When my brother and his daughter were hanging out in Munich a few weeks ago…I flew down to meet them….we visited a museum called the Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism……and while they were learning about German history (and I was learning a bit more)…..we noticed something…..and it did two things….what we read reminded us of something very similar…..to what just happened a few years ago…..and is happening now……and two…..what we read scared the hell out of us…..we looked at each other…….checked out the exhibition…and we knew, in our minds….there was only one word floating around…… “TRUMP!”……what you will read….and I hope you do….are the exact words displayed within the exhibit ……I am not making this shit up…..you don’t believe me…..ask my Niece…..ask my Brother….. ask my sons momma….because she was there also…..all I ask is this….think outside the box…..and try to compare what you’re reading…..to what’s happening now…..in a country where….I grew up…..hey, if you want…..share this…..let’s see where this conversation can go.
RIGHT-WING EXTREMISM: RACIST, ETHNIC-CHAUVINIST, BELLICOSE……Hitler’s ideology had its roots in ethnically chauvinist and racist ideas that had been spreading in Europe since the late nineteenth century…….even before the First World War this attitude was prevalent in parts of Munich….racism was the product of a biological view of the world….it posited a genetic inequality between people and divided humanity into superior and inferior races….and that created boundaries…..Ethnic-chauvinist thinking took on racist and anti-Semitic elements and made membership in the German “Volk” into a pre-eminent virtue….. the result was a campaign of agitation for racial homogeneity and authoritarian order….with the people taking priority over the individual…and this produced a readiness to use violence against “foreigners” or whom they considered…. “Non-German”….. and this logic was mainly used against homosexuals….the Third Reich made sexual acts between men a crime….and a lot of people were found guilty of such offences…..in 1936…the head of the German police declared the fight against homosexuality and abortion to be a priority of the state…..until 1945….50,000 homosexuals were sentenced to prison terms….10,000 to 15,000 were sent to concentration camps…..in 1938 the Criminal Police sent 10,000 “a-socials” to concentration camps…..the persecution of marginalized social groups was intended to mobilize labor for Germany’s armaments program and it also served to exclude people from mainstream society. Later the Criminal Police added a further 10,000 “a-socials” to concentration camps and in the years that followed the police took numerous people into “preemptive custody.”
Discrimination against the Sinti and Roma Gypsies has a long tradition. Certain individuals suffered exclusion if their behavior or their sexual identity was stigmatized as “foreign to the community”. Homosexuality was considered a “crime against the body of the people.” Those who were labeled “a-social” could be sent to labor camps. Those classified as “genetically or biologically inferior” had to fear compulsory sterilization. The Police set up a special department to question Gypsies on the basis of racial biology. Many public squares contained glass cabinets for displaying the hate-mongering anti-Semitic newspaper (Der Stürmer). This was intended to accustom Germans to the ostracism of Jews. Signs reading “Jews Unwanted” or “Jews Forbidden” soon hung not on roads leading into villages but everywhere in public.
Joining the Nazi Party opened up new career opportunities. When Hitler was appointed Chancellor, there was growth within the party. At least one-half and most likely two-thirds of all Germans were members of the Nazi Party and membership was the key to upward career and social mobility. With such a network existing, the party created a host of well-paid positions within the party and two million prestigious volunteer positions were handed out within the Nazi Party ranks. Nepotism and corruption spread on all levels.
Soon the violent and criminal character of the party became more evident.
Soon the Nazi Party stripped the citizens of their right to free speech and their freedom to express themselves in political parties, associations and clubs. They were very rigorous in suppressing the labor movement. Unions were dissolved and their assets confiscated. A-political groups like education centers and music and sports clubs dissolved themselves.
The Nazi dictatorship strengthened the position of businessmen, who profited from the demise of the unions. Labor Trustees set wage levels and working hours and big industry profited above all. Those who refused to adapt to the current satiation faced the prospect of losing contacts and could also face harassment, since informants were a part of everyday life.
THE END OF RULE BY LAW AND DEMOCRACY…….On March 9th, 1933 the National Socialists seized power in Munich….they occupied and destroyed newspaper offices and trade unions….Heinrich Himmler was made Police President and waves of violence ensued…..the Political Police arrested some 5,000 opponents of Nazism in Bavaria……in the wake of Hitler’s appointment, there was a rapid transition from Democracy to dictatorship….democratic institutions were undermined, checks and balances on power eradicated and elemental civic and human rights were neglected… the Nazi party acquired masses of followers….they attracted voters from all segments of the populace…..particularly with the middle-class and lower-middle class…..the Nazis´ political agitation and the manipulative power of modern propaganda can only partially explain the electoral successes of the radical Right…..another factor was the German electorate’s proclivity towards authoritarian attitudes and especially its willingness to submit to a “stronger man” and his promises of salvation in times of crisis….mass support brought Hitler to power….and while being backed by the traditional military, industrial, administrative and large-scale agricultural elites….who have been lobbying for a transition to an authoritarian regime since 1930…..they thought by tying Hitler to the government….he would help them achieve their aims…..the defensive measures of the state and civilian resistance never came together to form an effective counter-force….and they failed because the people didn’t oppose extremism vigorously enough.
They stepped up the persecution of Jews and pressed ahead with its policies of territorial expansion, annexation and preparation for war. And Hitler drew masses of listeners….and physical violence went hand and hand…..the “Storm Battalion (Sturmabteilung, SA) provided security at public events, flexed their muscles and tried to attract attention by brawling in auditoriums, staging marches and engaging in militant acts of provocation…..one of Hitler’s success was the support he received from the well-educated and wealthy bourgeois and respect families circles.
“It happened, and thus it can happen again.” – Primo Levi 1986
THE WIRELESS (RADIO)…..Brought his ideology and propaganda rule on viewers into German living rooms….the weekly cinema newsreels impressed the power of the Nazi rule on viewers…..and the majority of Germans went along with the regime….accepting the exclusion of minorities with widespread indifference while having no problem tolerating racism in everyday society. The regime subjected the media to rigorous supervision in terms of both personnel and content and they took over the publishing houses and printing presses. In time, what was once called the free press, a core element of every democracy was eradicated from Germany. February 28th, 1933 a state decree suspended German’s right to personal freedom….as well as the right to free speech, freedom of the press and assembly…..Censorship and state intervention altered Germany’s media landscape…..all political parties other than the Nazi Party were banned or pressured into dissolving….state and local public institutions…..including the police, the judicial system, civic administrations and places of higher education were taken over by the new holders of power….by doing this….the Nazi regime stripped society of any chance of free self-organization or public criticism….by remodeling all of these institutions into instruments of power….and the fact that it happened so quickly….the people were coerced into accepting the new way of life….even though many people voluntarily adapted to and approved of the new system…..conservative nationalists in the military, the government bureaucracy and private industry supported this total transformation of German society.
“National Socialism means lies, hatred, Fratricide and boundless misery. Adolf Hitler preaches the right of lies”….Fritz Gerlich in “The straight and Narrow – July 31st, 1932
Would anyone like to tell me this isn’t……DEJA VU?