In 1923 Adolf Hitler and his fellow conspirators marched on the Feldherrnhalle, also known as both the “Beer Hall Putsch” and “The Munich Putsch.” Several of the Nazis died and Adolf himself was in a few days arrested and sentenced to five years in Landsberg Prison for high treason, a prison designated as a light form of punishment for prisoners.
    What would have happened if his conviction for treason had been taken more seriously? In 20’s Germany high treason could have received the death penalty. If a gallows was used for immediate justice, or after a quick trial a firing squad?
    Instead, as we all know, Hitler became Der Fuhrer and the horrors began.
    What if he had NOT actually gone to the Feldherrnhalle?
    What if he had done what he could to go but had been held back by some of his followers, people in his group, yet justice was served all the same. Just like he who drives bank robbers to a robbery, tells them if resisted to “fight like hell,” and many were hurt, even just a few. One died immediately, more died later.
    If Hitler had been convicted and executed in short order would WWII have not happened?
    Admittedly Butterfly Effect scenarios are hard to predict, but without Adolf Hitler given the chance to make a comeback, even without being executed but receiving a far harsher sentence, it seems unlikely Germany would have dove deep into White Nationalism, or Nazism if you wish.
    What if they had built a gallows right there and hanged Hitler and some of his most committed traitors. Would the cult have even found sold ground, instead been a minor footnote, viewed as insignificant crackpots as many were in the early 20’s? Treated like we treated the conspirators who plotted the assassination of Lincoln and others in the 1800’s?
    One thing has become apparent even now in 2024, just like it should have been apparent in 1923, or after Reconstruction fell apart: kindness when adjudicating, compassionate penalties, forgiveness, gentle sentences may SEEM the way to heal. Sometimes any of that merely encourages the worst among us to do whatever, no matter how bad, to win through what some dare call peace. The South was like that, especially after Grant had to give up on Reconstruction. WWI did not stop WWII. Korea didn’t stop Vietnam or moderate the leaders of North Korea.
    I respect the hell out of Abe Lincoln, but forgiveness merely extended the problems to some extent into today.
    Hindsight seem to indicate sometimes the best, unfortunate, response to conspiracy, whether it be on on a smaller level, or the leaders of a wayward nation, might be make an example of them with swift justice.
    Hoping they’ve “learned their lesson” doesn’t work. They just use all that to destroy freedom and the lives of anyone but their fanatical, cultish base.
    Seems to me we should learn from history: when we don’t hold leaders and potential leaders responsible that’s when far worse things happen. When justice for the powerful, the rich, the influential, the leaders of extreme movements are held to little or no standards freedom dies and the world suffers. This what happens when history’s echoes get ignored.

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    “Inspection” is a column that has been written by Ken Carman for over 50 years. Inspection is dedicated to looking at odd angles, under all the rocks and into the unseen cracks and crevasses that constitute the issues and philosophical constructs of our day: places few think, or even dare, to venture.
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