Double Edged Sword by Paul Wolf, 11 September 2002 Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 08:54:50 -0400 From: Paul Wolf Subject: Double Edged Sword Introduction 1. Hitler and the Reichstag Fire 2. Reichstag Fire 3. Nazi Conspiracy & Aggression, 4. The Guilty, Der Stürmer, #10, March 1933 Introduction "Patriotism is indeed a double edged sword. It emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind." Dividing and conquering his neighbors, Julius Caesar used both of these properties to carve the Roman Empire from the ancient world -- it was, above all else, an empire of psychological domination. Julius Caesar was the prototype militarist: he gave us the phalanx (falange), a dense military unit organized in rows and columns, one behind another, superior, both mentally and physically, to the disorganized barbarians it encountered. When Adolph Hitler came to power in 1933, he resurrected the old Roman salute. Heil Hitler! Hitler understood the symbolic power of the gesture of the upraised hand, of thousands of loyal citizens and soldiers, in rows and columns, making this gesture at once. It was the power of solidarity, of conformity, of the state, uber alles. The Nazis understood the power of symbolism and the psychology of the masses, who need an enemy, as well as "the necessary man," the man who personified the will of the people and could lead them to salvation. The rise of the Nazi Party in Germany can be traced to February 27, 1933. Someone had set fire to the German Reichstag building, the house of the parliament. Marinus van der Lubbe, a Dutch Communist, was found at the scene. Adolph Hitler quickly seized on the opportunity, and directed the outrage of the wounded German people against their already imagined enemies -- the Communists and and Jews. Van der Lubbe was convicted, civil rights were suspended, and Hitler took power shortly thereafter. Historians disagree as to whether the Nazis deliberately burned down the Reichstag, or whether they just took advantage of the situation. But does it really matter? We become mesmorized by these historical questions. But in retrospect, it's apparent that the real issue was the rise of fascism in Germany, not determining who was really responsible for the Reichstag fire. On this anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, we can look back with some historical perspective. We lament the deaths of the victims of the attacks. We note that a year has gone by without any further attacks on our country. The predicted terrorist invasion did not in fact occur. Finally, if we take a step back, we might even consider whether we are pursuing a democratic or an imperialistic foreign policy, particularly with regard to international institutions. And whether we would include the Afgani dead in our thoughts and prayers. Paul 10 Oct 2002 correction: First a little housecleaning. I began my September 11, 2002 email entitled "Double Edged Sword" with the following quotation: "Patriotism is indeed a double edged sword. It emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind." Apparently this is not an authentic Julius Caesar quote, see http://www.snopes.com/quotes/caesar.htm. My apologies for the error. On September 29, Barbra Streisand used the same quote during a speech she gave at a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee fundraiser in Hollywood, CA. Quite a number of people have written about her mistake, just go to google.com and search for "Streisand". Streisand had apparently read a variation on the same internet hoax attributing the quote to the play "Julius Caesar" by William Shakespeare. Additionally, I incorrectly attributed the invention of the phalanx to the Romans. The Roman Legions were not the first phalanxes and you can read more about this, if for some reason you are interested in it, at http://webpages.charter.net/brueggeman/legions.html. Despite these errors, the point has been made. Notes: ------------------------------------------------------------------ http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/section/reichstg_hitlerandthereichstagfire.asp Hitler and the Reichstag Fire In Jan., 1933, when Adolf Hitler became chancellor without an absolute majority, the Reichstag was dissolved and new elections were set for Mar. 5; a violent election campaign ensued. On Feb. 27, 1933, a fire destroyed part of the Reichstag building. Hitler immediately accused the Communists of having set the fire. President von Hindenburg proclaimed a state of emergency and issued decrees suspending freedom of speech and assembly. The elections gave a bare majority of seats to Hitler's National Socialists and their allies, the German Nationalists. Severe measures were taken against the Communist party, and its deputies were barred from the Reichstag. On Mar. 23 the Reichstag passed the Enabling Act, which gave the government, i.e., Hitler, dictatorial powers. Only the Social Democrats dissented. In the sensational Reichstag fire trial of 1933, a Dutchman named Marinus van der Lubbe was charged with having set the fire as part of a Communist plot. Several Communist leaders, including Georgi Dimitrov, were charged with complicity. Van der Lubbe was sentenced to death; the others were found not guilty. For many years it was assumed outside Germany that the Reichstag fire was carried out by the Nazis themselves as a propaganda maneuver to ensure the defeat of the Communists and other leftist parties in the elections. However, later evidence indicated that Van der Lubbe alone set the fire, and that Hitler merely used it as a pretext to launch a campaign against the Communists. During Hitler's rule, the Reichstag was merely summoned from time to time to approve important government measures. The Reichsrat was abolished in 1934, along with sovereignty of the German states. ------------------------------------------------------------------ http://www.weyrich.com/political_issues/reichstag_fire.html Reichstag Fire Weyrich Computer Consulting January 30, 1933 Weimar Republic President Paul von Hindenburg appoints Adolph Hitler Chancellor. February 27, 1933 The German Parliament (Reichstag) burns down. A dazed Dutch Communist named Marinus van der Lubbe is found at the scene and charged with arson. [He is later found guilty and executed]. February 28, 1933 President Hindenburg and Chancellor Hitler invoke Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution, which permits the suspension of civil liberties in time of national emergency. This Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of the People and State abrogates the following constitutional protections: * Free expression of opinion * Freedom of the press * Right of assembly and association * Right to privacy of postal and electronic communications * Protection against unlawful searches and seizures * Individual property rights * States' right of self-government A supplemental decree creates the SA (Storm Troops) and SS (Special Security) Federal police agencies. Who Did It? Historians do not agree on who is actually responsible for the Reichstag Fire: van der Lubbe acting alone -- a Communist plot -- or the Nazis themselves in order to create an incident. Writers such as Klaus P. Fischer feel that most likely the Nazis were involved. But regardless of who actually planned and executed the fire, it is clear that the Nazis immediately took advantage of the situation in order to advance their cause at the expense of civil rights. The Decree enabled the Nazis to ruthlessly suppress opposition in the upcoming election. March 5, 1933 National elections give Nazis 44% plurality in the Reichstag. Herman Göring [who later played a central role in the Nazi government and war effort] declares that there is no further need for State governments. Over the next few weeks, each of the lawful Weimar State governments falls to the same ruse: * Local Nazi organizations instigate disorder; * The disorder is quelled by replacing the elected state government by appointed Nazi Reich Commissioners. March 24, 1933 The Reichstag passes the Law for Terminating the Suffering of People and Nation, also known as the Enabling Law, essentially granting Adolph Hitler dictatorial power. ANALYSIS The events in 1933 can be summarized as follows: * While it is not clear whether the Nazis intentionally set the Reichstag fire in order to create a national crisis, or whether the Nazis simply were opportunistic, the event was used as justification for a sharp curtailment in constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties. * The Nazis took advantage of the additional Federal police powers to suppress opponents. * It is clear that in other situations, the Nazis did use the tactic of creating a "law and order" crisis so that they could provide a solution which further eroded civil liberties and entrenched their power. ------------------------------------------------------------------ http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/imt/nca/nca-02/nca-02-16-responsibility-09-03-03.html The International Military Tribunal, Nuremberg Nazi Conspiracy & Aggression, 8 volumes Office of United States Chief of Counsel For Prosecution of Axis Criminality Published by the Office of United States Chief of Counsel for the Prosecution of Axis Criminality in 1946, this multi-volume work provides transcripts and translations of documentary evidence and other materials prepared by the American and British prosecuting staffs for presentation before the International Military Tribunal at Nurnberg against the Nazi war criminals. * Volume Two Chapter XIV: Individual Responsibilities of Defendants o Wilhelm Frick + C. Frick's Participation in the Establishment of Totalitarian Control over Germany 6. Suppression and terrorization of opponents [Page 663] Five days after the accession of the conspirators to power [Wilhelm] Frick signed the first law limiting the freedom of assembly and of the press in Germany. Then, on 28 February 1933, the day after the Reichstag fire, civil rights in Germany were abolished altogether by decree signed by Frick (1390-PS). The preamble of this decree, which was published on the morning after the Reichstag fire, stated that the suspension of civil rights was decreed as a defense measure against Communist acts of violence endangering the State. At the time of publication of this decree, the Nazi government announced that a thorough investigation had proven that the Communists had set fire to the Reichstag building. It is not necessary here to go into the controversial question of who set fire to the Reichstag, but it should be stressed that the official Nazi statement that the Communists had set fire to the building, on which Frick's law was predicated, was issued without any investigation. Proof of this fact is contained in an interrogation of Goering on 13 October 1945, which contains the following passage: "Q. How could you tell your press agent, one hour after the Reichstag caught fire, that the Communists did it, without investigation? A. Did the public relations officer say that I said that? Q. Yes. He said you said it. A. It is possible when I came to the Reichstag, the Fuehrer and his gentlemen were there. I was doubtful at the time but it was their opinion that the Communists had started the fire. Q. But you were the highest law enforcement official in a certain sense. Daluege was your subordinate. Looking back at it now, and not in the excitement that was there once, wasn't it too early to say without any investigation that the Communists had started the fire? A. Yes, that is possible, but the Fuehrer wanted it this way. Q. Why did the Fuehrer want to issue at once a statement that the Communists had started the fire? A. He was convinced of it. Q. It is right when I say he was convinced without having any evidence or any proof of that at this moment? A. That is right, but you must take into account that at that time the Communist activity was extremely strong, that our new government as such was not very secure." (3593-PS) ------------------------------------------------------------------ [Note: The pro-Nazi article below may offend some readers. - Paul] http://www.calvin.edu/cas/gpa/ds7.htm The Guilty "Der Schuldige," Der Stürmer, #10, March 1933. Calvin College German Propaganda Archive A few days ago, Germany was astonished by the news of arson in the Reichstag. Fires were set in more than twenty places in the building. It was almost completely destroyed. The ringleader is the head of the Communist faction in the Reichstag, Representative Torgler. At the time time the press brought another unsettling report. In the basement of the "Karl Liebknecht Building" [The Communist Party Headquarters]: secret passages and hidden tunnels were discovered. Material that encouraged civil war was found. Detailed plans to murder both individuals and groups of Germans citizens were found. The bloody uprising was supposed to begin throughout Germany in the immediate future. There was to be murder and arson in cities and villages. These news items had a strong effect throughout Germany. The indifferent citizen who had not wanted to see the enormous danger of Bolshevism looked in horror toward Berlin. He too realized now that Germany faced a terrible threat. The burning Reichstag building was the signal that brought every German to his senses. The National Socialists, however, were not surprised. They saw it coming. They had long recognized the danger of Bolshevist world criminality. They had long predicted that what everyone now could see. They had warned the German people about it in a hundred thousand meetings, they had called them to battle against it in thousands of mass meetings. They organized a mass movement of millions against it. The German people has woken up. It has risen up. It wants to fight against Bolshevist criminality. It demands its destruction, its defeat, its extermination. But the German people do not know who is guilty. They do not know the cause of this terrible uprising, this criminal murderous arson. The German people will fight in vain against this plague, against this poison, if they fail to recognize the scoundrels who mix the poison and spread the plague. It is not difficult to find the true cause of Marxist-Bolshevist world criminality. It is as clear as the light of day, and one need only open one's eyes to know the truth. The truth is that both parties that want civil war, that hate the Fatherland and that recognize only an "Internationale," were founded by Jews. The Jew Karl Marx, who gave his name to the movement, wrote the program. The Jews LaSalle (Wolfson), Kautsky, Bernstein, Dr. Hilferding, Dr. Moses, Rosa Luxemburg, Liebknecht, Münzenberg and others led and still lead the SPD [Socialist Party] and KPD [Communist Party]. The truth is that the leaders and rabble rousers and fomenters of the November Revolution of 9 November 1918 were a clique of Jews. Haase, Mühsam, Toller, Eisner, Levien, Neurath, etc., all belonged to the Jewish people. The truth is that the Marxist movement is in reality a Jewish movement. The goal of the movement is to make the confused, roused masses into an enormous army of Jewish slaves. This army would be used and exploited to reach the great goal of Jewry, Jewish world domination. Let anyone who doubts it read the "Zionist Protocols," the Jewish plan for world domination. There he will be enlightened. The scales will fall from his eyes. The events in Berlin will no longer be a secret, they will no longer be a surprise. He will have found the guilty party. The "Zionist Protocols" were agreed on by the Jews at the World Jewish Congress in 1897 in Basel. They were written and read by Achad Cham, the secret leader of Zionist world Jewry. They fell into the hands of the Russian government through bribery, and were translated and printed by Professor Nilus. A copy of this translation has been in the British National Library since 1906. This is what is written in the Third Protocol: "Hunger gives finance more secure power over the workers than the legal strength of the king. We will cause hunger by bringing to a halt all the stock exchanges and industries. The people will fall under the power of rich newcomers. They will lay a pitiless yoke on the workers. We will then arrive to save the workers from their slavery. We will urge them to join the ranks of our army of anarchists, socialists and communists. The masses today blindly believe the printed word and the false doctrines it contains. In their ignorance, they hate any class above them. We will intensify this hatred. With the help of the money that we completely control, we will bring about a general economic crisis. At the same time, we will throw armies of workers out on the streets throughout the world. The masses will then gladly shed the blood of those we say are their enemies, and whose possessions they can then steal. This will all take place under the banner of "Freedom", which is the epitome of animalistic power. We will transform the masses into bloodthirsty beasts. They will fall asleep once they have shed blood. Then we can easily put them in chains. But if they do not have blood, they will fight rather than sleep." Thus the goals of Pan-Jewry and the secret of Marxism, which tears the world and the nations apart, are revealed. The Jews planned everything that is happening today in 1897. They stilled the industries, brought about economic crises, threw workers out on the streets and weakened them through hunger, and then led these desperate people against those who opposed the Jews, against the National Socialists. It all follows the Protocols sentence by sentence, word by word. It is all following plan. The plan of the "Zionist Protocols." The Marxist factory worker became a tool of the Jewish world criminals. The National Socialists, under their Führer Adolf Hitler, saw through this chicanery. They fought with all their strength for 14 years with unprecedented determination. On 30 January 1933 they took power. Adolf Hitler became the Reich Chancellor. Pan-Jewry was seized with terror, rage and hatred. It made a last attempt to regain its power in Germany. The 9th Protocol of the "Zionist Protocols" discusses its method: "You might think that the non-Jews will attack us, weapons in hand, once they recognize that we are behind everything. In this event, we have a last terrible weapon in our hands that will bring dread even to the bravest heart. Soon underground subway tunnels will be under all the great cities of the world. We will use them, if necessary, to blow all the capital cities up. We will poison the water lines and send whole classes to death. We will burn down all public buildings." That which the Jews planned in Basel in 1897 was to become reality in Berlin in 1933. Communist subhumans were to be the tools. The burning of the Reichstag was to be the signal for the attack. The Jews did not succeed in carrying out their treacherous plan. The National Socialist Minister Göring put a halt to their plans. But the Jew will find new intrigues and crimes. His Zionist program and his Jewish brain will help him. He will not rest until a new attack on Germany is ready. The Jew is guilty. He is guilty of the arson in Berlin, of the crimes of Bolshevism, of the crimes of Marxist agitation. Germany will not be at peace until the last of these guilty ones is tried and convicted. © 2002 Paul Wolf © 2002 encyclopedia.com © 1997 Weyrich Computer Consulting © 1999 Randall Bytewerk Reprinted for Fair Use Only. http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/DEsword.html (hypertext) http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/DEsword.txt (text only) http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/DEsword.pdf (print ready)