A Great Nation – Again!
TimeWatch Editorial
January 30, 2017
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website, sponsor of the Holocaust Encyclopedia describes the concept of Hitler’s Master Race under the heading, “Nazi Racism.” The author of the research on the website makes the point that “For years before Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany, he was obsessed with ideas about race. In his speeches and writings, Hitler spread his beliefs in racial "purity" and in the superiority of the "Germanic race"—what he called an Aryan "master race." He pronounced that his race must remain pure in order to one day take over the world. For Hitler, the ideal "Aryan" was blond, blue-eyed, and tall.” In his book Mein Kampf, Hitler makes his point.
“The loss of racial purity will wreck inner happiness forever. It degrades men for all time to come. And the physical and moral consequences can never be wiped out. If this unique problem be studied and compared with the other problems of life we shall easily recognize how small is their importance in comparison with this. They are all limited to time; but the problem of the maintenance or loss of the purity of the racial blood will last as long as man himself lasts. All the symptoms of decline which manifested themselves already in pre-war times can be traced back to the racial problem.”Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, page 272.
This conviction of the necessity of “racial purity” expressed by Hitler was preceded by certain anti-Semitism in Germany. J.R. Silver, Emeritus Consultant, National Spinal Injuries Center, Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Buckinghamshire writing an article entitled “The Decline of German Medicine, 1933–45” says the following:
“In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, there was institutional anti-Semitism in Austria and the German principalities. To obtain a university appointment, one had to be a German citizen of the Christian faith: unconverted Jewish doctors could not obtain official appointments. Nevertheless, Germany was regarded as having less anti-Semitism than Poland, Russia and Hungary, and it did attract Eastern European Jews to study there, particularly to Berlin. The well-publicized case of Freud, who initially trained in neurology but was unable to secure a position and instead founded psychiatry, is not the only example. Jacob Henle, a Jewish convert, and Heinrich Romberg, a Jew, both obtained official appointments. In contrast, Robert Remak could not obtain a post and worked in private practice. Hermann Oppenheim, the outstanding German neurologist, was not appointed to a university post but received an honorary title.” J.R. Silver, “The Decline of German Medicine, 1933–45”
By the time that Hitler came to power, the principle of a master race became the basis of governing. Notice what “The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website, sponsor of the Holocaust Encyclopedia, has to say about that.
“When Hitler and the Nazis came to power, these beliefs became the government ideology and were spread in publicly displayed posters, on the radio, in movies, in classrooms, and in newspapers. The Nazis began to put their ideology into practice with the support of German scientists who believed that the human race could be improved by limiting the reproduction of people considered "inferior." Beginning in 1933, German physicians were allowed to perform forced sterilizations, operations making it impossible for the victims to have children. Among the targets of this public program were Roma (Gypsies), an ethnic minority numbering about 30,000 in Germany, and handicapped individuals, including the mentally ill and people born deaf and blind. Also victimized were about 500 African-German children, the offspring of German mothers and African colonial soldiers in the Allied armies that occupied the German Rhineland region after World War I.” “Nazi Racism,” The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website, sponsor of the Holocaust Encyclopedia
One of the most dangerous facts of life is the tendency to forget the past. What has occurred in years gone by, quite often reappears. Most of the time, the reappearance has a slight adjustment that tends to hide the similarities of the dire results of the past. Nevertheless, the objectives are the same. We associate certain behaviors with Nazi Germany, but similar behaviors and choices exist today. The players change, the victims are not the same necessarily, although sometimes they are. What must be recognized however is that the results are exactly the same. The authoritarian, totalitarian, fascist children who have been apparently birthed with a personal view that they are part of a “master race,” seek with as much subtlety as they can muster to enact a system of government that reflects their superiority. Their subtlety is nevertheless quite transparent. Even their facial expressions oftimes tend to contradict the “kind words” that they force from their lips.
One of the most intriguing speeches ever made by Adolf Hitler is recorded on the History Place website under the heading “The Rise of Adolph Hitler.” Here is a paragraph of that article:
“Hitler offered something to everyone: work to the unemployed; prosperity to failed business people; profits to industry; expansion to the Army; social harmony and an end of class distinctions to idealistic young students; and restoration of German glory to those in despair. He promised to bring order amid chaos; a feeling of unity to all and the chance to belong. He would make Germany strong again; end payment of war reparations to the Allies; tear up the treaty of Versailles; stamp out corruption; keep down Marxism; and deal harshly with the Jews.” “The Rise of Adolph Hitler.” the History Place
For those of us who have forgotten the past, or who have never studied it, this might be the time to take another look.
Cameron A. Bowen
