They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45

[Echo In Light]

They Thought They Were Free
The Germans, 1933-45
Milton Mayer

But Then It Was Too Late

"What no one seemed to notice," said a colleague of mine, a philologist, "was the ever widening gap, after 1933, between the government and the people. Just think how very wide this gap was to begin with, here in Germany. And it became always wider. You know, it doesn’t make people close to their government to be told that this is a people’s government, a true democracy, or to be enrolled in civilian defense, or even to vote. All this has little, really nothing, to do with knowing one is governing.

"What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if the people could not understand it, it could not be released because of national security. And their sense of identification with Hitler, their trust in him, made it easier to widen this gap and reassured those who would otherwise have worried about it.

"This separation of government from people, this widening of the gap, took place so gradually and so insensibly, each step disguised (perhaps not even intentionally) as a temporary emergency measure or associated with true patriotic allegiance or with real social purposes. And all the crises and reforms (real reforms, too) so occupied the people that they did not see the slow motion underneath, of the whole process of government growing remoter and remoter.

"..."Uncertainty is a very important factor, and, instead of decreasing as time goes on, it grows. Outside, in the streets, in the general community, ‘everyone’ is happy. One hears no protest, and certainly sees none. You know, in France or Italy there would be slogans against the government painted on walls and fences; in Germany, outside the great cities, perhaps, there is not even this. In the university community, in your own community, you speak privately to your colleagues, some of whom certainly feel as you do; but what do they say? They say, ‘It’s not so bad’ or ‘You’re seeing things’ or ‘You’re an alarmist.’

"And you are an alarmist. You are saying that this must lead to this, and you can’t prove it. These are the beginnings, yes; but how do you know for sure when you don’t know the end, and how do you know, or even surmise, the end? On the one hand, your enemies, the law, the regime, the Party, intimidate you. On the other, your colleagues pooh-pooh you as pessimistic or even neurotic. You are left with your close friends, who are, naturally, people who have always thought as you have.

http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/511928.html

[hobbit709]

1. History tries to repeat.

My mother lived through this 1938-45 in Austria. My grandparents were members of O5. One of the reasons I have a bad attitude about "authority' is my upbringing.

[L. Coyote]

9. Mine hid Jews and survived eating sugar beets during the German occupation.

German was not a pleasant term in my upbringing.

[tuckessee]

10. I bet "American" has the same connotations

in many Third World countries.

Kudos to your family for having the guts to risk it all by opposing tyrrany.

[L. Coyote]

18. Exactly so. The fascist lie of people "hating freedom" actually is people hating the fascist liars.

Both my parents families were involved in opposing the Nazi occupation.
My Dad's family had the underground radio to England secreted in the attic.

[Ezlivin]

2. This can't be repeated enough

I've posted this on DU several times and it seems apropos in light of what's transpiring in this country.

And it's more frightening than any horror movie I've seen lately.

[flashl]

3. K&R n/t

[kentuck]

4. K & R

for the newer members.

[truth2power]

5. thank you for posting this. k&r. Will people ever learn? n/t

[derby378]

6. The sad part is that America was supposed to be better than this...

We fought the fascists in World War II. Now it appears that fascism is having the last laugh as it undermines the principles of democracy in America, even with Democrats in charge of both the House and Senate.

I'm a little disillusioned with our country right now. But at least maybe there's still hope for the future. That's one reason why I keep banging my head against the wall of complacency.

[Flying Dream Blues]

7. K&R...this is unfortunately all too familiar! nt

[tuckessee]

8. How do you say "Support the Troops" in German. n/t

[bean fidhleir]

12. "Soldaten unterstützen!" (nt)

[tom_paine]

11. Don't you know, this is hyperbole! You're nothing but a crazy Conspiracy Theorist!

:sarcasm:

Sorry, but I just had to give you a taste of whaty I have gotten from anywhere bteween 40 and 67% of DUers these past seven years, as I had the misfortune of beating both Naomi Klien and Noami Wolf to their various theses behind the wonderful books "The Shock Doctrine" and "The End of America"

I had been saying it since early 2001, even before 9/11 I smelled it on the air, so to speak, because I am Jewish and my great-uncles were murdered by Stalin, therefore my life's autodidactic study has been "Never Again? How could such things happen in the first place and why do they keep repeating over and over again throughout history?"

Now with the coming of Bushler, the study of actual professionals has taken over, and I am eternally grateful because no listens to autodidacts.

But even now, at this late date, one-third or maybe even half of DU would respond with the sentiment I sarcastically laid out in my post title.

And in the real world, 97%-99.5% react with that kind of sunny clueless dismissal, even with the evidence practically smacking them in the face with a dead trout, metaphorically-speaking.

Not exactly numbers that raise hope, but we must never give up and it is all our duties as Americans to Paul Revere this info and take the abuse in return, for as long as we can stand it.

Good luck. I have been at this seven years and more, and it wears one down. I am glad to see others are now picking up the baton and running with it. Because spreading awareness of this is the only chance, however slim, to defeat Bushies and their New and Improved Kinder and Gentler Nazism.

[warren pease]

14. Well, you've never gotten an argument from me...

...and you never will as long as this repressive crap has replaced the Constitution as the law of the land.

Just wait until the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007 becomes law. This one is the final brick in the wall that was built starting with the patriot acts, the MCA, various executive orders and presidential directives, total domestic surveillance -- including retargeting spy satellites to snoop on Americans, hiring a bunch of new TSA "behavior detection officers" to spot those who don't "look quite right," various watch lists, alleged detention camps courtesy of Halliburton, all this wonderful new stuff the DHS has in store for us... all that and rendition and torture, too. Oh my.

We no longer live in a democratic republic based on Constitutional law and 220 years of legal precedent. There is no law; there is no habeas; there is no right to counsel; there is no right to privacy; there is no right to speak your mind; there is no prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment; there is no right to a speedy trial by jury.

This is the reality of America v2.0. Just because they're not wearing black uniforms decorated with swastikas and lightening bolts and goose-stepping down the Unter den Linden; just because Leni Reifenstahl isn't filming the sequel to "Triumph of the Will" and boxcars are still carrying freight; just because oppression is still partly concealed under an eroding veneer of liberty while most people steadfastly refuse to pay any fucking attention... Just because the jackboot has yet to kick in my door, I'm not naive enough to believe that it can't happen here.

I look at stuff like this and can only draw one conclusion: All the pieces are in place to lock down this country like a time vault. They simply haven't gone fully operational yet.

We have only a little time left. I'll be shocked if the 2008 elections are allowed to proceed. And if they are, I'm assuming that means that the proprietary source code and the touchscreen interfaces for the voting machines are now so stable that, no matter which buttons voters push, the outcome is not in question.


wp

[tom_paine]

15. No, but I'll bet you have gotten it from others.

You Crazy Conpiracy Theorist! :sarcasm:

DU, whatever else it is, is something of a self-selected hothouse of opinions. In the "real world", even 50% condemnation and sneerin dismissal would seem like heaven.

DU, metaphorically-speaking, lets all those German Jews and Liberals with misgivings about the Nazis back in the late 20s, gather together in a tight knot to discuss things in an orgy of agreement.

As we have seen in the Bushies (and we'd be lying to ourselves if we though the effects were only positive, just because it was "our side" that is doing it here at DU) this kind of self-selected groupthink also has it's drawbacks.

Unfortunately, due to the circumstances, we had no other choice but to organize ourselves in this fashion after seeing what the Bushies wrought by having an open playing field without any opposition for two decades (and one decade, internet-wise) up to 2001.

As Kurt Vonnegut was wont to say, "If only good was organized along the lines of the Mafia."

They reprogrammed a nation, they utterly dissolved the barriers between lies and truth, they neutralized the MSM and tuned it into a circus calliope unable itself to distinguihs between truth and lies, everything is he-said/she-said, and they have done so much more.

I think the Bushies are going to let the 2008 "election" go on, though I strongly suspect there will be more Bushie Election Fraud than ever, because they keep getting away with and even the top Democrats seem OK with it. Plus, it's not like the Nov. 2006 "landslide which was neutralized to merely a regular power flip" seems to have hurt the Bushies at all on any meaningful level.

You know my comment wasn't directed at you, we are a Chorus of Agreement ourselves. We are the German Jews and Liberals shrieking about the rise ofthe Nazis, while others just tell us to stop being so melodramatic and get over it.

At DU, there has been some movement as the End moves closer than the Beginning of the Bushies' Solution to the Liberal Problem and the "Peasants Having Too Much Freedom For Such as Them (Us) Problem", but in the "real world", there is barely any movement at all.

Sure, many more are catching on to the Bushies' act, but not seeing the depths of the problem means we will keep bringing boxing gloves to a gunfight, continually wondering why they seem to have no regard for the rules (there is no why...it is what they are) and why no one seems to care about a gun in the boxing ring, as it creates greater spectacle and controversy.

[Echo In Light]

17. Agreed. Mind boggling how so many still just perceive it as spectator politics as usual

[mogster]

13. Thanks, I actally translated that.

:-)
See also this, from Ray McGovern:

Creeping Fascism: From Nazi Germany to Post 9/11 America
http://www.alternet.org/story/71881/

[earth mom]

16. Yes, many of us have been shouting the similarities for a long time around here to deaf ears...

:scared:

[bobthedrummer]

19. Sinclair Lewis wrote "It Can't Happen Here"-but it did. Kick.