A Letter to America - From Germany
You are in a war, the same war, Germany lost 90 years ago
“No Enabling Act gives you the power to destroy ideas that are eternal and indestructible. You yourselves have professed socialism. The Social Law did not destroy social democracy. German Social Democracy can also draw new strength from new persecutions.
We greet the persecuted and oppressed. We greet our friends in the Reich. Their steadfastness and loyalty deserve admiration. Their courage, their unbroken confidence, guarantee a brighter future."
-Speech by MP Otto Wels (Social Democratic Party of Germany) on 23 March 1933 before the Reichstag, the German Parliament-
These words were the last in Otto Wels’ speech against the Enabling Act of the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP). They were the last free words spoken in the German Parliament for sixteen years.
Around 90 Years ago, the Democratic Weimar Republic succumbed to the boots of fascist militants in parliament, the legalization of tyranny, and the self-abolition of professional ethics. Adolf Hitler’s rise to power, the Second World War, and the Holocaust were not enshrined in some mythical prophecy, they were the result of good men and women looking away for too long, until it was too late.
In 1923, Hitler and his followers attempted a coup. The Weimar state responded with clarity and force: the police crushed the putsch, the courts sentenced the conspirators. But even then, rot had begun to seep through the legal system. The trial became a stage. Hitler transformed his courtroom into a pulpit, his cell into a sanctuary. The judiciary, populated by men loyal to the Kaiserreich, resentful of the republic that had replaced their old order, showed him indulgence.
German democracy did not die with the passage of the Enabling Act. By then, it was already a shell of its former self. It had been bleeding for a decade, bled by gridlock, by cowardice, and by a political class too fractured to see the existential threat in their midst. The moderates, the left, the conservatives, and the centrists, they all believed they had more time.
Instead of uniting against Hitler, they played along. Each faction treated politics like a chessboard, not a battlefield. They squabbled over power, pride, and petty grievances, even as the Nazi Party turned every election into a march toward dictatorship. Tyranny established itself not by military conquest, but through the gaping holes left behind by crumbling institutions. After the Enabling Act was signed, totalitarian takeover was quick, and the facade of German democracy imploded within the year of 1933. All German states were effectively robbed of their independence and political power, all diversity in administration was eliminated, loyalty to the Nazi party became a guarantee for success.
What happened next is history: the rearmament of Germany, the wars of conquest across Europe, the Wannsee Conquest, the Shoah, and the Millions upon Millions of deaths in six years of brutal conflict.
On the 19th of January 2025, the German Ambassador in Washington, DC, wrote:
"Fundamental democratic principles, along with checks and balances, will be largely undermined, the legislature, law enforcement and media will be robbed of their independence and misused as a political arm, and Big Tech will gain co-governing authority."
-Andreas Michaelis-
This was not a historical note, but the official assessment of the situation in the US by the German Ambassador.
In recent months, we have seen the practical attempt to enforce this authoritarian vision in the United States. The American President has undermined the rule of law, has violated constitutional rights, and has threatened neighbors and allies with conquest and annexation, while aligning the US with the authoritarian world led by Russia.
Trump’s administration, similar to other tyrants, has abused media, public attention, and the blinding nature of spectacle to overwhelm the American population. A constant storm of spectacle and misinformation has made truth irrelevant and public outrage fragmented. The exhaustion of the two non-government powers, the people and the media, is the goal of this campaign.
Every day, the American populace is overwhelmed with policy announcements, their reversals, and the passing of new, increasingly populist and extreme laws by the MAGA Senate and House of Representatives. Meanwhile, the symbolism of democracy, constitutionalism, and liberalism is disregarded by Trump, whose administration resembles more a dynastical reign than a presidency. The culte de la personnalité of MAGA has replaced professional public service for personal gain.
To all Americans, you are at war.
The war for democracy, for pluralism, and truth. The greatest weapon against fear is vigilance, against hatred is decency, and to combat the abolition of truth, you need knowledge. Germany failed in a similar war 90 years ago.
To declare war, you need to declare the start of hostilities. You do that by reaffirming the legitimacy of the American Constitution and especially the Bill of Rights and defending it against any foe without compromise.
To fight a war, you need a frontline, it has to be wide, and deep, you will need your fellow Americans, Democrats and Republicans alike. You must form a grand coalition, even if the only thing uniting you is your desire to keep disagreeing. In tyranny, there is no disagreement. There is only obedience.
To succeed in battle, you will need courage, devotion to duty, and a sense of purpose, you will find that in your home, your country, your friends and loved ones, and deep within yourselves. Everyone has their own moralities. Apply them, so you do not have to wonder: What could I have done?
To American leftists:
This is not a culture war. You are not fighting to win ideological battles over identity or language. You are fighting for the very right to advocate for a progressive vision in a free society.
To American centrists:
This is no longer a choice between left and right. It is a choice between liberal democracy and political regression, between the rule of law and the rule of one man.
To American conservatives:
The most effective German resistance to Hitler came not from ideological opposition, but from conservatives and nationalists who understood that patriotism sometimes demands defiance, not loyalty. You are being called not to abandon your values, but to preserve the Republic in which those values can still exist.
Remember your past, the brave charges of free citizens during the War for Independence, the American soldiers who pushed the armies of fascists and tyrants back in the 1910s and the 1940s. You liberated Europe twice, do not let a Putin Puppet conquer you.
This is not a call for violence, but for civic disobedience.
The greatest disgrace is not failing to win, but refusing to enter the fight from the start.
Failure is tragic, but Inaction is inexcusable.
In solidarity and empathy,
The Free World