BERLIN, 1930s/40s

Welcome back to Fascism Week on this blog. Today we present a short reel of color footage of Berlin in the 1930s and 1940s. The city looks beautiful but the preponderance of Nazi flags of course reminds us that things were what they were. The big takeaway here is that we forget that during the war life went on as usual (more or less) off the battlefields. Much of this footage from the 40s doesn’t show Berliners as behaving any differently than they were in the footage from the 30s–life goes merrily on in the restaurants, the beaches, the cafes etc. I’m puzzled by the comments section below this video–there are many comments in German (and in English) extolling he beauty of old Berlin as opposed to the city as it currently exists. But not one–and I mean NOT ONE–comment refers to the ominous presence of so many Nazi flags. For that matter, the troops in the street, motorcades of Nazi officials, and salutes (yes, exactly the kind that Musk gave the other day) are ignored by most watchers of this video. Make of that what you will. By the way, at 4: 46 a sign in German is seen in a park. The translation is: “When (or if) enemy infiltrates, the garden is immediately cleared by arrangement!” Thank you, Google Translate.

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