I combined here three recent posts on Hitler....Up To 1934....1938....and 1939....under the post title....Hitler....1919-1939. There is an article out right now on CNN that compares what is happening in America to Hungary's Viktor Orban playbook. The article begins...."Weaponize the levers of government for partisan political gain. Pressure privately owned media companies to toe the party line. Punish the owners who resist and reward the ones who acquiesce." We saw Disney and Paramount....(CBS).....cave to the threats. The FCC is pressuring any and all media outlets to fall into line. Evangelicals think that this is a good thing. God has for ten years now blinded their eyes. How was your service this past Lord's Day? I know how it was....comfortable....and encouraging. I had wondered at times in the past how things could get so bad that families would be divided. I am beginning to see how it can happen....as the one side thinks that they are doing God's work....with no concern that the Bible warns against the very methods and types of people that are supposedly doing this....work for God. The other side....us....becomes the problem. It's a powerful emotion....thinking they are defending Christianity....but in order to be able to fall for this....the real power....in the preached Word of God....has to be absent. If I could do but one thing in these posts....it would be to encourage Christians to.....I use the word....supplement....their regular preaching with the preaching that can cut to the very core of our soul....and show us our own egregious errors and lack of wisdom. Try to prove me wrong on this....incorporate two sermons a week into you schedule....from preachers from the past. (if you could see God's schedule....you would change yours) Just Google Spurgeon or Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermon YouTube.....and prepare to be weaned away from Fox News and podcasters and anything and everything else that has misdirected where your trust should be. The topic of the sermon does not matter....because the Holy Spirit is moving on the heart more than the intellect.
Hitler....Up To 1934
My disgust with the historical memory of Hitler is such that when I have referenced him a few times in these posts of almost seventeen years I would refer to him as....the German Fuhrer....but I will use his name since this post is about him.
The world looked at him as a comical figure...with his little mustache. When he came on the scene in 1919 Germany was falling apart. Hitler wanted a racially pure Germany....and he hated the Jews and the Socialists. He joined the fledgling German Workers Party....and became a prominent member....raging in his speeches. There was something about his speeches that mesmerized....and people just wanted to follow him. He demanded that he was to be the sole leader of the now newly named Nazi Party. If someone didn't get on board they were taken aside and....urged to reconsider....but Hitler and others moved too quickly and what followed was the infamous....Munich Beer Hall Putsch in November of 1923....a rally meant to be a coup in Bavaria that would then march to Berlin. The coup failed and Hitler wound up in prison for nine months. His sentence was longer than that but he knew people high up and he was pardoned. He started writing Mein Kampf while in prison.
As the 1920s wore on...the Nazi Party fizzled in the elections because things were looking a little better economically....what with the United States and others providing low interest loans. And then came the crash of 1929....the best thing that could have happened to Hitler....or so he thought at the time.
The army of Brownshirts was now large and strong and brutal....and Hitler would then form what would be the SS as personal guardians.....and then the secret police....the Gestapo.
Everyone higher up who also hated the Weimar regime....disliked this raging former corporal....but they thought that they needed him to stop the violence in the streets....and they thought that they could control him....so they gave him power...and he was appointed as Chancellor. By this time though everyone except his growing group of rabid worship followers knew that there might be a problem.
Hitler wasn't even a citizen....being Austrian....and he needed that citizenship in order to run for office. The second time around was a whole new ballgame. The people from all areas of society flocked to him as the savior who promised to make Germany great again.
This new Third Reich was forming now....and Hitler flew from city to city to rallies....promising a 1000 year reign that turned out to be only twelve years. That's when he made his biggest decision yet....and the first in his incarnation as savior. It was time for paybacks. His forces rounded up all of his old opponents and others who could not be trusted....hundreds died....many of whom were executed....including his long time closest ally....the leader of the Brownshirts....who worried that Hitler was betraying the movement. Rohm was thrown in jail....given a gun with one bullet to kill himself....and then shot in his cell when he refused to kill himself. This night that extended over a couple of days and nights came to be known as....the Night of the Long Knives. Would the Brownshirts accept him after he had their leader killed? Hitler gave one of his patented speeches on protecting the country....and wallah....they were all back in the fold.
Most of the Christian church came on board....believing the promises that were made....that the church was too much of an important German institution to do anything to. Of course that promise went by the wayside.
It was too late now. The popular Hindenburg....elected again as president....who was talked into naming Hitler as Chancelor....was now only an old-man figurehead....and died shortly afterwards....as he could only watch the change in the country and its people. It was only 1934.
Afterthought: We need to be aware of history. Germany after World War I was divided as we are today. They were susceptible to the rantings of a man who promised to restore nationalism and greatness. He used fear and hatred to push all the opposition out of the way. Even the church fell for the promise of prosperity and greatness. Paul asked of the Galatians....who had bewitched them? Were they so foolish to begin in the Spirit....but go on to perfection in the flesh?
Hitler Up To 1938
One of the problems we face....those of us who know there are multiple serious problems with who Donald Trump is....primary mental and psychological....is that when Hitler is mentioned then Trump supporters fly off the handle....outraged that he would be compared to such an evil man. It's a deterrent to even bring up the subject....and a win for Trump....but the issue is with the methods that the German Fuhrer used to captivate the German public....the promises and gifts and threats and intimidations and instilling fear and anger....and their similarity with the rise of Donald Trump.
During the 2016 election reports came out that Ivana....Trump's first wife....told her lawyer that Trump kept a copy of Hitler's speeches by his bedside. Trump called that fake news....as he calls everything negative on him fake news. Reports continued and Trump then said that he didn't have such a book but if he did have such a book he would not have read it. That absurd statement is typical Trump that just makes you roll your eyes. Reports continued and Trump then was forced to say that a Jewish friend of his gave him the book. Reports continued and then it was reported that the friend was identified....and that friend said that he is not Jewish. This is Donald Trump. This is a man whose social is called....Truth....but he himself cannot now nor could he ever in his life....distinguish between truth and lies....but the point remains that he....a man who is famous for not being a reader....apparently was interested in why Hitler's speeches were so effective!
A couple of posts below this is a narrative on Hitler's rise up until 1934. This post takes it a few years later. After He had purged all of his enemies and potential enemies....the work towards building the broken economy started. Hitler expanded the autobahn and provided German cars for the people to drive on the autobahn. He was building everywhere which put people to work. Pensions were increased and many and various benefits were awarded to the people such as paid vacations and child care benefits. The army doubled in numbers almost immediately and work started on building a powerful Luftwaffe. Submarine building took off. The Nazis confiscated a lot of money from the Jews to finance their projects. They just took their money! As all these other projects were being built....so were concentration camps!
Germany had previously been awarded the 1936 summer Olympic games....and Hitler was determined to show the world the greatness of Germany. We get the term....Olympic village....from the changes that he made in hosting the athletes. The stadium was....state-of-the-art. Everything went almost perfectly and the games were a great success.
Young people were mobilized to grow into patriotic and physically fit adults...ready and willing to serve in the army. Propaganda was one of the keys....particularly through radio and the film industry and newspapers and posters!
Hitler began to expand the territory. They just sashayed into the Rhineland and no one said a thing. The Austrian government....'requested'....that the German army enter the country for stabilization. The people cheered them....and then Austria became part of the German Reich. Hitler then occupied the Sudetenland....and again England and France said nothing. It was now only 1938.
The point here is that the destitute economy was now expanding....and the people were told to take pride....and they were rewarded....propaganda was now the key to win over the hearts and minds....territories were being added....all opposition was being silenced....they were celebrating Hitler's birthday every year. Germany was great again and he was the reason.
We in America are between a rock and a hard place....in that the very issues that should be brought up along with Trump's rise....Trump uses to 'prove' that there is a Trump Derangement Syndrome.
Note: There are a number of excellent movies out there on Corrie ten Boom....the most well-known of course being....The Hiding Place....but....Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace....should also be watched.
Hitler Up To 1939
In 1938....Hitler demanded a return of a part of Czechoslovakia called the Sudetenland....that had a heavily German speaking population. He claimed that the German speaking people were being persecuted....that was his excuse. England and France and Italy gave him what he wanted in what was called....the Munich Agreement. Czechoslovakia was not represented in the talks that ceded the Sudetenland to Hitler. British prime minister Neville Chamberlain famously returned to London with Hitler's signature....holding the paper over his head....where Hitler promised to stop his aggression in Czechoslovakia....but one week later the German Fuhrer proceeded to occupy the rest of Czechoslovakia's Moravian and Bohemian areas. Hitler had already purged most of the Prussian military generals who might not have gone along with his plans of conquest. Although outraged....all that Britain and France did was to guarantee protection for Poland if they were invaded. Does this sound familiar? Putin wants areas of the Ukraine with Russian speaking people. He already was essentially given the Crimea....although he only annexed it....and that didn't stop him.
Hitler next wanted the free city of Danzig....which today is Gdansk. He then signed a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union with secretive elements to it....which would free him to invade the western areas of Poland....while Stalin could take other parts of Poland that he wanted. Hitler did invade Poland....and England and France declared war on Germany. Stalin then invaded eastern areas of Poland....but England and France were not ready for another declaration of war....this time on the Soviet Union.
On the home front in Germany. Hitler always wanted an excuse for his aggression....(the Reichstag fire of 1933 started it all)....and he got it on November 9, 1938 with the assassination of a German diplomat in Paris by a German-Polish Jewish man. Brownshirts and the SS and even some German youth and citizens then tore through German towns....ransacking Jewish stores and synagogues....in what has become known as Kristallnacht....or The Night Of Broken Glass.
On the home front today in America........Lindsey Graham thinks that Putin should be given some of what he wants but that European boots should then be placed on the ground in the Ukraine....which would deter Putin from any further invasions of the Ukraine!
Note: The news is dominated these past few days by Trump using federal troops ostensibly to make the capital streets safer....and beautiful. The intellectual affliction of the day is that we cannot....nor would we desire to....think through issues and take them further. We....you and I....created these urban areas. There were always those who sought their fortunes by selling us what we do not need.....and we complied....this ever since the 1960s. As this culture evolved we sat there enjoying that which we thought made us happier....but there were consequences. Not everyone can buy these things....but everyone wants to buy them....and many do....at the expense of building stable lives with the resources available. So what do we do? Well we just blame those who are not demographically as fortunate as we were. You see....we are honest and hard working....and they obviously are not. We have an Olympics coming up in America as well as the World Cup in soccer. Trump brags about this all the time. Well....Hitler bragged about the 1936 Olympics for the same reason....to show the world how great Germany was becoming. Homeless and slovenly appearing people....as well as Gypsies....were taken out of Berlin.... and the streets were cleaned up. There would be no crime while the world watched.
