What if?

This is a questionnaire for my friends and family who live in the United States of America in 2025. It's based on things I've been thinking about during my last three months of traveling, which ends tomorrow. 

Spain and Portugal both suffered under decades of dictatorship in the twentieth century. Of course, they aren't the only European countries that had to endure political repression and worse over the last hundred years. In fact, only a few remained unscathed by dictatorship, in one form or another, for the entire century. Whether it was Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, or homegrown dictatorships, I can only think of a few countries (UK, Ireland, Sweden, and Switzerland, and a few microstates) that were freely democratic throughout the last century.

So this has made me think about how precious and fragile democracy is. 

This questionnaire is based on a hypothetical: You are living in Germany in 1933. You are the same age as you are in 2025, and in the same family and professional circumstances (same spouse, children, parents, siblings, job, finances, propery ownership, etc.). Here we go:

1. On January 30 Hitler is appointed Chancellor of your country. What do you do?
2. On February 28 the Reichstag Fire Decree is issued. It restricts or suspends seven articles enshrined in your nation's Constitution. It eliminates habeas corpus, freedom of expression, freedom of the press, freedom to organize and assemble, and the privacy of postal, telephonic, and telegraphic communication. It also allows for warrantless searches and for the seizure of property without due process. What do you do?
3. In the two weeks following the issuance of the Reichstag Fire Decree, approximately 10,000 of your fellow citizens are arrested. What do you do?
4. On March 20 the government opens a concentration camp at Dachau, 10 miles northwest of Munich. It is established initially to incarcerate political prisoners, primarily German Communists, Social Democrats, trade unionists, and other political opponents of the government. What do you do?
5. On March 23 a law is passed allowing Hitler and his cabinet to enact any law whatsoever without input from the legislature. What do you do?
6. On April 1 the government carries out a one-day nationwide boycott of Jewish businesses and professionals. What do you do?
7. On April 7 a law is enacted excluding Jews from public service, and another law mandating the disbarment of Jewish lawyers by September 30. What do you do?
8. Starting on May 10, Nazi-dominated student groups in 34 university towns and cities carry out public burnings of books they claim are “un-German.” Works of prominent Jewish, liberal, and leftist writers end up in the bonfires. What do you do?
9. On July 14, a law mandating the forced sterilization of certain individuals with physical and mental disabilities, including Roma and Black people and "asocial elements," takes effect. What do you do?
10. We're now at the end of 1933. Do you still live in Germany?
11. Between June 30 and July 2, 1934, Hitler's people kill over a hundred political enemies, including some members of the government. Over a thousand are arrested. What do you do?
12. On September 15, 1935, a law is enacted denying citizenship to anyone who is not of pure German blood. Another law outlaws intermarriage and sexual relations between pureblooded Germans and Jews. What do you do?
13. We're now at the end of 1935. Do you still live in Germany?
14. On November 9, 1938, Kristallnacht takes place. Jewish homes, hospitals and schools are ransacked as attackers demolish buildings with sledgehammers. Rioters destroy over 1,400 synagogues and prayer rooms throughout the country. Over 7,000 Jewish businesses are damaged or destroyed, and 30,000 Jewish men are arrested and incarcerated. What do you do?
15. On September 1, 1939, war starts as Germany attacks Poland. Do you still live in Germany? Because if you do, the borders will soon be closed, and it'll be too late to get out.

I think we can all agree that this would be a much easier quiz if we were armed with the knowledge of how things would go.  But if we only knew what people in Germany knew in the 1930s, we would probably do what most of them did: assume it can't get any worse, hope things will soon get better, or wring our hands in silent desperation. And a lot of us would have died.

16. Are there any parallels between 1933 in Germany and 2025 in the USA?