learntoquestion ltq discussions

Originally posted by Barbsy on November 12, 2025 20:40

I believe that events from the past do infact rhyme with present day events. It is clear that the Weimar Republic was a period of extreme political chaos and economic turmoil in Germany, and certain aspects of that society can be seen in the present as well. However, that is the extent of the similarities. I do not believe that merely because America shares some similarities with certain parts of the Weimar Republic, we are doomed to repeat their mistakes. According to the article Weimar America there are some similarities that present day America has with post war Germany. A charasimatic and contraversial leader, economic challenges, and political challenges. However, the extent to which these problems affect our present society is far less than how bad they affected the Weimar Republic. For instance, tariffs and inflation have affected our economy and resulted in a drastic fall in stocks, however, the complete chaos in Germany’s economy after the war was far worse. They had immense debt and lacked the natural resources and land to maintain their industrialized nation. They were ruined as a nation, which is far different than the state America is in now. As said in the article “yes, Weimar Germany ended badly, horribly so. But the America of today bears little similarity to Germany in the 1920s and early 1930s”. Furthermore, many of the aspects seen in Weimar Germany werent unique circumstances. Many nations face economic hardships, many nations have periods of political turmoil, many nations have devisive leaders. The severity of America’s problems are far less extreme than the Weimar Republic’s which is why I believe that while history can rhyme, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it will repeat. I highly doubt that people in the present will ignore the mistakes of the past and participate in a genocide against the jewish population. I believe that people learn from the mistakes of the past which influences their actions and results in new outcomes. While antisemitism is on the rise, it is doubtful another Hitler will emerge, and extremely unlikely for a Nazi party to take control. All together, there are some similarities with the Weimar Republic and the present day America, however that does not mean that we are bound to repeat their same mistakes.

The most compelling idea in my peer’s post is the idea that although America today does share some similarities with Weimar Germany, we are not in as drastic of a state as Germany was. I do agree with this, however I think that we should still remain cautious and aware of the people in charge of our country, because giving the wrong person power is also how the Holocaust started. I think that things could go downhill for America, but I agree with my peer that it is not likely for a genocide to happen in America at this time. I liked their use of a quotation to support their idea that America and Weimar Germany do have marked differences, and one suggestion I have for the student to improve their argument would be discussing how the Treaty of Versailles impacted Weimar era Germany. America is not fresh out of a world war which has put us billions of dollars in debt due to a treaty, so my peer could explain how the Treaty of Versailles worsened conditions for the German people, and that could be the reason as to why historical Germany became fully corrupt and America today may not.

Originally posted by dudeman18 on November 12, 2025 21:57

I believe that history does in fact rhyme. Many people have before said that those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it and we have seen many things like this before. Throughout history we have seen similar circumstances brought on by similar issues all over the world. In Weimar we were witness to a failing government system, political chaos, economic uncertainty, and discrimination. This build up of bad factors resulted in a failing society which latched onto dangerous ideology, ultimately leading to the full on collapse of democracy in 1933. Events from the past always have faint similarities to the present events going on in our lives even if they aren’t exactly the same, with similar wars being fought constantly along with similar government policies and events. There are some faint similarities many talk about when comparing present day USA to Weimar Germany and those main ones are: economic uncertainty, discrimination, and political divide and chaos. People like to make the comparison with our current president to Hitler as well because he is one who is very charismatic and can swoop people up towards his side which has clearly worked because he has many devout followers who are both regular people and politicians. These comparisons also stem from Trump’s tendency to lie about many things both in and out of the government. There is also a strong political divide in the USA much like how there was in Weimar Germany where people are unable to see the other side of the political spectrum and it can end up creating huge divides even among friends and family. Along with these comparisons there is economic uncertainty in the air although not as bad as it was in Weimar Germany. Right now prices are rising in the United States and it is becoming harder for many to stay afloat which was also the truth in Weimar although significantly worse. I feel that there is definitely some correlation between the present day United States and Weimar Republic I do not think that these correlations are as bad as many make it out to seem as we are still a country that is thriving on top.

The most compelling idea in this post is the idea that the modern USA society resembles Weimar Germany, but isn't necessarily a carbon copy. In both societies, there are examples of political chaos, economic uncertainty, and discrimination, as you mention in your post, but I believe that these issues can be applied to a wide variety of different societies. Due to this belief, I think that I agree with what you are saying. Yes, these are issues that need to be addressed, but they do not automatically mean we are a mirror image of the Weimar Republic. My own views on this situation have changed as I have read your response. At first, I understood the comparison between Trump and Hitler, but I did not entirely agree to the extent that some people were making the claim. That being said, after reading your response, I agree a lot more that there are scary parallels between the two of them. Trump's ability to lie and manipulate great masses of people into following him, without providing any real positive results, resembles Hitler a lot. I think that you did a great job at portraying your argument and connected the dots between the two societies. Your piece is well written overall, and I will carry on the idea that the Weimar Republic was a lot worse than US society is, but we still need to be conscious of these dangers to stop it before it is too late.

Originally posted by CapeCod2343 on November 12, 2025 11:33

History does, in fact, rhyme; over time, it may take more time to determine it due to it taking many different forms as time progresses. Events from the past do, in fact, have similarities to the present, even if they are not exactly the same. Taking the COVID-19 pandemic into account, this pandemic was very similar to the Spanish flu pandemic; both had huge implications for human health, and they both urged everyone to wear masks to protect themselves and their children from disease. Another example is political climates; they are always going to be times of uncertainty and political instability. Within the United States, we are able to see rhymes between the Weimar Republic and our present day. This can be seen through the declining unemployment, massive dislike of the current government, and the U.S. is currently facing skyrocketing inflation. But just because they are similar, it does not mean that the U.S is heading towards the same fate as the Weimar Republic. Currently, we have many organizations that the world did not have during the time of the Weimar Republic, like the United Nations, which is an organization that can intervene with the U.S’s actions. We also have civil action; many citizens are not afraid to stand up against their government, which was something that was not seen as much during the Republic. In addition, currently, more citizens are more educated on the different ways the government uses civil unrest to manipulate the country. For example, when there are a lot of protests, there is the tendency for them to get violent, and when they do, the president has the right to begin martial law, which means that the president can deploy military officials of states and control them, so now more people during protests are less likely to get violent.

The most compelling idea in this post is the point that it takes time to determine exactly how history will affect time but overall human behavior repeats itself even if the exact events don’t. I agree with this idea and think this post did an interesting comparison between COVID-19 and the Spanish flu, both diseases that affected people even if they were in completely different time periods. Although, I think that when discussing whether or not history repeats itself, diseases aren’t the best examples as they do not show whether or not humanity was able to learn from its actions from the past as they are typically inevitable. I also think that the event feels randomly placed within this Weimar Republic based discussion and I would have understood it more if they at least chose an event that could be compared to the main events of the Weimar Republic. The comparison between the economic instability of the United States today with how it was in the Weimar Republic was a good point to bring up. This doesn’t connect as much to the ideas that I brought up in my own post as I focused more on the social aspect like scapegoating. We both see how tension and division can create similar atmospheres across different time periods, even if the outcomes arent identical. One place where the post could be strengthened is by adding more detail or examples when explaining why the U.S. is not headed towards the same fate as the Weimar Republic.

Originally posted by josh allen on November 10, 2025 10:25

I think history absolutely “rhymes”. There are countless examples of past situations in history that have become visible years after the fact. Notably, in the 1950s in Guatemala, a sort of neo-feudalism appeared when the United Fruit Company (UFCO) owned a substantial portion of Guatemala’s land, controlled nearly all of its labor forces, owned many of its utilities, and was a major contributor to the country’s economy. Similar to feudalism in Medieval Europe, the richest minority population owned the majority of the land. There was a strict social hierarchy, with indigenous Mayan Guatemalans essentially reduced to serfdom on UFCO’s land. Although this is just one example of history “rhyming with itself” in the future, I personally believe that this phenomenon has been appearing at an increasing rate.

Currently, I do believe that the United States has rhymes with Germany’s Weimar Republic. To start, the rise of extreme authoritarian figures bears resemblance to Hitler’s rise in Germany. In The Guardian’s article “The Reich Stuff”, it is stated that “Hitler blamed Jews for Germany’s defeat in the first world war; Trump launched his 2015 campaign demonising immigrants from Mexico and continues to put border security front and centre”. Both of these authoritarian figures, Trump and Hitler, search for a scapegoat to blame the nation’s troubles on. These echoing troubles, in turn, demonstrate rhymes between the U.S. and Weimar Germany. According to ResearchGate’s study, and many others, the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar has significantly declined since 2000, nearly halving in value. This bears resemblance to the decreasing value of the German Mark during the Weimar era seen in its drastic hyperinflation. Though not nearly as severe, the economic situations in both nations still called for a scapegoat - as shown above.

Additionally, political polarization has grown to extremes, as was visible between the leftist Spartacist and the far-right Freikorps in Weimar Germany. These two polar opposites of the political spectrum had severe confrontations with the other, and vehemently denounced each other’s political viewpoints. In my website, I stated that this competition “fractured Germany's political stability and encouraged paramilitary groups”, demonstrating the repercussions that can arise from polarization and a lack of cooperation. Similarly, In the United States, the left-right division of political parties is growing wider every day, and causing more and more political and social fragmentation. This is highly evident in the current government shutdown. In order to end the shutdown, Democrats and Republicans in Congress will need to agree on a spending bill to pass. They are at the moment unable to do so, which is leading our nation further and further downhill.

As Santayana famously stated, “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. Clearly, the United States has not fully remembered it, as we are indeed rhyming with the past.

I definitely agree with my peer’s argument that the United States is increasingly rhyming with Weimar Germany. They made the point that both Hitler and Trump rely on scapegoats of a certain ethnic group to incite anger and support into people. I think it’s a common and effective tactic of folks who are trying to gain power and authority to gain followers through people’s innate need to see us vs. them. While I agree with my peer’s response that people need to remember history in order to not repeat it, I think the problem right now is more that there are people in the United States who want to repeat it. Trump is eager for power and if anything more people need to be afraid of history and need to understand the gravity of the issue. I also agree with the part of the post that talks about how the divide in political parties and social classes is rhyming with the Weimar republic. I think that my peer makes a good argument about how this division in parties is what ultimately leads to the downfall of a nation and that in order to prevent any further repercussions, the democratic and republican parties need to figure out how to agree.

Originally posted by igtvycrgfghyjjjh on November 12, 2025 01:14

History does “rhyme,” never repeating itself exactly, but instead continuing a cycle of repeating events as time progresses, as explained by Theodor Reik. Events from the past certainly do have similarities to the present, and we have learned this to be true even from the beginning of our Facing History course. For example, the Armenian genocide can be partially attributed to empirical issues which the Ottomans faced, like the fact that it was one of the “Dying Men of Europe” at a time when industrial strength of other European powers was growing rapidly. The Young Turks were quick to place blame and concentrate national hate on the Armenian population of the Ottomans because they were a religious minority, and this, among other factors like the cover of war, led to the Armenian genocide. In the process of creating websites, we learned about pre-WWII Germany and the Weimar republic. The Weimar republic was the government in place before the rise of the Nazi party and the Holocaust. Firstly, a similar pattern we can observe between these two genocides is that they happened under the cover of war. Then, from a peer’s website, I learned that the Treaty of Versailles resulted in extreme hyperinflation, followed by national poverty, in Germany. From my own website, I know that art in the decades before WWII depicted feelings of hopelessness and disillusionment. Just as the Ottoman empire was declining, Germany was in a state of turmoil before the Holocaust. Also, the Jews in Germany were targeted because they were a religious minority, just like the Armenians were in the Ottoman empire. In addition to our past, we can connect the events that occurred in the Weimar republic to present day, and could conclude that democracy in America is falling into a less dramatic, but similar pattern to Germany post WWI. The websites emphasize the financial struggles which the Weimar republic era Germans faced, and this can connect to income inequality that Americans face today, with laws being passed currently to take financial aid away from Americans that are not as wealthy as others. This is creating national discourse, just like the fighting present during the times of Weimar Germany. To conclude, Reik was right in concluding that history does rhyme, because throughout history we can observe patterns among similar issues in modern society and how humans naturally respond to them.

I really liked how you used the examples of the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust and what led to them. Overall I think this is a really great argument and was not something I had immediately thought of. I thought it was great how you connected the similar economic struggles of both countries during the times leading up to these genocides and I think it could also be good to mention how both were influenced by very convincing leaders. Like how Hitler rose to power during the Weimar years, showing a different point of view to the people and inciting nationalism, the Young Turks rose to power after a tyrant and pushed for the idea of a turkey for Turks. I also really enjoyed the comparison to present day because I also brought that into my reflection and I thought that the connection to our present political climate is similar but not as drastic. I did think that the topic sentence was a bit confusing because i felt that you contradicted yourself when saying that "History does “rhyme,” never repeating itself exactly, but instead continuing a cycle of repeating events as time progresses". In the future I would aim to more directly state your idea because this was redundant, but besides the beginning the entire reflection was a concise piece on your thoughts and gave great examples for each point.

Originally posted by StevenAdrianCharles93 on November 12, 2025 09:34

I think that history does rhyme in many ways. I think that a lot of events from the past do have similarities to what we see in the present, but of course the circumstances will be different as we evolve. I think if you look at what happened in Weimar Germany, you can definitely see the patterns that led up to the fascist leadership that took over. The fragility seen within their post WWI society is something that could have predicted what was to come. We saw in the visual essays that the war caused extreme economic problems in Germany, and created a country filled with unemployment and poverty. The people distrusted the government, and were looking for any sort of strong leadership they could grasp onto to bring Germany back to what it was. This pattern has been seen a lot in history, where struggling countries or empires look for any sort of strong authoritarian figure to take control. I think there are a lot of similarities between Weimar Germany and America today. I think when there are any sort of problems that cause harm in society, people start to blame and distrust the government, and I think that Trump is an example of a lot of people looking for a strong leadership figure to take a strong control over the country. I think that the want of that from the people allows that leader more leeway to get what they want and enact their rules as they wish. One thing where I think that the situation in America isn’t quite as close to the extreme in Germany is that the situation in Germany was considerably worse before the rise of the Nazi party. There was so much more unemployment and poverty, the situation in America wasn’t close to the same extreme. Overall what is happening in America is probably a less extreme rhyme of Weimar Germany. History definitely rhymes a lot, but hopefully as time goes on those rhymes of the faults from the past get less and less extreme. So many of the things that happened in the past should never happen again, and hopefully we eventually get to a point where nothing of the kind ever happens again.

The most compelling part of my peers' post is that it talks about how history does rhyme but in less extreme events. I agree with this idea because I believe that the world has progressed in a way that a movement like the Nazi Party is less likely to happen and get that amount of traction. I would suggest that they make their upcoming posts more clear because this post was a bit difficult to understand which deprived me of the understanding of what my peer was trying to portray in this post. They made a lot of interesting points and I liked that they ended with the hope that things would never get to how they got during the Weimar Republic.

Originally posted by sillygoose617 on November 12, 2025 16:31

I think that history almost always rhymes. As humans I think that we all often repeat the same mistakes at least a couple times in our lives, and so of course our predecessors would have similar mistakes to us. Obviously not every event is a mirror of another event but I do think that many behaviors that lead to these events are the same. The kinds of societies that facilitate them, like the unstable society of the Weimar Republic, or the mob mentality that facilitated the Nazi uprising, are seen today. It is hard to directly say one event is the exact same as another but it is helpful to recognize similarities to avoid in the future. Additionally, when there is a lack of education in the past we cannot learn from our mistakes. That is why it is so important that we should strive to teach deeply immersive history classes that also comment on the present in regards to past events. In these lessons we can highlight similarities through photographic evidence or video evidence to show rhymes but also show that it is not just a story. By seeing these images and memories, we can find even stronger connections to the past. We must highlight that these events, while they might have happened years before, are not just a story, but a lesson on right and wrong. For example, the current president, Trump, often tells lies in his speeches to gain support and the military leaders of Germany during the Weimar Republic pushed for the false theory that the government had stabbed its people in the back. The idea that Germany was winning the war, but the new liberal government intentionally made them loose was a key factor in the movement against the Weimar government. Similarly, the government today, especially Donald Trump, uses false information to rally support and help his own agenda. But as said in the Times article on “Why Should Stop Comparing the U.S. to Weimar Germany”, America is in a far better position than the Weimar republic was. Because we have many different parties recognizing what is wrong with Trump and the government, people questioning instead of staying dormant, we have a chance to avoid this scary repetition of history.

I agree with your statements about whether or not history rhymes and how history can repeat itself because that’s how the world works and even humans can make the same mistakes in their lifetime. With this, I agree that a main idea that has been repeated is the unstable society of the Weimar Republic as well as the mob mentality of the Nazis. I also stated these ideas in my post because I agree with them highly. The most compelling idea you made is the lack of education we as a nation are receiving in terms of political education. There should in fact be history classes that connect the past to the present to help us learn from our past mistakes. This connects to what I stated in my post about how the power of political propaganda and misinformation is a constant repetition of the danger of society. This relates to what you said about the Weimar Republic myth about how they stab others in the back. My views are similar as I mentioned how it is important to measure human behavior on behalf of tragedies that have persisted over the past years and see how they connect back to events from the past. Overall, your thoughts are clear and consistent and I understand where they are coming from.

Originally posted by BlueMermaid on November 11, 2025 23:09

It is said that while people learn from history and try not to repeat the exact events, ceratin patterns will still be recurring throughout. In other words, history may not play out the same, but it is driven by human nature so it is bound to mimic some social dynamics. After World War I the Weimar Republic of Germany had to deal with a ruined economy, unstable government, and people desperate for change. The atmosphere of anger led people to turn to fascist extremist groups like the Nazi Party. These events aren’t just specific towards Germany despite their being a lot of circumstantial pressures like the War and the Treaty of Versailles. This cycle of instability and scapegoating happens in other times and places often. If we look at present day U.S. we can a similar cycle of political polarization after the election between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. The country seems to be more divided than ever before, with people often only being able to identify with being far left or far right, with little room to compromise. This sort of deep division, where neither sides seem willing to meet in the middle, mirrors the situation in the Weimar Republic, where the country was never fully united and there was constant fighting. Another clear “rhyme” between the Weimar period and today is the rise of anti-immigrant rhetoric. In the Weimar republic Jewish people were often scapegoated and blamed for mny of Germany’s economic problems. There is a similar pattern in todays U.S. where immigrants, particularly hispanic immigrants, are being targeted and scapegoated in ways similar to the Jewish people in the Weimar Republic. This issue was fueled immensely by Trump’s campaign and administration that often tries to frame immigrants as criminals and exxagerates how by commiting a mass deportation, jobs will be freed up for Americans.The way immigrants are treated today also has a disturbing comparison to the dehuminization of minority groups in pre-Nazi Germany as ICE is speculated to be unfairly targeting even legal Hispanic immigrants in their mission to fill Trumps deportation quota. Instead of challenging the government through any seriously notable artistic movements, Americans seem to be protesting the more traditional way: large groups coming together and protesting, showing that there is strength in numbers. Although there are many similarities between the present day U.S and Weimar Germany, there still remain some key differences that fuel the hope that we will not meet a similar fate to Weimar. The United States has fairly strong legal system and institutions that are specifically made to prevent the rise of an authoritarian government. In other words, to my knowledge, there aren't any obvious loopholes like Article 48 of the Weimar constitution.

I absolutely agree with the conjecture that history's tendency to rhyme follows from certain facets of human nature—whatever those may be. In my own post, I posited one such 'facet' as the human quest for various orders of stability (e.g. social, economic), and am curious as to any other things you might've had in mind.

I also find your connections made between Weimar Germany and the United States not only insightful, but immensely relevant, too. It is no secret that hate directed at minority groups has become a thing inescapable—moreover, that this hate has amassed into what we're seeing today with ICE does truly, and unfortunately, sound with a similar frequency as that which was heard during the Weimar Republic. I pray that the shrill does not fall upon deaf ears.

You seem to yet hold hope out for the future on the basis that there "still remain some key differences" between today's U.S. and yesterday's Weimar; I seem to be inclined to agree with you once more. And our optimisms are not baseless: it is empirically true that U.S. governance lacks such an obvious pitfall as that of the Weimar Constitution's Article 48. But only time will tell.

Originally posted by star.gazing on November 11, 2025 09:41

In theory history rhymes. Not entirely the same but there are so many common themes and repetitive aspects of society throughout history, and in essence there are constant warnings yet history is constantly repeating itself. We can see throughout history a consistent cycle that fluctuates between violence and progressiveness. A constant natural human desire for violence is very present throughout human history and war is repetitive, oppression prominent, and revenge ever present. History may not rhyme in methods or in the actual event, but the general reasoning and the concepts are very repetitive. The desire to have war based on factions or war based on revenge for any violence inflicted, its constant, and borderline unnecessary, and it all culminated into World War 1. There are definitely rhymes between the Weimar Republic and modern America but also globally. The Weimar Republic was so generally unstable that it created the perfect environment for authoritarianism to take hold. Focusing in on the political divide, there were so many political factions that for the most part all distrusted the central government, but this also caused inter-faction chaos and violence, and we can see that in modern America with every aspect of life having to be involved with one's political beliefs, the US is so politically factioned that when something doesn't go right for one's own political party it often results in some form of hate speech and politically backed violence, as seen with the January 6th insurrection, the murder of two democratic lawmakers, the death of Charlie Kirk, and online hate tweets spewed from both sides of the main parties. There is also a lot of modern Gen-Z turning to Socialism or becoming extreme-conservatives and that just becomes even more divisive as those are on completely different sides of the political spectrum. “To its credit, the Weimar Republic was founded in razed soil: to oversee the recovery of a nation devastated on all fronts is a herculean task. It is of less surprise, then, that an experiment in governance was here so susceptible” (Dickey) This quote is also applicable to the current American government, having to rebuild after Covid and also the immense political divide and systemic division that the US constantly faces. So in essence any country that is facing any kind of instability has the groundwork for the rise of authoritarianism and fascism.

A lot of what you said connects to other posts too. Especially your discussion of political factions. Several people also talk about how polarization talks

A lot of what you said connects to other posts too, especially your discussion about political factions. Several people also talked about how polarization today makes it harder for people to work together, which fits with your comparison of modern America and the Weimar Republic. Your mention of how every part of life has become political really ties into the idea that division isn’t just in government—it’s everywhere.

My own views are pretty similar to yours. I also see the “rhyming” parts of history, even when events aren’t exactly the same. The only area where I felt your post could be even stronger is in giving a little more background for some of the modern examples you brought up. A bit more explanation would make the comparisons even clearer.response here.