I hope that many of you enjoyed and found useful and thought provoking my previous blog entries suggesting ways to refresh one's creative writing process. The purpose is to lose many of the depressive, occult and anti-life, anti-God and anti-spiritual seepage that modern society and entertainment has imposed, especially on the young.
While having lunch today (pizza) I suddenly thought of another scenario that you could use as the basis for a creative writing exercise. As with my previous suggestions you can either fully develop the storyline or you can just use it as a point to think about and receive some creative inspiration. As always the story lines that I suggest may have an element of "fantasy" or "science fiction," but are firmly grounded in reality and what is easily possible and feasible. Whenever you write, strive for that yourself, since it keeps the mind and spirit from becoming toxic, where it only imagines the unfeasible (under the "anything is possible" delusion) and the relentlessly warlike or depressive.
Storyline:
Suppose that during the time that the Nazis were in power, both previous to and during World War II until their fall, they had a secret activity, one that would become obvious and virtually inescapable only after they had been defeated.
What if the Nazis had worked to infest all materials throughout the world with evidence of their insignia and sayings. For example, they would get a person in every factory in the world to secret within the manufacturing process an engraving of "Heil Hitler." So every automobile, for example, would have in the chassis those words engraved somewhere, and every automotive part that was made had initials, or dates, or that saying, or some other saying, or the swastika engraved. What if clothes makers in their hire hid within the folded hems of all clothes being manufactured Nazi sayings. So for example, within the cuff of trousers, or within the pocket of blue jeans, secret embroideries were placed. And what if within every book printed during those years, Nazi sympathizers inserted "Heil Hitler" in the spines of the book? Food containers would have special lettering hidden under the lid or the labels, or in the box flaps, and so forth. What if masons laid stones in houses, buildings, churches with such things carved?
Now, in this scenario, there is no point to their doing this other than to keep the wounds open forever, after they are gone. Do not develop this storyline the obvious modern way, which is that they do with with "special powers." Think of it as unbelievably comprehensive anticipatory stalking, and nothing else.
So the way this storyline works, even after the Nazis are defeated, the guilty are jailed or executed, and history unfolds exactly as it actually did (Beatles and all, Vietnam, etc...) everyone around the world is constantly reminded on a daily basis of Nazi dogma as their labels and slogans continue to inescapably pop up everywhere.
So........... develop in your story line what life and the human psyche would be like today if that occurred. Remember, history is exactly the same (for example, Mr. Obama is President now) with the only difference being that everyone everywhere receives constant daily unpleasant reminders of Nazi doctrine, even sewn into their underwear.
Suggestions to explore:
1. Do people become resigned and manage to "turn it off" or do they fight back and there is an industry formed of people who try to root out these continuous stalking messages?
2. How far can they go in rooting it out, if every home built during that era has something hidden in it about Nazis?
3. How would this have affected Shoah survivors and specifically Jews, both in and outside of Israel?
4. How would the priorities of the Israeli government differ if they too are burdened with this continuous stalking within all their products?
5. What would the schools be teaching kids about this problem? What would they teach and is it different than what you, as the creative author, think they should be teaching?
To get the right mindset, picture these as verbal and written IEDs. So just as IEDs have been a terrible weapon in Iraq, imagine Nazi verbal and pictorial "IEDs" that are planted absolutely everywhere, in secret places, found when least expected.
For example, your favorite shirt pocket tears and when you go to fix it there in the torn seams staring back at you is a tiny embroidery label of "Heil Hitler?"
Would this stalking eventually make modern kids curious and think that something so powerful as this plan must mean being a Nazi is worth looking into? Would society be dealing with half of its population freaked and wearied by this stalking, while the younger half has to battle being tempted and intrigued by it?
Think about it and sleep well. LOL.
Showing posts with label World War II. Show all posts
Showing posts with label World War II. Show all posts
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Saturday, January 3, 2009
An inspiring life even with deep sadness
Read about Maud Nightingdale, who just died. Every life is so precious and the bravery of those who suffer loss with grace, like this lady, is everyday inspiration. I hope that someone does come forward with some information.
In her life you can read about some of the things I have touched on in my blog: memories of World War II and patriotism, a traditional marriage, large family (10 births!), children that die young, the consequences of drunk driving on the innocent, being widowed, violence and how it tears at a mother's heart, and the joys of a children who had a real homemaking mother.
http://www.shieldsgazette.com/news/Nighta39s-mum-dies-without-seeing.4839989.jp
snip
Nighta's mum dies without seeing killers caught
Published Date: 02 January 2009
By Lisa Nightingale
Crime reporter
ALL she wanted was to see her son's killers brought to justice.
But for Maud Nightingale it is a day she will never see after she lost her fight for life on Christmas Eve.
For 12 years the 85-year-old struggled to come to terms with the brutal murder of her youngest child Kevin. Since he was gunned down in 1996, Mrs Nightingale spent every moment clinging onto the hope that one day his killers would be caught.
The 33-year-old was shot on the doorstep of his home in Drake Close, South Shields. His killers have never been caught. Last year, on the 11th anniversary of his death, Mrs Nightingale broke her silence about her son's death, weeping as she begged the people of South Tyneside to help find the person who pulled the trigger.
Daughter Jen Bullock said: "Since Kevin died her health went downhill. "The only thing that kept her going was the hope there would be a prosecution. "It just breaks our hearts knowing she will never know who killed her son." The family have vowed to continue their fight to bring the father-of-two's killers to justice, not only in his memory, but for their mother. Mrs Nightingale (nee Shaw) was born and grew up in South Shields.
At 17, she left her hometown to play her part in the war effort working in a munitions factory in Birmingham. When she returned to South Shields, she took up singing and dancing in various clubs in the town until she met and married her husband Andrew Nightingale.
The couple went on to have 10 children; Andrew, 63, Thomas, who died when he was just nine months old, Richard, 61, twins Elizabeth and Ethel, 60, John, 58, William, 56, Jen, 53, Diane, 50 and Kevin.
Described by her family as a strong-willed lady who loved playing bingo, she took on the role of both mother and father to her children after her husband was killed by a drink driver as he crossed John Reid Road, aged 49. Her son Richard said: "Dad's death devastated the family, but she kept us all together and made sure we never went without. She did everything to protect us. "They were good parents who did the best they could.
"They were good providers and always made sure there was something on the table for us.
"And what she couldn't make with rhubarb wasn't worth knowing about – she was a fantastic cook and a tremendous mother."
Mrs Nightingale died in her sleep at her home in Bainbridge Avenue, Simonside, after suffering a heart attack. She was with her two daughters Ethel and Diane. A church service will take place for Mrs Nightingale at St Simon's Church, Wenlock Road, on Monday at 10.30am, followed by a service at Harton Cemetery at 11.15am, where she will be buried next to her husband. Mrs Nightingale leaves eight children, 20 grandchildren and 35 great-grandchildren.
*Anyone with information on the killing of Kevin Nightingale is asked to contact police on 03456 043 043 or crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. All calls will be dealt with in the strictist of confidence.
In her life you can read about some of the things I have touched on in my blog: memories of World War II and patriotism, a traditional marriage, large family (10 births!), children that die young, the consequences of drunk driving on the innocent, being widowed, violence and how it tears at a mother's heart, and the joys of a children who had a real homemaking mother.
http://www.shieldsgazette.com/news/Nighta39s-mum-dies-without-seeing.4839989.jp
snip
Nighta's mum dies without seeing killers caught
Published Date: 02 January 2009
By Lisa Nightingale
Crime reporter
ALL she wanted was to see her son's killers brought to justice.
But for Maud Nightingale it is a day she will never see after she lost her fight for life on Christmas Eve.
For 12 years the 85-year-old struggled to come to terms with the brutal murder of her youngest child Kevin. Since he was gunned down in 1996, Mrs Nightingale spent every moment clinging onto the hope that one day his killers would be caught.
The 33-year-old was shot on the doorstep of his home in Drake Close, South Shields. His killers have never been caught. Last year, on the 11th anniversary of his death, Mrs Nightingale broke her silence about her son's death, weeping as she begged the people of South Tyneside to help find the person who pulled the trigger.
Daughter Jen Bullock said: "Since Kevin died her health went downhill. "The only thing that kept her going was the hope there would be a prosecution. "It just breaks our hearts knowing she will never know who killed her son." The family have vowed to continue their fight to bring the father-of-two's killers to justice, not only in his memory, but for their mother. Mrs Nightingale (nee Shaw) was born and grew up in South Shields.
At 17, she left her hometown to play her part in the war effort working in a munitions factory in Birmingham. When she returned to South Shields, she took up singing and dancing in various clubs in the town until she met and married her husband Andrew Nightingale.
The couple went on to have 10 children; Andrew, 63, Thomas, who died when he was just nine months old, Richard, 61, twins Elizabeth and Ethel, 60, John, 58, William, 56, Jen, 53, Diane, 50 and Kevin.
Described by her family as a strong-willed lady who loved playing bingo, she took on the role of both mother and father to her children after her husband was killed by a drink driver as he crossed John Reid Road, aged 49. Her son Richard said: "Dad's death devastated the family, but she kept us all together and made sure we never went without. She did everything to protect us. "They were good parents who did the best they could.
"They were good providers and always made sure there was something on the table for us.
"And what she couldn't make with rhubarb wasn't worth knowing about – she was a fantastic cook and a tremendous mother."
Mrs Nightingale died in her sleep at her home in Bainbridge Avenue, Simonside, after suffering a heart attack. She was with her two daughters Ethel and Diane. A church service will take place for Mrs Nightingale at St Simon's Church, Wenlock Road, on Monday at 10.30am, followed by a service at Harton Cemetery at 11.15am, where she will be buried next to her husband. Mrs Nightingale leaves eight children, 20 grandchildren and 35 great-grandchildren.
*Anyone with information on the killing of Kevin Nightingale is asked to contact police on 03456 043 043 or crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. All calls will be dealt with in the strictist of confidence.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
An inside perspective of Hitler's Germany (2)
Today is the anniversary of the two day rampage in Hitler's Germany known as Kristallnacht.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristallnacht
snip
Kristallnacht (IPA: [kr,ɪst.aɫ.n'ɒxt]; literally "Crystal night") or the Night of Broken Glass, was a pogrom in Nazi Germany on November 9–10, 1938. On a single night, 92 Jews were murdered and 25,000–30,000 were arrested and deported to concentration camps.[1][2] It is often called Novemberpogrom or Reichspogromnacht in German.
The Nazis coordinated an attack on Jewish people and their property in Germany and German-controlled lands as a part of Führer Adolf Hitler's anti-Semitic policy.[3]
On November 7, 1938, Herschel Grynszpan, a 17-year old German Jew enraged by his family's expulsion from Germany[citation needed], walked into the German Embassy in Paris and fired five shots at a junior diplomat, Ernst vom Rath. Two days later, the diplomat died and Germany was in the grip of skillfully orchestrated[citation needed] anti-Jewish violence. In the early hours of November 10, coordinated destruction broke out in cities, towns and villages throughout the Third Reich.
The consequences of this violence were disastrous for the Jews of the Third Reich. In a single night, Kristallnacht saw the destruction of more than 200 synagogues and the ransacking of thousands of Jewish businesses and homes. It marked the beginning of the systematic eradication of a people who could trace their ancestry in Germany to Ancient Rome and served as a prelude to the Holocaust that was to follow.[4][5]
***
I thought you all might be interested in reading about how my mother witnessed in person this event.
My mother was born in a suburb of Berlin in 1922, and so she was only a month shy of being sixteen years old when this occurred. She had graduated from the standard schooling at the time and was taking a trolley car into Berlin to attend what was called "business school" for young ladies. What they meant by this was that young ladies who would become shop keepers went to this school to learn how to wrap packages for customers, keep a shop inventory and ledger, and basically be a clerk in a small shop.
As my mother took a trolley car into Berlin each day, it passed through what was a Jewish neighborhood, where there were Jewish shops, residences and synagogues. She and the other passengers of the trolley car looked out the window in astonishment, seeing the store front windows of the shops and residences smashed in, the glass lying in shards in front, and the synagogues also damaged and destroyed. She says they just stared in astonishment. When they reported to their school, the schoolmaster, a man, called them all together. He said, "Girls, you may have noticed some strange things on the way here. For your safety I am telling you to say nothing about this at all. Do not talk about it to anyone." She said he was visibly scared for his and their safety. And so the schoolgirls all said nothing and went on with their classwork. She said it was terrifying, but when nothing else happened that was visible to them after that, things calmed down so far as she could tell.
While we are on the subject, here is what my mother experienced about whether "average Germans 'knew' what was going on with the Holocaust." After the event of Kristallnacht, like I said, nothing else seemed to happen. But of course people wondered what had happened to the Jews, both those who disappeared that night, and later as the persecutions took place. The people of Germany were told that the Jews were being "resettled" to land outside of Germany. Now, my mother explained that Berlin was a kind of "cosmopolitan" and sophisticated city, even though my mom was from poor farmer/carpenter upbringing, everyone thought of themselves as being not easy to fool and somewhat worldly. So they did, at least these people in her neighborhood of Berlin, believe that the Jews were being relocated.
But some years later the rumors started. She said that yes, they started hearing that there were incredible stories of concentration camps and massacres. But they were only rumors because as everyone later learned, most of the camps were outside of Germany, so there were few German witnesses (despite what one sees of Germans working at the camps). Only rumors got back to the average people such as my mother and her parents in Berlin. And here is where their "sophistication" worked against them. They just flat out could not believe it. They thought that these were just crazy rumors of the type that spring up during war. My grandfather was a World War I veteran, so he knew how bad things happened, but also how rumors spread like wildfire during war. So my mother said that sure, don't let any German tell you that they didn't hear the rumors, but on the other hand, most Germans thought they were insane rumors.
Here is one of the most fascinating parts of my mother's witness. She grew up close friends with a Jewish boy. So he was a teenager like her when these events took place. He and his family, who were "half Jewish" (one parent was Jewish and one was not) actually lived in Berlin throughout the war and escaped deportation and death. How did they do it? They were able to pay off an SS agent who documented them as being not Jewish on the basis of the half of the family that was not Jewish. These were not rich people by any means, they were one of the estimated 100 Jews who were able to stay in Berlin through means such as these (paying off and laying low because they had a fortunate connection) or through outright hiding. There's an out of print book on this subject but he's not in it. So my mother was in a position to know as much or a bit more than the average Berliner since she maintained contact with this young Jewish man. In fact, she was widowed in 1942, at the age of 19, and she continued to see her Jewish friend with a somewhat romantic mindset throughout the war, to the horror of her parents, my grandparents. Why were they horrified? Not from prejudice but incredible fear because after all, here she was maintaining contact with this Jewish young friend right in Berlin, under the noses of the authorities. But they all made it through the war.
My mother had a son, my half brother, born in 1942. So my dad, an American paratrooper, had his first sight of the woman who would become my mom as she walked with her toddler son to the store to find milk and rations in 1945, when Berlin had fallen to the Russians, and then was occupied by the Americans. They fell in love and married. But let me tell you that the young Jewish man not only survived the entire war in Berlin, but he also emigrated to America and lived in New York City, where he either owned or worked at a bar. I met him in 1962 after my father had died, and he was a great and kind man.
While I understand people's criticism of the average German, I won't hear anything on that subject about my mother. For a woman, let me tell you she has brass balls. She stood by her Jewish friend as he hid in Berlin while the Nazis were marching all around. And I'm not exaggerating. My mother told me that during public displays that all the citizens had to leave their schools and shops and cheer when the Nazi bigwigs held a rally or marched by. She saw Hitler, Goering and all those maniacs from only a few yards away on at least one occasion. She also had to be one of the "dancing maidens" at the Olympics, back in 1936 when Jesse Owens made us all proud and Hitler mad, ha, yes, she was there. So I will not hear anything bad about her as she showed more loyalty and courage toward her Jewish friend than anyone I can think of in much less dire circumstances today.
Likewise, my childhood best friend, an American girl born of German parents, told me about her parents' experience in the south of Germany, in the area known as Bavaria. The people in the village risked torture and death by the Nazis because they would recover and hide pilots who survived when their airplanes were downed. Sometimes they would have to row out in boats and fish them out of lakes, and then hide them and get care for their injuries, all in great haste before the local German military arrived. So these people were also the unsung righteous heroes who did the best that they could to save English and American wounded or downed fighters.
Anyway, that is an example of how kids and adults today need to learn about history from people who were actually there and who can explain what it was like. I have a bit more about her story regarding how she had to flee the advance of the Russian army, and they wrecked vengence on all Germans they found, and how my grandmother evaded the Russians and was untouched. But I'll save that for another posting sometime!
I hope that you have found these reminiscences interesting and useful.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristallnacht
snip
Kristallnacht (IPA: [kr,ɪst.aɫ.n'ɒxt]; literally "Crystal night") or the Night of Broken Glass, was a pogrom in Nazi Germany on November 9–10, 1938. On a single night, 92 Jews were murdered and 25,000–30,000 were arrested and deported to concentration camps.[1][2] It is often called Novemberpogrom or Reichspogromnacht in German.
The Nazis coordinated an attack on Jewish people and their property in Germany and German-controlled lands as a part of Führer Adolf Hitler's anti-Semitic policy.[3]
On November 7, 1938, Herschel Grynszpan, a 17-year old German Jew enraged by his family's expulsion from Germany[citation needed], walked into the German Embassy in Paris and fired five shots at a junior diplomat, Ernst vom Rath. Two days later, the diplomat died and Germany was in the grip of skillfully orchestrated[citation needed] anti-Jewish violence. In the early hours of November 10, coordinated destruction broke out in cities, towns and villages throughout the Third Reich.
The consequences of this violence were disastrous for the Jews of the Third Reich. In a single night, Kristallnacht saw the destruction of more than 200 synagogues and the ransacking of thousands of Jewish businesses and homes. It marked the beginning of the systematic eradication of a people who could trace their ancestry in Germany to Ancient Rome and served as a prelude to the Holocaust that was to follow.[4][5]
***
I thought you all might be interested in reading about how my mother witnessed in person this event.
My mother was born in a suburb of Berlin in 1922, and so she was only a month shy of being sixteen years old when this occurred. She had graduated from the standard schooling at the time and was taking a trolley car into Berlin to attend what was called "business school" for young ladies. What they meant by this was that young ladies who would become shop keepers went to this school to learn how to wrap packages for customers, keep a shop inventory and ledger, and basically be a clerk in a small shop.
As my mother took a trolley car into Berlin each day, it passed through what was a Jewish neighborhood, where there were Jewish shops, residences and synagogues. She and the other passengers of the trolley car looked out the window in astonishment, seeing the store front windows of the shops and residences smashed in, the glass lying in shards in front, and the synagogues also damaged and destroyed. She says they just stared in astonishment. When they reported to their school, the schoolmaster, a man, called them all together. He said, "Girls, you may have noticed some strange things on the way here. For your safety I am telling you to say nothing about this at all. Do not talk about it to anyone." She said he was visibly scared for his and their safety. And so the schoolgirls all said nothing and went on with their classwork. She said it was terrifying, but when nothing else happened that was visible to them after that, things calmed down so far as she could tell.
While we are on the subject, here is what my mother experienced about whether "average Germans 'knew' what was going on with the Holocaust." After the event of Kristallnacht, like I said, nothing else seemed to happen. But of course people wondered what had happened to the Jews, both those who disappeared that night, and later as the persecutions took place. The people of Germany were told that the Jews were being "resettled" to land outside of Germany. Now, my mother explained that Berlin was a kind of "cosmopolitan" and sophisticated city, even though my mom was from poor farmer/carpenter upbringing, everyone thought of themselves as being not easy to fool and somewhat worldly. So they did, at least these people in her neighborhood of Berlin, believe that the Jews were being relocated.
But some years later the rumors started. She said that yes, they started hearing that there were incredible stories of concentration camps and massacres. But they were only rumors because as everyone later learned, most of the camps were outside of Germany, so there were few German witnesses (despite what one sees of Germans working at the camps). Only rumors got back to the average people such as my mother and her parents in Berlin. And here is where their "sophistication" worked against them. They just flat out could not believe it. They thought that these were just crazy rumors of the type that spring up during war. My grandfather was a World War I veteran, so he knew how bad things happened, but also how rumors spread like wildfire during war. So my mother said that sure, don't let any German tell you that they didn't hear the rumors, but on the other hand, most Germans thought they were insane rumors.
Here is one of the most fascinating parts of my mother's witness. She grew up close friends with a Jewish boy. So he was a teenager like her when these events took place. He and his family, who were "half Jewish" (one parent was Jewish and one was not) actually lived in Berlin throughout the war and escaped deportation and death. How did they do it? They were able to pay off an SS agent who documented them as being not Jewish on the basis of the half of the family that was not Jewish. These were not rich people by any means, they were one of the estimated 100 Jews who were able to stay in Berlin through means such as these (paying off and laying low because they had a fortunate connection) or through outright hiding. There's an out of print book on this subject but he's not in it. So my mother was in a position to know as much or a bit more than the average Berliner since she maintained contact with this young Jewish man. In fact, she was widowed in 1942, at the age of 19, and she continued to see her Jewish friend with a somewhat romantic mindset throughout the war, to the horror of her parents, my grandparents. Why were they horrified? Not from prejudice but incredible fear because after all, here she was maintaining contact with this Jewish young friend right in Berlin, under the noses of the authorities. But they all made it through the war.
My mother had a son, my half brother, born in 1942. So my dad, an American paratrooper, had his first sight of the woman who would become my mom as she walked with her toddler son to the store to find milk and rations in 1945, when Berlin had fallen to the Russians, and then was occupied by the Americans. They fell in love and married. But let me tell you that the young Jewish man not only survived the entire war in Berlin, but he also emigrated to America and lived in New York City, where he either owned or worked at a bar. I met him in 1962 after my father had died, and he was a great and kind man.
While I understand people's criticism of the average German, I won't hear anything on that subject about my mother. For a woman, let me tell you she has brass balls. She stood by her Jewish friend as he hid in Berlin while the Nazis were marching all around. And I'm not exaggerating. My mother told me that during public displays that all the citizens had to leave their schools and shops and cheer when the Nazi bigwigs held a rally or marched by. She saw Hitler, Goering and all those maniacs from only a few yards away on at least one occasion. She also had to be one of the "dancing maidens" at the Olympics, back in 1936 when Jesse Owens made us all proud and Hitler mad, ha, yes, she was there. So I will not hear anything bad about her as she showed more loyalty and courage toward her Jewish friend than anyone I can think of in much less dire circumstances today.
Likewise, my childhood best friend, an American girl born of German parents, told me about her parents' experience in the south of Germany, in the area known as Bavaria. The people in the village risked torture and death by the Nazis because they would recover and hide pilots who survived when their airplanes were downed. Sometimes they would have to row out in boats and fish them out of lakes, and then hide them and get care for their injuries, all in great haste before the local German military arrived. So these people were also the unsung righteous heroes who did the best that they could to save English and American wounded or downed fighters.
Anyway, that is an example of how kids and adults today need to learn about history from people who were actually there and who can explain what it was like. I have a bit more about her story regarding how she had to flee the advance of the Russian army, and they wrecked vengence on all Germans they found, and how my grandmother evaded the Russians and was untouched. But I'll save that for another posting sometime!
I hope that you have found these reminiscences interesting and useful.
An inside perspective of Hitler's Germany
The subject continues to come up, which is natural. Hitler's Germany was such a stark and monstrous tragedy for humanity that many people continue to think about it and try to better understand it. That is a good and natural thing to do, except for two cautions that I wish to offer you.
As the generation who lived through it dies out, fewer people remember what life in general was like during that time, and so the younger people of today often make assumptions based on how life is today that are invalid and shade their thoughts about Hitler's Germany. For one, is it nearly impossible for children and young people to imagine a time without phones. The Germany of Hitler's time very rarely had phones, except for government officials, as it was still primarily a rural country. My grandparents lived in Berlin and did not have a phone (nor did they have one into the 1960's!) So when young people today ponder how something like Hitler's Germany could have happened, remember that they are imagining in their minds all the conveniences of communication and other modern values which just was not in place in Germany or indeed in much of the United States or the rest of the world. Having grandparents who lived during that time used to provide "what life was like when we were young" context as young people learn about history. As the World War II vets and the elderly grannies have been dying out, remember that it takes an effort to be a genuine historian and provide a genuine cultural setting that is valid.
The second thing to be cautious about is to remember that "rage and hatred is the gift that keeps on giving." Just look at the level of venom that arises at the discussion of whether the Catholic Church views Pope Pius XII as a potential saint or not. If you want to see otherwise decent and level headed people go feral, just mention that subject among those who keep the fire of what happened in Hitler's Germany stoked within them. That is another lasting tragedy of Hitler's Germany, that people can go from fairly intellectual and good willed to snarling and lashing out in rage when certain buttons are pushed (or perceived to be pushed) regarding certain aspects of Hitler's Germany. It's understandable, especially if one is a Holocaust survivor or a relative of one, and it's even understandable if one is a particularly sensitive soul, prone to feeling great waves of righteous indignation. But there is a selective outrage, almost as if the rage that Hitler left as part of his filthy legacy clumps into dark currents, touching some subjects and leaving others to disappear into history. For example, few people get worked up over the Blitz anymore, feeling the outrage of the incendiary bombs burning large parts of Britain, men, women, children, farm animals, the pounding and destroying that Britain endured for years, particularly 1940-1941. Read this excerpt from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blitz
The Blitz was the sustained bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, in World War II. The name is a shortening of the German term, "Blitzkrieg", or "Lightning War". While the "Blitz" hit many towns and cities across the country, it began with the bombing of London for 57 nights in a row.[1] By the end of May 1941, over 43,000 civilians, half of them in London, had been killed by bombing and more than a million houses destroyed or damaged in London alone.[2][3]
Yet today we are able to read the facts above, which describe only a portion of the horror, and not have our buttons pushed. Yet not that long ago, if you talked to an older Brit from that time, you could see the anger and pain in their faces as they recalled the horror and their loses. So remember when thinking about Hitler's Germany that with this passage of time, two things have happened that render moderns unable to think or rather to perceive that time as fully and accurately as was once possible. The first is that as witnesses have aged and died off, people lack first hand context of what life was really like then, and why certain losses happened as they did. The second is that the outrage tends to gel around the most vivid and painful monstrosities of the time, such as the killing of the Jews in the Holocaust, yet the passing of time smooths away the enormity and personal outrage of other terrible events, such as the Blitz. Thus one cannot grasp the enormity of the experience, in its full context, by focusing on one aspect, such as "how could the Holocaust have happened?" People who lived through World War II were also wondering "how could the Blitz happen" and "how could this madman be working on gaining the atomic bomb" and "could he actually also defeat the Russian army and grasp their oilfields?" A lot of horror was unleashed at the same time in all directions. It is easy to try to reduce that almost incomprehensible time into "well, the Pope should have done more" or "how could the western countries let so many Jews die?" and "how much did the 'average German' 'know?'" But those types of questions, valid as natural as they are, belong to selective armchair ponderers. They do not begin to encompass the entire picture of a world that was truly aflame.
There was a great series that aired for years on PBS called "The World at War." If someone really wants to understand Hitler's Germany, that is one of the best places to start, it is a treasure, since many of the contemporary witnesses and participants of that time appear in rare interviews and of course, most of them are now deceased. THAT is a wonderful educational resource and I think that all families, especially home schooling... no wait, I take that back (suddenly remembering how awful the public schools have become)... ALL families with school age children should get "The World at War" series and watch it with their older children.
Yes, do a search for it on Amazon.com and you will see "The World at War" is an eleven disk DVD collection for $55 and change. Here is the first sentence of the review.
Amazon.com essential video
Sir Jeremy Isaacs highly deserves the numerous awards for documentaries he has earned: the Royal Television Society's Desmond Davis Award, l'Ordre National du Mérit, an Emmy, and a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II. His epic The World at War remains unsurpassed as the definitive visual history of World War II.
I HIGHLY recommend it and I watched the entire series when it was on television several times through. It will transform all of you who watch it into truly providing a foundational knowledge of this difficult and tragic time, on a personal level and the actual facts of history. When Ken Burns' "The Civil War" came out it reminded me of "The World at War" because both give a genuine perspective of what happened and why, in the voices and with the faces of those who were actually there. I look forward to seeing it again on the DVD.
As the generation who lived through it dies out, fewer people remember what life in general was like during that time, and so the younger people of today often make assumptions based on how life is today that are invalid and shade their thoughts about Hitler's Germany. For one, is it nearly impossible for children and young people to imagine a time without phones. The Germany of Hitler's time very rarely had phones, except for government officials, as it was still primarily a rural country. My grandparents lived in Berlin and did not have a phone (nor did they have one into the 1960's!) So when young people today ponder how something like Hitler's Germany could have happened, remember that they are imagining in their minds all the conveniences of communication and other modern values which just was not in place in Germany or indeed in much of the United States or the rest of the world. Having grandparents who lived during that time used to provide "what life was like when we were young" context as young people learn about history. As the World War II vets and the elderly grannies have been dying out, remember that it takes an effort to be a genuine historian and provide a genuine cultural setting that is valid.
The second thing to be cautious about is to remember that "rage and hatred is the gift that keeps on giving." Just look at the level of venom that arises at the discussion of whether the Catholic Church views Pope Pius XII as a potential saint or not. If you want to see otherwise decent and level headed people go feral, just mention that subject among those who keep the fire of what happened in Hitler's Germany stoked within them. That is another lasting tragedy of Hitler's Germany, that people can go from fairly intellectual and good willed to snarling and lashing out in rage when certain buttons are pushed (or perceived to be pushed) regarding certain aspects of Hitler's Germany. It's understandable, especially if one is a Holocaust survivor or a relative of one, and it's even understandable if one is a particularly sensitive soul, prone to feeling great waves of righteous indignation. But there is a selective outrage, almost as if the rage that Hitler left as part of his filthy legacy clumps into dark currents, touching some subjects and leaving others to disappear into history. For example, few people get worked up over the Blitz anymore, feeling the outrage of the incendiary bombs burning large parts of Britain, men, women, children, farm animals, the pounding and destroying that Britain endured for years, particularly 1940-1941. Read this excerpt from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blitz
The Blitz was the sustained bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, in World War II. The name is a shortening of the German term, "Blitzkrieg", or "Lightning War". While the "Blitz" hit many towns and cities across the country, it began with the bombing of London for 57 nights in a row.[1] By the end of May 1941, over 43,000 civilians, half of them in London, had been killed by bombing and more than a million houses destroyed or damaged in London alone.[2][3]
Yet today we are able to read the facts above, which describe only a portion of the horror, and not have our buttons pushed. Yet not that long ago, if you talked to an older Brit from that time, you could see the anger and pain in their faces as they recalled the horror and their loses. So remember when thinking about Hitler's Germany that with this passage of time, two things have happened that render moderns unable to think or rather to perceive that time as fully and accurately as was once possible. The first is that as witnesses have aged and died off, people lack first hand context of what life was really like then, and why certain losses happened as they did. The second is that the outrage tends to gel around the most vivid and painful monstrosities of the time, such as the killing of the Jews in the Holocaust, yet the passing of time smooths away the enormity and personal outrage of other terrible events, such as the Blitz. Thus one cannot grasp the enormity of the experience, in its full context, by focusing on one aspect, such as "how could the Holocaust have happened?" People who lived through World War II were also wondering "how could the Blitz happen" and "how could this madman be working on gaining the atomic bomb" and "could he actually also defeat the Russian army and grasp their oilfields?" A lot of horror was unleashed at the same time in all directions. It is easy to try to reduce that almost incomprehensible time into "well, the Pope should have done more" or "how could the western countries let so many Jews die?" and "how much did the 'average German' 'know?'" But those types of questions, valid as natural as they are, belong to selective armchair ponderers. They do not begin to encompass the entire picture of a world that was truly aflame.
There was a great series that aired for years on PBS called "The World at War." If someone really wants to understand Hitler's Germany, that is one of the best places to start, it is a treasure, since many of the contemporary witnesses and participants of that time appear in rare interviews and of course, most of them are now deceased. THAT is a wonderful educational resource and I think that all families, especially home schooling... no wait, I take that back (suddenly remembering how awful the public schools have become)... ALL families with school age children should get "The World at War" series and watch it with their older children.
Yes, do a search for it on Amazon.com and you will see "The World at War" is an eleven disk DVD collection for $55 and change. Here is the first sentence of the review.
Amazon.com essential video
Sir Jeremy Isaacs highly deserves the numerous awards for documentaries he has earned: the Royal Television Society's Desmond Davis Award, l'Ordre National du Mérit, an Emmy, and a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II. His epic The World at War remains unsurpassed as the definitive visual history of World War II.
I HIGHLY recommend it and I watched the entire series when it was on television several times through. It will transform all of you who watch it into truly providing a foundational knowledge of this difficult and tragic time, on a personal level and the actual facts of history. When Ken Burns' "The Civil War" came out it reminded me of "The World at War" because both give a genuine perspective of what happened and why, in the voices and with the faces of those who were actually there. I look forward to seeing it again on the DVD.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Agree with Pope Benedict re Pope Pius XII
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0805150.htm
snip
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Among the thousands who crammed into St. Peter's Basilica for a Mass commemorating Pope Pius XII, many were hoping for an announcement about his beatification, a step toward sainthood. That didn't happen. Pope Benedict XVI strongly praised Pope Pius and prayed that his sainthood cause would make progress, but he made no promises and set no dates. He did not declare Pope Pius "venerable," the step that would have advanced the cause and, no doubt, would have prompted much applause in the basilica. To make sure that no one got the wrong idea, the Vatican spokesman, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, told reporters not to expect the pope to go off and sign such a decree immediately after the Mass. The pope was demonstrating his "spiritual union" with those hoping for canonization, but gave no indication about future steps, Father Lombardi said.
***
I agree with Pope Benedict and others who have defended Pope Pius XII from inaccurate and unfair attacks about the vigor of his intervention to save as many Jews as possible during World War II.
But I also agree with Pope Benedict going slowly about Pope Pius' sainthood cause. I do not see a linkage even though many will draw that obvious conclusion.
I think it is obvious that Pope Benedict is wisely slowing down the Vatican "saint factory" in general, and that Pope Pius will be part of that slower and more discerning process.
People, I know that everyone "wants" to see "their own" modern day saints declared. Everyone wants someone from their gender, culture, ethnic group, profession, age group, you name it, people seem to want saints declared that reflect their own image in the mirror. That is human and very understandable, but is actually an expression of weakness of faith rather than strength of faith.
We have people today who want "modern" and "representative" saints declared, but who actually know very little of the bona fide saints who have been declared through the ages, and do little to follow the lessons of their sanctity. Jesus himself cautioned that the Jews did not listen to Moses or Elijah, when he told the story of the rich man in hell who ignored the poor starving man Lazarus. This is an example of how the saints and prophets are to remain alive in their lessons and sanctity today, and not a constant rush to find a "representative, modern example of saint so that someone can 'believe more.'" If you need a saint the same color, ethnicity, age or gender as you to believe, then you aren't believing all that strongly in the first place.
Having said that, I share the joy when a saint is declared, such as the first female Asian Indian saint. But those glories and honors have been diluted by the recent several decades "frenzy" to push "representative" saints through the pipeline, whether they were actual saints or simply the good and pious believers that they undoubtedly were.
Pope Pius XII would be the last person who would want the honor of being a saint, as he already has received his reward in heaven, and he was a very humble man. This is not to say that he should not receive that declaration, should the facts and miracles be authentic and bear out in investigation. But I am saying that all real saints would be horrified to know their earthly advocates feel that they "must be declared saints" in order to "strengthen the faith" (by those who imply "modern 'inclusiveness'" is important).
All these holy people would ask why the Apostles, the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, and all the "traditional" and lesser known saints are not more than enough proof and model for current day "faith" and role models of sanctity.
snip
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Among the thousands who crammed into St. Peter's Basilica for a Mass commemorating Pope Pius XII, many were hoping for an announcement about his beatification, a step toward sainthood. That didn't happen. Pope Benedict XVI strongly praised Pope Pius and prayed that his sainthood cause would make progress, but he made no promises and set no dates. He did not declare Pope Pius "venerable," the step that would have advanced the cause and, no doubt, would have prompted much applause in the basilica. To make sure that no one got the wrong idea, the Vatican spokesman, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, told reporters not to expect the pope to go off and sign such a decree immediately after the Mass. The pope was demonstrating his "spiritual union" with those hoping for canonization, but gave no indication about future steps, Father Lombardi said.
***
I agree with Pope Benedict and others who have defended Pope Pius XII from inaccurate and unfair attacks about the vigor of his intervention to save as many Jews as possible during World War II.
But I also agree with Pope Benedict going slowly about Pope Pius' sainthood cause. I do not see a linkage even though many will draw that obvious conclusion.
I think it is obvious that Pope Benedict is wisely slowing down the Vatican "saint factory" in general, and that Pope Pius will be part of that slower and more discerning process.
People, I know that everyone "wants" to see "their own" modern day saints declared. Everyone wants someone from their gender, culture, ethnic group, profession, age group, you name it, people seem to want saints declared that reflect their own image in the mirror. That is human and very understandable, but is actually an expression of weakness of faith rather than strength of faith.
We have people today who want "modern" and "representative" saints declared, but who actually know very little of the bona fide saints who have been declared through the ages, and do little to follow the lessons of their sanctity. Jesus himself cautioned that the Jews did not listen to Moses or Elijah, when he told the story of the rich man in hell who ignored the poor starving man Lazarus. This is an example of how the saints and prophets are to remain alive in their lessons and sanctity today, and not a constant rush to find a "representative, modern example of saint so that someone can 'believe more.'" If you need a saint the same color, ethnicity, age or gender as you to believe, then you aren't believing all that strongly in the first place.
Having said that, I share the joy when a saint is declared, such as the first female Asian Indian saint. But those glories and honors have been diluted by the recent several decades "frenzy" to push "representative" saints through the pipeline, whether they were actual saints or simply the good and pious believers that they undoubtedly were.
Pope Pius XII would be the last person who would want the honor of being a saint, as he already has received his reward in heaven, and he was a very humble man. This is not to say that he should not receive that declaration, should the facts and miracles be authentic and bear out in investigation. But I am saying that all real saints would be horrified to know their earthly advocates feel that they "must be declared saints" in order to "strengthen the faith" (by those who imply "modern 'inclusiveness'" is important).
All these holy people would ask why the Apostles, the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, and all the "traditional" and lesser known saints are not more than enough proof and model for current day "faith" and role models of sanctity.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
World War II scholars need to be careful
Actually all historians and scholars need to be careful to be accurate, obviously, and to speculate responsibly. However the fascination and horror regarding Hitler, Pearl Harbor and the entire World War II events, especially the Holocaust, has particular temptations to be less than logical or factual.
This is on my mind because I heard a brief interview with Pat Buchanan on CNN about his controversial new book that speculates about how World War II could have been avoided. I think it is always useful to look at historical events from different perspectives and engage in responsible "what if" thinking. In this case Mr. Buchanan was focused on England's actions in committing to protecting Poland due to a treaty. Now, I've not read the book, obviously, and I'm not likely to since I tend not to read most political or speculative history books; they just aren't my thing. So I'm not going to jump to any conclusions about what Mr. Buchanan says on the whole. But I want to teach, as part of my series on logical thinking and tools for better scholarship, people how to engage in the most productive scholarship, such as book writing, and being a "consumer," such as reading such a book.
One thing you have to remember that most of those who lived during the times that led up to World War II are long dead. But I grew up and was educated in school when many average citizens had first hand knowledge and experience of the times that led up to the war. These insights have been preserved and taught. But there is a temptation to be "revisionist" in history in the course of pursuing valid attempts at "new insights." You need to be careful to build your "new insights" on top of the solid scholarship and first hand testimony of what happened, however, not as a substitute.
It is common knowledge that World War II happened in large part because of the damage and hard feelings that resulted from World War I. Responsible history classes cover this in great detail, but I can't be sure what they are teaching in the schools today though *sigh.* So here is some general but first hand information that everyone needs to understand when either producing or enjoying written or visual works about World War II.
World War I was "the first" in many ways. It wasn't just the first world war, the definition of which is a war that pulls in many countries into active conflict, rather that being between two combatants. It was the first war that used "attrition" as a strategy, which is to kill off as many of each other as possible. Before then battles took place as individual strategies and wars were conducted based on conquering and defeating individual units of military or population centers. People planned to conquer city X or defeat army unit B. In World War I the armies dug into land that had no significance at all and then slaughtered each other for days on end, piling up bodies by the thousands. This had never been seen before in human history. An entire generation of British men died in World War I, as did many Germans and French. So World War I brought the idea of a war of attrition (who kills the others the most) into reality.
The second way that WWI was a "first" is that technology became a tool for conducting this attrition. While guns and artillery existed before then, they became more predominant, the advantage of airplanes started to emerge but most of all, war stopped being between "gentlemen" or "officers" and ethics went out the window with the introduction of poison gas. There used to be an ethics of war. But with the concept of the war of attrition, atrocities such as poison gas became vehicles for conducting slaughter. Men were horribly killed and maimed and feelings were very hard and angry as a result, understandably. Germans thought they were "leveling the field" by using poison gas to make up for having less artillery and other resources. It was a horrible mistake.
The third way that WWI was a "first" was that it was the first war to be fought for no reason. It erupted after an assassination of a minor noble because many countries had a complex set of treaties that forced each other to come to the aid of someone somewhere in the food chain if an event occurred. So this ridiculous and horrible war erupted for no reason whatsoever; not to conduct a national strategy (like go after oil), or because of ethnic/racial tensions, or because of a border conflict, or as a land grab, or to overthrow a dictator... there was no reason whatsoever.
The fourth way that WWI was a "first" was that feelings were so high and the indignation so fierce that when Germany was defeated and surrendered it was punished on a scale that had also never been seen in modern warfare. The terms of surrender were deliberately humiliating and made to crush with financial burden the average citizen of Germany, right down to the peasantry. So not only was the country defeated but the entire populace was punished. This is all documented and factual and has been covered in books, the classroom and even PBS types of programming. I'm not giving a great insight here but teaching those who have never had a chance to learn about this in the classroom. Germans were humiliated and crushed under "war reparations" and punishment so that the average citizen suffered enormously, even though they had nothing to do with this stupid war in the first place. A terrible inflation took place in the 1930's and I have members of my family that told me what it was like. The money was totally worthless. It would take a wheelbarrow of money to buy one loaf of bread (and that's literally, not a figure of speech). No one could afford toilet paper so they used the money bills as sheets of toilet paper. They could not afford wallpaper so they pasted money to the walls when they had to patch an area. I have in storage a few of these like "million marks" bills that my family had kept from those times. The defeated citizens of Germany suffered and seethed.
It is those reasons that led to people listening to the dangerous bum Hitler who never would have listened to him otherwise. Hitler tapped into the suffering of the people and their zero self-esteem in order to build them up in this Teutonic superhero image. It's much like what kids do today when they pretend to be superheroes in video games except Hitler convinced an entire people that they too were meant to be superheroes, and not the humiliated and degraded conquered people that they were as a result of their defeat in World War I. This is a well known fact and was taught in many classrooms, including those I attended as a child and later as a college student, and it was taught as a cautionary tale about what happens if you humiliate a defeated people. You better be careful because they will come back with a vengeance and look for someone to blame and kick back in return for the kicking that they have received.
Carl Jung found a way to describe this in his psychoanalytical and mythological terms. Jung argued that the people self hypnotized themselves into being "possessed" by the Norse god Wotan. This is a perfectly valid, though not terribly useful, way to view how the defeated German brains were receptive to Hitler's mental video game of the Teutonic superhero. I say it is not helpful because it does not inform public policy matters in a practical way. We don't really need to know just what brain circuits and emotional buttons Hitler pressed. Those circuits and buttons would not have been there if the factors I listed above that preceded Hitler in World War I had not happened: a war of attrition of millions of deaths, poison gas and the abandonment of wartime ethics, going to war without a cause due to mindlessly following alliances and treaties, and punishing the populace after the defeat of their government and military.
So any "analysis" of the "cause" of Hitler and World War II would be totally inaccurate if it is not building on top of the facts that I have explained above. It's not like there was a decision or an event that was a sliding door about World War II and the Holocaust, "yes" or "no." World War II was a direct continuation of the breakdown of military ethos that took place in World War I. The concept of being "a gentleman" and "battlefield ethics" and "justifiable war" fell completely apart in World War I. Once there was "no holds barred" warfare, as in World War I, that laid the field for the exponential horrors of World War II with one difference. The battlefield in World War II cleaned up (no poison gas, no slaughters as military strategy) in Europe, but it was Japan's turn to have a breakdown of their military ethos, causing the horrors that they perpetrated in the Pacific theater of World War II. So basically Japan had the mental breakdown of military ethics in World War II that Europe had in World War I. In Europe the breakdown of the military ethos became a breakdown of civilian ethos, where Hitler tapped the humiliated and bankrupt people of German to turn on each other and their neighboring countries. So for Europe World War I broke the military "code of conduct" and World War II was "revenge upon the innocent" and therefore the breakdown of civilization "code of conduct." So you can see Germany obeying Geneva conventions and having military POW camps while at the same time tearing all sense of decency apart through the invasion and oppression of other countries for "elbow room" as they called it and the internal and external Holocaust.
Remember that Hitler killed the weak and disabled (both mentally and physically) first. People who lose their moral balance and are trying to "uplift" themselves tend to do it by feeling "superior" by raising themselves up and pushing "someone else" down. That's human nature, where someone with issues will tend to pull down someone around them in order to feel better than themselves. But this was on a monstrous scale because as I explained World War I broke the military ethos and code of conduct, which then allowed the breakdown of "gentlemanly" or "civilized" behavior. Remember that Hitler sneered at civilization, as he turned the country away from the bastions of civilizations (church and code of conduct) and toward the past, which is paganistic beliefs. Pagans killed the weak in sacrifice too. So Hitler started by killing the weak, the "flawed" (physically disabled, mentally disabled, and 'undesirables' such as homosexuals) and the religious. So he killed Catholics and Jews alike. Hitler leveraged prejudice but in a way that was designed to raise the German psyche up from the mud and become some sort of purified pagan superhero. Jews were persecuted in a large part because they were part of the fabric of civilization. Jews were "cultured" pious and venerated learning, even if they were of the peasantry. Hitler sought to smash all vestiges of "civilization" just as World War I had done so on the battlefield. He felt that he could turn the dial back to a "purer" time, but what he was doing was going to a pre-civilization time of paganistic "values." This is why it is so VERY dangerous to think that because something is "older" or to put it in haughty language "more ancient" that it is better. People who want to do that for "spiritual" reasons are usually doing so so that they can throw off some sort of civilized boundary that is chaffing them. Hitler very successfully promoted and enforced a national delusion as a result that had very real and terrible consequences. Whenever someone asks "Why did this happen to the Jews?" they are asking the wrong question. Remember that he closed down Catholic schools, seminaries and churches too, and killed the priests in their own concentration camp area. If Buddhists were there he would have done it to them too. Hitler was seeking a pre-ethos and pre-civilized time, thinking that the nation could tap into it as a vengeful way to strike back as superheros against those who had defeated them in World War I.
Well, I hope this helps. I really wonder what the schools actually ARE teaching students nowadays, but that's a different subject. This has been a problem for a long time. I remember that my niece who graduated from high school in the 1980's asked me and my ex-husband "what a Jew is." She honestly did not know what they were. She managed to graduate from high school without knowing that a Jew is a follower of the religion of Judaism. Yes, the answer was as simple as that. She did not know that "Jewish" is a "religion." So I guess in some ways what they are teaching today must be better than the 1980's except that where they have the facts and international exposure better nowadays, people are teaching who have no understanding of the development of human civilization and probably view it as a whole politically incorrect topic anyway. What a mess.
This is on my mind because I heard a brief interview with Pat Buchanan on CNN about his controversial new book that speculates about how World War II could have been avoided. I think it is always useful to look at historical events from different perspectives and engage in responsible "what if" thinking. In this case Mr. Buchanan was focused on England's actions in committing to protecting Poland due to a treaty. Now, I've not read the book, obviously, and I'm not likely to since I tend not to read most political or speculative history books; they just aren't my thing. So I'm not going to jump to any conclusions about what Mr. Buchanan says on the whole. But I want to teach, as part of my series on logical thinking and tools for better scholarship, people how to engage in the most productive scholarship, such as book writing, and being a "consumer," such as reading such a book.
One thing you have to remember that most of those who lived during the times that led up to World War II are long dead. But I grew up and was educated in school when many average citizens had first hand knowledge and experience of the times that led up to the war. These insights have been preserved and taught. But there is a temptation to be "revisionist" in history in the course of pursuing valid attempts at "new insights." You need to be careful to build your "new insights" on top of the solid scholarship and first hand testimony of what happened, however, not as a substitute.
It is common knowledge that World War II happened in large part because of the damage and hard feelings that resulted from World War I. Responsible history classes cover this in great detail, but I can't be sure what they are teaching in the schools today though *sigh.* So here is some general but first hand information that everyone needs to understand when either producing or enjoying written or visual works about World War II.
World War I was "the first" in many ways. It wasn't just the first world war, the definition of which is a war that pulls in many countries into active conflict, rather that being between two combatants. It was the first war that used "attrition" as a strategy, which is to kill off as many of each other as possible. Before then battles took place as individual strategies and wars were conducted based on conquering and defeating individual units of military or population centers. People planned to conquer city X or defeat army unit B. In World War I the armies dug into land that had no significance at all and then slaughtered each other for days on end, piling up bodies by the thousands. This had never been seen before in human history. An entire generation of British men died in World War I, as did many Germans and French. So World War I brought the idea of a war of attrition (who kills the others the most) into reality.
The second way that WWI was a "first" is that technology became a tool for conducting this attrition. While guns and artillery existed before then, they became more predominant, the advantage of airplanes started to emerge but most of all, war stopped being between "gentlemen" or "officers" and ethics went out the window with the introduction of poison gas. There used to be an ethics of war. But with the concept of the war of attrition, atrocities such as poison gas became vehicles for conducting slaughter. Men were horribly killed and maimed and feelings were very hard and angry as a result, understandably. Germans thought they were "leveling the field" by using poison gas to make up for having less artillery and other resources. It was a horrible mistake.
The third way that WWI was a "first" was that it was the first war to be fought for no reason. It erupted after an assassination of a minor noble because many countries had a complex set of treaties that forced each other to come to the aid of someone somewhere in the food chain if an event occurred. So this ridiculous and horrible war erupted for no reason whatsoever; not to conduct a national strategy (like go after oil), or because of ethnic/racial tensions, or because of a border conflict, or as a land grab, or to overthrow a dictator... there was no reason whatsoever.
The fourth way that WWI was a "first" was that feelings were so high and the indignation so fierce that when Germany was defeated and surrendered it was punished on a scale that had also never been seen in modern warfare. The terms of surrender were deliberately humiliating and made to crush with financial burden the average citizen of Germany, right down to the peasantry. So not only was the country defeated but the entire populace was punished. This is all documented and factual and has been covered in books, the classroom and even PBS types of programming. I'm not giving a great insight here but teaching those who have never had a chance to learn about this in the classroom. Germans were humiliated and crushed under "war reparations" and punishment so that the average citizen suffered enormously, even though they had nothing to do with this stupid war in the first place. A terrible inflation took place in the 1930's and I have members of my family that told me what it was like. The money was totally worthless. It would take a wheelbarrow of money to buy one loaf of bread (and that's literally, not a figure of speech). No one could afford toilet paper so they used the money bills as sheets of toilet paper. They could not afford wallpaper so they pasted money to the walls when they had to patch an area. I have in storage a few of these like "million marks" bills that my family had kept from those times. The defeated citizens of Germany suffered and seethed.
It is those reasons that led to people listening to the dangerous bum Hitler who never would have listened to him otherwise. Hitler tapped into the suffering of the people and their zero self-esteem in order to build them up in this Teutonic superhero image. It's much like what kids do today when they pretend to be superheroes in video games except Hitler convinced an entire people that they too were meant to be superheroes, and not the humiliated and degraded conquered people that they were as a result of their defeat in World War I. This is a well known fact and was taught in many classrooms, including those I attended as a child and later as a college student, and it was taught as a cautionary tale about what happens if you humiliate a defeated people. You better be careful because they will come back with a vengeance and look for someone to blame and kick back in return for the kicking that they have received.
Carl Jung found a way to describe this in his psychoanalytical and mythological terms. Jung argued that the people self hypnotized themselves into being "possessed" by the Norse god Wotan. This is a perfectly valid, though not terribly useful, way to view how the defeated German brains were receptive to Hitler's mental video game of the Teutonic superhero. I say it is not helpful because it does not inform public policy matters in a practical way. We don't really need to know just what brain circuits and emotional buttons Hitler pressed. Those circuits and buttons would not have been there if the factors I listed above that preceded Hitler in World War I had not happened: a war of attrition of millions of deaths, poison gas and the abandonment of wartime ethics, going to war without a cause due to mindlessly following alliances and treaties, and punishing the populace after the defeat of their government and military.
So any "analysis" of the "cause" of Hitler and World War II would be totally inaccurate if it is not building on top of the facts that I have explained above. It's not like there was a decision or an event that was a sliding door about World War II and the Holocaust, "yes" or "no." World War II was a direct continuation of the breakdown of military ethos that took place in World War I. The concept of being "a gentleman" and "battlefield ethics" and "justifiable war" fell completely apart in World War I. Once there was "no holds barred" warfare, as in World War I, that laid the field for the exponential horrors of World War II with one difference. The battlefield in World War II cleaned up (no poison gas, no slaughters as military strategy) in Europe, but it was Japan's turn to have a breakdown of their military ethos, causing the horrors that they perpetrated in the Pacific theater of World War II. So basically Japan had the mental breakdown of military ethics in World War II that Europe had in World War I. In Europe the breakdown of the military ethos became a breakdown of civilian ethos, where Hitler tapped the humiliated and bankrupt people of German to turn on each other and their neighboring countries. So for Europe World War I broke the military "code of conduct" and World War II was "revenge upon the innocent" and therefore the breakdown of civilization "code of conduct." So you can see Germany obeying Geneva conventions and having military POW camps while at the same time tearing all sense of decency apart through the invasion and oppression of other countries for "elbow room" as they called it and the internal and external Holocaust.
Remember that Hitler killed the weak and disabled (both mentally and physically) first. People who lose their moral balance and are trying to "uplift" themselves tend to do it by feeling "superior" by raising themselves up and pushing "someone else" down. That's human nature, where someone with issues will tend to pull down someone around them in order to feel better than themselves. But this was on a monstrous scale because as I explained World War I broke the military ethos and code of conduct, which then allowed the breakdown of "gentlemanly" or "civilized" behavior. Remember that Hitler sneered at civilization, as he turned the country away from the bastions of civilizations (church and code of conduct) and toward the past, which is paganistic beliefs. Pagans killed the weak in sacrifice too. So Hitler started by killing the weak, the "flawed" (physically disabled, mentally disabled, and 'undesirables' such as homosexuals) and the religious. So he killed Catholics and Jews alike. Hitler leveraged prejudice but in a way that was designed to raise the German psyche up from the mud and become some sort of purified pagan superhero. Jews were persecuted in a large part because they were part of the fabric of civilization. Jews were "cultured" pious and venerated learning, even if they were of the peasantry. Hitler sought to smash all vestiges of "civilization" just as World War I had done so on the battlefield. He felt that he could turn the dial back to a "purer" time, but what he was doing was going to a pre-civilization time of paganistic "values." This is why it is so VERY dangerous to think that because something is "older" or to put it in haughty language "more ancient" that it is better. People who want to do that for "spiritual" reasons are usually doing so so that they can throw off some sort of civilized boundary that is chaffing them. Hitler very successfully promoted and enforced a national delusion as a result that had very real and terrible consequences. Whenever someone asks "Why did this happen to the Jews?" they are asking the wrong question. Remember that he closed down Catholic schools, seminaries and churches too, and killed the priests in their own concentration camp area. If Buddhists were there he would have done it to them too. Hitler was seeking a pre-ethos and pre-civilized time, thinking that the nation could tap into it as a vengeful way to strike back as superheros against those who had defeated them in World War I.
Well, I hope this helps. I really wonder what the schools actually ARE teaching students nowadays, but that's a different subject. This has been a problem for a long time. I remember that my niece who graduated from high school in the 1980's asked me and my ex-husband "what a Jew is." She honestly did not know what they were. She managed to graduate from high school without knowing that a Jew is a follower of the religion of Judaism. Yes, the answer was as simple as that. She did not know that "Jewish" is a "religion." So I guess in some ways what they are teaching today must be better than the 1980's except that where they have the facts and international exposure better nowadays, people are teaching who have no understanding of the development of human civilization and probably view it as a whole politically incorrect topic anyway. What a mess.
Saturday, June 2, 2007
WW2 Story about my Stepfather
I just read about an accident in Wales:
Mountain rescuers in Snowdonia say a man has died after falling while competing in a 1,000-metre peaks race.
The 35-year-old man fell 150 metres (500 feet) after becoming lost during the event when he apparently ran into unexpected low cloud.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_west/6715421.stm
Prayers for his family.
Reading this story reminded me of my beloved stepfather's World War II story about the time he was sent on a mission. My stepfather, rest his soul, served in World War II in northern Africa, and then Italy, where he was terribly wounded but survived to have a nice long life. He used to tell me about the time that his commander summoned him and ordered him to take an important message to another unit, alone, through the desert. My stepfather set out on the mission, even though it was night time, no maps, and no lights. Men were like that back then, but I digress. After hiking in the pitch dark for a long time, he was really uncertain where he was. All of a sudden he had the strong feeling to stop and stand still, so he did. And in a few moments the clouds moved away from in front of the moon, illuminating the landscape, where he saw he was standing at the every edge of a cliff. If he had taken one step further he would have fallen. He was a very prayerful and devout Russian Orthodox man (though wild in the ways of beer drinking and fighting too ha ha, though all in moderation and in it's place :-) He never had any doubt the Lord was looking out for him that night, and I love that story so much. He passed during Easter week 2006.
Anyway, I thought you might enjoy this story of my stepfather's, especially as fewer of our WWII vets remain to share their stories.
Mountain rescuers in Snowdonia say a man has died after falling while competing in a 1,000-metre peaks race.
The 35-year-old man fell 150 metres (500 feet) after becoming lost during the event when he apparently ran into unexpected low cloud.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_west/6715421.stm
Prayers for his family.
Reading this story reminded me of my beloved stepfather's World War II story about the time he was sent on a mission. My stepfather, rest his soul, served in World War II in northern Africa, and then Italy, where he was terribly wounded but survived to have a nice long life. He used to tell me about the time that his commander summoned him and ordered him to take an important message to another unit, alone, through the desert. My stepfather set out on the mission, even though it was night time, no maps, and no lights. Men were like that back then, but I digress. After hiking in the pitch dark for a long time, he was really uncertain where he was. All of a sudden he had the strong feeling to stop and stand still, so he did. And in a few moments the clouds moved away from in front of the moon, illuminating the landscape, where he saw he was standing at the every edge of a cliff. If he had taken one step further he would have fallen. He was a very prayerful and devout Russian Orthodox man (though wild in the ways of beer drinking and fighting too ha ha, though all in moderation and in it's place :-) He never had any doubt the Lord was looking out for him that night, and I love that story so much. He passed during Easter week 2006.
Anyway, I thought you might enjoy this story of my stepfather's, especially as fewer of our WWII vets remain to share their stories.
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