Can we keep history from repeating itself, and if so, how?

Do you see similarities between the present political or cultural climate in the United States and those of the years leading up to World War II in Germany? If so, what are they? Can we keep history from repeating itself, and if so, how?

I do see similarities. The way Putin invaded Ukraine seems right out of Hitler's playbook - very similar to the invasion of Poland. So, no, I don't think we can keep history from repeating itself.

I also see parallels between pre-war Germany and the USA today. As the country becomes more divided - not only politically but economically - I sometimes wonder if we're headed in the same direction.

Yes, I see similarities - burning books and antisemitism are just two examples. I used to think that education would be the answer to keep history from repeating itself but the schools don't seem to be teaching much history any more and they are constrained by the politicians on what history they are allowed to teach. I don't know what the answer is anymore.

You would think with all the history we have at our finger tips, we would learn. Unfortunately, we choose not to. We refuse to compromise any more, understand other people's points of view, and just have become overly selfish.

Yes, there are eerie similarities between the rise of Hitler and what is happening in the U.S. now. Several short passages in the book startled me because it seemed Meltzer was writing about the U.S. today instead of WW2 Germany. Intentional?
One example: Hitler targeted the working class and rural Germans with his fascist rhetoric. Doesn’t this sound familiar.
History has always repeated itself. Only the specifics change.

It does not seem possible that history won’t repeat itself given the current state of affairs. In this country alone, the number of extremist groups that malign and attack nonwhites continues to grow. Much like Hitler, their extremist views appeal to people today just as Hitler’s extremist views appealed to Germans who felt superior to Jews.

Unfortunately discord between nations has been going on and developing for thousand of years. I think History will repeat itself- of course not exactly- but in a myriad of successful and unsuccessful ways.

Until the electorate and our leaders are well educated in the history of our nation and also in the history of the nations with which we engage, history will repeat itself in a variety of ways.

The way to keep history from repeating itself is to learn from it. Some people would rather be ignorant.

I think virginiap made an excellent point about education being the key. Unfortunately, our general populace has become less and less knowledgeable about history in general. Many people, if they think at all, think that what is happening in our country has never happened before in world history.

Humans have such short attention spans, and I fear with technology and 24-hour news cycles, our attention is even shorter. With short attention spans we lose the desire to be educated and learn from our past. It doesn't take many generations to deem the happenings of the past as irrelevant and "unable to happen again." I think of college students who decide they would prefer to be communist by simply reading the idealogical manuscripts and not taking the time to see the practical application of a day in line for a potato. So, although I think we can learn from the past, I fear the generations to come have no desire to do so, and will then repeat most of it in the way of isolationism and intolerance, often from the people who spend great amounts of time telling us how inclusive and tolerant they are. It is so our of control and sad.

Unfortunately it doesn't seem like we can. There are several ways it shows - intolerance of ethnic diversity, books that teach different ideas than others, "my way or the highway" thinking, etc.

I also think that we are not educating our students enough in our history-- our real history, not a sanitized version. Also, when the schools stopped teaching civics in the late 60's. people became uneducated about our federal government, the constiution, and state and local govenments as well. We no longer know geography, which is more than where countries are located, but include the culture, practices, religion and even the economies and products from countries around the world. That just lets us make the same assumptions we've always made. The US is a great counrty, but it is not the center of the world!

Unfortunately, It is possible that history will repeat itself especially given the current state of affairs in this country. The number of extremists within our borders is frightening. They continue to malign and attack our brown skin citizens. It certainly reminds me of the Hitler's views on Jews.

History has shown us that humanity has not learned from reading history.. We do the same things over and over.

As I said in answer to another question, I see strong similarities between our present political climate and the Nazi's takeover of Germany. We have a hard right in this country that even has members of Congress promoting secession of States or Civil War. The rhetoric of anti-Semitism, racism, and hate for anyone different than the hater is at an all-time high in America. Looking back, 15-20 years ago, I truly believed that perhaps we were moving beyond the legacy of intolerance. Now I wonder what happened. How did individuals who promote this hatred get elected? Did they cause this backlash or was I, as an individual, and were we, as a country, just fooling ourselves that things were getting better?

BuffaloGirl’s question about whether we, as a country, were fooling ourselves about whether things were getting better made me think of a book that was recently published (Fever in the Heartland) that goes back 100 years tracing the rise of the Klu Klux Klan and how one woman tackled their rise. Though I haven’t read this book (yet), it makes me wonder whether part of the issue is that in taking our eye off the ball, do we as a country then miss, ignore or tolerate the slow regrowth of hatred, antisemitism, etc.

The book you mentioned Fever in the Heartland sounds interesting- thanks for sharing.

According to historians Will and Ariel Durant, history only repeats itself in outline and in the large. This occurs because "human nature changes with geological leisureliness, and people are equipped to respond in stereotyped ways to frequently occurring situations and stimuli like hunger, danger, and sex. Many situations contain novel circumstances requiring modifications of instinctive response: custom recedes, reasoning spreads: the results are less predictable. There is no certainty that the future will repeat the past. Every year is an adventure".