September 26, 2006 - 1:00am
By Ben Birnbaum
Deckhead:
Infomaniacs Anonymous
Body:
It’s the question that plagues every high school student who learns in history class about the rise of Hitler and the Nazis:
How could the world be so clueless?
We’ve heard the story:
Hitler bucked the international community again and again. And, with each transgression, European leaders and diplomats protested loudly, but did little. By the time that England and France declared war on Germany, of course, it was too late: The whole of Europe was ripe for Nazi invasion, and my grandparents and millions of other Jews were already being carted off like animals to the concentration camps.