nazi-germany

"You have a media environment in which Trump is very cleverly not at all like a charlatan — behaving exactly like any fascist would, claiming the other side is the democratic threat and being extremely open about his intentions. He’s going to replace everyone in the government-by-loyalists. He’s going to target the universities, the schools. This process is called gleichschaltung in the literature on Nazi Germany, where every organization, every government institution turns loyalist-like and is transformed. Their employees are replaced by people loyal to the leader and loyal to the party. And Trump has already announced he’s going to do this. So he’s already announced a full fascist plan."

"Ever since it became eminently clear that Donald Trump had MAGA-tized the Republican party and would become its presidential nominee in 2024, the image of a broad slab of highly polished black marble has been flashing through my mind. Trump’s name is carved into its surface on the upper left. Below in gilded letters appear the names of Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy, Mark Meadows, Rudolph Giuliani, John Eastman — and all the other accomplices who either rallied to prevent the peaceful transfer of power in 2020 or officially excused it. … One whole column lists the policy wonks at the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, who are charting the MAGA Gleichschaltung of the federal government. Ah, here are Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas and maybe a couple of others. I could go on. At the top of this black marble wall, large glowing letters read: "GRAVEDIGGERS OF DEMOCRACY.""

"The significance of Project 2025 is that it calls for what in the Nazi parlance is called Gleichschaltung, the systematic replacement of civil servants by loyalists — by party loyalists — and the systematic replacement of teachers in schools and universities and, in general, institutions throughout society by party loyalists. In the case of education, it’s completely implausible that Trump is ideologically distant from the goals of Project 2025. Trump has repeatedly said he’s going to target critical race theory, which, let’s face it, is simply Black history. The Project — he’s targeted — he said he’s going to replace education with patriotic education — namely, representing the United States as an exceptional grand nation whose exceptionality is due to its white Christian heterosexual men, who have defined the nation."

"Putin’s control of the media is becoming more and more comprehensive. What is left over, that ownership does not ensure, self-censorship increasingly neuters. The Gleichschaltung of parliament and political parties is, if anything, even more impressive. The presidential party, United Russia, and its assorted allies, with no more specific programme than unconditional support for Putin, command some 70 per cent of the seats in the Duma, enough to rewrite the constitution if that were required. But a one-party state is not in the offing. On the contrary, mindful of the rules of any self-respecting democracy, the Kremlin’s political technicians are now putting together an opposition party designed to clear the bedraggled remnants of Communism — liberalism has already been expunged — from the political scene, and provide a decorative pendant to the governing party in the next parliament."

"Are we, under Trump, at the beginnings of an American-style Gleichschaltung? There are certainly some echoes of those times. For the past month, Trump has fired off a ceaseless barrage of executive orders that either violate or at least challenge established law and the Constitution. Like der Führer, Trump undertook sweeping moves to dump government employees who might stand in his way. Trump is also firing salvos at the arts world. During the Third Reich, Hitler’s regime banished artworks deemed "degenerate" from German museums. After Trump purged the leadership of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, he selected himself as chairman and vowed that "woke" performances would not be permitted there. Trump’s insistence that he is above the law is also classic authoritarianism, as is his portrayal of himself as America’s Messiah."

"Gleichschaltung is a German term meaning "coordination" or "bringing into line." Another name for it is "Nazification." And, in many respects, it was as easy as "flipping a switch." With only seven laws passed (in twenty sessions) by the Reichstag (which further eliminated barriers to Hitler’s control) and 986 laws enacted unilaterally by Hitler’s government, this cultural consolidation proved to be surprisingly easy."

"Another totalitarian temptation is the rapid and systematic elimination of opponents within power structures and the replacement of neutral or critical voices with loyal figures. This purge of opponents, often carried out very quickly and ruthlessly, is what we call equalisation, "Gleichschaltung" in German. The control compulsion that Trump is displaying in the Republican party is a typical example of such a power grab, completely transforming the party into an instrument of his personal power."

""Gleichschaltung" is usually translated, somewhat inadequately, as "coordination" or "unification." It is difficult to find a satisfactory English equivalent — possibly because the enforced uniformity which the German term describes does not commend itself to the English-speaking peoples. The French, with their genius for definition, have done better; they have translated the verb form, "gleichschalten," as "mettre au pas" — to bring into step. This phrase suggests an almost mechanical kind of conformity, as under military command; and no other human community so well represents a perfectly unified and coordinated whole — in precisely the sense of this German word — as a well-trained company of soldiers whose every movement is completely synchronized. If, therefore, following the French, one interprets "Gleichschaltung" as the application, mentally and morally as well as physically, of the principle of the goose-step, one gets a fair representation of what the word means to the Germans."

"On 31 March 1933, the "First Gleichschaltung Law" dissolved Germany's state parliaments (except Prussia). New state governments were put in place with the same powers as the Reich government. On 7 April, the "Second Gleichschaltung Law" put a Reich Governor in nearly complete control of each state, apart from Prussia. The governors answered to Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick. Hitler reserved control of Prussia to himself through Hermann Göring."

"As the U.S. lurches toward authoritarian rule, we are facing a drive to control all education, whipping educators into line to march in lockstep with the MAGA agenda, imitating the German Nazis’ Gleichschaltung of the schools. U.S. universities are under attack like never before."

"Gleichschaltung: the act, process, or policy of achieving rigid and total coordination and uniformity (as in politics, culture, communication) by forcibly repressing or eliminating independence and freedom of thought, action, or expression : forced reduction to a common level : forced standardization or assimilation"

"Gleichschaltung is the German term applied to the Nazification of German society following the Nazi seizure of power in 1933. Once Hitler became chancellor, he and the Nazi Party sought to "coordinate" all political, social, and cultural institutions with the Nazi state. This "coordination" was done in the name of national unity. However, it allowed the Nazi Party to extend its power by creating a single party state. Everything was subject to coordination: local government, professional organizations, social clubs, leisure activities — even those for children."

"We have come to perceive Hitler’s appointment as chancellor as part of an inexorable rise to power, an impression resting on generations of postwar scholarship, much of which has necessarily marginalized or disregarded alternatives to the standard narrative of the Nazi seizure of power (Machtergreifung) with its political and social persecutions, its assertion of totalitarian rule (Gleichschaltung) and subsequent aggressions that led to the Second World War and the nightmare of the Holocaust. … Both Hitler’s ascendancy to chancellor and his smashing of the constitutional guardrails once he got there, I have come to realize, are stories of political contingency rather than historical inevitability."

"The grand mufti of Jerusalem al-Hajj Amin al-Husayni and his active involvement in the Jewish genocide have figured prominently in Israeli efforts to prove the tangible collaboration between the "Arab world" and Nazis. Here, it is imperative to distinguish between "official" and academic efforts. Although scholars are certainly more cautious in depicting the Husayni and Arab-Nazi collaboration, sometimes their work mirrors the generalization that indicts Arabs at large as active supporters or sympathizers with Nazism. The Arab-Israeli conflict's escalation and its redefinition as the Palestinian-Israeli conflict reinforced this mutual demonization. On the Israeli-Jewish side, it has triggered an emphasis on Holocaust denial and extensive, sometimes disproportionate, study of the intimate Nazi-mufti collaboration that is embodied by Husayni's unabashed enthusiasm for Nazi antisemitism and his historical role in the atrocities."

"Germany stood for uncompromising war against the Jews. That naturally included active opposition to the Jewish national home in Palestine, which was nothing other than a center, in the form of a state, for the exercise of destructive influence by Jewish interests. ... This was the decisive struggle; on the political plane, it presented itself in the main as a conflict between Germany and England, but ideologically it was a battle between National Socialism and the Jews. It went without saying that Germany would furnish positive and practical aid to the Arabs involved in the same struggle, because platonic promises were useless in a war for survival or destruction in which the Jews were able to mobilize all of England's power for their ends....the Fuhrer would on his own give the Arab world the assurance that its hour of liberation had arrived. Germany's objective would then be solely the destruction of the Jewish element residing in the Arab sphere under the protection of British power. In that hour the Mufti would be the most authoritative spokesman for the Arab world. It would then be his task to set off the Arab operations, which he had secretly prepared. When that time had come, Germany could also be indifferent to French reaction to such a declaration."

"Anyone may grumble who is not afraid to go to a concentration camp."

"In principle, the SS was to accept no new members after 1933, except from selected graduates of the Hitler Youth. However, the creation of the Waffen-SS and its rapid growth caused the partial suspension of this rule. However, service in the Waffen-SS did not necessarily include membership in the SS proper. Prior to the war, suitable SS candidates were singled out while still in the Hitler Youth (HJ). Boys who had proved themselves, often under SS leadership, in the HJ patrol service were often tabbed for later SS service. If the candidate satisfied SS requirements in political reliability, racial purity, and physique, he was accepted as a candidate at the age of 18. At the annual Nazi Party Congress in September, candidates were accepted, received SS certificates, and were enrolled in the SS. Service in the Waffen-SS was officially voluntary. The Waffen-SS claimed priority over all other branches of the armed forces in the selection of recruits. Eventually, to meet the high rate of casualties and the expansion of Waffen-SS field divisions, service in the Waffen-SS became compulsory for all members of the SS, and the voluntary transfer of personnel from any other branch of the armed forces was permitted. From 1943, pressure was exerted on members of the Hitler Youth to volunteer for the Waffen-SS. Later, entire Army, Navy, and Air Force units were taken over by the Waffen-SS, given SS training, and incorporated into field units. Waffen-SS enlistment drives in Germany were nearly continuous. Waffen-SS recruitment was regionally organized and controlled."

"The Waffen-SS also accepted Ukrainians, Slovaks and Croats. With every passing month after Stalingrad, the criteria for Waffen-SS membership grew more elastic, forcing Himmler to cite the multinational structure of the old Habsburg army as a precedent. Ukrainians were recruited; so were Hungarians, Bulgarians and Serbs. In February 1943 the first of three divisions was formed of Bosnian and Albanian Muslims, who wore fezes decorated with SS runes and were led in their prayers by regimental imams notionally under the supervision of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. Out of all forty-seven Waffen-SS divisions, twenty were formed wholly or partly out of non-German recruits or conscripts and a further five out of Volksdeutsche. Towards the end of the war, in fact, there were more non-Germans than Germans serving in Himmler's army."

"Over 400,000 persons were mobilized to carry out fortification work in Berlin. Select police and SS units were concentrated in the city. Many SS regiments and detached battalions which had been deployed in adjacent areas were pulled up to defend the special sector of Berlin. These SS troops were commanded by the chief of Hitler's personal bodyguard, Monke. The German Fascist command was counting on forcing us to inch our way through one line after another, which meant the battle would be dragged out as long as possible to the point where our forces would be bled white and finally stopped on the close approaches. It was hoped to do to our forces what the Soviet troops had done to the Germans on the approaches to Moscow. But these calculations were not destined to come true."

"Other foreigners generally wore the uniform of the Waffen-SS, the combat arm of the SS, a reflection of Himmler's enthusiasm for broadening the available pool of 'Nordic' blood, as well as the Wehrmacht's reluctance to surrender large numbers of Germans of military age to the SS. Formally, some of these foreigners were not supposed to be foreign at all; they were Volksdeutsche, like the 17,000 Croatian Germans recruited or conscripted into the Prinz Eugen division, the 1,300 Danish Germans who volunteered to serve in the Wiking division and the Hungarian Germans who served in the Horst Wessel and Maria Theresa divisions. Residents of Alsace, Lorraine or Luxembourg who could claim two or more German grandparents were also offered Reich citizenship if they joined the Waffen-SS. From an early stage, however, non-Germans were also recruited, beginning with Dutchmen, Belgian Flemings, Danes and Norwegians in the summer of 1940. These nations were supposedly 'Germanic' or 'Nordic' in character, though there were also Waffen-SS recruits from Latin countries, notably Belgian Walloons. In all, these West European countries produced at most 117,000 men, not counting the tiny British Free Corps, made up of around fifty prisoners of war. Recruiting proved easier in Eastern Europe. May 1941 saw the formation of a Finnish legion, which proved to be a highly effective fighting force, followed by Latvian and Estonian division."

"Believing that Germany would be victorious in war, SS chief Heinrich Himmler intended to strengthen the position of the SS relative to the established German elites after the war. To this end, Himmler persuaded Adolf Hitler in late 1939 to permit the establishment of an armed SS force known as the Waffen-SS. Although initially restricted to four divisions, the Waffen-SS eventually fielded more than 20 divisions. This created an armed force of about half a million men and established a command and operations structure to rival the German army. As military defeat reduced the prestige of the generals, the SS further encroached on the authority of the German armed forces (Wehrmacht). Already in 1942, the SS took over—from the armed forces—coordinating anti-partisan operations in the occupied Soviet Union. After the failure of the attempt on Hitler's life of July 20, 1944, Hitler appointed Himmler Commander of the Replacement Army (a position responsible for training and overseeing military personnel) and gave him command of matters relating to prisoners of war."

"The SS increased its power over the Army dramatically in July 1944, as individual members of the Waffen-SS were attached to regular Army units to improve their reliability. Waffen-SS units were used to prevent mass desertions or unauthorized withdrawals. Waffen-SS personnel formed the nucleus of the Volksgrenadier and in some instances of Volkssturm units. Large contingents of the Luftwaffe and Kriegesmarine were pressed into the service of the Waffen-SS when it became urgent to reform badly mauled Waffen-SS units. At the end of 1940, the Waffen-SS numbered slightly more than 150,000 men. By June 1944, it had grown to 594,000. Intended as an elite force, the Waffen-SS evolved due to the exigencies of war from the original SS concept of a military organization imbued with Nazi ideology and loyalty to Hitler into a polyglot force of decreasing combat effectiveness."

"During the 1930’s the SS (Schutz Staffel or Protection Squad) became the main paramilitary arm of the German Nazi Party. As time went on, the Waffen-SS (Armed SS) was formed as the combat arm of the SS. The Waffen-SS effectively formed a fourth arm of the military alongside the Heer (Army), Luftwaffe (Air Force) and Kriegsmarine (Navy). This article looks at the SS-Panzergrenadier divisions operating in Russia in 1942 and 1943. At the outbreak of war in 1939, the Waffen-SS fought alongside the regular army, much to the distrust of many military officers who did not feel that a political organisation had a role in battlefield operations. However, as the combat experience of Waffen-SS units grew, acceptance of their role as battle-proven units increased. By 1943 eight Waffen-SS divisions formed an experienced and battle-hardened spearhead for Germany’s armies, particularly on the Eastern Front."

"On paper an SS-Panzergrenadier division was organised and equipped in much the same manner as an equivalent Heer (Army) division, which consisted of two Panzergrenadier regiments supported by a Panzer battalion, an artillery regiment, a tank-hunter battalion, an assault gun battalion, an anti-aircraft battalion, a reconnaissance battalion, and a pioneer battalion. The biggest difference was the amount of armour available. Whereas the Heer division has just one battalion, SS-Panzergrenadier divisions had an entire regiment and eventually, for a while, including a company of heavy Tiger tanks. Additionally, unlike the motorised army Panzergrenadier divisions, the Waffen-SS Panzergrenadier division included a full battalion mounted in armoured half-tracks. The only Heer division that was comparable to the organisation of an SS division was the elite Grossdeutschland division."

"Over time, the Waffen-SS created some 42 divisions and three brigades as well as a number of small, independent units. Of the divisions, seven were panzer divisions. The balance included 12 panzergrenadier divisions, six mountain divisions, 11 grenadier divisions, four cavalry divisions, and a police division. Many of the divisions, organized late in the war, were divisions in name only and never exceeded regimental strength. The SS panzer divisions were the purest in terms of German members, as well as being the best equipped and supported of all German combat units. They formed the strongest and politically most reliable portion of the Waffen-SS. The creation of an SS panzer division was sometimes evolutionary. Formed from Hitler’s bodyguard unit, the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler became a full infantry regiment with three battalions, an artillery battalion, and antitank, reconnaissance, and engineer attachments in 1939. After it was involved in the annexation of Bohemia and Moravia, it was redesignated the Infanterie-Regiment Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (motorized). In mid-1939 Hitler ordered it organized as an SS division, but the Polish crisis put these plans on hold. The regiment proved itself an effective fighting unit during the campaign, though several Army generals had reservations about the high casualties it had sustained in combat."

"When you're a paratrooper, you're the elite of the Army, you're always on the front lines. You know you're going to pay the price. Then you had the German army. They were fighting the war for years. By World War II, they had it perfected, they had the best weapons in the world. We were no match for German artillery. Those Germans were technologically advanced for being a small country. They had the best fighters in the world, the Fallschirmjaeger, German paratroopers, and the SS- Nazis, even the Germans were scared of them. They were fearless, raised as boys to live and die for Hitler. Germany was prepared, and America was sound asleep. We didn't make the plans for it, kid."

"SS Officer: Hans, have you looked at our caps recently? Hans: Our caps? SS Officer: They've got skulls on them. [pause] Hans- are we the baddies?"

"The Waffen-SS was the military branch of the SS. Units of the Waffen-SS took part in most of the major military campaigns of World War II. They were heavily involved in the commission of the Holocaust through their participation in mass shootings, anti-partisan warfare, and in supplying guards for Nazi concentration camps They were also responsible for many other war crimes."

"SS Officer: I just can't think of anything worse than a skull! Hans: A rat's- anus?! SS Officer: Yeah. And if we were fighting an army marching under the banner of a rat's anus I think I'd be a lot less worried, Hans."

"They were constantly in battle achieving a remarkable reputation for aggression and stamina in combat, but the constant combat came at a high cost in casualties. Additionally, thanks to their political connections, they enjoyed higher establishments of men and equipment. Of the eight Waffen-SS divisions, four were SS-Panzergrenadier divisions: 1st ‘Liebstandarte SS Adolf Hitler’, 2nd ‘Das Reich’, 3rd ‘Totenkopf’, and 5th ‘Wiking’. Of the remaining four divisions the 4th ’Polizei’ operated as an infantry division, the 6th ‘Prinz Eugen’ and 7th ‘Nord’ Divisions were designated as Gerbirgs (Mountain) divisions, and the 8th ‘Florian Geyer’ was a cavalry division."

"In 1933, before the Waffen-SS, there was a portion of the Nazi Party’s Schutzstaffel (SS), armed and trained along military lines and served as an armed force. These troops were originally known as the SS-Verfügungstruppen, the name indicating that they served at the Führer’s pleasure. By 1939, four regiments (Standarten) had been organized. The Verfügungstruppen took part in the occupation of Austria and Czechoslovakia side by side with the Army (Heer). During the months preceding the outbreak of the war, they were given intensive military training and were formed into units that took part in the Polish campaign. In addition, elements of Death’s Head formations (Totenkopfverbände), which served as concentration camp guards, also took to the field as combat units. During the following winter and spring, regiments that had fought in Poland were expanded into brigades and later divisions. This purely military branch of the SS was known at first as the Bewaffnete SS (Armed SS) and later as the Waffen-SS. The regiment Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler eventually became a division of the same name; the Standarte Deutschland together with the Austrian Standarte Der Führer formed the Verfügungs Division, to which a third regiment, Langemarck, was later added, creating the division Das Reich; and the Totenkopf units were formed into the Totenkopf Division. These three divisions were to be the nucleus of the Waffen-SS in its subsequent rapid expansion."

"It is a powerful reflection of the moral bankruptcy of Nazi Germany that there was such a widespread acceptance of the use of child soldiers by 1945. The leadership of the Hitler Youth, Artur Axmann in particular, must bear much of the responsibility for enthusiastically championing a policy that saw tens of thousands of young Germans killed or maimed for no purpose. Against this must be weighed the examples of German army personnel who refused to see them sacrificed in this way, from General Weidling directing the defence of Berlin to many common soldiers who sometimes forcibly restrained members of the Hitler Youth from attacking enemy troops. For those child soldiers who survived, adjusting to the post-war world was often very difficult. Service in the Hitler Youth forced them into a premature adulthood of sacrifice, exhausting work and often danger. The idealism of German youth was turned to bitterness by defeat, and by the knowledge that they had sacrificed their youth to a brutal and corrupt regime. For many of the survivors of Hitler's children still living today, these wounds are yet to heal."

"The songs they sang were Nazi songs. The books they read were Nazi books."

"A logical consequence of the Nazi disdain for traditional education was the establishment in 1937 of a new type of school, the Adolf Hitler Schulen (AHS). These schools were placed under the jurisdiction of the Hitler Youth, rather than Rust's education ministry. By the end of 1943 there were 12 of these schools, catering for 2,027 students. Their aim was to provide the future political and administrative elite of the Third Reich, and they reflected the values of the HJ in stressing the importance of physical achievement over academic excellence. Only one-and-a-half hours per day were allocated to lessons, most of which were concerned with ideological topics, in comparison to the five hours each day devoted to sports and physical activities. The major achievement of the AHS was to sink the level of German educational standards to a new nadir. Somewhat more successful were the Nationalpolitische Erziehungsanstalten, or NAPOLAs, which had similar aims to the AHS in seeking to provide the future elite of the Reich. In characteristic fashion, the NAPOLAs, of which there were 21 by 1940, were controlled by the SS in competition with the AHS. NAPOLA students maintained only nominal ties to the Hitler Youth. The aim of the NAPOLAs was to turn out 'political soldiers', whom they produced by immersing their students in a regimen of drill, reinforced by often-brutal physical challenges. The individual identities of the students were suppressed, and group hazing of those who did not fit in was encouraged. That being said, the NAPOLAs did succeed in achieving much higher academic standards than those of the AHS. The approach to education also anticipated the sort of training that recruits in the 'Hitler Jugend' Division were to receive in 1943-1944, with informal relations between teachers and students encouraged."

"Regardless of their motivation, youth who sought to avoid service in the Hitler Youth were treated as dangerous deviants to be crushed ruthlessly. In August 1940 a prison camp for boys aged 13 to 21 was established at Moringen, near Göttingen, which held 1,400 boys by the end of the war. Boys at the camp were used for slave labour under a brutal regime, and could be conscripted into the army for use in dangerous duties such as mine clearance. A similar camp was set up for girls in June 1942 at Uckermark, near Ravensbrück concentration camp. Under the direction of the SS, children could be placed directly into these camps without any legal trial."

"There can be but one German Youth Movement, because there is but one way in which German youth can be educated and trained... This Reich stands, and is building itself up anew, upon its youth. And this Reich will hand over its youth to no one, but will take its education and its formation upon itself."

"The Hitler Youth proved a thoroughly disruptive influence on formal education. ‘School’, one Social Democratic report already noted in 1934, ‘is constantly disrupted by Hitler Youth events.’ Teachers had to allow pupils time off for them almost every week… Despite the military-style discipline in the schools, there were numerous reports of indiscipline and disorder, violent incidents between pupils, and insubordination towards teachers. ‘One can’t speak of the teacher having authority any more,’ noted one Social Democratic agent in 1937. ‘The snotty-nosed little brats of the Hitler Youth decide what goes on at school, they’re in charge.’"

"To reinforce the artillery defence of the approaches to Berlin and of the city itself all available anti-aircraft artillery was mobilized. Over 600 anti-aircraft guns of big and medium calibre were placed in position for anti-tank and anti-personnel defence. In addition, tanks- even those undergoing repairs but with operative artillery equipment- were used as weapons emplacements. They were dug into the ground at road crossings or railroad bridges. Special tank destruction squads were manned out of members of the Nazi youth organization, the "Hitlerjugend." They were armed with Panzer Faustpatronen."

"For all their deficiencies, the Hitler Youth movement and the increasingly Nazified school system were driving a wedge between parents who still retained some loyalty to the beliefs and standards they had grown up in themselves, and their children who were being indoctrinated at every stage of their lives. As one such agent ruefully observed: ‘It is extremely difficult for parents who are opponents of the Nazis to exercise an influence on their children. Either they ask the child not to talk at school about what is said at home. Then the children get the feeling, aha, the parents have to hide what they think. The teacher permits himself to say everything out loud. So he’s bound to be right. - Or the parents express their opinion without giving the child a warning. Then it’s not long before they are arrested or at the very least called up before the teacher, who shouts at them and threatens to report them. - ‘Send your father to the school!’ That is the normal answer to suspicious doubts and questions on the part of the child. If the father is quiet after such a visit, then he gives the child the impression that he has been convinced by what the teacher has told him, and the effect is far worse than if nothing had ever been said.’"

"There were even more disturbing reports of children whose membership in the Hitler Youth was disapproved of by their parents threatening to report them to the authorities if they tried to stop them going to meetings. For adolescents, it was only too easy to annoy parents who were former Social Democrats by greeting them at home with ‘Hail, Hitler!’ instead of ‘good morning’. ‘Thus war is taken into every family’, one wife of an old labour movement activist observed. ‘The worst is’, she added apprehensively, ‘that you’ve got to watch yourself in front of your own children.’"

"The overall effect of Hitler Youth membership, some Social Democratic observers complained, was a ‘coarsening’ of the young. The suppression of any discussion or debate, the military discipline, the emphasis on physical prowess and competition, led boys to become violent and aggressive, especially towards young people who for whatever reason had not joined the Hitler Youth. Hitler Youth groups travelling by train amused themselves by insulting and threatening guards who failed to say ‘Hail, Hitler!’ every time they asked a passenger for his ticket."

"Although many members of the Hitler Youth eagerly looked forward to the chance to fight against the enemy after years of preparation, the actual experience of combat was usually a cruel awakening. The experience and fate of young Germans thrown into battle against the Soviet and Western Allies' armies in the final stages of the war often depended on the choices made by the older NCOs and officers who commanded them. These men often bore the responsibility for whether the children under their command were able to quietly return home or move into captivity when resistance was obviously futile, or whether they were sacrificed to no purpose."

"Although much smaller than their communists and socialists counterparts, the German anarchist militia Schwarze Scharen (Black Flocks, or Black Troops) was founded in 1929 to protect meetings of the (FAUD) anarcho-syndicalist union and the Syndicalist-Anarchist Youth. Outfitted entirely in black with matching berets, the Schwarze Scharen paired their Nazi street-fighting with creative propaganda including puppetry, music, and street theater. (The communist and socialist also had choirs, theater, and various forms of .) Although their ranks never exceeded the hundreds, in some towns they represented the main anti-fascist opposition. Nonetheless, their confrontational methods were opposed by some of the FAUD anarchist unionists. As the political atmosphere intensified, the Schwarze Scharen started to store explosives. In May 1932, based on a tip from an informant, their cache was raided. The arrests that followed this discovery, paired with Hitler's rise to power, sealed the fate of the Schwarze Scharen."

"The scale of the movement was impressive, with over 120 committees established nationwide. The Leipzieg Antifa claimed 150,000 adherents. Many of these organisations broke through entrenched social barriers to include foreign slave labourers and establish working class unity across political parties and trade unions. Their functions ranged from creating local democracy, to restoring basic services like food supply. [...] The fact that so many committees adopted similar names and policies poses the question of whether there was a centralised organisation at work. Communists were prominent in nearly every Antifa despite the opposition of Moscow. Walter Ulbricht, the KPD leader, criticised the 'spontaneous creation of KPD bureaus, people's committees, and Free Germany committees', but he could do little as the KPD central apparatus had no communication link with the rank and file. Once communications were restored he could report: 'We have shut these [Antifas] down and told the comrades that all activities must be channelled through the state apparatus.' The Western Allies were equally disconcerted by the Antifas self-proclaimed 'ruthless struggle against all remnants of Hitler's party in the state apparatus, the local authorities and public life'. The US authorities expelled the committee from its offices, ordered the removal of all leaflets and posters from the streets, and then banned it. Any further use of the name 'Free Germany National Committee' would be punished severely. The military government stopped 's workplace councils purging Nazi activists and then abolished them. 's Nazis had been arrested by the Antifa, but were liberated by Allied command. When Antifa housed people made homeless by bombing in apartments abandoned by fleeing Nazis, the authorities evicted them."

"Anarchism had belonged to the most active resistance fighters against , and their numbers had been decimated by the ruthless National Socialist persecution. Between 1919 and 1923 there had been approximately 1500,000 anarchists in . By the end of the Weimar Republic, about 50,000 activists remained. In 1945 their numbers were down to 15,000, and many of those were seriously ill as consequence of torture and persecution. Hence, anarchist groups in the immediate post-war period had no more than about 5,000 members."

"Between 1933 and 1940, German policy encouraged and actively promoted Jewish emigration to Palestine"

"Close to 40 percent of the 53,000 German Jews who were able to escape to Palestine between 1933 and 1941 arrived as "capitalists" thanks to the Haavara Agreement. It is true that the 140 million Reichsmarks they were able to rescue through Haavara represented only a very small part of the assets owned by German Jews in 1933. But for the people who brought those assets to Palestine, as well as for the economy of the Jewish yishuv, they were of great importance."

"The National Socialist government attempted to promote the emigration of its unwanted Jewish citizens. Two principal agreements were used by the state to regulate emigration: the "Haavara" and the "Rublee-Wohlthat." The Haavara Agreement was in force from 1933 until 1941 and concerned emigration to Palestine. This agreement is now regularly mentioned in the relevant literature. In 1972 the former director of the Haavara Agreement, Werner Feilchenfeld, self-published a brochure which has obviously not been read by most people who write about the Haavara; otherwise they might not write so much nonsense about it."

"Jesuitism has drawn the last logical conclusions from the Roman system. The final stone in the structure of the medicine man philosophy was laid by the Vatican council. Here the medicine man was declared as god, as infallible god for the duration of exercise of his office. Strictly speaking, Jesus is no longer represented, but deposed; deposed and replaced by the Roman system, crowned by the medicine man invested with all power, who calls himself pope. "The new testament is indeed an important but not entirely exhaustive product of this apostolic tradition permeating the entire consciousness of the church", condescendingly writes the afore mentioned modern catholic theoretician, Professor Adam. Jesus is pushed aside; the Syrian-Etruscan superstition which at the beginning enveloped his personality like weeds, appears in his place as "apostolic tradition"."

"The Amorites founded Jerusalem, they formed the Nordic weft in later Galilee, that is, in the "pagan region" whence some day Jesus was to come."