Throughout my 18 part series about the Rise of Nazism in Germany, I started looking into the concept of whether Nazis were left-wing or right wing.
Let me start right off the bat by saying I believe Nazis are right-wing. But I'm intrigued by the fact that some right-wing people believe Nazism is a left-wing kind of thing.
So....anyway.
In my posts, I started looking at the opinions of websites, mostly Holocaust ones, to see if they gave an answer to whether Nazis were left and right.
I'm going to continue that here in this post.
This adventure might all fit into this post. I might just jump around from website to website quickly finding the left vs right verdict.
BUT....
There's a fair chance I might fall down rabbit holes and go on tangents. If that happens, I may break this project up into multiple posts.
* * *
The scores so far.
TWO for left-wing: Dinesh D'Souza and Conservapedia.
I didn't really get D'Souza's opinion from a website. Well...I did, technically. But it was via Amazon. I had Googled and found D'Souza had written a book about the whole thing. It's called The Big Lie: Exposing the Nazi Roots of the American Left.
As for the sites I've found, so far, that name Nazis as being a right-wing thing, there are FIVE: The Budapest Holocaust Memorial Museum, The Holocaust Explained (from the Wiener Holocaust Library), The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Snopes, and The Political Compass.
And there have also been Holocaust museums that do not explicitly say that the Nazis were a right-wing or left wing phenomena.
* * *
I've been using Touro University's list of Holocaust websites as my roadmap.
I'm going to guess that most websites on their list are going to say either that the Nazis were right-wing or they're going to skip mentioning political leanings.
But we shall see.....
* * *
The first up is the Holocaust Museum Houston.
The museum itself seems very left-wing. Their current special exhibit, and the most prominent thing on their website, is called "Speaking up: Confronting Hate Speech".
If it was a right-wing museum, the special exhibit would probably be named something like: "Speaking Up: Confronting Political Correctness".
Also, the exhibit shows bigotry against targeted groups in general vs bigotry against only-Jews. I believe left-wing Jews are more likely to be passionate about social justice for all groups...equally. Or sometimes some tend to even put our own group last. Right-wing Jews seem to focus on social justice for Jewish people. And that may vary from white-Jews only to all people as long as they're Jewish.
* * *
Well, I looked at Houston's virtual tour, which is pretty cool. It's like the ones used for real estate websites.
I didn't go through the whole museum—just the beginning part which talked about the rise of Nazism. In that section, there was nothing about whether Nazis were left-wing or right-wing.
So I shall not add them to any list.
* * *
Now I'm on The Holocaust Museum LA in Los Angeles.
I'm looking through their education stuff.
They have a teacher's guide PDF with some history.
The PDF says this:
The party was explicitly anti-communist and anti-Marxist. It condemned the liberalism of the Weimar Republic and sought for a return to the “authenticity” of Germany. The party valued nationalism, “Aryanism,” and a revival of nativism.
Unless someone wants to argue that communism and Marxism is NOT left-wing, I'm going to say that this sounds like the museum would agree that Nazis were right-wing.
I also feel that the paragraph is actually speaking directly towards the people who'd try to claim that the Nazis were left-wing. Maybe it's the word "explicitly".
More stuff from the PDF:
Adolf Hitler capitalized on Germany's unstable environment in the 1920s and 30s, blaming Germany’s defeat and failing economy on Liberals, Marxists, and Jews.
And...
The Nazis utilized vigorous propaganda to exploit the public fear of a communist take-over and portray Hitler as a protector and savior of Germany.
What political party in the United States obsessively exploits the fear of communism?
Anyway....although they don't say explicitly "Nazis were right-winged", I'm going to mark them in that club, because I think they said enough to make me believe this is their viewpoint.
The score now is 6 to 2.
* * *
Moving onto the next website.
This one is The Midwest Center for Holocaust Education. They say they serve Kansas, Western Missouri, and The Midwest.
Kansas and western Missouri are not in The Midwest?
Rabbit hole.....
* * *
Lord Wiki says Missouri and Kansas are included in The Midwest.
So...it would probably be more apt to say the museum serves Kansas, Western Missouri, and the rest of the Midwest.
I'm also wondering if The Midwest doesn't have any other Holocaust centers.
* * *
The center prides themselves on being a bridge to the non-Jewish community. And one of the reflections of this priority of theirs is that 1/3 of their board members are non-Jewish.
I see two different pictures here.
A) They partner with other marginalized communities, so those communities can both learn about the Holocaust and also share their histories of oppression. (left-wing approach)
B) The other board members are evangelical Christians who passionately want Jews returning to Jerusalem for Christian mythology reasons. Like right-wing Jews, they pay lots of attention to the Holocaust and much less attention to other horrible things in history. (right-wing approach).
* * *
There's a lot of people listed on the board members page.
It would be a really huge rabbit hole to go through each board member to see if they fit more into A or B.
And I'm not even sure which board members are the non-Jewish one.
That being said...I did Google one of the Vice-Presidents. I went to her Twitter page and started scrolling through. I didn't find any politically-revealing Tweets. So, next I went to her likes,
On July 20, 2021 she liked a Tweet that celebrated the ban of conversion therapy in Kansas city. So I'm going to guess she is NOT evangelical.
And scrolling down, I see other woke stuff.
* * *
I could have just scrolled down a bit to see if the center leans left or right in their thinking.
They describe their goal as:
Through a study of the Holocaust and the stories of the people who experienced it, the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education seeks to increase compassion and understanding. We teach what can happen within a democratic society when hatred and bigotry go unchallenged. We encourage individual responsibility by showing how the actions of one person can make a difference. We relate the events of the past to contemporary issues of intolerance.
* * *
I like what the museum says here:
The Nazis could not have accomplished the murder of two-thirds of European Jewry and the destruction of 1500 years of Jewish culture, community and history in the space of 12 years without the complicity of others. Such complicity included not only those who collaborated with them, but also those who remained neutral or indifferent, and those who kept silent.
I wonder how many of the people saying that the Disney Corporation should stay out of politics would go to a Holocaust museum, walk around and say, How could something like this happen?
Being neutral and indifferent to politics and oppression is dangerous enough. But what's worse is those who push others to stay silent.
I bet every influencer or celebrity who has decided to speak up...even in small ways...has been met with comments: You used to be funny. Stick to acting. This is not why I followed you. Unfollow! Go woke go broke.
* * *
I can't easily find anything with the center describing the Nazis as left-wing or right-wing. But judging by the titles of the lesson plans for teachers, the museum does seem more left-wing to me. I mean the museum seems left-wing which would mean if asked, they'd probably say the opposite of Nazis.
Examples:
"Bystanders in the Holocaust and Rwanda",
"Connecting a Holocaust Memoir to Modern Genocides"
"Nazi Laws vs Jim Crow Laws"
"Recognizing Genocide-A Study of the 8 Stages"
One of the parts of the last one is about the famous quote from Martin Niemoller.
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out-because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out-because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out-because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me, and there was no one else to speak for me.
I'm wondering if right-wing people ever use this quote when discussing the Holocaust. I can imagine them relating to or agreeing with the general sentiment. But I imagine they'd be really uncomfortable with the mention of unionists and socialists.
I imagine there are probably right-wing people who try to spread very altered versions of the quote and would be disgusted if they saw the original version.
* * *
I actually found the term "right-wing" in the section on Niemoller.
Well...and I just finally noticed that this section isn't exactly from The Midwest Center for Holocaust Education.
I didn't notice that I had been sent off to The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, which I already know puts the Nazis in the right-wing category.
That being said, I think what a museum links to says something about their viewpoints. I mean unless they're showcasing viewpoints that offend them.
Anyway...the right-wing is in reference to Niemoller. He was right-winged, antisemitic, and voted for the Nazi party in 1933.
Later he had a change of heart.
Just like people get off the MAGA train at different stops; same goes for those getting off the Hitler train.
* * *
I'm going to move on. It's hard, because there seems to be a lot of great material on the Midwest site. But I'm bookmarking it for future posts.
I think having these sites will be better when researching instead of relying solely on Google.
* * *
Now I'm going to look at the Safe Haven Holocaust Refugee Shelter Museum.
It's in Oswego, New York....which, looking at Google Maps, is close to Rochester and Syracuse New York. And it's about 4-5 hours away from NYC.
According to their website, 982 refugees were allowed into the United States as guests of FDR.
So...I guess instead of Schindler's List, it would be FDR's list.
I wonder how they were chosen.
Maybe this page will answer that question. It has their story.
They label FDR's refugee rescue as a symbolic gesture. He sent a woman named Ruth Gruber to Italy to get 1000 refugees. Or around 1000 refugees, I guess. I wonder why they fell short of 1000.
The people were chosen for having skills that would help them run a camp.
I'm not sure what that means.
Yeah. I should keep reading...
It just seems to me that it takes a wide variety of people to run a camp.
I'm probably thinking of something more in line with a summer camp.
BUT....
All camps are kind of like little communities, so it seems most people would have something to contribute.
The first priority, in choosing refugees, was for those who had been in concentration camps and had escaped.
Were they priority out of sympathy and compassion? Or was the United States looking for people good at escaping things?
* * *
Just like today, some people were welcoming and compassionate towards refugees. Other people were not.
The Safe Haven website says that FDR had to promise congress that these refugees would leave the United States after the war. The fact that he had to promise this makes me think that there was significant opposition to the refugees being rescued.
The journeys of the refugees took two weeks on a ship that was crowded and very hot. Adding seasickness to the mess, it wasn't a pleasant trip.
I'm tempted to complain that they were treating refugees like unwanted dirt. But apparently the ship was usually used for soldiers. And while part of the ship was used for refugees, on that particular journey, the ship also had wounded soldiers.
Now I'm wondering if I should skip the complaining OR should I complain about the United States government's treatment of both refugees and the military.
I'm pretty sure air-conditioning wasn't a thing yet. But maybe they could have added more fans? Maybe less crowding.
Although I'm wondering if the crowding on that journey was more substantial than on ones with only soldiers. Maybe when not being used to transport close to a thousand refugees, everyone gets more legroom and there's less spreading of body warmth.
* * *
When the refugees got to their new temporary home, some of it felt a bit too familar in a bad way.
Well, first of all the trip involved a train journey. Hopefully, it was better than the cattle cars that took them to the concentration camps in Europe.
Other things the camps had in common with the death and concentration camps in Europe is barbed wire and military personnel.
I wonder how the treatment of the refugees would compare to how refugees in camps and detention centers are treated today. And I wonder how these camps compared to Japanese interment camps.
You know what's horrible?
Or I should say one of the many horrible thing.
There's a part of me that's thinking...why are they complaining? These people came from The Holocaust! Anything is a step up!
And I think I felt this way sometimes when learning about Australian detention centers.
It's not that I feel anyone deserves this kind of treatment or that this kind of treatment is acceptable.
It's more like I expect that people will be accepting of bad treatment if it's an improvement from how they were previously treated.
Many of these refugees, though, had comfortable or extra-comfortable lives before the Nazis came into power. So the desire to go back to that original level of comfort probably outweighs the gratitude that they're no longer in an extremely abusive situation.
Or maybe not. I have no idea.
And what about people who have not ever lived in middle class or upper middle class situations? Are they more likely to tolerate shelter/camp situations?
And where do we draw the line between demanding guests and mistreated guests?
I wouldn't expect to be placed in a four star hotel room or even a two star one. But I'd want clean toilets and enough toilets.
Whether or not it had bobbed wire, I would hope for something that's at least as good as college dorms or summer camp.
That might not be good qualifier, because there's so much variance when it comes to dorms and camps.
The family camp we went to in the 1980's had no doors on the toilet stalls and showers were outdoors and communal
The camp that Tim and I met at had private bathrooms in the cabins —toilet and shower.
I think some summer camps even have air-conditioning.
I DEFINITELY think refugees should have air-conditioning...especially if they're in Texas.
Anyway...all in all. Just because someone escaped a death camp filled with Nazis doesn't mean they should expected to be Pollyanna about overcrowded and overheated ships and then being sent to another prison camp situation.
* * *
Since the Safe Haven website is about the aftermath of the Holocaust experience rather than the origins, they don't provide their insight into whether Nazis were left-wing or right-wing.
I'm bookmarking a PBS documentary about Safe Haven. I might watch it if I do a post about the American response to the Holocaust. The description of the video says: FDR Agreed to admit this small token group in lieu of a much larger plan to create many safe haven all over the country and bring in possibly hundreds of thousands of refugees.
I wonder who or what stopped the plan of bringing in hundreds of thousands of refugees.
These days it's more often right-wing people who are oppositional to refugees. Was it the same back then? Were left-wing people as pro-immigrant and refugee-supportive as they are now?
I wonder if there were people who were supportive of refugees as long as they were not Jewish ones? Well, I can definitely expect that there were racists and Nazi-types who were welcoming of white/Aryan refugees. But I wonder if there were people who would welcome most other refugees, regardless of skin color...but not Jews. Because they saw Jews as money-hungry, controlling bank goblins who make life miserable for decent people.
* * *
This post is probably long enough.
So I will probably continue this with sequels.
* * *
Actually, I change my mind.
I'm tired of this project.
I do like looking at the various Holocaust museums. But I can do that with other research posts.
I think it's very likely that most official Holocaust sites are going to either say that the Nazis were right-winged or link to another website that says the Nazis were right-wing. OR they're going to be in the category of no comment.
* * *
Now I'm going to face the struggle of what to research and write about next.
Should I choose randomly?
Should I choose the subject that has most recently made me feel very uncomfortable and unsettled?
Should I go with the American response...since I am kind of wanting to learn more about Safe Haven?
Yeah. You know what. Maybe I will start there.
I'll watch the documentary and then see where that takes me.
* * *
I don't want to leave the above so vague and cryptic
So I'll briefly explain. There was a post on Instagram about the Jewish influence on the comic industry and how some Jewish people feel that Jewish influence has been erased.
I don't know much about the origins of the comic book industry, so I can't weigh in on whether there was a small, medium, or huge Jewish influence. (though that has changed a bit since originally writing this...because of a conversation in comments)
But...the story sounded like what many on the left would usually label as cultural appropriation and in usual cases like this there would be cries of, Representation Matters!
Opening up the comments, I expected to see a mix of those things along with a few antisemitic things and a few anti-Israel things.
But I didn't see anyone speaking up against cultural appropriation or speaking up for representation. Instead the general message was that Jews were making a big deal out of nothing. (though between writing and proofreading, I went back to look again and some comments were added that were supportive rather than hateful)
I'm not bothered by right-wing people being unsupportive. I expect them to roll their eyes at cultural appropriation and representation. But left-wing people. Seeing it come from them, hurts. Most of all, because I'm Jewish and take it personally. But second, hypocrisy is painful to me. I believe that some of these same people would have a very different reaction if it was a different group complaining about cultural appropriation.
I feel a bit guilty, because a few months ago I privately complained about a left-wing cousin complaining that people were not standing with Jews as Jews had stood with them. She had an attitude of woe-is-us.
I felt she was being too negative. I mean I definitely understand that there is left-wing antisemitism. I'm not blind to it! But I felt and still feel that there are also many left-wing people who do speak out against antisemitism and support Jewish culture/causes. (I mean non-Jewish, left-wing people) I've seen it on Twitter, and it makes me feel comforted.
Although now....I'm sitting here worried. What if they ARE all Jewish?
Shit. That would suck.
But no. I don't think that's true.
Anyway, though....maybe my cousin, at the time, had experienced what I saw yesterday on Instagram. Maybe that's what put her in the mindset. And knowing what I've been feeling since reading those comments, I can totally understand.
Edited to add 12/5/2023: Dear Past Dina: Wait until you see what's coming.
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