The Media Loved Him too ...............

The more things change (hope and change), the more they stay the same. Another media dahlink. A reader posted this comment back in November 2008:

I thought I would never be able to experience what the ordinary, moral German felt in the mid-1930s. In those times, the savior was a former smooth-talking rabble-rouser from the streets, about whom the average German knew next to nothing. What they did know was that he was associated with groups that shouted, shoved, and pushed around people with whom they disagreed; he edged his way onto the political stage through great oratory and promises. Economic times were tough, people were losing jobs, and he was a great speaker. And he smiled and waved a lot. And people, even newspapers, were afraid to speak out for fear that his "brown shirts" would bully them into submission. And then he was duly elected to office, with a full-throttled economic crisis at hand [the Great Depression]. Slowly but surely he seized the controls of government power, department by department, person by person, bureaucracy by bureaucracy. The kids joined a Youth Movement in his name , where they were taught what to think.

How did he get the people on his side? He did it promising jobs to the jobless, money to the moneyless, and goodies for the military-industrial complex. He did it by indoctrinating the children, advocating gun control, health care for all, better wages, better jobs, and promising to re-instill pride once again in the country, across Europe, and across the world. He did it with a compliant media - Did you know that? And he did this all in the name of justice and .. . . change.

(rare WWII photos hat tip aric)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Over at Gates Of Vienna (here's an excerpt) -- hat tip jane:

The Hitler myth

By Duns Ouray

One day you just do not believe it anymore.

“Hitler was a unpredictable idiot. A dictator who ruled Germany with an iron fist. He had a special gift: with his speeches he was hypnotizing his audience.

“The industrialists financed the Nazis to make profits from the German rearmament. Hitler was nothing more than a sock puppet of the capitalists. Hence the fierce struggle of the Nazis against the Social Democrats and the Communists.

“The Holocaust was anti-Semitic madness. But without the German law-abiding culture, the Holocaust could not have happened. “Befehl ist Befehl” [An order is an order] was the motto.

“The followers of Hitler were socially frustrated. The middle class were hoping to climb the social ladder with a membership in the NSDAP.

“With the military defeat in 1945, Nazism was consigned to the dungheap of history.”

That was roughly the image of Nazism I grew up with. The image that was presented to you in history class, in films, and in the newspaper. This image we might call “the Hitler myth”.

It is not the first time that myth has won out over reality. Perhaps Plato’s myth about the death of Socrates is the oldest example. Another historical myth is the idea that the Indians had a high culture, a pacifist mentality, and lived in harmony with nature, and that they were exterminated by white settlers.

This poses the following question: when does a myth win out over the reality? My answer: when all parties that benefit prefer the myth over the unwelcome reality. The Indians have an interest in their role as victim. And from the side of Westerners, history is written by left-wing pseudo-intellectuals: they want to paint capitalist society, and Christian America, in as bad a light as possible.

Back to the Hitler myth. At some point in time I started doubting. Just as children start having doubts about Santa Claus. It simply cannot be true. In this I was struggling with the following questions:

• If Hitler was a madman, how could he come to power?
• Can anyone really hypnotize his audience with a speech?
• If Nazism only attracted losers, how could they suddenly grab power?
• The Holocaust is a major operation and a historically unique. Would the motive for this have only been anti-Semitism? For anti-Semitism is (literally) as old as the way to Rome.
• If Hitler was a sock puppet of the major capitalists, why did he call himself a national socialist?
• This was the first speech of Hitler as Chancellor… a strange little man that is just screaming anything. Do you feel the spell of his hypnotic power come over you?
• Via a “health care fund” the Dutch State pays the cost of health care of the below average income segment of our people. This fund is hailed as “a pinnacle of civilization”. However, it was established by the Nazis on November 1, 1941 [during the occupation of the Netherlands].
• In 2006, the PvdA (Socialists) blocked the loosening of Dutch employment protection. The labor unions even called this employment protection “holy”. However, this measure was also introduced by the Nazis.
• The dependent child allowance, one of the shrines of the Christian Democrats, was introduced by the Nazis in 1941.
• After a long leftist life, Jacques van Doorn wrote German Socialism. In this book he demonstrated that historians traditionally portray the conservatives, the Reichswehr, the nobility and industrialists as the trailblazers to Hitler. However, the NSDAP was one of the few political parties in the German Weimar Republic that was not funded by these groups.
• Did the massive support for Nazism really suddenly evaporate in 1945?

With so many contradictions, our image of Hitler cannot possibly be based on reality. There is a Hitler myth, but how could that occur?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part II

Where did the Hitler myth come from? And why would you believe it?

In Part I demonstrated that a Hitler-myth exists. Our image of Hitler and Nazism is a fantasy. This fantasy was created by some special interest groups, who together wrote history. This section deals with these stakeholders:
- - - - - - - - -

1.		The pre-war political establishment, which was restored after 1945.
2.		The baby-boom generation, which took over power in the 1960’s.
3.		The Germans who survived the war.

What special interest did they have?

1. The pre-war establishment had to explain why they did not stop Hitler and the Holocaust. They also, after 1945, had to channel popular support for Nazism to their aid. The following components of the Hitler myth were in their interest:

Hitler myth versus the interest:

• “Hitler was a unpredictable madman.

• — The political establishment had been unable to predict the Second World War or the Holocaust.

• “The followers of Hitler were mainly socially frustrated.”

• — Hitler’s followers were standing outside the establishment. Hitler was hated by the establishment.

• “With the military defeat in 1945, Nazism was consigned to the dungheap of history.

• — The political establishment is responsible for the cleaning up the remnants of Nazism.

2. The baby boom generation were the first “children of the welfare state”. They pinched the power of the establishment. In this struggle, the leveling of the “fascism-reproach” proved to be a strong weapon: anyone who stands in the way of the baby boomers is called “a fascist”.

Hitler myth versus the interest:

• “Hitler was financed by the great industrialists.”

• — The baby boomers saw capitalism as an obstacle on their way to power. Therefore capitalism had to be portrayed as the breeding ground of Hitler and Nazism.

• “The Nazis disputed social democrats and communists.”

• — The baby boomers identified themselves as socialists and/or communists. Now they also could delude themselves as the “victims of Hitler

• The Holocaust was enabled by the German law-abiding culture.”

• — If a law-abiding culture had led to the Holocaust, then the fight against the authority simply had to be justified. And the baby boomers fought against authority in the 1960s

• “The followers of Hitler were the middle class that grabbed the chance to improve their situation through he Nazis.

• — The baby boomers view themselves as real intellectuals. They detest the middle class.

3. Germans who survived the war had to find ways to justify their participation. Therefore the reality was modified:

Hitler myth versus the interest:

• “Hitler ruled Germany with an iron fist. And with his speeches Hitler hypnotized his audience.”

• — The Germans themselves were also victims of Hitler

• “Hitler was financed by the great industrialists.

• — Against this financial force majeure the Germans stood no chance

• “With the military defeat in 1945, Nazism was consigned to the dung heap of history

• — Nazism is a black page in history, but fortunately we left that behind us. As you can see, the Hitler myth has something in it for everyone. But can we still find out how it really stuck together?

Part III

Read it all

 

 

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