“The far right made big gains in European elections,” reads the Associated Press’s headline on last week’s elections to the European Union parliament. Lest you wonder why you should dread gains by the “far right,” the lead sentence of the article notes that the EU has “roots in the defeat of Nazi Germany and fascist Italy.”

For many readers, that juxtaposition is a reminder of the sharp rise in Nazi party percentages in Weimar Republic elections from 3% in 1928 to 18% in 1930, 33% and 37% in 1932, and 43% in 1933.