Rationale
It has been eighty-one years since the fall of Nazi Germany. The generation that fought to end Nazism is nearly gone and right-wing extremism, including neo-fascism, is on the rise once again across Europe and the Americas. Part of this shift can be attributed to the loss of living memory of the horrors of fascism, growing uncertainty of the future, and the disconnect modern young people have with the past, in part due to the speed of the modern world, the rate of technological progress, and the rise of social media. Between 2014 and 2026, support for extreme right-wing politicians and platforms, including neo-fascists, has risen between 5 and 15% across Europe. Over three billion dollars has been used to support extreme-right wing politicians in the United States alone.[1] Increasingly, these politicians, and the business leaders who support them, have grown increasingly bold in their use of Nazi speech references, iconography, and through the adoption of policies similar or identical to those of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, as seen in 2025 by world’s richest person Elon Musk’s use of the Nazi salute and his quote that, “the fundamental weakness of Western Civilization is empathy.”
However, the words “fascism” and “Nazi” have been thrown around a lot in American history when someone references a politician they do not like, and thus the words have lost connection to their true meanings for many. This weakening of the term has aided the true fascists in that people have tuned out of the rhetoric. It has become increasingly clear that in-depth education on what fascism is, and what it could mean for society, is lacking; the speed of high school history rarely allows for such in-depth learning to take place. And with many colleges doing away with gen-ed requirements that would have forced non-humanities students to take a few humanities classes, many college graduates never receive a decent education on the subject.
Therefore, it is vital, more than at any point in decades, for students to understand and recognize the markers of fascism and the role they play in fighting against it. To do this, students must also understand that Nazi Germany was not a single coherent mass of goose-stepping murderers lost to a past that they may never fully understand. The Nazis only gained 38% of the vote in the last free election before they were handed power. Many Germans spoke and fought against the rising tide before and during the regime. Lastly, students should understand that the Nazi takeover was not inevitable, and they exploited fear, anger, economic uncertainty, and some legitimate grievances with the Weimar government to gain power.
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