Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Remember this anniversary

Those who refuse to remember the mistakes of the past will be doomed to repeat them.

NOVEMBER 9th and 10th WAS THE 71st ANNIVERSARY OF KRISTALLNACHT.  IT WAS THE START OF THE HOLOCAUST THAT LED TO THE MASSACRE OF 6 MILLION JEWS.

For those who don't remember the history of the Nazi Party (National Socialist Party) in Hitler's pre-WWII Germany, here is a brief description of how it began. Keep in mind that Hitler was a charismatic leader who gave inspiring speeches and had legions of faithful followers. Hitler created the brown-shirted Hitler Youth Groups as well as the Gestapo and SS.


 
As a side note to history, our present leader in America, sometimes Muslim and long time friend and associate of numerous Marxists, Communists, and radical domestic terrorists, Barack Hussein Obama, has called for the creation of a Civilian National Security Force as large as and as well funded as our military. Obama is also a charismatic leader who gave inspiring speeches and has legions of faithful followers.


 

Kristallnacht

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Kristallnacht,  literally "Crystal night") or the Night of Broken Glass was an anti-Jewish pogrom in Nazi Germany and Austria on 9 to 10 November 1938.

Kristallnacht was triggered by the assassination of German diplomat Ernst vom Rath by Herschel Grynszpan, a German-born Polish Jew. In a coordinated attack on Jewish people and their property, 99 Jews were murdered and 25,000 to 30,000 were arrested and placed in concentration camps. 267 synagogues were destroyed and thousands of homes and businesses were ransacked. This was done by the Hitler Youth, Gestapo, SS and SA.  Kristallnacht also served as a pretext and a means for the wholesale confiscation of firearms from German Jews.

While the assassination of Rath served as a pretext for the attacks, Kristallnacht was part of a broader Nazi policy of antisemitism and persecution of the Jews. Kristallnacht was followed by further economic and political persecutions and is viewed by many historians as the beginning of the Final Solution, leading towards the genocide of the Holocaust.

Death of Vom Rath

Vom Rath died of his wounds on November 9. Word of his death reached Hitler that evening while he was at a dinner commemorating the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch with several key members of the Nazi party. After intense discussions, Hitler left the assembly abruptly without giving his usual address. Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels delivered the speech instead, in which he commented that "the Führer has decided that... demonstrations should not be prepared or organised by the party, but insofar as they erupt spontaneously, they are not to be hampered."  Chief party judge Walter Buch later stated that the message was clear; with these words Goebbels had commanded the party leaders to organise a pogrom.

At 1:20am on November 10, 1938, Reinhard Heydrich sent an urgent secret telegram to the state police and the SA containing instructions regarding the riots. This included guidelines for the protection of foreigners and non-Jewish businesses and property. Police were instructed not to interfere with the riots unless the guidelines were violated. Police were also instructed to seize Jewish archives from synagogues and community offices, and to arrest and detain "healthy male Jews, who are not too old," for eventual transfer to concentration camps.


Those who refuse to remember the mistakes of the past will be doomed to repeat them.

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