Excellent article, Lauren, but I would add one more important point. You claim that a substantial portion or majority of Germans repressed the abhorrent nature of Nazism as regards Jews, Poles, the mentally challenged, etc. I think this is letting the German people off the hook too easily. Hitler was able to allow people to express and act on the unthinkable but underlying sentiments of the populous. Under the surface, the populous already had feelings of antisemitism (among other things) taught in their homes, supported in society and taught in their churches. Hitler allowed the masses to bring those sentiments to the surface. In fact, he encouraged it. There is little evidence that the German people had to be forced to accept such thinking and the subsequent policies.
There is much more to be said on this subject.Since racism is taught, one wonders if the mass of the German psyche has been rehabilitated in the Germany of today. I am a boomer. My thinking was undoubtedly influenced by my parents. I, in turn, influenced my kids and they, in turn are influencing their children. Has the fall of the Reich precipitated a fundamental change in thinking (a thinking that is decades and centuries old)? Have the folks of my parents and grandparents generation changed there thinking about Jews, for example? If not, what did they pass along to their children and children's children through offhand comments or conversations? I wish my thinking were different but I have trouble believing the underlying racism and antisemitism of the 1930's and 40's is truly gone and not just shoved to the back of the closet. When I talk to a person from Germany today, I can't help but wonder what he might be thinking just under the surface. When I see someone my age, I wonder if his parents supported the most vile elements of the Nazi cause. Did they pass that thinking to their children -- my peers? Did they pass it along to their children -- the peers of my kids? I wish I did not think this way.
Coming to the present day, Trump did not create the racism, antisemitism, anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant sentiments in this country. Rather, he saw that it was already widespread in our country but just below the surface. He did not force people to accept it. His appeal to this segment of the population as his base works because he tells them that their feelings are legitimate, acceptable and morally acceptable. He gives permission for the most vile biases in our society to be perfectly acceptable and even encouraged through his hateful speech and Twitter posts.
