# If you lived in the late 1930s in Germany when would you decide it is time to leave the country? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [September 30, 2025, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-lived-in-the-late-1930s-in-germany-when-would-you-decide-it-is-time-to-leave-the-country/1023507 "2025-09-30T05:08:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-lived-in-the-late-1930s-in-germany-when-would-you-decide-it-is-time-to-leave-the-country/1023507/61 "2025-10-01T13:09:41Z")
You do realize that buying houses will drive property values up? Yo do realize that governments may or may not be able/willing to use that money you paid to fix the housing problem? You do realize that having a bunch of foreigners use their hard currency to buy the best properties may irk the locals a bit? Immigration is good, but it has its downsides as anything else. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-lived-in-the-late-1930s-in-germany-when-would-you-decide-it-is-time-to-leave-the-country/1023507/62 "2025-10-01T13:11:48Z")
If there is demand for housing then why aren’t people building housing? This is Econ-101 stuff. ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-lived-in-the-late-1930s-in-germany-when-would-you-decide-it-is-time-to-leave-the-country/1023507/63 "2025-10-01T13:17:49Z")
I told you- permitting, zoning, and NIMBY. I can’t believe we’re arguing this- it’s about as well trodden a discussion as the weather. Most of the Western World has a housing shortage, and it’s because governments (and “I got mine” residents) have made it extremely difficult to build. Are you really rejecting this? It’s pretty common knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-lived-in-the-late-1930s-in-germany-when-would-you-decide-it-is-time-to-leave-the-country/1023507/64 "2025-10-01T13:18:55Z")
> [@OldOlds](#): > > I told you- permitting, zoning, and NIMBY. Then it is not about immigrants. It is about a broken government. You just want to blame immigrants. ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-lived-in-the-late-1930s-in-germany-when-would-you-decide-it-is-time-to-leave-the-country/1023507/65 "2025-10-01T13:19:41Z")
OK. Sure. Tell that to all the MAGA-equivalent when they are angry with you. I’m sure they’ll listen. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-lived-in-the-late-1930s-in-germany-when-would-you-decide-it-is-time-to-leave-the-country/1023507/66 "2025-10-01T13:20:04Z")
Also building houses takes time, a sudden influx of people will drive prices up at the very least until enough new houses are built. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-lived-in-the-late-1930s-in-germany-when-would-you-decide-it-is-time-to-leave-the-country/1023507/67 "2025-10-01T13:20:10Z")
No argument with that. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-lived-in-the-late-1930s-in-germany-when-would-you-decide-it-is-time-to-leave-the-country/1023507/68 "2025-10-01T15:25:15Z")
Frankly, if you lived in the late 30’s in Germany and still had more than enough money, you probably weren’t among those who desperately needed to escape the country. Usually, being Jewish meant that your businesses, jobs and rights were taken away, and it also meant that a lot of other countries weren’t going to go out of their way to let you emigrate and quite a few would openly oppose it. “I’ve got plenty of money and I’ll have no problem leaving the country and going elsewhere with it” was not something said very often. [Jewish Emigration From Germany (1933 - 1939)](https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jewish-emigration-from-germany-1933-1939) from the Jewish Virtual Library. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-lived-in-the-late-1930s-in-germany-when-would-you-decide-it-is-time-to-leave-the-country/1023507/69 "2025-10-01T15:33:01Z")
“A bridge too far for tRump” – gosh, where have I heard that before? If only **adaher** were here now … ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-lived-in-the-late-1930s-in-germany-when-would-you-decide-it-is-time-to-leave-the-country/1023507/70 "2025-10-01T15:36:10Z")
If you are trying to decide when it is finally time to go, please remember that Germany eventually forbade emigration so, lucky you, you might not ever get to make such a decision. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-lived-in-the-late-1930s-in-germany-when-would-you-decide-it-is-time-to-leave-the-country/1023507/71 "2025-10-01T17:22:24Z")
In many countries, capital controls meant you couldn’t take your money with you, or you had to pay an exit tax (and we are thinking about going back to the latter). ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-lived-in-the-late-1930s-in-germany-when-would-you-decide-it-is-time-to-leave-the-country/1023507/72 "2025-10-01T18:28:00Z")
You still have to pay an exit tax in the USA if you renounce your citizenship. If you just leave, you don’t have to pay an exit tax, but you do have to continue paying income tax (with a largish exemption for most countries). ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-lived-in-the-late-1930s-in-germany-when-would-you-decide-it-is-time-to-leave-the-country/1023507/73 "2025-10-01T18:33:56Z")
The trouble is that none of that is set in stone. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-lived-in-the-late-1930s-in-germany-when-would-you-decide-it-is-time-to-leave-the-country/1023507/74 "2025-10-01T18:38:41Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Which got me wondering, when is it people need to decide it is time to leave the country? Not because they should but, rather, for their own safety? Arguably, we’re already at the point that Latino and trans people should be seriously considering leaving. I’m not sure whose next on the Niemöller watch other than “antifa” but I’m not entirely sure how that’s defined in the current climate. If the Jan 6 insurrection had succeeded that would be a tipping point for me. Probably the next checkpoint for me is the mid-terms. Unless something happens before then. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-lived-in-the-late-1930s-in-germany-when-would-you-decide-it-is-time-to-leave-the-country/1023507/75 "2025-10-01T18:45:12Z")
There’s a very unlikely probability that the company I work for will offer me the possibility of relocating to the U.S. for a while for work. As unlikely as that probability is, it is absolutely impossible that I would agree, no matter how well paid. Anybody who moves to the U.S. voluntarily at this point is playing Russian roulette with his life and those of any family member that goes with him. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-lived-in-the-late-1930s-in-germany-when-would-you-decide-it-is-time-to-leave-the-country/1023507/76 "2025-10-01T18:52:01Z")
Just make sure that your personal tipping point isn’t blocked by your abilities to both emigrate and immigrate. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-lived-in-the-late-1930s-in-germany-when-would-you-decide-it-is-time-to-leave-the-country/1023507/77 "2025-10-01T19:03:33Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Democracy is backsliding in the US, but even with the backsliding, we’re still doing better than we were in the 1970s. This is true, but are you aware that the chart you’ve posted only goes up to 2024? Here’s a short excerpt of what [the report it’s drawn from](https://v-dem.net/documents/61/v-dem-dr__2025_lowres_v2.pdf) says about the backslide: > [@V-DEM Democracy Report 2025](#): > > **USA – A DEMOCRATIC BREAKDOWN IN THE MAKING?** > > The scale of what is happening in the US is unprecedented and prompts a closer look at what seems to be the fastest evolving episode of autocratization the USA has been through in modern history. Unfortunately, the just released V-Dem data only cover events until 31 December 2024, so we must rely on other sources. Processes of autocratization during the last 25 years have typically evolved gradually with democratically elected leaders dismantling constraints on executive power by “executive aggrandizement,” and each step becoming the “new normal”. President Trump operates openly and acts rapidly to the extent that even cautious analysts like Professor Steven Levitsky say the regime is now some type of authoritarianism… > > Democracy took a beating during President Trump’s first time in office. The LDI fell from 0.85 to 0.73 in those four years, bringing the country back to its 1976 level – far below the regional average… President Biden was installed and American democracy survived, but did not recover fully… It is now _weaker_ than when Trump took office in 2017 and is being attacked a lot _more_ than before… > > As of the time of writing, Trump has been in office for six weeks. The speed with which American democracy is coming under strain has taken many observers by surprise. The expansion of executive power, undermining of Congress’ power of the purse, offensives on independent and counter-veiling institutions and the media, as well as purging and dismantling of state institutions – classic strategies of autocratizers – seem to be in action. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-lived-in-the-late-1930s-in-germany-when-would-you-decide-it-is-time-to-leave-the-country/1023507/78 "2025-10-01T21:48:18Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Just make sure that your personal tipping point isn’t blocked by your abilities to both emigrate and immigrate. I’m kind of screwed with the “emigrate” thing because apparently no one wants a middle-aged cancer survivor on the brink of retirement who is not also bringing along a small fortune. I have to weigh staying and trying to survive against trying to go elsewhere and survive as someone without permission to be in the new location permanently. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-lived-in-the-late-1930s-in-germany-when-would-you-decide-it-is-time-to-leave-the-country/1023507/79 "2025-10-01T22:11:44Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Cities that lose population over time diminish (see: Detroit, MI). Cities that grow thrive (see: Charlotte, NC). Detroit didn’t diminish because it lost population - it lost population because it became a cesspit. I speak as someone who lived in the area and witnessed/experienced it first hand. And while you say you’ll be nothing but a benefit if housing is tight then you occupying housing that might have gone to someone already there is an issue. If it’s just _one_ immigrant probably not a bit issue but if there are many it will be a problem. It’s all well and good to say “you can build more housing” but if it was that easy we wouldn’t have middle-class people living in vans in some parts of the US. > [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > If I were going to move to another country I would make it a priority to become fluent in the local language. I am not adept at learning languages but I’d be sure to become fluent in the local language no matter how much work it took me to do so. That would be most likely around 2 years IF you were diligent about it and didn’t retreat into an ex-pat enclave. You need to immerse yourself in local life and use the new language daily. I had been studying French for 5 years before I went to visit there and while I could definitely communicate at best I’d describe my French as “broken” - rather like the US immigrants who have some command of English but with heavy accents and, uh, “creative” grammar. The French appreciated my efforts when I was a visitor. I’m not sure how thrilled they’d be to have me moved next door on a permanent basis. > [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Naw…it’s not naive. It is politics. If I moved to New Zealand and wrote a check to the government for more than a New Zealand citizen would have paid in a lifetime how am I being the bad guy moving there? If the government does not use that new money to help a New Zealander that’s on them. Not seeing how I am the bad guy in this. Spoken like an American…. No, money does not solve everything. > [@OldOlds](#): > > Around here there’s plenty of money, but still not enough housing. The issue is indeed politics (largely permitting, zoning, and NIMBY), but writing a check won’t fix that. ^ An all too common situation. > [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > If there is demand for housing then why aren’t people building housing? This is Econ-101 stuff. Zoning restrictions, selfishness, absentee investors buying properties as “investments” rather than homes, cost of construction, regulations, lack of skilled labor needed to build them, cost of borrowing money to purchase property… ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2025, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-lived-in-the-late-1930s-in-germany-when-would-you-decide-it-is-time-to-leave-the-country/1023507/80 "2025-10-02T11:32:56Z")
If it was easy to satisfy the demand for something by just building more of it, people would have done it already. Land - they aren’t making any more of it. ‘Someone’ owns it - if they aren’t inclined to sell it, what then? Seize the land and build on it anyway? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-lived-in-the-late-1930s-in-germany-when-would-you-decide-it-is-time-to-leave-the-country/1023507.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-lived-in-the-late-1930s-in-germany-when-would-you-decide-it-is-time-to-leave-the-country/1023507.md?page=5)