In Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home, Nora Krug traces her family’s history and digs deep into the role her family members played during World War II, specifically asking if they were active participants in the violence that the Nazis enacted on others. She grapples with her uncle Frank-Karl’s involvement and the ideologies he imbibed from a young age, as part of the Hitler Youth then as part of the SS when he was killed in Italy in 1944. With her grandfather Willi, Krug struggles to find out the amount of his involvement.

Krug discovers that Willi did register as a member of the Nazi party, after their rise to power in 1933. Even in the March 1933 election, he voted for the Social Democrats. However, to survive, he fell in line, becoming, as the occupying forces deemed him after the war, a mitläufer, a follower or, as Krug puts it, “a person lacking courage or moral stance.” When Krug asked her mother about Willi, her mother tells her, “I’m convinced that Willi was no perpetrator,” and she continues by stating, “He never spoke about politics in a fanatical way. ‘Politics is a dirty business,’ he used to say, and that is better to avoid conflict.”

Willi viewed himself as apolitical, as someone not engaged in any manner with politics; however, when Krug’s mother and Willi would talk about the war, she would tell him, “there isn’t such a thing as being apolitical.” She would then ask them why they weren’t part of the resistance, and they told her “it would have been too dangerous, with a little child and all.” Krug’s grandparents sum up a lot of what I have been discussing over the past few weeks, specifically the fear that arises when faced with fascism and oppression. As well, they highlight the lack of awareness within the populace. Before Hitler became chancellor in January 1933, the Nazis never received more that 37% of the vote. From a 2.63% of the electorate in 1928, they increased dramatically in 1930 and 1932. Part of this was due to street violence, intimidation, and more. As well, they entered the government legally, not through a coup or takeover.

One cannot ignore politics because we exist as political beings. Our very existence is political, and no matter what we do, we act in a political manner. Thus, our choices, either through our action or inaction, have political ramifications. The questions that Nora’s mother asks of her own parents drives this home because they had a choice: either fall in line or resist. They chose the former, and this choice had ramifications. This discussion, as well, makes me think about a recent post on Bluesky where the poster mentioned that she gasped, in a store, upon seeing Kash Patel’s senate confirmation. The person at the register asked what was the matter, and she told the person. The clerk and no one else in line know what she was talking about.

We cannot remain politically engaged 24/7. It is not, in any way, physically or mentally possible to do that. However, a modicum of awareness is needed to prevent the rise of fascism and authoritarianism because without any awareness it becomes easy for individuals to become nothing more that mitläufer. This is what happens where close to 90 million people who are eligible to vote don’t vote, especially in elections decided by thin margins. This is what happens when people claim to be “apolitical” and when things happen merely fall in line instead of resisting.

What keeps people from resisting? What turns them into mitläufer? It’s a myriad of things, but as I have written about, a major factor is fear. The Nazis preyed on fear through violence and oppression. This fear is strong, but fear is not the only thing that keeps someone from realizing the situation or from acting. A false belief in a “civilized” society that can do not long, a nationalistic, jingoistic narrative that positions oneself as superior to others does this. Lillian Smith points this out when talking about the similarities between Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s Russia and United States South. She writes in Killers of the Dream, “We did not se the word dictator, for we thought of ourselves as free Americans, but we obeyed the invisible power as meekly as if Hitler or Stalin had given the orders. We felt we had no other choice.”

Smith points out that Southerners refused to use terms such as “dictator” because of the connotations with Stalin or Hitler, but they lived under dictators such as Theodore Bilbo, Eugene Talmadge, and others who ruled with authoritarian might. Southerners refused to use terms likes this because they saw themselves as “free Americans,” immune from such actors. In reality, they are not free, but they use the illusion of freedom to position themselves against other authoritarian regimes. By doing this, they easily succumb to the “dictator,” easing themselves into complicity because once they realize what is happening it is too late and they feel they have no other choice.

Yet, Willi and others have a choice. They can act. They can resist. Instead of becoming mitläufer, they can push back. If they don’t, then the dictator wins, dooming the present and the future in the process. A teenage camper responds to Smith’s comment by asking if things will ever change in the South because she feels that it will always remain the same. Smith simply responds, “Not if your generation refuses to let it.” Smith tells the girl that they must stop it because if they don’t it will continue. The girl expresses her apprehension because she tells Smith that in order to change things she will have to hate her family. “[I]t would be easier,” she says, “to fight for what is right down here” if you hated your family.

The fear of reprisal for action and the fear of disappointing loved ones, severing oneself from family, produces mitläufer. One must consciously decide to act, to resist, in order to move forward. These things keep people from acting. They keep Willi from acting and lead him to vote for the Nazis and become part of the Wehrmacht. They keep the girl from acting. Smith ends by telling the girl that things change slowly, “and people could change anything . . . if they really wanted to. . . . If they really wanted to. . . .” Through the reiteration of “if they really wanted to” and the ellipses, Smith drives home the point that we must want to change. We must want to become actors in a better future instead of mitläufer. A failure to act, a failure to change, pushes the problem down the line, leaving it for future generations to rectify.

Next post I will continue looking at Krug’s Belonging and the way that she humanizes her family, even though they served in the Wehrmacht or in the SS. Until then, what are your thoughts? As always, let me know in the comments below. Make sure to follow me on Bluesky @silaslapham.