Why a professor of fascism left the US: 'The lesson of 1933 is - you get out'

[muriel_volestrangler]

She finds the whole idea absurd. To Prof Marci Shore, the notion that the Guardian, or anyone else, should want to interview her about the future of the US is ridiculous. She’s an academic specialising in the history and culture of eastern Europe and describes herself as a “Slavicist”, yet here she is, suddenly besieged by international journalists keen to ask about the country in which she insists she has no expertise: her own. “It’s kind of baffling,” she says.

In fact, the explanation is simple enough. Last month, Shore, together with her husband and fellow scholar of European history, Timothy Snyder, and the academic Jason Stanley, made news around the world when they announced that they were moving from Yale University in the US to the University of Toronto in Canada. It was not the move itself so much as their motive that garnered attention. As the headline of a short video op-ed the trio made for the New York Times put it, “We Study Fascism, and We’re Leaving the US”.

Starkly, Shore invoked the ultimate warning from history. “The lesson of 1933 is: you get out sooner rather than later.” She seemed to be saying that what had happened then, in Germany, could happen now, in Donald Trump’s America – and that anyone tempted to accuse her of hyperbole or alarmism was making a mistake. “My colleagues and friends, they were walking around and saying, ‘We have checks and balances. So let’s inhale, checks and balances, exhale, checks and balances.’ I thought, my God, we’re like people on the Titanic saying, ‘Our ship can’t sink. We’ve got the best ship. We’ve got the strongest ship. We’ve got the biggest ship.’ And what you know as a historian is that there is no such thing as a ship that can’t sink.”
...
How bad does she think it could get? Matter-of-factly, she says: “My fear is we’re headed to civil war.” She restates a basic truth about the US. “There’s a lot of guns. There’s a lot of gun violence. There’s a habituation to violence that’s very American, that Europeans don’t understand.” Her worry is that the guns are accompanied by a new “permissiveness” that comes from the top, that was typified by Trump’s indulgence of the January 6 rioters, even those who wanted to murder his vice-president. As she puts it: “You can feel that brewing.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/16/why-a-professor-of-fascism-left-the-us-the-lesson-of-1933-is-you-get-out

She admits that part of the reason was also that she didn't know if she'd have the physical courage to stand up to, say, ICE invading her lecture to snatch a student. She is Jewish, and grew up around Holocaust survivors.

[S/V Loner]

1. I get it but something about running...

doesn’t sit well with me.

[Balatro]

2. I assume, for these scholars, it is due to their work on the subject and protentional retaliation.

and their high profile. In 1933, scholars and professors were targeted. I understand the need for solidarity, but if I were a professor on this topic and a ripe target for retaliation, I would probably consider bailing out also.

[slightlv]

3. I get it fully

And its just an exercise of academics for me since I'm too old and not rich.. not even what you'd call somewhat well off...for any country to accept me. My only hope is some decent countries offer those of us asylum. I'm old, not Christian, with a gender fluid grandson living with us. I can see trump et alia taking our SS leaving us nothing, I can also see signs of the Satanic Panic of the 1980s rearing it's ugly head again. And don't put hands to my grandson. Half the time I'm convincing him not to suicide for the harassment he already gets. I'm not gonna see it get worse for him. If there was anywhere decent we could start over we would. In a heartbeat.

[bronxiteforever]

4. My best thoughts are with you and your grandchild.

Everyone has the right to be free to live their lives and pursue happiness. Stay well and may your grandson be protected.
“Where liberty is, there is my country." - Benjamin Franklin

[S/V Loner]

10. I hear you. Take care.

[FailureToCommunicate]

5. Some of the best resistance fighters in WWll had fled their country, got training, and returned to

cause havoc against the Nazis wherever they could.

Just saying.

[WhiteTara]

6. I grew up in post war Austria and learned that those

Who left early had a better life. Those who stayed or left with only the clothes on their backs, were not so lucky.

[moniss]

7. Even before the inauguration there were people

here on DU and other places sounding the alarm. People from vulnerable groups need to really consider an alternative plan to living in the US. We are only about 5 months into this horror and we have US citizens being grabbed off the street and the US military deployed against us. They have already labeled and identified the people they think are "other" and placed "blame" on them for budget deficits and they are moving to make massive cuts that will result in severe harm to many in those groups.

They already have identified and enacted words that cannot be spoken, things that cannot be said and books that are not allowed. They have already enacted restrictions on the medicines and procedures to keep you well. They have already attacked unions and enacted restrictions to weaken them.

They have already attacked our relationships with our strongest allies and alienated them. They have already gone after and enacted damage to regulations regarding health, safety and the environment. They have already openly defied court orders. They have already neutered the Legislative branch of government. They have already gone after specific academics and students. They have already banned anyone from a large number of countries from being able to travel here. They have already attacked and are carrying out an ongoing war against our institutions of higher learning.

This is all after about 5 months. What does a rational person think is coming down the road from irrational, racist fascists?

[Hope22]

9. I give it a year and we won't recognize this place....

….barring some extreme intervention.

[moniss]

11. I'm expecting that before too long they will

begin to enact a list of people who are not allowed to leave without being scrutinized. Such as scientists in certain fields.

[Hope22]

12. The US already has exit checkpoints when US cars are heading to Canada.

An unusual practice. Whether it is simple intimidation, monitoring females who may be seeking medical care or scrutinizing professions, it isn’t a good sign.

[Hope22]

8. For personal safety Toronto is not far enough.

I can see T striking that just out of spite. The same way they continue to threaten Greenland…just out of spite. The end will be messy! IMO