I remember being taught this in school and finding it a very weird thing to say, almost like an excuse for genocide. Then recently I found out it is not taught everywhere, that this idea was based off a book by Keynes, that most modern historians now think the Great Depression was the big reason instead of Versailles--penalties had been partially forgiven or reduced and Germany had already recovered by that point-- so really it pushes away the fact that the leadership at the time was simply afraid of socialism. I found out that in Germany they teach how capital interests collaborated with the Nazis how Hindenburg miscalculated, and antisemitism is a big factor, so while they don't ignore Versailles it feels like a really convenient scapegoat.

Like someone took Keynes' idea and swept genocide under the rug with that.

Who came up with this bit of American education? Do we know why it is so popular despite sounding like such weird excuse?