On Re-Reading a very old book - with a message for today ~

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich - - - - William L Shirer

Shirer was a US News Correspondent in Germany during the 1930s - about the last to leave before war was declared. As a kid, I remember hearing some of his radio broadcasts from Berlin. He spoke and read the language and after the war, he was allowed to do extensive research in much of the great treasure trove of documents, many of them secrets of the Nazi party and government, captured by US Forces as they overran the country - - including transcripts of telephone conversations of the Nazi leaders tapped by a special office set up by Hermann Goering in the Air Ministry. The book warrants re-reading today because of the many parallels with what is happening now in the USA.

“Those who do not remember the past are condemned to relive it”. ~ Santayana ~

“Those who fail to study history are doomed to repeat it” - Winston Churchill ~

         That includes the Citizens of the USA who voted for Obama in 08

Economy in tatters

The economies of the major powers of Europe had been destroyed not only by four years of war, but for many years prior, they had poured their wealth into armaments to match the armament buildups of each other. When you manufacture a useful product, you create wealth. But, when you make war materials you use up wealth. At the “peace conference”, the Allies exacted reparations from Germany - who had no wealth with which to pay them. So they created disasterous inflation by printing more money. Sound familiar?

The economy of the US today has been ruined by many years of government choking off weath creation - not to mention years of warfare. Wealth is created when we develop our own resources, extracting oil, mining coal and minerals, building and operating hydro-electric dams, and nuclear plants, harvesting timber and manufacturing useful products. Our government has been encouraging manufacturers to have their products built in other countries, then importing them. (Makes nice profits for the Mfrs., but uses up our wealth). Environmentalists create trouble (such as the destruction of New Orleans and the destruction of the Elwha Dams and claim they are “saving the planet” - for which they get contributions and tax money.

The Political Situation

At the end of the war, the German Kaiser was forced to abdicate and flee the country. The Monarchy was dissolved, all the German dynasties were done away with and a republican government proclaimed. The largest political party at the time was the Social Democrats. The army leaders, Ludendorff and Hindenburg had demanded an armistice on account of the terribly depleted military, but cleverly pushed political power and responsibility into the hands of the Democrats.

Blame somebody else

The word that was passed around in Germany thereafter was that the Army had been “stabbed in the back” by the politicians. Hitler, as he was rising to power, repeated that lie constantly, adding to it that it was a deed of the Jews. The truth is it was the work of the old guard militarists, but the German Press adored Hitler and Hitler adored the military, so the Jews and the democratic government got the blame.

Sound kind of like, “It’s all Bush’s fault” ? instead of the fault of 30 -40 years of both Democrat and Republican administrations and congresses (including the present one) working to reduce wealth creation in the USA A fiction Obama has used incessantly. And, more recently, “Israel should go back to the 1967 borders” (It’s called, “blame the Jews”).

Germany was bankrupt. They were able to “borrow” some funds from the USA to pay the British and French some reparations, but they were forced to just print money. The German Mark became worthless. It was said that it took a wheelbarrow full of money to buy a loaf of bread. Everyone’s bank account and savings became worthless and the people were bitter. Hitler was able by skillful oration to direct that anger onto the Jews and the Democratic Weimar Republic.

Sound like “Occupy Wall Street”???

Through huge borrowings of money for bailouts mostly directed to his party’s financial backers, Obama is magnifying a huge inflation here in the USA. One day soon, as his efforts to “share the wealth” goes forward, our savings may well be worthless, and it will take a “wheelbarrow full of dollars to buy a loaf of bread”. Sixteen TRILLION given away by the Federal Reserve - - without any act of congress.

Hitler the man vs Obama the man

Hitler never had a real job. During much of his early life, he sponged off relatives and when hunger forced it, he took odd jobs. WWI was his great opportunity. Although born in Austria, he joined the German Army (He always admired and revered Germany) When the war ended, he was in a hospital recovering from a mustard gas attack. He joined a small Socialist group he thought stupid, but found useful. As his speaking power brought in money, he took over the group and canned the original committee. It became the National Socialist Party (Nazi for short) (Sound like Obama and US News media?)

Obama appears to have never had a real job. His source of finances that allowed him to be educated in some of America’s most prestigious schools and to travel the world including a trip to Pakistan which was apparently not possible on a US passport, is still unknown to the public. So he does not comprehend what it takes for an honest citizen to live and succeed in a free society.

Hitler recruited a gang which included many criminals and thugs. This gang terrorized anybody who opposed him. In the early days, many sincere German patriots gave money to Hitler because they believed in him. Later, when he no longer needed them, he “threw them under the bus”. I some cases, he just had his bully boys kill them. Ernst Hanfstaengl, a Harvard graduate who’s mother was an American, supported Hitler in his early years. His family loaned Hitler’s struggling “newspaper” $1000 US dollars (a huge sum in 1920s Germany). Hanfstaengl later had to flee Germany for his life.

Similarly, Obama made friends with criminals Bill Ayers, Bernadine Dohrn and Tony Rezko. He renounced his “spiritual mentor of 20 years”, Joshua Wright, when publication of his racist rants became public and threatened Obama’s candidacy, also his crooked friend the Illinois governor and Rezko. Some of the Wall Street chiefs who supported him financailly found that he insisted on their writing off secured loans to Chrysler, so his union friends would be taken care of. Why do judges refuse to allow hearings on Obama’s citizenship? Do they fear his “bully boys”?

Obama uses and promotes class warfare, “soak the rich” is his motto – although the “rich” he seeks to soak is really the middle class, particularly small business owners. He will not abandon super rich guys like George Soros and Peter Lewis.

Hitler went after Jewish business men when he got into power, sending them to concentration camps and seizing their wealth to fund his “kampf”.

Those are only a small sampling of the similarities between Hitler’s early rise and Obama’s. This old book is history that should be required reading in our schools (it won’t be). It can be found in libraries, used book stores and from surplus book suppliers. Everybody should read and thoroughly digest it.

Remember, Those who refuse to study history are condemned to repeat it and :

when you go after GOD’s people, you incur his wrath.

Marv Chastain