi history in the way that the Bundesrepublik Deutschland and the mainstream newspapers did.
"Die Zeit" and "die Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" (FAZ) each would weekly have features highlighting sorrow and horror over genocide of the Third Reich.
There was the author Johanna Moosdorf. I would highly recommend her beautiful love novels "die Freundinnen" and "Jahrhundertsträume" (S. Fischer Verlag), which process the author's experience, married as she had been to Paul Bernstein and with him having two "Mischlinge" kids. Johanna Moosdorf bravely fought against the Nazis, at one point saving Mr. Bernstein from deportation to a death camp. But that rescue only postponed the murder one year. September 1944, Paul Bernstein was murdered at Auschwitz. Johanna Moosdorf in her novels takes down the hyper-macho Third Reich and advocates a society, sometimes utopic, with Feminine values, and even a Mother Goddess. In Freundinnen, love between women and love with a feminine young man are the ideal. Self-sacrificing, all-giving love. A long parable in Freundinnen depicts in a lively way the summary trials of witches in the 17th c. and the decimation of women on the pyre, in one village, three generations of the women in a family murdered by judicial authority on the pyre. The images from the 17th century in the novel are quite obviously symbolic of the horrors of the Third Reich, and the horrors are mitigated only by the love of two women, each of whom would give her life for the other.
Art Spiegelman's "Maus" is banned in Tennessee libraries, but luckily the right-wing herd cannot read German to censor the beautiful work I love and study.
Wild Lion*esses Pride from Joy: What is particularly distressing is the Trump/Musk endorsement of the AfD. My God.
And what frosts me is the turning of the Blood Libel against the innocent Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio.
As you know, the Blood-Libel was the obscene lie that "Jews steal Christian children and eat the little girls and boys in blood-rituals."
JD Vance doubled down on the adaptation of the Blood-Libel to Haitian immigrants: "They steal pets and eat the little kitties and puppies in blood Voodoo rituals."
Vance doubled down on this blood libel even after being begged to stop by the Republican Governor of Ohio and Mayor of Springfield.
Now, with California aflame, the Neo-Fascists enflame passions with triggering blame on the Left for the prairie fire conditions in Southern California.
I think we feed our minds and our love for people around us and pick out tasks we, as individuals, or in company with like-minded persons, can accomplish.
One person, or a small group, can do only so much.
But we can and must resist; we will be seen; we will be heard; we will persevere.
My most intense experience as a HS student was reading Anne Frank, And then we staged the play. I was the costumer. The idea we're traipsing down this merry road to hell again just gives me the crawlies.
I will be 74 in July. I’m going to add those two numbers together and stick with 11. So, you are actually older than me. LOL :/ :/ Just two broads living the life…right?
I am 68 and have over-enthusiastically praised many writers that have overwhelmed me with their talent and insight, but THIS PIECE “Democracy Dies in Real Time” hit me hard and had me dreaming of reading it to my grandsons and shouting passages from it on street corners!
There have been many warnings and comparisons about repeating history of course, but the way you brought 1933, the fire, and the people to life was poetically so powerful while brilliantly tying in your Holocaust reading list and ending with the best challenge: “The question isn't "How did they let this happen in 1933?" The question is "What are you going to do about it in 2025?"
Dear Ms. Horton-Young, Thank You for creating this perfect piece which now has its recorded place in history. I will continually reread it and answer your challenge in the days ahead:
“When future generations read about this time in history books, what role will you have played?”
Your enthusiasm is palpable, and it’s heartening to see how deeply this piece resonated with you. It’s a powerful call to action, and I admire your intention to share it with your grandsons—passing on awareness and a sense of responsibility to the next generation is so vital.
Reading your comment, I’m struck by how necessary it is to not only reflect but act. Living in Germany, where the echoes of history are impossible to ignore, I’ve often asked myself what more I can do. My visits to Buchenwald, the Anne Frank House, and Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial have shown me that remembrance alone isn’t enough. The real challenge is translating memory into vigilance and action, especially as we see the same mechanisms creeping back into daily life.
You’re absolutely right: it’s not just about understanding how 1933 happened but deciding what role we play now. Let’s carry that urgency forward, together, and ensure the answer to that question is one we can be proud of.
Please read it to anyone you know. Gather people around you, start the civil discourse. Germany democracy died because people became indifferent and said, that is never going to concern me, until it did and their friends suddenly vanish, their colleagues never came back to work, even Even the relatives who were taken away under hypocritical pretexts and never came back. Don't be such a person. Please Jay from Germany
My most intense experiences have been visiting places like the Buchenwald Concentration Camp near Weimar, which I’ve visited four times, the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, and the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin. Living in Germany, this kind of history isn’t just a lesson—it’s something we carry in our bodies and our daily awareness.
I appreciate that you’re engaging with this topic at all—there’s a deep need for these discussions, even if they sometimes lack the depth that feels essential. But I’ve also felt firsthand how these mechanisms of history continue to resurface, affecting us here and now. It’s not just about looking back; it’s about recognizing these patterns before they spiral again.
I'm probably going to spread this around, because I think there's a good chance you may be right. Too much about the way our country is supposed to work is broken. But it's well done enough that I think it could have the necessary impact. In fact, I think you should try to publish it somewhere where millions will see it.
It’s encouraging to see your willingness to spread this around—it’s exactly the kind of engagement that can start to shift perspectives.
I agree that much of how things are “supposed to work” is probably broken, and that’s why pieces like this, which strike at both the heart and the mind, are so vital.
From my perspective in Germany, where the mechanisms of a failing democracy once played out in devastating ways, I can’t emphasize enough how important it is for messages like this to reach as many people as possible. Your idea of publishing it for millions to see is spot on. History reminds us that awareness and action are the only antidotes to indifference.
Thank you for recognizing the potential impact this piece could have. If we all take a step, however small, toward spreading the message, we can amplify the call for vigilance and accountability that’s so desperately needed.
your message resonates on so many levels. Awareness and action are indeed the lifelines of change, and your voice brings light to that truth.
This whole situation isn’t so different from grappling with our own deep shame. Shame buries us under its weight, leaving us feeling utterly uncomfortable and exposed. Facing it is excruciating, and breaking free can feel nearly impossible. Yet here’s the truth: shame cannot survive in the presence of light and, ultimately, compassion.
Look at South Africa’s journey through apartheid. While they face their own struggles today, the process of reconciliation and the spirit of Ubuntu—the profound interconnectedness of humanity—were pivotal in moving forward. Without that commitment to shared humanity, the resolution we saw might never have unfolded the way it did.
Your work is a testament to what happens when we face the uncomfortable truths head-on, shedding light on what’s buried. Thank you for leading with courage and compassion.
I sadly concur as well. The mechanisms that allowed history’s darkest chapters to unfold are not so distant—they thrive on indifference and the belief that “it can’t happen here.” Yet here we are, facing eerily familiar patterns.
Gloria’s words cut to the core: “Because whatever happens, we’re going to need our strength.” Strength to see clearly, speak openly, and act boldly. Start conversations, ask questions, and bring others into the fold. Silence and apathy are fertile ground for destruction, and we cannot afford them now.
Let’s hold each other accountable and ensure we’re part of the resistance to this tide. It’s not too late—if people act with purpose, die Wende 1989 showed us all how.
Agreed. Of course, the Germany of that era was also suffering from a great depression themselves and so the population was easy pickings for someone like Hitler or Trump. Good work!
Gloria! I read this instead of breakfast. You have covered all the bases with astute analysis and clear suggestions about how to resist. The book suggestions are appreciated. Thank you!🇺🇸💙🇺🇸💙🇺🇸💙🇺🇸
Thank you for your pains-takingly detailed account of where we are heading today. I am an avid student of history and a teacher and I have connected many of these same dots over the past few years.
The problem comes when you try to connect America 2025 to Germany 1933, Trump to Hitler, many people immediately object because they know Hitler's results, and can't comprehend supporting anything like that (much like the Germans of 1933). So we call Trump a "fascist" -- which he overtly is -- but we don't clearly define what fascism is or how it relates to Trump. Since fascism has been in remission for the better part of 80 years, most people alive today, especially younger generations, have no idea how it actually works, they just know Hitler is the posterchild of fascism. This leads them to make the following equation:
Fascism = Hitler = Holocaust
That means that anything less than genocide isn't really fascism, or all that bad.
Our media and our schools, from secondary level on up, have done a poor job of teaching and defining governing models such as fascism, socialism and communism, world religions, and economic models such as capitalism, socialism, communism, oligarchy and monopoly, which most people think is just a funny game about houses you play with family and friends.
The way to combat this is through community, but I fear we are so silo-ed and isolated from our neighbors that such community right now is hard to find or manufacture.
I live in one of those gated neighborhoods where everyone pretends to have read the HOA bylaws, though clearly no one has – except my wife, because she's the type who actually reads instruction manuals and the ingredients in face cream. These days, Trump flags flutter everywhere, like angry bedsheets making their last stand against property codes. The HOA, which once sent me three notices about my unauthorized wild bird parties in the my backyard, has suddenly developed selective blindness.
My neighbors and I have perfected the art of not seeing each other. We're like characters in a Henry James novel, except instead of repressing our feelings about forbidden love, we're repressing our feelings about forbidden flags. I take longer routes on my morning walks now, which my Oura ring appreciates but my sanity doesn't.
The thing about watching history repeat itself from your own driveway is that it's not like reading about it in a book, where you can just skip to the end to see how it turns out. Instead, you're standing there with your Christmas mug, pretending not to notice that Mrs. Johnson across the street – who once reported me for having my garbage cans out twelve minutes too long – has turned her front yard into a shrine to a man who thinks the Constitution is more of a suggestion than a law.
You know what keeps me up at night? Not the usual things – not my neck (which, let's face it, is becoming a serious issue), not the fact that I still haven't mastered my mother's meatloaf recipe – but the eerily familiar way history is unfolding between the cul-de-sacs and community mailboxes. And somewhere out there, Trump is probably already designing his uniform, no doubt with more gold braiding than a Christmas nutcracker, while my neighbors practice their salutes in their living rooms for the inevitable Pennsylvania Avenue military parade he has so desperately coveted.
Thank you. This is both an important wake up call and call to action.
Here is my mantra: I will try to stay grounded during the coming onslaught against everything I believe in. I will resist being swept away by lies and propaganda by seeking information from sources I trust. I will support those who stand tall in the coming struggle. I will boycott the companies that form the pillars of fascism.
Orange traitor’s voter base consists of less educated and low income sheeples. Three brain cells and two teeth. Sorry for the last part. So unlike me but so disgusted and discouraged.
Excellent. My father was a member of the Danish Resistance during German Nazi occupation of Denmark 1940-45. I grew up with constant reminders of “the 5 dark years” and our history teachers were adamant about us learning everything to the very last and horrific detail. We watched films from the camps at age 9-10! I began hating Germans, my dad kept trying to tell me and explain “it could happen anywhere” — and here I am in the very eye of the storm. I’m 78 so getting on the barricades is probably not possible but your advice of face to face is fundamental if we want to find democracy as a tool in our future. Dropping pamphlets was an ongoing effective tool by the Danish resistance.
Oh Ingrid, my heart catches in my throat reading this. Your father knew - he knew with the bone-deep certainty that only comes from living through horror - that the monster of authoritarianism isn't picky about its feeding grounds. It doesn't care if it's wearing a swastika or a red hat or carrying tiki torches through the streets of Charlottesville.
Isn't it just perfect (and by perfect I mean terrible) that you're here now, watching history do that thing it does when we don't pay attention - not yet repeating exactly, but rhyme in the most grotesque way possible? Your father tried to tell you it could happen anywhere, and now here you are, probably wanting to grab every person you meet by the shoulders and scream "Don't you see it? Don't you SEE?"
And about those barricades - darling, so this 73 year old is telling your 78 year old self that you're exactly where you need to be, doing exactly what you're doing right now: bearing witness, speaking truth, sharing your story. Some of us need to be on the front lines, yes, but some of us need to be the memory-keepers, the ones who can say "I saw this before" or "My father saw this before" and here's how it goes if we don't stop it.
You mention dropping pamphlets, and isn't that just what we're doing now, in our own way? Except instead of paper drifting down from the sky, we're dropping truth bombs in comment sections and blog posts and —sometimes though rare for me —face-to-face conversations (because yes, YES, that human connection is everything). We're leaving breadcrumbs of history, hoping people will follow them back to understanding.
Your father's resistance was physical, visceral, immediate. Ours might look different - it might involve keyboards and screens and words instead of pamphlets and sabotage - but the heart of it, the absolute necessity of it, remains the same.
And honestly? Sometimes I think about how future generations will look back on this moment. Will they ask us, as we asked our parents and grandparents, "What did you do when it was happening?" I want to be able to say we fought like hell, each in our own way, with whatever weapons we had at hand. Even if those weapons were just our words and our memories and our stubborn, relentless insistence on telling the truth.
So thank you, Ingrid. Thank you for being here, for sharing this, for being part of the history - because that's exactly what you're doing, right now, with these words. The barricades take many forms, don't they?
I’m not sure I’m unique, but I think I’m still in shock and just have to take time to absorb this and watch events around me unfold and see what or who bubbles up. I’m not sure why neither seems to have happened yet, but I’m guessing fatigue. Doesn’t seem the trigger/s for action have started yet.
Part of me thinks we can/should just wait and watch the next administration start to crumble, implode or for popular opinion to explode as we are deluged with insane policies that the majority of Americans reject. I think there’s a good chance this will happen like a pack of firecrackers on the 4th of July exploding out in your street, attracting bad press or protests as scandals and failures pop up all around us.
I almost feel as if we’re in a holding pattern watching in our helicopter from 10,000 feet as crimes and atrocities begin to come from the fever dreams of Trump 2.0 folks. Remember, we had some technically and professionally competent people in 1.0.
From the first days of the trump administration I said we are headed straight for 1930's Germany. "Oh no Trevor, you are so extreme, you exaggerate. Your comparison is not valid." Well, to all the stupid fucks that said that, we have arrived in 1930.
Good piece Gloria. In the Garden of the Beasts was an excellent recounting and showed how people simply don't listen, don't think, don't act in time.
Thank you, Gloria. What is happening here today is a sobering warning. I agree that all of us have the responsibility of protecting ourselves and our fellow Americans and fighting to ensure our country does not become another 1945 Germany. You can count on me.
I had the pleasure when I first came to Hollywood of knowing Billy Wilder. He once told me how an incident he saw on a street in Berlin in 1928 - how people didn't react to storm troopers beating and old Jew - led him to see the nazis were the threat they were. He tried to convince his friends of this, but they all told him the Nazis were clowns. "By 1932, I was considered a crank on the subject of the Nazis." The night Hitler was called to meet Hindenburg on January 31, 1933, he packed everything he owned in a steamer trunk, went to the Berlin railroad station and bought a one-way ticket on The Paris Express. "I returned 12 years later to find all my friends were dead. Killed by the clowns."
I keep coming back to that image of Billy Wilder at the Berlin train station, clutching his steamer trunk, buying that one-way ticket to Paris. Because here's the thing about seeing what others refuse to see - it's the loneliest kind of clarity. You're sharing this story of a man I deeply admire, whose genius for storytelling began with this brutal education in human nature: watching people avert their eyes from storm troopers beating an old Jewish man.
"Killed by the clowns." God, what a line. It's the kind of thing that makes you want to scream across time to those friends who laughed off his warnings. Who branded him a "crank" for having the audacity to believe his own eyes.
There's an excruciating truth here about how we process imminent catastrophe - how easy it is to dismiss the monstrous as merely ridiculous. I think about Wilder, sitting on that Paris Express as it pulled away from Berlin, probably hoping like hell he was overreacting. Imagine carrying the weight of being right about something so terrible.
Tom, thank you for sharing this. It's exactly the kind of story we need to keep telling, even when - especially when - it makes people uncomfortable. History has this way of trying to reshape itself into something more palatable, doesn't it? But sometimes we need the unpalatable truth, served straight up, no chaser.
And I just hit the "like" button, but that feels absurdly inadequate for a story like this. Maybe we need a "this haunts me and I'll carry it forward" button instead.
This article articulated exactly what I have been thinking - from my position as a Canadian, your northern neighbour. Interestingly, not too many of my friends think it can get that bad but I am very very worried that it can and will. I may not skew well for the next while either but thank you for giving me so much to think about nonetheless.
My wife is Canadian. We are painfully discussing relocation to Canada.
We would be more than happy to welcome you. Please keep in touch and if you have any questions whatsoever, feel free to reach out to me. Take care in these troubled times 💕
Your essay literally took my breath away. I see it coming too. At this point I feel paralyzed with fear. I’ll get over it, but how do we help?
Find other people that share your beliefs and form a tribe.
M, mine too. I currently focus on how you can still create agency and creating awareness on how these systems work from the inside out. I have just shared my lastest one: What You Still Can Do When They Take All the Power?! https://wildlionessespride.substack.com/p/what-you-still-can-do-when-they-take?r=1sss7q Yesterday I shared: Feeling Overwhelmed, Fearful, Frozen? How You Step Into Your Agency. https://wildlionessespride.substack.com/p/feeling-overwhelmed-fearful-frozen?r=1sss7q Which might be of help.
I’m pressing the "this haunts me and I'll carry it forward" button.
Great piece on the fall of Germany’s democracy. I am sharing it with others. With respect, I think you missed the point of Billy’s train depot story; Hitler packed his trunk and bought the one way ticket to Belin, not Billy. Hitler knew he was winning the effort to dismantle Germany’s democracy and culture and there would be no return for him or the country.
What a haunting story, TCinLA. Thank you for sharing Billy Wilder’s memory—it’s such a chilling reminder of how complacency and denial can lead to unimaginable tragedy. His foresight and the action he took to save himself stand in stark contrast to the inaction of so many who dismissed the Nazis as “clowns.”
I loved Wilder’s movies as a kid. I deeply admired his comical yet earnest way of addressing serious topics. He never stooped to being clamorous or ridiculous—his humor always carried a sharp truth, a reflection of his wisdom and experiences.
Living in Germany, I feel the weight of history every day.
Democracy didn’t die here because of one event—it crumbled because of indifference.
People told themselves, “That will never concern me,” until their friends suddenly vanished, their colleagues never came back to work, or even their relatives were taken away under hypocritical pretexts, never to return.
Gather people around you. Start the civil discourse. Don’t wait until it’s too late to take action. Don’t be one of those who stood by, indifferent, as history’s darkest moments unfolded. Let Billy Wilder’s story remind us all of the cost of complacency—and the power of vigilance.
Please, don’t be such a person.
Jay, from Germany
Just exactly like "First they came for the Communists, and I did not speak out because I wasn't a Communist."
Rayna, yes, exactly. That quote is such a stark and enduring reminder of the dangers of staying silent in the face of injustice. Each step of inaction chips away at our collective humanity until it’s too late to reclaim it. It’s a call to speak, to act, and to stand together—no matter how small the first step might feel. Thank you for drawing that powerful connection.. If you want to know what you really can do maybe you'll find some answers in my lastest essay: https://wildlionessespride.substack.com/p/what-you-still-can-do-when-they-take?r=1sss7q
I just learned this word and think it applies: uhtceare. From the BBC: An Old English word meaning to lie awake anxiously before dawn. Literally translated from the Old English it means the 'dawn-care'. It's similar to insomnia'(though more time-specific) in that it is a name (or noun) given to the state of being sleepless.
Currently, my name should be in the dictionary as an example of uhtceare. I do not care for the hours before dawn nor do I like to watch the sun rise when it isn't my choice. I do, however, adore learning new words...thank you!
An astoundingly good piece of work, Gloria. Hitler should not have been in the place he was to take the steps he did. There was no one to stop him.
You could be referring to Hitler or Trump or both. I see no difference. People then and people now have chosen a dictator. The only difference is there is no savior to swoop in to save us.
I am with every word, every line Gloria wrote. Her account isn’t just history to me; it’s personal. Northeim, the place she quoted from “The Nazi Seizure of Power,” is my district capital, just 15 kilometers from where I live today. What happened there didn’t just happen in a far-off past—it echoes in me, in my family, and in countless others who carry the weight of transgenerational trauma.
Both my parents were born during the war. My grandmothers and aunts endured its horrors; one lost her husband to it. This trauma wasn’t left behind when the war ended—it was carried forward, embedded in my family, my community, and my generation. The words Gloria recounted, “It was like being a bird in a magic circle drawn by a snake,” feel like they are part of my own inherited memory. The snake’s methods may have evolved—swapping the swastika for smartphones and social media—but the spell it casts remains chillingly similar.
I know from my own torturous, traumatic experiences that Emanuel Ringelblum’s words are devastatingly true: “They adjust. That’s the terrible thing – the human capacity to adjust to anything.” This capacity to normalize oppression and adapt to humiliation is a survival mechanism, but it also allows darkness to spread unchecked.
Gloria shed light on one side of Germany’s history, but there’s another part that also shaped us—the oppression from the left under Planwirtschaft and Communism. The German Democratic Republic, with its command economy and totalitarian control, suffocated its population just as thoroughly. People were brainwashed into believing in a system that starved them and robbed them of freedom, all while living under the ever-present surveillance of the Stasi. Conversations with loved ones on the other side of the wall were monitored, controlled, and drained of authenticity. The GDR made a mockery of democracy by including it in its name, yet its citizens lived as prisoners within their own state.
And yet, from this oppression, a different form of resistance emerged. The grassroots movements of the late 1980s showed the world another path. Against the backdrop of a world teetering closer to a third world war than today, ordinary people in East Germany overturned the GDR regime in just a few months. It was a regime built on lies, control, and fear, but they dismantled it with courage, persistence, and a collective refusal to stay silent. This is exactly the kind of engagement Gloria described—resistance that begins with visibility and grows through unwavering commitment.
You have more power than they want you to believe you have. At its core, your power lies in your choices—especially how you use your money. The truth is, you’re the ones who sustain 80% of their profits, not the traditionalists who repair what they have and resist consumerism. Every dollar, euro, or pound spent is a declaration of what you stand for. If you choose to fund those who destroy democracy and human dignity, you strengthen them. But if you choose to support those who fight for justice, equality, and freedom, you shift the balance of power.
The grassroots movements in East Germany proved that change is possible, even against a system designed to suppress it. Now, as Gloria reminded us, it’s time for that same energy, engagement, and visibility to light the path forward.
Thank you. Thank you for your words of wisdom and for sharing your family’s story.
Gloria, thank you for reading and for your kind words. Sharing these reflections is my way of connecting the dots between history, personal experience, and the challenges we face today. It’s a heavy legacy, but it’s also a call to action. Stories like this remind us that resilience is not just about enduring but about choosing to resist in ways big and small. Thank you for shining your light, too—it makes all the difference. 🌟
Wild Lion*esses Pride from Jay: When I read a highly logical, well-thought piece, and I say, "YES!" -- I increasingly find your name on it.
You state the matter exactly right and with conviction and from the heart.
So you live in Niedersachsen by Northeim.
Here is a worthy event in Northeim:
https://www.northeim.de/startseite-details/gedenken-am-27-januar-2.html
"Mit einer Kranzniederlegung am Gedenkstein für die jüdischen Bürgerinnen und Bürger Northeims wird die Stadt Northeim am Jahrestag der Befreiung des Konzentrationslagers Auschwitz der Opfer des Nationalsozialismus gedenken."
You point out that left-wing totalitarianism can be horrific.
It seems the AfD holds sway in the Länder of the former DDR due to the fact that the DDR and SED did not work out the Nazi history in the way that the Bundesrepublik Deutschland and the mainstream newspapers did.
"Die Zeit" and "die Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" (FAZ) each would weekly have features highlighting sorrow and horror over genocide of the Third Reich.
There was the author Johanna Moosdorf. I would highly recommend her beautiful love novels "die Freundinnen" and "Jahrhundertsträume" (S. Fischer Verlag), which process the author's experience, married as she had been to Paul Bernstein and with him having two "Mischlinge" kids. Johanna Moosdorf bravely fought against the Nazis, at one point saving Mr. Bernstein from deportation to a death camp. But that rescue only postponed the murder one year. September 1944, Paul Bernstein was murdered at Auschwitz. Johanna Moosdorf in her novels takes down the hyper-macho Third Reich and advocates a society, sometimes utopic, with Feminine values, and even a Mother Goddess. In Freundinnen, love between women and love with a feminine young man are the ideal. Self-sacrificing, all-giving love. A long parable in Freundinnen depicts in a lively way the summary trials of witches in the 17th c. and the decimation of women on the pyre, in one village, three generations of the women in a family murdered by judicial authority on the pyre. The images from the 17th century in the novel are quite obviously symbolic of the horrors of the Third Reich, and the horrors are mitigated only by the love of two women, each of whom would give her life for the other.
Art Spiegelman's "Maus" is banned in Tennessee libraries, but luckily the right-wing herd cannot read German to censor the beautiful work I love and study.
Wild Lion*esses Pride from Joy: What is particularly distressing is the Trump/Musk endorsement of the AfD. My God.
And what frosts me is the turning of the Blood Libel against the innocent Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio.
As you know, the Blood-Libel was the obscene lie that "Jews steal Christian children and eat the little girls and boys in blood-rituals."
This obscene libel had enflamed horrific pogroms.
https://extremismterms.adl.org/resources/backgrounder/blood-libel-false-incendiary-claim-against-jews?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAs5i8BhDmARIsAGE4xHx_k64wXmW9Ea1e0Pe_ZNcSgdSL5YbTwgKc3OwJaxYZEL17nhCVSDgaAlXVEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
This Blood-Libel was used over the centuries.
JD Vance doubled down on the adaptation of the Blood-Libel to Haitian immigrants: "They steal pets and eat the little kitties and puppies in blood Voodoo rituals."
Vance doubled down on this blood libel even after being begged to stop by the Republican Governor of Ohio and Mayor of Springfield.
Now, with California aflame, the Neo-Fascists enflame passions with triggering blame on the Left for the prairie fire conditions in Southern California.
I think we feed our minds and our love for people around us and pick out tasks we, as individuals, or in company with like-minded persons, can accomplish.
One person, or a small group, can do only so much.
But we can and must resist; we will be seen; we will be heard; we will persevere.
“You have more power than they want you to believe you have.” ❤️
I love that — truly, madly, deeply.
Glad about your love of it. I have lived it already, I know it to be true.
Yes, we have. So much more.
My most intense experience as a HS student was reading Anne Frank, And then we staged the play. I was the costumer. The idea we're traipsing down this merry road to hell again just gives me the crawlies.
And I've just turned 68 :/
I have read her diary a hundred times and get goosebumps just thinking about her and her family.
I visited her place twice in Amsterdam.... I will never ever forget it.
I will be 74 in July. I’m going to add those two numbers together and stick with 11. So, you are actually older than me. LOL :/ :/ Just two broads living the life…right?
I am 68 and have over-enthusiastically praised many writers that have overwhelmed me with their talent and insight, but THIS PIECE “Democracy Dies in Real Time” hit me hard and had me dreaming of reading it to my grandsons and shouting passages from it on street corners!
There have been many warnings and comparisons about repeating history of course, but the way you brought 1933, the fire, and the people to life was poetically so powerful while brilliantly tying in your Holocaust reading list and ending with the best challenge: “The question isn't "How did they let this happen in 1933?" The question is "What are you going to do about it in 2025?"
Dear Ms. Horton-Young, Thank You for creating this perfect piece which now has its recorded place in history. I will continually reread it and answer your challenge in the days ahead:
“When future generations read about this time in history books, what role will you have played?”
(Grateful viewer/reader non-writer, Deb)
Please share it with your grandsons and anyone else you think might take heed from history repeating itself.
Definitely! 🙏
Dear Deb,
Your enthusiasm is palpable, and it’s heartening to see how deeply this piece resonated with you. It’s a powerful call to action, and I admire your intention to share it with your grandsons—passing on awareness and a sense of responsibility to the next generation is so vital.
Reading your comment, I’m struck by how necessary it is to not only reflect but act. Living in Germany, where the echoes of history are impossible to ignore, I’ve often asked myself what more I can do. My visits to Buchenwald, the Anne Frank House, and Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial have shown me that remembrance alone isn’t enough. The real challenge is translating memory into vigilance and action, especially as we see the same mechanisms creeping back into daily life.
You’re absolutely right: it’s not just about understanding how 1933 happened but deciding what role we play now. Let’s carry that urgency forward, together, and ensure the answer to that question is one we can be proud of.
Please read it to anyone you know. Gather people around you, start the civil discourse. Germany democracy died because people became indifferent and said, that is never going to concern me, until it did and their friends suddenly vanish, their colleagues never came back to work, even Even the relatives who were taken away under hypocritical pretexts and never came back. Don't be such a person. Please Jay from Germany
My most intense experiences have been visiting places like the Buchenwald Concentration Camp near Weimar, which I’ve visited four times, the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, and the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin. Living in Germany, this kind of history isn’t just a lesson—it’s something we carry in our bodies and our daily awareness.
I appreciate that you’re engaging with this topic at all—there’s a deep need for these discussions, even if they sometimes lack the depth that feels essential. But I’ve also felt firsthand how these mechanisms of history continue to resurface, affecting us here and now. It’s not just about looking back; it’s about recognizing these patterns before they spiral again.
I'm probably going to spread this around, because I think there's a good chance you may be right. Too much about the way our country is supposed to work is broken. But it's well done enough that I think it could have the necessary impact. In fact, I think you should try to publish it somewhere where millions will see it.
Thank you for spreading it around. I believe everyone should know where we are headed and why.
You did a damn good job of explaining in a literary manner!
Thank you very much!
Dear David,
It’s encouraging to see your willingness to spread this around—it’s exactly the kind of engagement that can start to shift perspectives.
I agree that much of how things are “supposed to work” is probably broken, and that’s why pieces like this, which strike at both the heart and the mind, are so vital.
From my perspective in Germany, where the mechanisms of a failing democracy once played out in devastating ways, I can’t emphasize enough how important it is for messages like this to reach as many people as possible. Your idea of publishing it for millions to see is spot on. History reminds us that awareness and action are the only antidotes to indifference.
Thank you for recognizing the potential impact this piece could have. If we all take a step, however small, toward spreading the message, we can amplify the call for vigilance and accountability that’s so desperately needed.
Jay
“History reminds us that awareness and action are the only antidotes to indifference.”
Gloria,
your message resonates on so many levels. Awareness and action are indeed the lifelines of change, and your voice brings light to that truth.
This whole situation isn’t so different from grappling with our own deep shame. Shame buries us under its weight, leaving us feeling utterly uncomfortable and exposed. Facing it is excruciating, and breaking free can feel nearly impossible. Yet here’s the truth: shame cannot survive in the presence of light and, ultimately, compassion.
Look at South Africa’s journey through apartheid. While they face their own struggles today, the process of reconciliation and the spirit of Ubuntu—the profound interconnectedness of humanity—were pivotal in moving forward. Without that commitment to shared humanity, the resolution we saw might never have unfolded the way it did.
Your work is a testament to what happens when we face the uncomfortable truths head-on, shedding light on what’s buried. Thank you for leading with courage and compassion.
I sadly concur, there is no difference between what happened in Germany and the orange baboon.
“ Because whatever happens, we're going to need our strength ” = this is the absolute truth.
We must plan for the worst while hoping for the best.
Dear Teyani,
I sadly concur as well. The mechanisms that allowed history’s darkest chapters to unfold are not so distant—they thrive on indifference and the belief that “it can’t happen here.” Yet here we are, facing eerily familiar patterns.
Gloria’s words cut to the core: “Because whatever happens, we’re going to need our strength.” Strength to see clearly, speak openly, and act boldly. Start conversations, ask questions, and bring others into the fold. Silence and apathy are fertile ground for destruction, and we cannot afford them now.
Let’s hold each other accountable and ensure we’re part of the resistance to this tide. It’s not too late—if people act with purpose, die Wende 1989 showed us all how.
Warmly,
Jay
Agreed. Of course, the Germany of that era was also suffering from a great depression themselves and so the population was easy pickings for someone like Hitler or Trump. Good work!
Thank you very much. Do you think the United States is currently in a great depression?
Gloria! I read this instead of breakfast. You have covered all the bases with astute analysis and clear suggestions about how to resist. The book suggestions are appreciated. Thank you!🇺🇸💙🇺🇸💙🇺🇸💙🇺🇸
I don't know if it will help at six days away from his assent to power but maybe, just maybe it will inspire people to open their eyes to our future.
Thank you for your pains-takingly detailed account of where we are heading today. I am an avid student of history and a teacher and I have connected many of these same dots over the past few years.
The problem comes when you try to connect America 2025 to Germany 1933, Trump to Hitler, many people immediately object because they know Hitler's results, and can't comprehend supporting anything like that (much like the Germans of 1933). So we call Trump a "fascist" -- which he overtly is -- but we don't clearly define what fascism is or how it relates to Trump. Since fascism has been in remission for the better part of 80 years, most people alive today, especially younger generations, have no idea how it actually works, they just know Hitler is the posterchild of fascism. This leads them to make the following equation:
Fascism = Hitler = Holocaust
That means that anything less than genocide isn't really fascism, or all that bad.
Our media and our schools, from secondary level on up, have done a poor job of teaching and defining governing models such as fascism, socialism and communism, world religions, and economic models such as capitalism, socialism, communism, oligarchy and monopoly, which most people think is just a funny game about houses you play with family and friends.
The way to combat this is through community, but I fear we are so silo-ed and isolated from our neighbors that such community right now is hard to find or manufacture.
I live in one of those gated neighborhoods where everyone pretends to have read the HOA bylaws, though clearly no one has – except my wife, because she's the type who actually reads instruction manuals and the ingredients in face cream. These days, Trump flags flutter everywhere, like angry bedsheets making their last stand against property codes. The HOA, which once sent me three notices about my unauthorized wild bird parties in the my backyard, has suddenly developed selective blindness.
My neighbors and I have perfected the art of not seeing each other. We're like characters in a Henry James novel, except instead of repressing our feelings about forbidden love, we're repressing our feelings about forbidden flags. I take longer routes on my morning walks now, which my Oura ring appreciates but my sanity doesn't.
The thing about watching history repeat itself from your own driveway is that it's not like reading about it in a book, where you can just skip to the end to see how it turns out. Instead, you're standing there with your Christmas mug, pretending not to notice that Mrs. Johnson across the street – who once reported me for having my garbage cans out twelve minutes too long – has turned her front yard into a shrine to a man who thinks the Constitution is more of a suggestion than a law.
You know what keeps me up at night? Not the usual things – not my neck (which, let's face it, is becoming a serious issue), not the fact that I still haven't mastered my mother's meatloaf recipe – but the eerily familiar way history is unfolding between the cul-de-sacs and community mailboxes. And somewhere out there, Trump is probably already designing his uniform, no doubt with more gold braiding than a Christmas nutcracker, while my neighbors practice their salutes in their living rooms for the inevitable Pennsylvania Avenue military parade he has so desperately coveted.
Thank you. This is both an important wake up call and call to action.
Here is my mantra: I will try to stay grounded during the coming onslaught against everything I believe in. I will resist being swept away by lies and propaganda by seeking information from sources I trust. I will support those who stand tall in the coming struggle. I will boycott the companies that form the pillars of fascism.
Ole, that is a solid plan! Bravo.
Many thanks for laying out a gameplan that any/each of us might follow.
I know about that invisible "alarm" at 3AM. I've not slept the night through since November 6, 2024!
I have no choice but to resist the spread of fascist autocracy. Anyone want to join me?
That makes two of us. We recruit two more, we have four. Imagine what we could do.
Orange traitor’s voter base consists of less educated and low income sheeples. Three brain cells and two teeth. Sorry for the last part. So unlike me but so disgusted and discouraged.
Excellent. My father was a member of the Danish Resistance during German Nazi occupation of Denmark 1940-45. I grew up with constant reminders of “the 5 dark years” and our history teachers were adamant about us learning everything to the very last and horrific detail. We watched films from the camps at age 9-10! I began hating Germans, my dad kept trying to tell me and explain “it could happen anywhere” — and here I am in the very eye of the storm. I’m 78 so getting on the barricades is probably not possible but your advice of face to face is fundamental if we want to find democracy as a tool in our future. Dropping pamphlets was an ongoing effective tool by the Danish resistance.
Oh Ingrid, my heart catches in my throat reading this. Your father knew - he knew with the bone-deep certainty that only comes from living through horror - that the monster of authoritarianism isn't picky about its feeding grounds. It doesn't care if it's wearing a swastika or a red hat or carrying tiki torches through the streets of Charlottesville.
Isn't it just perfect (and by perfect I mean terrible) that you're here now, watching history do that thing it does when we don't pay attention - not yet repeating exactly, but rhyme in the most grotesque way possible? Your father tried to tell you it could happen anywhere, and now here you are, probably wanting to grab every person you meet by the shoulders and scream "Don't you see it? Don't you SEE?"
And about those barricades - darling, so this 73 year old is telling your 78 year old self that you're exactly where you need to be, doing exactly what you're doing right now: bearing witness, speaking truth, sharing your story. Some of us need to be on the front lines, yes, but some of us need to be the memory-keepers, the ones who can say "I saw this before" or "My father saw this before" and here's how it goes if we don't stop it.
You mention dropping pamphlets, and isn't that just what we're doing now, in our own way? Except instead of paper drifting down from the sky, we're dropping truth bombs in comment sections and blog posts and —sometimes though rare for me —face-to-face conversations (because yes, YES, that human connection is everything). We're leaving breadcrumbs of history, hoping people will follow them back to understanding.
Your father's resistance was physical, visceral, immediate. Ours might look different - it might involve keyboards and screens and words instead of pamphlets and sabotage - but the heart of it, the absolute necessity of it, remains the same.
And honestly? Sometimes I think about how future generations will look back on this moment. Will they ask us, as we asked our parents and grandparents, "What did you do when it was happening?" I want to be able to say we fought like hell, each in our own way, with whatever weapons we had at hand. Even if those weapons were just our words and our memories and our stubborn, relentless insistence on telling the truth.
So thank you, Ingrid. Thank you for being here, for sharing this, for being part of the history - because that's exactly what you're doing, right now, with these words. The barricades take many forms, don't they?
I fear that we’re headed down this path, but I don’t want to believe it quite yet. Just like all the people referenced in the article I suppose.
Thanks for writing this.
I'm curious. Respectfully, what calamity is going to have to happen that will shock or disgust or frighten you enough to start believing?
I’m not sure I’m unique, but I think I’m still in shock and just have to take time to absorb this and watch events around me unfold and see what or who bubbles up. I’m not sure why neither seems to have happened yet, but I’m guessing fatigue. Doesn’t seem the trigger/s for action have started yet.
Part of me thinks we can/should just wait and watch the next administration start to crumble, implode or for popular opinion to explode as we are deluged with insane policies that the majority of Americans reject. I think there’s a good chance this will happen like a pack of firecrackers on the 4th of July exploding out in your street, attracting bad press or protests as scandals and failures pop up all around us.
I almost feel as if we’re in a holding pattern watching in our helicopter from 10,000 feet as crimes and atrocities begin to come from the fever dreams of Trump 2.0 folks. Remember, we had some technically and professionally competent people in 1.0.
Not so this time! Just 100% loyal sycophants.
This has been planned for a very long time like the cat ate the grind stone, one lick at a time.Project 2025 is the plan.
From the first days of the trump administration I said we are headed straight for 1930's Germany. "Oh no Trevor, you are so extreme, you exaggerate. Your comparison is not valid." Well, to all the stupid fucks that said that, we have arrived in 1930.
Good piece Gloria. In the Garden of the Beasts was an excellent recounting and showed how people simply don't listen, don't think, don't act in time.
T
It makes me sick.
Thank you, Gloria. What is happening here today is a sobering warning. I agree that all of us have the responsibility of protecting ourselves and our fellow Americans and fighting to ensure our country does not become another 1945 Germany. You can count on me.
Saludos,
Rolando
Thank you, Rolando.