ABSTRACT
A growing trend in character assassination and ‘enmification’ is the reductio ad Hitlerum, an attempt to invalidate someone else’s position on the basis that the same view was held by Adolf Hitler. More emotional than analytical, the deployment of reductio ad Hitlerum allows for vilifying enemies and celebrating one’s own moral high ground. In this chapter, I analyse the contentions of ‘Nazism’ used to discredit the political agendas and personalities of several leaders, Donald Trump, Angela Merkel and Vladimir Putin, and the war over the notion of ‘fascism’ between Russia and Ukraine. This hyperbole reveals the extent to which the Nazi period remains a critical compass in all Western societies to define the good and the bad. The current trend of trivializing references to Hitler has dangerous repercussions for political life and civic consensus.
