More importantly, there were multiple major armed conflicts with communists within Weimar Germany, and innumerable small incidents. At the time Hitler came to power, many jews were communist. He simply put his violent political opponents in prison, which is what the people wanted because there was chaos and violence in the streets.
At the time, there was this prevalent idea that a solemn hard working life would allow you to atone for your sins and you would eventually reflect and see the error of your ways. This is why they called prisons "penitentiaries", you were supposed to think about what you had done wrong and be sorry. They didn't put "arbeit macht frei" over the gate because of the great german love for irony, they believed it.
The german army took over france in six weeks. If they wanted to exterminate their political enemies, they could have done it in a day.
More importantly, there were multiple major armed conflicts with communists within Weimar Germany, and innumerable small incidents. At the time Hitler came to power, many jews were communist. He simply put his violent political opponents in prison, which is what the people wanted because there was chaos and violence in the streets.
At the time, there was this prevalent idea that a solemn hard working life would allow you to atone for your sins and you would eventually reflect and see the error of your ways. This is why they called prisons "penitentiaries", you were supposed to think about what you had done wrong and be sorry. They didn't put "arbeit macht frei" over the gate because of the great german love for irony, they believed it.
The german army took over france in six weeks. If they wanted to exterminate their political enemies, they could have done it in a day.