Discussion led by Pat, 3/18/12
Mein Kampf means my struggle and has been banned in Germany until 2016. He dictated it while in prison for being part of an uprising. It was more like house arrest than a prison as we know it. Germany started the WWI. The Germanic people have always been very warlike. The Versailles Treaty was so serve for the Germans that the German nation couldn’t stand. It redivided the land of Europe and many Germans lived under another flag. Tax debt of $8 million that they could not repay. Allowed no standing army, navy, or air force, limited and not munitions production. Then the US depression effected Germany. One american dollar was 4 billon 200 thousand marks. Reich means kingdom and was used by Charlemagne as well. The swastika was from the Hindus in India. Hitler was a very hand on and controlling. He and his aides were very interested in the occult. He was a mesmerizing public speaker. He would practice his speeches and gestures in front of a mirror. As the German workers party grew, he began speaking more and he attracted people to the party. Hitler was always fighting the Marxists and the Jews. He preferred to do his propaganda in person. Hitler infiltrated the Austrian government. Dawes Plan was English and they were trying to undo some of the Versailles Treaty, but Hitler would have nothing to do with it. Hitler controlled marriage. He divided the people into three classes with the Aryan race on top. Jews weren’t allowed to marriage. He gradually controlled the newspapers, art, education. He was not intellectual or scholarly. He was more interested in the German people. Health was paramount to him. Homeschooling was not allowed and still isn’t. He controlled birth. He took arian healthy girls and was breeding them. 12,000 babies were born and never knew their parents. Hitler was a veracious reader of crank writers from which he developed his repressive ideas. Men and women were to be physically fit and should have as many children as possible. Then, they would be given a bigger house. He admired the US for its production of machinery, Henry Ford for his assembly line, and they herding of the native americans into reservations. Hitler had another book that explained his plans to come to the US. He figured he needed at least 500,000 square kilometers of land. The great depression gives rise to Hitler. He begins preparing ships with 18” guns which was larger than others. The US was his last stop and he was building plans and rockets for this. He used persuasion, propaganda, and elimination. The Germans felt that their government had acquiesced and the dire straits of the people saw Hitler as a savior. Hitler changed the laws so that he could do what he wanted and the courts couldn’t do anything.
There were some good things. In the 30’s and 40’s, the German scientist found the link between smoking and cancer. They also discovered the dangers of asbestos and radon. They had good study methods. Because of eugenics and using Jews for testing, many scientists left. They invented the magnetic tape recorder. The electron microscope, Switched emphasis to weapons. They developed plans with jet engines. But, Hitler wanted the Blitzkrieg attach so he wanted bombers more than jets. After the defeat to England, he decided to look at he jet but is twas too late. They invented the ejection seat and the VW beetle, the car for the masses.
Hitler’s occult practices led to his hatred. He also used drugs. He was greatly influenced by Hegel and Nietzsche as well as anti-semitic papers. He was also influence by Darwin.
How did Himmler turn the SS into a killing machine? He gave them drugs and seared their conscience.
Israel became a state by vote of the UN. Israel then had to defend her statehood.
Is silence complicity?
What do you need to be a hero? Corrie tenBoom, Bonhoeffer, The cause you are fighting for has to be bigger than your life. There were at least 11,000 gentiles who saved Jews during this time period. In Denmark, King Christiana wore the Jewish armband and then the people did also so it wasn’t obvious who was Jewish.
Bonhoeffer’s friend said ,“The sin of respectable people reveals itself in flight from responsibility.”
Parallels between 1940 Germany and US today.
Slogans, apathy, left-leaning newspapers, financial problems, immorality, no absolute right and wrong.
Pat recommends Hitlers Cross by Erwin Lutzer and The Garden of the Beast by Eric Larson.
Movies to watch in preparation for the next book are:
Mrs. Dalloway
The Hours