In 1932, Germany was in turmoil. Massive inflation had caused prices of all raw materials to rise, while the German people lived paycheck to paycheck. This type of socio-economic climate is known to breed radical political ideologies. Since Germany lost the Great War (now called World War I) in 1918, Germans have had to pay reparations to the countries they fought against. While the United States and the United Kingdom prospered in the 1920s, Germany suffered. In order to pay off its debts, Germany raised taxes on the people, which caused companies to raise their prices without increasing their employees' wages. The stock market crash of 1929 only made Germany's situation worse, as the United States and Britain stopped repaying loans to it. Throughout the 1920s and early 1930s, the Nazi Party and Communist Party took advantage of Germany's new freedom of speech to propagate their ideologies. While the Communist Party advocated for complete socio-economic equality, the Nazi Party advocated a government with strict authority, Aryan superiority, and German pride. In most cases, the public would avoid these radical parties, but desperate times called for desperate measures. As the people could see how communism had changed Russia, arguably for the worse, the Nazis offered an alternative to both the old monarchy and the communists. Dissatisfied with the democratic rule of President Hindenburg, the German people elected Adolf Hitler of the Nazi Party as President of Germany in 1933. Although Hitler initially brought prosperity and wealth to Germany, the German people should have seen the signs of alarm due to Hitler's excessive policies. -charisma at the top, hatred of certain groups of people, loss of freedom and fear of repercussions...... middle of paper...... this day as a warning for the present and the future. The way one man first took over an entire country, then all of Europe, and systematically wiped out a third of an entire ethnic group, serves as a stark warning to all of humanity. All the signs were clear from the start. Shallow charisma, genocide, loss of freedom, and fear of speaking out all created the perfect storm that the German people should have seen coming. Works Cited Rees, Laurence. “Point of view: his dark charisma”. BBC News Magazine. BBC News. November 11, 2012. Goldensohn, Leon. Nuremberg talks. New York: Random House, Inc., 2004. Print. “Nazi propaganda and censorship”. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. npnd Web.Spector, Robert M. A World Without Civilization: Mass Murders and the Holocaust, History and Analysis. Lanham, MD: University Press of America. 2005. Print.