This election conjures up haunting memories. During my classroom teaching career my students and I studied Germany of the 1920s, ’30s, and ’40s. Those horrific nightmare years open a window into how a democratic society, based on the rule of law, can vote itself into a lawless society – without the majority of its citizens intending to do so.

How did it happen? We must look to Hitler and his assault on the rule of law. Attempting to overthrow Germany’s democratic government in 1923, he placed himself above the law. He resorted to force by inciting a violent mob. His attempt failed. He declared the mob members innocent and patriots, later praising them in “Mein Kampf “: “how these lads did fight!”

At his trial for his illegal act, he spouted a lengthy, repetitious, grievance-laden diatribe portraying himself as the victim sacrificing for others. Convicted, he claimed he was innocent, the judicial system corrupt.

So it is with Trump. Indicted four times in four different jurisdictions, his assault on the law is well documented both in word and deed. Claiming he was the winner of the 2020 election, he pronounced the legal vote corrupt. He summoned and implored a mob to storm our Capitol in an effort to foil the people’s vote. His attempt failed. He praised those mob members, convicted in a court of law, as “unbelievable patriots” and promises to pardon them if he comes to power.

Tried and convicted at his trial involving hush money payment to a porn star, Trump portrayed himself the victim in a rambling speech full of grievance, claiming, “If they can do this to me, they can do it to anyone.” He declared the trial “rigged,” the judge “corrupt.”

Once Hitler was in power in Germany, lawlessness ruled the land. Citizens found they had no protection from threats, loss of jobs, informants, or the knock on the door in the dark of night that could lead to arrest, torture and jail. Even those who had once supported Hitler could be turned on at his whim.

No one was safe. Thus it can happen when a leader acts untethered by the law.

Witness the fate of Mike Pence a century later. No follower had been more loyal to his leader. Yet one disagreement with Trump placed Pence’s life in grave danger.

Today, Trump proposes “revenge,” “retribution” and “jail” for those he perceives as his enemies should he come to power. Not the language of one committed to the rule of law.

Germany’s experience with lawlessness took a course that created a human catastrophe beyond the scope of human comprehension. Witness the horrific scenes in the camps our brave troops, to their horror, came upon while fighting their way into Germany in 1945. Viewing such indescribable scenes, these men held no doubt as to the possible consequences in a society unprotected by the law.

Scenes our American commander, Gen. Eisenhower, ordered preserved on movie footage so that this absolute depravity, this inhumanity would never be remembered and never denied. Complying with this directive, our occupying forces commanded German citizens to view the footage. Footage that years later proved to be a somber educational message in the classroom. We might do well to steel ourselves to view it today. Sordid testimony to a society deprived protection from the rule of law.

To their grave misfortune, Germans were unaware of what they were getting into under a leader who held no regard for the law. Once they knew, it was too late. There was no way out. Democracy and the rule of law were never again on the ballot. There were no ballots.

Trump has declared: “In four years you don’t have to vote again.”

Experiencing this election cycle I can empathize, better than I ever did in the classroom, with those tormented German citizens who once struggled to preserve a society based on the rule of law.

JD Vance once pondered: is Trump “America’s Hitler”?

Not if we, citizens of a democracy, deny him our vote.