The dream of a white, blond-haired, blue-eyed ‘master race’ didn’t originate with Adolf Hitler. This idea was implemented in the United States decades before Hitler rose to power by American eugenicists, who sterilized tens of thousands of Americans through the 1970s, barred the marriage of thousands, and segregated others.

The Jim Crow laws, which lasted from the post-Civil War era until around 1968 and were passed to legalize the marginalization of Black Americans, were also of great interest to Hitler. His lawyers “perfected” them to create the Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor and the Reich Citizenship Law. Together, these were known as the Nuremberg Laws, and they laid the legal groundwork for the persecution of Jewish people during the Holocaust.

Since our laws and policies inspired Adolf Hitler, it should come as no surprise that on February 20, 1939, the German American Bund, which was openly supportive of Hitler and the rise of fascism in Europe, held an event at Madison Square Garden attended by 20,000 Americans. The rally was a sick, twisted mix of white supremacy, fascist ideology, and American patriotism.

In the United States, we think of ourselves as a country of patriots devoted to democratic principles who helped win World War II. It’s certainly true our efforts helped turn the tide when we entered the war in 1941.

It’s also important to remember that our policies and laws inspired Adolf Hitler, and that the sentiments behind those policies persist to this day.

I wrote The Sunflower House to show one woman’s resistance during one of the darkest times in modern human history. When my protagonist, Allina, is forced to work as a nurse at a Nazi ‘baby factory’ called Hochland Home, she must hide her Jewish identity to survive. Despite the book’s dark themes, I remain hopeful – and grateful for the tiny bits of light uncovered while researching the book, in the stories of people who helped those at risk during the war. I’m also hopeful because those stories prove that the human race demonstrates the capacity to pull itself back from the brink of insanity.

But we can’t forget that during World War II, too many paid the price before we turned against fascism and Nazism. Six million Jews and millions of others – including Black people who lived in Germany, Poles, the Romani, the disabled, homosexual men, political opponents (labeled as communists), and Jehovah’s Witnesses, among others – perished while others cast their eyes aside.

Today, we face rising fascism, antisemitism, radical forms of nationalism such as White Christian Nationalism, and the hatred of people of differing ideologies and lifestyles. White Christian Nationalism is nothing new – it’s been repackaged over centuries, rose in the early 20th century both here in the U.S. and abroad, and is on the rise again today. The parallels are unmistakable.

It’s important to recognize our own thoughts and prejudices – and to act to help those who are in harm’s way. Only then can we hope to keep from repeating history.

Interactive Resources

I hope you’ll take the time to review these video, audio, and written resources.

• This History Channel article, How the Nazis Were Inspired by Jim Crow, gives a good summary and contains helpful links for further research.
  
  
• These two videos from PBS The American Experience, American Eugenics and the Nazi Regime, detail how American eugenics efforts inspired Adolf Hitler, and the ultimate result.
  
  
• This article from NPR, When Nazis Took Manhattan, explains the events of that evening, and there’s a 7-minute podcast at the top of the article that is both informative and chilling.
  
  
• This video from YouTube, A Night at the Garden, will let you see and hear parts of that rally.
  
  
• This article from the Christian History Institute, The Church of the Bystanders, takes a look at how little Christian churches and church leaders did to oppose Adolf Hitler — and how they were much more concerned about saving themselves than protesting the tragedies that unfolded around them.
  
  
• This article from Time Magazine, The Roots of Christian Nationalism Go Back Further Than You Think, give historical context to the roots of White Christian Nationalism in the United States.
  
  
• This video from YouTube, How White Christian Nationalism Threatens Democracy, is a panel discussion co-sponsored by Georgetown’s Center on Faith and Justice and the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. The Panelists take a deep and compelling dive into: (1) where White Christian Nationalism came from and how it is fundamentally different from Christianity, (2) what its adherents want, (3) how it seeks to overturn the idea that the United States should be a multi-religious and multiracial democracy.
  

[Edits made to include information about White Christian Nationalism on April 26, 2025.]