For the first post in my Nazi-Germany series, please click here.
So....
My agenda for this post is to continue reading about the Nazis consolidating power on the Weiner Holocaust Library's website: The Holocaust Explained.
And I want to start looking at other Holocaust-related websites to see if they agree with The Weiner Holocaust Library's assertion that Nazis were right-winged.
That all being said, I will probably go off on various tangents and fall down various rabbit holes. So who knows where we will end up.
* * *
On March 23, 1933 brought up the idea of The Enabling Law to the Reichstag.
Edited to add: 11/25/2023: Rereading this old post and have no idea what I meant by the above sentence. Sorry to anyone trying to read this!
* * *
Just remembered something.
I talked to Tim about this last night.
Sometimes when we talk about politics, Tim goes on a rant about how right-wing Jews will start caring about all the MAGA shit when MAGA starts going after the Jews.
I respond with skepticism.
Oh! Now I remember. I actually wrote about my feelings about this in one of these posts.
Yeah. I know there are antisemitic MAGA people. But I didn't feel antisemitism was one of their main themes.
Yesterday, I started rethinking things.
Because I suddenly realized that, with my reading lately about the takeover of the government by Nazis, I'm not hearing a lot about the Jews. I'm hearing mostly about anti-communism.
Tim asked something along the lines of was the anti-communism kind of a code for anti-Jewish? Kind of like today, antisemitism can hide behind anti-Zionism or anti-Globalism (depending on whether the antisemite leans left or right).
I think that probably there was actual hate for communists, because of Russia...and not simply because communism was associated with Jewishness.
I know Hitler was antisemitic, and I read that the pre-Hitler Nazi group was antisemitic as well.
I'm thinking, though, that maybe they downplayed their antisemitism until they were in power and campaigned more on anti-communism.
After I started thinking this, I went to look at the dates of the big antisemitic movies. Jew Suss and The Eternal Jew came out in 1940.
When I was doing my research, I had wanted to concentrate on the RISE of Nazism. Then I ended up on Propaganda and realized I had jumped ahead. But I rechecked the dates just in case.
None of this means that MAGA is going to definitely go full-force antisemitic. I think they have their hate-hands full with homophobia, transphobia, and anti-socialism. But....who knows.
EDITED TO ADD: It turns out I was wrong about the Nazis not targeting the Jews during the rise-to-power days. Spoiler alert: I learn this in the next post.
* * *
Back to the Enabling Law.
Oh...it's just a minor thing. No big deal.
It says only that Hitler could make decrees without getting the stamp of approval from the Reichstag OR the President.
I don't see how that might be a problem.....
The kind of funny thing is,
Hitler had to get the Reichstag to vote to approve the Enabling Law. That's a kind of poetic mix of democracy and dictatorship.
The DNVP (German National People's Party) a conservative party, supported the plan.
I'm sure most of the Nazis voted yes.
The KDP (Communist Party) said no way! But they had been banned from the Reichstag and couldn't vote.
The Nazi SS and SA put some of their opponents in Dachau, which I've heard of...but I did not realize it was the first concentration camp. I mean I knew it was a concentration camp...just didn't know it was the first.
Is Dachau in Poland or Germany?
Just Googled.
It's in Germany.
I looked on Google Maps. There are no Street Views, but there are photographs.
Hopefully, they won't decide to film Stranger Things part 5 there.
* * *
There were more parties involved in the vote.
The Centre party supported Hitler after he promised to protect Catholic interests. It's kind of like how Protestant Christians are willing to support Trump, because of their dreams of overturning Roe vs Wade and how some Jewish people were willing to hold their nose and support Trump, because he promised to move the American Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
* * *
I just started thinking....
Did anyone consider that there might be Israeli's living in Tel Avis who were attached to the embassy?
I'm imagining this autistic Israeli who has a special interest in the United States and loved going to visit the embassy. And now Trump and his supporters messed all that up.
* * *
The Holocaust Explained says that the SPD (Social Democratic Party) were the only ones who voted against the Enabling Law.
The vote was 444 to 94.
I'm confused, because I thought the SPD had been kicked out.
Or maybe their power was reduced in some other way?
Or maybe they were kicked out at a later time?
Okay. I had a talk with Lord Wiki.
He was helpful. He says the SPD was banned in June. That's a few months after the vote.
* * *
Lord Wiki has a table of all the votes.
I don't usually link to Lord Wiki, but I will here, because it's interesting to look at the table.
The Nazi Party...otherwise known as The National Socialist German Worker's Party gave 284 Yeses.
The Communist Party had 81 absences. I wonder why....
The Centre Party provided 72 yeses.
The DNVP gave 52 yeses.
The Bavarian People's Party gave 19 yeses.
The German State Party gave 5 yeses.
The Christian Social People's Service gave 4 yeses.
The German People's Party gave 2 yeses.
The German Farmer's Party gave 2 yeses.
The Imperial Agricultural League gave 1 yes.
The Social Democratic Party gave 92...NO'S.
* * *
I just went back to Conservapedia to see what they wrote about the Hitler documentary. There was something about political parties that I don't think I transcribed yesterday.
Okay...but I just ended up reading their take on The Office. And it's pretty hilarious.
They say: Mockery of liberal ideology and political correctness in an office setting, without a liberal laugh track. The main character repeatedly encounters contradictions and absurdities as he tries to conform to liberal expectations. The show was most popular when its humor was conservative, and has declined in quality and popularity as its conservative humor has been diluted. Its later seasons were notably more liberal and offensive towards religion. Steve Carell played the main character for six years and was denied an Emmy Award by liberals every time despite being by far the funniest actor on television.
Anyway...I mean maybe it's all about perception. But I thought the main point of the show was mocking Michael Scott (Steve Carell). I thought most of the humor came from him being well-intentioned but also a sexist and racist buffoon.
* * *
As for what they say about the Nazi documentary.
I quoted some of it in the last post. But what I saw and left out is part of this:
[Left Wing Propagandists] claiming the Nazis were a "far-Right" political party when in reality they belonged to the far-Left (and only being slightly to the right of German Communists/Red Front at most).
How does that work?
Lord Wiki labels all the yes-voting political groups ( except the farming-related ones) as conservative.
The group kicked out were the Communists.
And the group voting no were the Social Democratic Party.
Lord Wiki says the Social Democratic Party has Marxist origins. I think Marxist origins sounds pretty far-left.
It seems one would have to do a lot of cognitive gymnastics to be able to believe that a left-wing Party (The Nazis) kicked out another left wing party (the Communist Party) and was denied support from a third left-wing party (Social Democratic Party) but then was supported by several right-wing parties?
I guess one of the ways to do that is to say Lord Wiki is lying and to create your own island called Conservapedia.
* * *
Instead of getting into the next section on The Holocaust Explained which is about The Night of the Long Knives, I'm going to take a look at another Holocaust site or two and see what they say about the Nazis being left-wing or right-wing.
I'm looking at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum now. I've looked at it a little for an earlier post. But I don't remember seeing their political take on it.
So far, I'm not seeing much on the rise of Nazism. They have a timeline but they don't go into details about the politics.
* * *
Ah!
I think I found it. They have a section entitled "Hitler Comes to Power".
The USSHM says, The Nazis were radically right-wing, antisemitic, anticommunist, and antidemocratic.
That's two against one.
So far.....
* * *
I'm looking for websites that will provide me a good list of other websites.
This New York Jewish school, Touro University, has a list of international Holocaust sites.
Oh! Actually they have multiple lists, and it looks pretty extensive.
So, I think I can rely on them for this little side project.
* * *
In the next post, I plan to look at more Holocaust websites while also reading about the Night of Long Knives on The Holocaust Explained.
To be continued.....
* * *
Ha. You thought I meant in the next post. Didn't you?
Well, I did too.
BUT....
I started thinking that I shouldn't assume that Conservapedia is trusted and respected by all MAGA people...or at least not all Republicans and Conservatives.
It could be something that even most MAGA people laugh at.
So, now I have two new questions in my head.
A) What percentage of MAGA people see Conservapedia as a valid, respectable source?
B) For those MAGA who see Conservapedia as a bit nutty for even their taste, would the viewpoint that Nazis-were-left-wing be seen as one of the less outlandish theories on Conservapedia?
What would our world be like if we
knew for sure there
was life after death, and
we could easily talk to our
dearly-departed on the Internet?
The Dead are Online a novel by Dina Roberts
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