Transcript Avoiding the Fate of 1930s Germany

Avoiding the Fate of 1930s
Germany
Alice Copeland Brown
Military Families Speak Out
International Women for Peace (Code
Pink)
Lessons from Nurenberg
• Nazi policies were carried out under the belief that
Germans were entitled to subjugate, dominate or
exterminate other races and peoples.
• US Prosecutor proved that Nazis wreaked wanton
violence at unprecedented levels, systematically
murdering millions of people.
• Justice Jackson “The wrongs we seek to condemn
and punish have been so calculated, so malignant
and so devastating that civilization cannot tolerate
their being ignored.”
Hitler’s Promises
• I shall give a
propagandist cause for
starting the war, never
mind whether it be
true or not. The victor
shall not be asked later
on whether he told the
truth or not.”
Parallels with 1930s Germany
• Censorship by the
Media
• Failing economy
• Rising Militarization
Expenditures
• Burning of the
Reichstag ..9/11
• Brightest given only
left-brain education
Goering’s Propaganda Message
"Voice or no voice, the people can
always be brought to the
bidding of the leaders. That is
easy. All you have to do is tell
them they are being attacked,
and denounce the pacifists for
lack of patriotism and exposing
the country to danger." Hermann Goering at the
Nuremberg Trials
1933: Propaganda and Radio
– Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels employ power
of radio to influence the masses.
– FDR begins radio Fireside Chats, bypasses
hostile newspapers.
– Nazis use "big lie" technique in mass media
propaganda.
– Nazis begin burning of books.
– U.S. newspapers pressure AP to cut service to
radio, start "Press-Radio War."
Suspension of Rights in Germany
Suspicious burning of Reichstag led to
• Roundup of 1000 Communists and their
expulsion from Germany
• Suspension of basic civil rights of German
citizens in atmosphere of fear
• Execution of suspected arsonists, but
suspicions still lead to Chancellor Hitler;
Goebbels has tunnel leading to Reichstag
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
• Lutheran pastor executed
in concentration camp
1945
• Fought Nazification of
church, pledge of
allegiance to Hitler
• Attempted to overthrow
Hitler
Brave Martin Niemoeller,
Protestant pastor
Kristallnacht
“First they came for the Communists,
but I was not a Communist so I did
not speak out. Then they came for
the Socialists and the Trade
Unionists, but I was neither so I
did not speak out. Then they came
for the Jews, but I was not a Jew
so did not speak out. And when
they came for me, there was no one
left to speak out for me.”
Spent 7 years and 7 mos in prison
More Parallels with 1930s
Germany
Roundup of Jews after
Kristallnacht
• Roundup of religious
minorities Jews then,
Muslims now
• Hitler appealed to
frustrations of out-of-work
Germans, scapegoating
Jews.
• Fear of
Communists/terrorists used
as excuse to lift rights
Bibliography
• Internet sites
– www.traprock.org
– www.mfso.org
– www.ibisradio.org/alicecopelandbrown.htm
• http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWgori
ng.htm
• http://www.projectcensored.org/
• Trial of the Germans by Eugene Davidson