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Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
Comment
Ken Burns, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein

Commentary: Americans fueled the rise of Nazis and the Holocaust. Will we learn from that shameful chapter?

Today, in America, we stand at a peculiar and frightening crossroads.

We are witnessing the rising appeal of authoritarianism abroad and at home, we are bombarded by social media outlets that spread divisive falsehoods and hatred, and, a mere two months before midterm elections, we find our democracy itself under attack.

We have spent our careers as filmmakers looking at our nation’s past to deepen our understanding of who we are as Americans and trying to build a stronger version of what we hope to become. This endeavor now seems in peril. As a country, we seem unwilling, even uninterested, in nurturing from the tangled roots of our past a better future.

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