German Resistance To Hitler

[mwb970]

The government of Adolf Hitler was popular with most Germans. Although the Gestapo (secret state police) and the Security Service (SD) suppressed open criticism of the regime, there was some German opposition to the Nazi state and the regimentation of society that took place through the process of "coordination" (Gleichschaltung)--the alignment of individuals and institutions with Nazi goals.

Opposition ranged from non-compliance with Nazi regulations to attempts to assassinate Hitler. Among the earliest resistance to the regime was the political opposition organized by leftist parties such as the Social Democratic Party and the Communist Party of Germany. However leftist opposition within Germany proved ineffectual, as the Security Police (Sipo) crushed the leftist political organizations by force.

<snip>

A group that included conservative military officers and diplomats believed that Hitler's violent death should signal a general anti-Nazi revolt. Military officers attempted to assassinate Hitler on July 20, 1944, in his East Prussian headquarters at Rastenburg. Colonel Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg left a bomb in a briefcase near Hitler during a military briefing about the eastern front. In this plot, Karl Goerdeler, a traditional right-wing conservative politician, was to replace Hitler as chancellor. The group even included on its fringes some disillusioned Nazis such as Berlin police president Wolf Heinrich Count von Helldorf and Criminal Police (Kripo) chief Arthur Nebe. Hitler survived the blast, the coup attempt failed, and Roland Freisler, chief justice of the People's Court in Berlin, presided over the trial of those implicated in the plot. Invariably, Freisler convicted the defendants. Most were executed at Berlin's Ploetzensee prison.

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005208

[Nothing Without Hope]

1. The best study I have seen comparing responses to Bush and Hitler

is this insightful article by Paul Levy:

http://baltimorechronicle.com/011305PaulLevy.html

ANALYSIS:
The Madness of George W. Bush: A Reflection of Our Collective Psychosis
Bush’s sickness is our own.
by Paul Levy

George W. Bush is ill. He has a psycho-spiritual disease of the soul, a sickness that is endemic to our culture and symptomatic of the times we live in. It’s an illness that has been with us since time immemorial. Because it’s an illness that's in the soul of all of humanity, it pervades the field and is in all of us in potential at any moment, which makes it especially hard to diagnose.

Bush's malady is quite different from schizophrenia, for example, in which all the different parts of the personality are fragmented and not connected to each other, resulting in a state of internal chaos. As compared to the disorder of the schizophrenic, Bush can sound quite coherent and can appear like such a "regular," normal guy, which makes the syndrome he is suffering from very hard to recognize. This is because the healthy parts of his personality have been co-opted by the pathological aspect, which drafts them into its service. Because of the way the personality self-organizes an outer display of coherence around a pathogenic core, I would like to name Bush's illness ‘malignant egophrenic (as compared to schizophrenic) disease,’ or ‘ME disorder,’ for short. If ME disorder goes unrecognized and is not contained, it can be very destructive, particularly if the person is in a position of power.

(snip)

ANALAGOUS TO GERMANS IN THE TIME OF HITLER
The situation is very analogous to when seemingly good, normal, loving Germans supported Hitler, believing he was a good leader trying to help them. The German people didn't realize that the virulent pathogen malignant egophrenia had taken possession of Hitler and was incarnating itself through him. By not seeing this and supporting Hitler, they became agents used by this non-local, deadly disease to propagate itself. This was a collective psychosis, and this is what is taking place in our country right now.

This is exactly what C. G. Jung, one of the greatest psychologists of the twentieth century, was warning us about when he said "The gigantic catastrophes that threaten us today are not elemental happenings of a physical or biological order, but psychic events. To a quite terrifying degree we are threatened by wars and revolutions which are nothing other than psychic epidemics. At any moment several millions of human beings may be smitten with a new madness, and then we shall have another world war or devastating revolution. Instead of being at the mercy of wild beasts, earthquakes, landslides, and inundations, modern man is battered by the elemental forces of his own psyche."
(snip)

[ladjf]

3. All true. But, the bast.rd has control of the keys. We've got to

figure out how to relieve him of that possession.

[Nothing Without Hope]

5. Yes, the stakes grow higher each day. Have you seen this?

Breaking news - evidence that Bush intends to invade Iran:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2959361

[ladjf]

9. No. I had only seen that we have had spy groups in Iran for

quite a while. How can we invade Iran? We are already short of personnel in Iraq, short of money (asking for another $100 B). Would the American people also buy an Iran invasion? I think about 50 million Americans think it's kind of cool to be creating an empire. The Germans thought that also during the mid and late 30's.

[Nothing Without Hope]

18. The dual purpose of these secret Iran missions

appears to be
1. getting targetting information for bombing runs
2. getting "proof" that they really, really do have WMD.

Of course, by that criterion, we could attack a LOT of countries. There was internal (Iranian) opposition to starting a nuclear weapons program in Iran for ethical reasons, but this was overcome by the sense that, given what the US was doing in the middle East, they had to have some means to defend themselves.

Something that the B* cartel never adequately explained (along with a long list of other things) is why, if Saddam had all these WMDs, he didn't USE them when his country was invaded? Well, I think the Iranians WILL use them, because they have them. And they have them precisely because they needed them for self-defense. But B* is insane (I mean really, not just as an insult) and apparently so are the inner circle of neocon handlers, so a nuclear or other deadly deterrent isn't going to stop him. He has to be stopped some other way, presumably by Congress finally finding a spine -- inspired to do so by massive pressure from the outraged citizens of this country.

[ladjf]

2. Good post. You failed to specifically mention the roll that key

religious leaders, particularly the Catholics played in cooperating with the regime.

[ken-in-seattle]

4. Not just the Catholics. I will post the Baptist support info later.

What you will never hear from Falwell and other Regressives and Christo=fascist.

http://www.nobeliefs.com/speeches.htm

The Christianity of Hitler revealed in his speeches and proclamations

Compiled by Jim Walker

Originated: 27 Feb. 1997

Through subterfuge and concealment, many of today's Church leaders and faithful Christians have camouflaged the Christianity of Adolf Hitler and have attempted to mark him an atheist, a pagan cult worshipper, or a false Christian. However, from the earliest formation of the Nazi party and throughout the period of conquest and growth, Hitler expressed his Christian support to the German citizenry and soldiers. In the 1920s, Hitler's German Workers' Party (pre Nazi term) adopted a "Programme" with twenty-five points (the Nazi version of a constitution). In point twenty-four, their intent clearly demonstrates, from the very beginning, their stand in favor of a "positive" Christianity:

24. We demand liberty for all religious denominations in the State, so far as they are not a danger to it and do not militate against the morality and moral sense of the German race. The Party, as such, stands for positive Christianity, but does not bind itself in the matter of creed to any particular confession....


Hitler's speeches and proclamations, even more clearly, reveal his faith and feelings toward a Christianized Germany. Nazism presents an embarrassment to Christianity and demonstrates the danger of faith. The following words from Hitler show his disdain for atheism, and pagan cults, and reveals the strength of his Christian feelings:


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Since it's Sunday here in the U S of A, it's time for some quotes from a famous but little mentioned Evangelical leader of the 20th century...

How the History Department at Bob Jones U overlooked this author is difficult to explain.

Ken-in-Seattle
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My feelings as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter. It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded only by a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them and who, God's truth! was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. In boundless love as a Christian and as a man I read through the passage which tells us how the Lord at last rose in His might and seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple the brood of vipers and adders. How terrific was His fight for the world against the Jewish poison. To-day, after two thousand years, with deepest emotion I recognize more profoundly than ever before in the fact that it was for this that He had to shed His blood upon the Cross. As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice.... And if there is anything which could demonstrate that we are acting rightly it is the distress that daily grows. For as a Christian I have also a duty to my own people.... When I go out in the morning and see these men standing in their queues and look into their pinched faces, then I believe I would be no Christian, but a very devil if I felt no pity for them, if I did not, as did our Lord two thousand years ago, turn against those by whom to-day this poor people is plundered and exploited.
-Adolf Hitler, in his speech on 12 April 1922




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It will at any rate be my supreme task to see to it that in the newly awakened NSDAP, the adherents of both Confessions can live peacefully together side by side in order that they may take their stand in the common fight against the power which is the mortal foe of any true Christianity.
-Adolf Hitler, in an article headed "A New Beginning," 26 Feb. 1925


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Except the Lord built the house they labour in vain.... The truth of that text was proved if one looks at the house of which the foundations were laid in 1918 and which since then has been in building.... The world will not help, the people must help itself. Its own strength is the source of life. That strength the Almighty has given us to use; that in it and through it we may wage the battle of our life.... The others in the past years have not had the blessing of the Almighty-- of Him Who in the last resort, whatever man may do, holds in His hands the final decision. Lord God, let us never hesitate or play the coward, let us never forget the duty which we have taken upon us.... We are all proud that through God's powerful aid we have become once more true Germans.
-Adolf Hitler, in a speech in March 1933




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I have more if anyone wants them. All quotes with attribution.

[ladjf]

10. You are quite correct. I was just too lazy to add all of the details.

Protestants and Catholics entered into written, signed contracts with the Hitler regime. Hitler was claiming to be a good Christian. But, as soon as he didn't need them, he dropped them like a rock.

In my opinion, Bush doesn't give a damn about religion in any way. He, along with his henchmen simply understand what a great scam it is.

For years I considered myself to be very tolerant of religious practice. But lately, I've realized what a danger pursuit it is. I do believe that it is a form of mental illness and if practiced to extreme had fatal results for the victim as well as many others who are swept into their vortex of lunatic violence. These guys are ready to die now and go on to heaven. There isn't another animal in the planet that shares that level of psychosis.

[LevelB]

12. Not all supported Hitler

<http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Dietrich-Bonhoffer>

And not all support Bush. Not by a long shot.

B.

[ladjf]

13. True. But, far too many. I see the cars going by with the W stickers

on the window and I'm certain that most of those people sincerely believe that they are patriotic and have done the best thing for America by supporting Bush. Will the ever be ashamed of themselves when they discover that they assisted in the hijacking of our Democracy? Probably not.

Not all of any group as large as the American constituency ever supports any one thing. Politics operates on percentages of the total population. It's an array of diverse views.

[LevelB]

14. Any is "far too many"

for me. I live in a very red state, and see the same thing. I do not understand how faith can be reconciled with what we are doing in Iraq, or what is planned for SS.

B.

[ladjf]

16. Step one is for the preachers and parents to teach their

followers to question nothing, except EVERYTHING on faith. (translation: believe any kind if bull sh... I tell you and don't even listen to anyone else).

Once a person had been made mentally ill, then they are lobotomized sheep, ready to do the bidding of their herder.

Religion is a psychiatric disorder that renders the victim unable to
protect themselves through the normal cognitive processes of observation and deduction. Until the world realizes the pathological nature of religious activity and deals with accordingly, we will continue to plunge head long toward near extinction.

[tom_paine]

17. Because it is the very "Faith in Fuhrer" outlined in the Levy article

that drives them, NOT faith in the principles of Christ (who by BusPutinist Standards was a liberal, socialist, sandal-wearing hippie)

THAT kind of "Faith in Fuhrer" is easily reconciled.

If Der Fuhrer said it, the Busheviks believe it. Anyone opposing Der Fuhrer is a traitorous Enemey of the Satte.

Rhetorically and semantically, our modern Fuhrer Worshippers are there.

God Help Us if and when an Economic Catastrophe or LIHOP #2 comes along to givethem an excuse to "release their inner Nazi".

[Karenina]

6. Played a concert in a museum today

in the outback of Datteln. There was a memorabilia room that showed all the PR that swept through the town. Original posters, enameled pins, info about corporate ties, WOW! :crazy: Although attendance was 100% white I saw LOTS of nationalities as I trolled through the pedestrian walk scrounging for food. Amis have a LOT TO LEARN from ordinary Germans. That "elite" that Dulles planted in your system does NOT represent the "common sense" that is found in hamlets here.

My elderly neighbors roll their eyes when we talk about the U.S. saying, (loose translation) "BEEN THERE, DONE THAT and I'm OUTTA HERE soon. It's ENOUGH ALREADY."

[ikojo]

7. I am sure the Germans supported their troops

at Auschwitz-Birkenau, Dachau, Sobibor, the Russian Front, Treblinka, Gross-Rosen, Buchenwald, Bergen-Belsen, France, Africa etc....


after all they didn't want to be there and one can be against the war but yet support the boys in the SS.



What will they say 30 years from now regarding resistence to Bush?

[confuddled]

11. Thank you for making that point.

I have serious trouble separating our troops from our government's agenda/actions. The word complicity keeps coming to mind. The troops are the agents of our government, are they not? Your post has taken me yet another step in that direction.

[Kellanved]

8. May I recommend a page:

--snip
Bernhard Lichtenberg was born on December 3 1875 at Ohlau, some 30 kilometers southeast of Breslau in the then Prussian province of Lower Silesia. He was the second oldest of five siblings. The small merchant family of the Lichtenbergs belonged to the Catholic minority in a predominantly Protestant city. In 1886 the Catholics made up some 31 per cent of the 15,787 strong population of Ohlau. There was also a tiny Jewish community of 123 (0.8%). Bernhard Lichtenberg obtained his Abiturium (school-leaving exam) at the local gymnasium and decided to dedicate himself to the priestly vocation. He studied theology in Breslau and Innsbruck and in 1899 was ordained as a priest . Thereafter, L. pursued a career in the Catholic Church which after 1913 became centered in Berlin. Having served for more than a decade as minister of the Heart of Jesus community in Charlottenburg, he was called in 1932 to be Cathedral rector of the St. Hedwig Church. At the same time, L. also became involved in Catholic politics, serving from 1913 to 1920 as a representative of the Center party in the District Assembly in Charlottenburg and from 1920 to 1930 as a member of the regional parliament of Wedding . After WWI, in which he saw service as a military chaplain, L. became a member of the Peace Association of German Catholics<“Friedensbund Deutscher Katholiken”> and in 1929 was elected to the directing board of the Inter—Denominational Working Group for Peace . Already in 1931, L.'s signing of a call inviting Catholics to watch a performance of the film version of Erich Maria Remarques' anti-war film ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ <"Im Westen nichts Neues">, brought upon him a vicious attack by Goebbels' paper < Hetzblatt>, Der Angriff. On 31 March 1933, two months after the Nazi takeover, L. arranged for the Jewish banker Oskar Wassermann to meet with Cardinal Bertram, Archbishop of Breslau and President of the German Episcopal Conference, in a vain attempt to convince him to intervene to prevent the anti-Semitic boycott of Jewish businesses planned for the next day. Bertram, however, typically regarded the whole issue as lying outside the Church's sphere of activity.



In marked contrast to the majority of the Catholic and Protestant Church establishment during the holocaust, L. thought from the beginning that as a Catholic priest he was bound to help while the Jews were being robbed of every vestige of their civil and human rights. The situation reports of the Potsdam State Police <"Lagebericht der Staatspolizeistelle Potsdam"> for February 1936 tells of a religious meeting held in Berlin between L., two rabbis, two ministers of the Confessing Church and a number of "non-Aryan" laymen. “The meeting reportedly reached the conclusion that the German people will have much to atone for with regard to the Jews“. <"Die Versammlung soll zu dem Ergebnis gekommen sein, daß das deutsche Volk an den Juden viel wieder gut zu machen habe">. In August 1938, L., who had been elected Cathedral Provost the previous year, was put in charge of the Relief Office of the Berlin episcopate , which assisted many Catholics of Jewish descent in emigrating from the Third Reich.



Under the impression of the Kristallnacht pogrom of 9/10 November 1938, while the German churches – including the dissident Confessing Church – kept their silence in face of the vicious attack upon the Jews, L. was the only Church man to raise his voice publicly and fearlessly against Nazi brutality.



“We know what happened yesterday, we do not know what lies in store for us tomorrow. But we have experienced what has happened today: Outside burns the temple. This is also a place of worship.

<"Was gestern war,wissen wir. Was morgen ist, wissen wir nicht. Aber was heute geschehen ist, haben wir erlebt: Draußen brennt der Tempel. Das ist auch ein Gotteshaus."’>
...
--snap
The Hedwig Cathedral is pretty much the only church I visit on a regular basis.



http://www1.yadvashem.org/righteous/bycountry/germany/bernhard.html


http://www1.yadvashem.org/righteous/index_righteous.html

[Lydia Leftcoast]

15. Not all Christians went along with Hitler

Read here about the dissident Protestants, the so-called Confessing Church, which was eventually forced underground.

http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/C/ConfessiC1h.asp