The recent letter to the editor praising Rivier University for hosting a Holocaust Memorial event was written by a citizen primarily to criticize the speaker for saying that former President Donald Trump praised violent neo-Nazis when he said that there were, “very fine people on both sides” during a violent altercation.

The writer explained her indignation by repeating Trump’s belated cover-up that it was just a reference to possibly reasonable sides on a debate about Confederate statues. It seems to me that this letter provides a good explanation of how tyrants can rise to power in a civilized society, just as many decent people in Germany supported the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany.

No doubt, the writer is a good person who deplores the suffering of the Jewish people. Likewise, the average German didn’t really want to lose their favorite Jewish tailor down the street, but they repeated rightist propaganda about how rich Jewish bankers were stealing from them, blaming this group for hardships caused by severe political punishments imposed on the nation after World War I. And, many average German citizens believed in the nationalistic ideals proposed by Nazis as a cover-up for their actions.

Fellow good American citizens, do not believe in anyone who supports violence of any kind. Violence begets violence, resulting in terrible suffering by all. This is something President Joe Biden understands. When running, he was asked whether it would be appropriate, under a change of situations, to chant, “lock him (Trump) up!” He immediately and unequivocally declared that we do not want to ever stoop to that level. He indicated blind shouting was not preferable to listening and discussion. If the German people had not allowed themselves to be led by people who advocated war (and violence in the streets) in the guise of national pride and re-unification, they wouldn’t have been overcome by the scourge of Nazism. Fellow citizens, please do not be hoodwinked by the slogans and pseudo-explanations of our own Neo-Nazis.