Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party didn’t simply take Germany by force. They were voted in.

While it’s easy to forget or misunderstand this, during the 1932 federal elections, nearly 14 million Germans voted for Hitler, the Nazis, and fascism.

It’s a dark, dirty secret of history that we don’t like to acknowledge, but the rise of German fascism began with a democratic election. People came out in droves and cast their votes to give the Reichstag to the Nazis — and they really believed that they were making the right choice.