July 23, 2018
“It’s very simple, very basic, very clear — it’s the entire package; this is a national referendum on Trump, an up or down vote on his presidency: vote Republican for the Trump program, all of it [or] vote Democrat to impeach him. Full stop. And the entire package means the entire package…You are either with Trump or you are against him.”
– Steve Bannon on midterm elections
A long time ago in a country far, far, away I was a young exchange student in Germany for my junior year in college.
Having pedaled my bicycle the length of that beautiful country a couple of years previously, I had developed an abiding appreciation for the warm hospitality of the people together with a deep curiosity regarding the odd twists and turns of their history.
I was eagerly anticipating an entire year spent getting to know the culture more intimately and trying to answer a few of my most basic questions. These mostly concerned the horrific cataclysm that befell the country and its citizens as a consequence of their support for Adolf Hitler.
The other thing I had developed a deep and abiding appreciation for was the multitude of welcoming Lokals, Tavernen, and other assorted watering holes each serving two or three local, unique, and utterly satisfying brews. More than the beer, though, was the way each Kneipe also served as a common gathering place for local residents of all ages and backgrounds to mix, mingle, and converse freely among themselves about topics great and small.
Oddly enough, it was my appreciation for this latter aspect of German culture that ultimately helped shed some light on the enduring conundrum posed by the former. Since my initial bicycling sojourn, I had constantly asked myself and others how such warm, welcoming and cultured people, obviously enamored of and personifying “Gemutlichkeit”, could stand by and allow over 6,000,000 of their fellow citizens to be systematically slaughtered at the whim of a madman.
Prior to my arrival in Freiburg for that year of study, the best answer I could pry out of any serious source (from my university professors to multiple history books) was that the entire country had somehow gone crazy during that period. Of course, this “answer” did nothing but pique my curiosity further.
In the course of my first few visits to “Kupi’s Kneipe” the local tavern (maybe a little too) conveniently placed between Freiburg University and the student dorms, I was careful not to press the issue, convinced that doing so would just yield the same non-answer. Eventually, though, I became more of a known, friendly face, and my German language skills gradually evolved beyond text-book level.
As I developed more than casual friendships with several of the other “regulars”, of all ages, the conversations gradually lengthened and deepened to cover a wide variety of topics, from the American tragedy in Vietnam (still relatively fresh & painful at the time), to Jimmy Carter’s prospects as President.
As my willingness to accept critical views and rationally consider opposing opinions became evident, the multiple layers of emotional armor that separated my companions from the deep personal trauma that had been inflicted on most of them forty years earlier were gradually shed.
The warm camaraderie of shared goodwill eventually had its desired effect and the conversations inevitably turned to the eternal, ever-present “elephant in the room” for every single Bürger who was alive during that period or born thereafter: the Nazi era.
After repeated doses of those legendary liquid anesthetics, the voices would become little more than a whisper. I’d lean forward to catch every phrase and nuance against the background noise of the pub. And then slowly, tortuously, the Truth (as they saw it, anyway) would out. Although stated many ways and using many different words, it ultimately boiled down to this:
‘Of course, what Hitler did to the Jews was wrong.’ they would concede. ‘But’, they would confide in voices even less audible, ‘he also did some good things for Germany’.
In the depths of the depression of the mid 1930’s, when finding enough food to keep themselves and their children alive was the first and only priority for most people, they were willing to overlook the egregious transgressions the Nazi’s made against the rule of law and basic human decency.
They were grateful for the initial improvements in the economy and the material benefits that they believed these improvements would yield for themselves and their families. Whatever twinges of conscience they might have experienced were permanently silenced as they witnessed the horrific fates met by any of their fellow citizens who dared to give voice to their objections.
They were willing to support Hitler (particularly in the 1930’s) because his policies, as reprehensible as they were in some regards, allowed them to feed their families and restored (fleetingly, as it turned out) a sense that “Law and Order” was being maintained.
Never having had to face a similar situation myself, I hesitate to say with any degree of certainty what I would do in those circumstances. I know what I’d like to think I would do, but I also learned a long time ago that an untested character trait is no more than a hope.
The basic flaw in the logic of those unfortunate souls only became apparent to the rest of the world by the end of World War II. As of 1978 it still had not been recognized or accepted by many of those who had lived through it:
When they supported the apparent economic benefits offered by Hitler and his National Socialist Workers Party, they were also supporting his clearly stated rabid antisemitism, his utter disdain for the ideals of Democracy, his commitment to “Lebensraum” at the expense of Germany’s neighbors, and the absolute, utter evil embodied by the madman and his minions.
Many of Germany’s decent citizens would have (had they been given the choice) JUST supported the economic policies which they honestly believed would benefit themselves and their families. What they failed to comprehend, though, (in 1932 and all the way up to 1978) is that the choice they would have preferred was NEVER part of the deal offered by Hitler and his band of murderous thugs.
They didn’t get to pick and choose between policies and outcomes. In the end they had only ONE choice to make and only a very small window of time (1930 to 1932) in which to make it. To paraphrase, courtesy of Mr. Bannon:
“It was very simple, very basic, very clear – it was the entire package; a national referendum, an up or down vote on Hitler: vote NAZI for the Hitler program, all of it [or] vote for the coalition to stop him. Full stop. And the entire package meant the entire package…You were either with Hitler or you were against him.”
In what may prove to be an even more foreboding similarity, Hitler was able to gain and consolidate his power during this period with the support and acquiescence of traditional conservatives within the government who were convinced they could reap the political benefits of supporting him while controlling the baser instincts of him and his party.
Those current-day Republican Senators and Congressmen who think they can just support a few of the aspects of Trump’s agenda that they happen to find appealing while ignoring his utter disdain for Democracy, his totalitarian instincts, and his glaring lack of even the most basic aspects of common human decency face the same simple choice:
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When they applaud his choice of Supreme Court justices, they are also unavoidably lending their moral authority to his blatant racism, extreme misogyny, and small-minded bigotry.
Of course, we have the benefits of 20/20 hindsight that my companions from Kupi’s did not.
We can see, as History has proven repeatedly, and as Steve Bannon has put it so succinctly:
As a nation, we have ONE choice to make.
I KNOW which side of History I choose to stand on. How about you?
Bridges-Not-Walls 