Hitler: Enlightened Visionary and Outraged Victim

Some supplemental facts posted by Maynard, on how the enemy has never really changed

Tammy has noted that Hitler was not a practicing Catholic, and certainly did not murder in the name of God. But while we’re talking about Hitler, let’s round out the picture by acknowledging his more overt pursuits.

First of all, let’s set the record straight and make sure everyone knows to spell his name. It’s “Adolf”, not “Adolph”. A lot of people get this wrong. For example, in Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Hitler incorrectly signs his autograph as “Adolph”. He also signs with his right hand, whereas Hitler was left-handed. (I believe — please correct me if necessary — that “Adolph” is an Americanized name and not a German one.)

Okay, let’s list off Hitler’s ‘enlightened’ ideas.

First, Hitler was a vegetarian. This was partly as a result of gastrointestinal difficulties. To put it bluntly, the fuehrer suffered from corrosive flatulence. It was actually distressing to be in a confined space with him. (This is a matter of undisputed historical record; I am not making it up.) But there was also a humanitarian aspect to his vegetarianism. After his niece Geli killed herself, Hitler turned away from meat completely, observing that it would be like eating from a coffin.

The story of Geli was an interesting one. Geli Raubal was the daughter of Hitler’s half-sister, who was serving as his housekeeper. As he was rising in politics, the unmarried Hitler was having a wild affair with Geli. By some reports, Hitler’s carnal satisfaction required he be demeaned and humiliated in unspeakable ways, and it was her coerced participation in such degradation that led to Geli’s suicide. It’s impossible to know exactly what went on between the two, but psychologists acknowledge that people often pursue sexual gratification that is the opposite of what they have in the larger part of their lives. Thus, it’s not surprising that the man who aspires to rule the world may play an entirely different role in bed.

This may not sound like a big deal now, but the suicide was in 1931, the year before Hitler ascended to the position of Chancellor. It was a major scandal for a political leader. Imagine something like the Monica Lewinsky affair in which Monica had ended up killing herself. Only the most adept politician could survive such an event.

So in quick summary, Hitler was sexually ‘liberated,’ as today’s left would cast it, and in ways that the pope would presumably disapprove of.

Hitler was also a militant anti-smoker, very aggressive in demanding his subordinates give up smoking. No one was allowed to smoke in his presence. (I’m wondering if his legendary flatulence was part of the motivation for this particular prohibition. It’s possible that the fuehrer was a fire hazard, and was afraid going up in flames like the Hindenburg.)

He was also noted for his ecological sensitivity, preserving parklands for the people. The founder of Hitler’s storm troopers, Ernst Röhm, was homosexual, and Hitler insisted that this was nobody else’s business. (To be fair, it must be acknowledged that Hitler had Röhm murdered in 1934’s infamous “Night of the Long Knives”. But this had more to do with Röhm’s political orientation than his sexual orientation).

Finally, Hitler built the German system of highways, and was working on bringing personal cars to the people. A competent artist, Hitler had a hand in the design of the Volkswagen Beetle, and the only reason the Beetles weren’t rolling off the assembly line in his time was the unfortunate interruption of World War II.

So if you want to attach Hitler’s wars of aggression and genocide to other characteristics, Catholicism is not the first attribute that springs to mind. You could more readily draw a parallel with a number of other devotions that many would consider modern, enlightened and “progressive.”

Also…take a moment to read this a brief excerpt from Hitler’s declaration of war against the U.S. (This was just after Pearl Harbor. Because the attack came from Japan, it wasn’t clear whether we would declare war against Germany. But Hitler declared war against America, saving us the trouble of having that discussion.) Just for fun, try substituting “Bush” for “Roosevelt” and your favorite anti-American country for “Germany” and whoever runs that country for “I” (Hitler, that is), and “Vietnam” for “Great War” (WWI), and you’ll see how the political speeches made by madmen and monsters never really change. No matter what happens, it’s always the other guy’s fault, and the madman/monster stands as the voice of injured propriety and justified outrage.

…But why is there now another President of the U.S.A., who regards it as his only task to intensify anti-German feeling to the pitch of war? National Socialism came to power in Germany in the same years as Roosevelt was elected President. I understand only too well that a worldwide distance separates Roosevelt’s ideas and my ideas.

Roosevelt comes from a rich family and belongs to the class whose path is smoothed in the Democracy. I am the only child of a small, poor family and had to fight my way by work and industry.

When the Great War came, Roosevelt occupied a position where he got to know only its pleasant consequences enjoyed by those who do business while others bleed. I was only one of those who carry out orders, as an ordinary soldier, and naturally returned from the war just as poor as I was in autumn of 1914. I shared the fate of millions, and Franklin Roosevelt only the fate of the so-called upper ten thousand.

After the war Roosevelt tried his hand at financial speculation; he made profits out of the inflation, out of the misery of others, while I, together with many hundreds of thousands more, lay in hospitals. When Roosevelt finally stepped on the political stage with all the advantages of his class, I was unknown and fought for the resurrection of my people.

When Roosevelt took his place at the head of the U.S.A., he was the candidate of a Capitalistic party which made use of him; when I became Chancellor of the German Reich, I was Fuehrer of the popular movement I had created. The powers behind Roosevelt were those powers I had fought at home. The Brains Trust were composed of people such as we had fought against in Germany as parasites and removed from public life…

…All this is not surprising if one bears in mind that the men he had called to support him, or rather, the men who had called him, belonged to the Jewish element, whose interests are all for disintegration and never for order…