We knew the Nazis were evil…
…but sometimes we forget how nit-picky crazy they were [the following excerpt is from The House of Wittgenstein: A Family at War]:
To enjoy full civil rights under the new regime [in Austria after Germany’s takeover] each person required a Reich Citizenship Certificate, which could be obtained only by providing proof of Aryan descent. But this in itself was often problematic. Was a Jew considered Jewish by blood or by religion? What if one of his parents was half Jewish by blood but Christian by upbringing? This muddle was supposedly resolved by the Nuremberg Laws of September 1935, in which it was stipulated that a Jew must be defined as anyone who descends from at least three Jewish grandparents or from two Jewish grandparents if they themselves were, on or after September 15, 1935, either married to a Jewish person or a member of the Jewish community…
In the massive confusion, the system threw up thousands of surprises and anomalies. Many had not the slightest idea about their grandparents’ blood or religion. Furthermore investigations showed that there was far more Jewish blood in the system than the Nazis had either hoped of expected to find. When they discovered that Johann Strauss, the “Waltz King,” had Jewish blood they simply erased his record from the registry. Similar complications arose with the ancestors of Richard Wagner’s wife and of Lorenzo da Ponte, Mozart’s librettist, so that special arrangements had to be made in order not to have to ban performances of the Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and the “Blue Danube” Waltz, and so that Hitler could continue to enjoy the Wagner Festival at Bayreuth in the company of the composer’s granddaughter.
Many active members of the Nazi Party were brought to a rude awakening when they discovered that they themselves qualified as Jews under the Nuremberg rules…
Unfortunately, this didn’t stop them. They just bent the rules.
“Many active members of the Nazi Party were brought to a rude awakening when they discovered that they themselves qualified as Jews under the Nuremberg rules…”
Ah hah! Dispensations from der Fé¼hrer to loyal Reichstag members! Precedent!
I was surprised at how many top Nazis were either half-Jewish by blood — or even pure of blood.
Erhard Milch was half-Jewish. (“Mischling”) He was as responsible for the establishment of the Luftwaffe as Goring. When Himmler pushed to have him ejected on racial grounds, Goring went straight to Adolf. Milch was officially Aryanized — under Hitlers personal signature. (!) (The procedure was invented for Milch, BTW.)
Without the Luftwaffe, none of the other bad stuff can really get into first gear. German advances always started with air superiority.
While the Nuremberg Laws are normally characterized as anti-Jewish — they were aimed at racial purity much more generally.
Consequently, the Nazis broke up quite a few love affairs between jazz musicians and native Frauleins.
But it didn’t stop there, every manner of intermarriage was banned. Instant divorces were granted on such grounds, double quick if there were no children.
Suddenly there was a land office rush to establish heritage. This became a very nice side business for those in the General SS.
(The SS had two major branches: the Waffen SS and the General SS. For quite some time, the General SS was by far the larger organization. It is missing from virtually every film or tale of the SS in the war. So its vast sweep and economic power is largely forgotten.
Being the totalitarians the Nazis were, they inserted the SS ethos throughout Germany — via the General SS. Anyone of Aryan blood trying to move up in the Nazi system was solicited to join — IF they had enough social status.
The membership put their fancy uniforms (unique to the General SS but close to the Waffen SS in style) on grand (Party) occasions. As you might expect, the typical age of a General SS member was pretty advanced. Middle age was typical.
This system allowed Himmler and Hitler to have a finger in every pie — and spy on every commercial concern.
Such individuals would not normally be identified by other Germans as being an ‘SS man.’ Instead, the term “Party man” was used — for every member of the General SS would’ve been a Party member as a matter of course. This is unlike the Waffen SS, which, by the end, would take even Pope Benedict. He was drafted in. They were the LAST people he wanted to hook up with.
The businessmen that scalped SS concentration camp labor would’ve normally been inducted into the General SS. Only Nazi thinking fellows were allowed inside the wire, of course. As Schindler showed, the profits were astounding.
And at the top of the General SS stood Himmler.
It was a fantastic social control mechanism, and the Nazis were control freaks.
SS Membership conferred ration benefits and inside pricing, too. So the General SS was like Costco — but with bullets and uniforms thrown in.
Naturally, after the war, all involved did their level best to hide it.)
“this didn’t stop them. They just bent the rules.”
Truth is ever the first sacrifice upon ideology’s altar.
Perhaps its a gene but it appears that Germany is returning to its past. Besides the anti-semitism sweeping through Europe, now there’s this; Police Storm Homeschool Class, Take Children by Force
This is of more than passing interest to Americans because of the following;
“In his State of the Union address, President Obama called on Congress to expand access to high-quality preschool to every child in America. As part of that effort, the President will propose a series of new investments that will establish a continuum of high-quality early learning for a child — beginning at birth and continuing to age 5.
“Atty General Holder Argues Parents Have No Right to Educate their Children”
“Obama: Sex Ed for Kindergartners ‘Is the Right Thing to Do’”
“MSNBC Host Melissa Harris-Perry » All Your Kids Belong To Us”
“MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry considers the unborn child a “thing” which takes a “lot of money” to “turn into a human,” costing thousands of dollars to care for each year of his/her life. Now it appears that Harris-Perry thinks that, after they’re born, children fundamentally belong to the state.”
MSNBC promo: “We have to break through our kind of private idea that kids belong to their parents”
The left is fully engaged in expanding the education/indoctrination front in the culture wars because the greatest obstacle to leftist indoctrination of children is parental influence.
Geoffrey Britain,
Well that clinches it…
“The youth of today is ever the people of tomorrow. For this reason we have set before ourselves the task of inoculating our youth with the spirit of this community of the people at a very early age, at an age when human beings are still unperverted and therefore unspoiled. This Reich stands, and it is building itself up for the future, upon its youth. And this new Reich will give its youth to no one, but will itself take youth and give to youth its own education and its own upbringing.”
– Adolf Hitler (1937)
“Atty General Holder Argues Parents Have No Right to Educate their Children”
“Obama: Sex Ed for Kindergartners ‘Is the Right Thing to Do’”
et al (Party House Organ – Der Sté¼rmer)
“MSNBC Host Melissa Harris-Perry » All Your Kids Belong To Us”
“MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry considers the unborn child a “thing” which takes a “lot of money” to “turn into a human,” costing thousands of dollars to care for each year of his/her life. Now it appears that Harris-Perry thinks that, after they’re born, children fundamentally belong to the state.”
MSNBC promo: “We have to break through our kind of private idea that kids belong to their parents”
…Fourth Reich!
Warren Buffett told Michelle Rhee (the former DC schools chancellor) that it would be “easy” to fix the pubic schools…just **ban private education**.
I would like to believe the Buffett was just conducting a thought-experiment, rather than actually advocating such a course, but I’m not sure about that. In any event, there are plenty of other people who think such banning would be a good idea:
http://inschoolmatters.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/why-not-ban-private-schools/
…of course, this would surely also encompass the banning of home schooling, so is entirely consistent with the Obama administration’s actions in refusing asylum to the German family who were seeking refuge.
It is very, very dangerous to assume that there is something uniquely Germanic about the totalitarian temptation. There are plenty of totalitarian-minded thinkers right here in America, many in positions of great power and influence.
}}} Unfortunately, this didn’t stop them. They just bent the rules.
Typical socialists: “Rules for thee, but not for me…”
“It is very, very dangerous to assume that there is something uniquely Germanic about the totalitarian temptation. There are plenty of totalitarian-minded thinkers right here in America, many in positions of great power and influence.”
Agreed. In fact, famous Americans from at least three different generations have warned of it.
“Men by their constitutions are naturally divided into two parties:
1. Those who fear and distrust the people, and wish to draw all powers from them into the hands of the higher classes.
2. Those who identify themselves with the people, have confidence in them, cherish and consider them as the most honest and safe, although not the most wise depository of the public interests.
In every country these two parties exist, and in every one where they are free to think, speak, and write, they will declare themselves.” —Thomas Jefferson
“There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters.” – Daniel Webster
“Political tags — such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth — are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.” – Robert A. Heinlein
I would argue however, that while the Germanic character is not unique in this respect, it arguably appears to have a predilection toward the “totalitarian temptation”.
I suspect that a society’s ability to dominate may be the greatest factor in susceptibility toward the totalitarian impulse. The only exception to that rule appears to be America.
Hmmmm “just bent the rules”.
That sounds exactly like Congress and Obama over immigration and ObamaCare. So, can we say they are just like the Nazis without invoking Godwin’s law?
“That sounds exactly like Congress and Obama over immigration and ObamaCare. So, can we say they are just like the Nazis without invoking Godwin’s law?”
No, they are not Nazis, although they have fascist desires. I see them as wicked children with dreams of dominion over all. The weak link in the chain of their desire to coerce all into obedient slaves on the DC plantation is the fact that a minority (3-10%?) will not go peacefully into that nightmare.
Geoffrey Britain wrote:
“Perhaps its a gene but it appears that Germany is returning to its past. Besides the anti-semitism sweeping through Europe, now there’s this”
I’m sure you meant it tongue in cheek, but it is still an interesting comment. Perhaps this quote is correct, but if it is, that means that racists have a point when they attribute distinctive personality traits to certain racial groups. The Germans have a totalitarian gene, the Jews have a ________(insert whatever you wish) gene, the blacks have a ______ gene, etc. The Nazis demonstrated how easily this type of argument can lead to genocide, but that does not mean the argument itself is wrong.
The Nazis took Darwin’s Theory of Evolution and the “survival of the fittest” and ran with it. They thought that different races were supposed to fight each other and exterminate each other. Darwin voiced a similar idea in his book The Descent of Man. What they all failed to consider about evolution is that a species which has maximum genetic diversity is usually more hardy than a species which has fewer alleles for the environment to choose from. If they were interested in maximizing the survival of the Aryan genes they should have welcomed the mixture with Jewish blood to enrich their own Aryan blood. While they were at it, they should have remembered the Jewish/Christian God who taught us to love one another rather than worshipping their violent ancestral pagan Gods.
The rules are for the little people. Those born to rule are a step above the common masses, as we see of DC.
Naturally, after the war, all involved did their level best to hide it.
In East Germany, I believe they just changed their uniforms.
What was said about Caligula holds here too: “There never was a better slave nor a worse master”.
Generally applies to all politicians…
Bent the rules? Where have I heard that before/since?
Oh! BO hisownself.
I remember reading that one or more German newspapers ran a contest to document a family’s social standing which required a complete family tree going back several generations. The Nazis bought some early IBM data processors to process the data and that became the start of their national dossiers.
Since the Gestapo liked to appear “all knowing”, using the detailed family histories, they were able to bluff their interrogation subject into revealing even more information.
I can’t vouch for its accuracy, but I saw a comment at Ticker Forum earlier today that said the modern German anti-homeschooling law was enacted after World War II at the insistence of the Allies, who were concerned about unrepentant Nazi parents indoctrinating their children.
If true, then it would seem to be one of those archaic, outdated laws that has outlived its usefulness.
ya’ll find out soon enough anyway as this boat aint going to go backwards. meanwhile, if ever countries wanted to duke it out with the US, now is their time given the “amateur hour”.
welcome to the administrative state hyped up on the cloud (9?) – their solution to the problem of wealth keeping, how to stop others from rising who can do something better.
Off topic, but I am really upset about the banning of Miss Marple at Ace of Spades. I really liked her and I thought it was a huge overreaction on Ace’s part.
Does anybody know how to contact her? I think she would be an excellent fit here.