{"id":121669,"date":"2018-11-12T12:00:33","date_gmt":"2018-11-12T12:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=121669"},"modified":"2018-11-06T15:29:00","modified_gmt":"2018-11-06T15:29:00","slug":"the-fuehrer-princip-principle-when-fascism-was-is-ascendant-in-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2018\/11\/the-fuehrer-princip-principle-when-fascism-was-is-ascendant-in-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"The Fuehrer Princip (Principle): When Fascism Was\/Is Ascendant in the World"},"content":{"rendered":"

5 Nov 2018 – <\/em>When naive people are in trouble and go looking for someone to solve their problems for them, they often get bamboozled by cunning, politically-motivated con men who are quite willing to step in and take charge.<\/p>\n

In pre-Nazi Europe, the fascist dictators Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler were such politicians. In 1929, Germany had been victimized by the Wall Street Stock Market Crash, which had caused economic chaos all around the economically-interconnected world \u2013 especially heavily-indebted Germany which was still reeling from the consequences of the Great War and the massively unfair Treaty of Versailles that ended the war and made Germany accept responsible for all the reparations costs.<\/p>\n

Adolf Hitler, ever since the 11\/11\/1918 Armistice that ended the war, had long been part of the segment of the population that had been justifiably outraged by the terms of the treaty. He had formed the national socialist political party that promised to withdraw Germany from the treaty if it ever came to power. When Hitler was appointed by President Hindenburg to the chancellorship (partly because of the nation\u2019s political\/economic chaos), he developed what he called the \u201cfuehrer princip\u201d and put into motion the withdrawal of Germany from the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.<\/p>\n

The Fuehrerprincip was a very simple concept. Nazi Party leader Rudolf Hess summarized it thusly:<\/p>\n

\u201cHitler is Germany and Germany is Hitler. Whatever he does is necessary. Whatever he does is successful. Clearly the Fuehrer has divine blessing.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Fuehrerprincip required everyone in Nazi-controlled Germany to accept the notion that Hitler knew the solutions to all of Germany\u2019s problems and that whatever he said was right.<\/p>\n

On the day after the\u00a0infamous \u201cNight of the Long Knives\u201d massacre (June 1934), Hitler defended the SS mass murders of dissidents by stating that for 24 hours he had become the law in Germany and that the SS were simply carrying out his orders. The F\u00fchrerprincip in its most basic form was that whatever Hitler said was to be put into practice and that those who were reluctant to carry out his orders were betraying Hitler and therefore betraying Germany.<\/p>\n

Hitler\u2019s propaganda machine portrayed Hitler as the hyper-nationalist \u201cdear leader\u201d who knew what was best for the nation and also what would heal Germany after its humiliating defeat following World War I.<\/p>\n

By 1933, bewildered, unemployed Germans were exhausted from the nation\u2019s economic and political crises, but they were also seduced by the Nazi propaganda machine of Joseph Goebbels, the new Minister of Propaganda and Public Enlightenment. The propaganda portrayed Hitler as the leader who would essentially be able to \u201cmake Germany great again\u201d. After all, Germany\u2019s official slogan had long been \u201cDeutschland Uber Alles\u201d.<\/p>\n

One of the most popular campaign issues for Hitler was the need to \u201cdrain the communist\/ democratic socialist swamp\u201d in Weimar Germany\u2019s \u201cfailed\u201d, decade-long experiment in democracy.<\/p>\n

Thus, millions of bamboozled Good Germans came to believe that the nationalist Hitler was altruistically putting the country before even his own personal ambitions. They never even suspected that Hitler\u2019s insider investments, bribes from industrialists, salaries from the new Nazi governmental bureaucracies, embezzlements and assorted thefts were to make him the richest man in Germany.<\/p>\n

The Fuehrerprincip became part of everyday life in Germany. All Germans were required to use the formal greeting salute of \u201cHeil Hitler\u201d, and children were required to use the salute in all aspects of their lives, including at school, where tyrannical schoolmasters, punitive priests\/pastors and abusive nuns followed \u2013 and obediently enforced – the rules. Students were also told that they were to report their parents and neighbors to the authorities if they saw them using the salute half-heartedly.<\/p>\n

With the mainstream media totally controlled by the state, Goebbels had total freedom in the way he portrayed the Fuehrer.<\/p>\n

Goebbels stated:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are witnessing the greatest miracle in history. A genius is building the world. We heard his voice while Germany slept. His hand has made us a nation again. His hand has led us back to the Fatherland. Our whole life we give to the F\u00fchrer.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHe alone is never mistaken. He is always right. Amazing how great the F\u00fchrer is in his simplicity and how simple in his greatness. He is above us all. He is always like a great star above us.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Even Hitler joined in the masquerade of having the blessings of God while simultaneously condemning the Republic\u2019s new liberalism by writing:<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator; by defending myself against the Jews, I am fighting for the Lord.\u201d <\/em>— Adolf Hitler<\/p>\n

“Today Christians stand at the head of our country.\u00a0 We want to fill our culture again with the Christian spirit.\u00a0 We want to burn out all the recent immoral developments in literature, in the theatre, and in the press — in short, we want to burn out the poison of immorality which has entered into our whole life and culture as a result of liberal excess during the past years.” — <\/em>Adolph Hitler<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In their public utterances, Nazi leaders portrayed Hitler as being the New Messiah, and \u201cGood German\u201d Christians believed them:<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then unto us was born a child in Brannau.\u201d \u2013 <\/em>Rudolf Hess<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Lord has sent us Adolf Hitler.\u201d \u2013 <\/em>Robert Ley<\/p>\n

\u201cGod has manifested himself not in Jesus Chris but in Adolf Hitler.\u201d — <\/em>German Christian Evangelical Church Faith Movement statement<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that God has sent us Adolf Hitler so that Germany should be a foundation stone in all eternity.\u201d — <\/em>Hitler Jugend (Hitler Youth) statement<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But in private, these amoral, vehemently anti-communist, anti-Semitic, fascist criminals were saying:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt also gives us a very special, secret pleasure to see how unaware the people around us are of what is really happening to them.\u201d <\/em>— Adolf Hitler<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat good fortune for those in power that the people do not think.\u201d <\/em>— Adolf Hitler<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fascist state must not forget that all means must serve the ends; it must not let itself be confused by the drivel about so-called \u2018freedom of the press\u2019\u2026it must make sure that (the media) is placed in the service of the state.\u201d — <\/em>Adolf Hitler<\/p>\n

“An evil exists that threatens every man, woman, and child of this great nation. We must take steps to ensure our domestic security and protect our homeland.” — <\/em>Adolf Hitler, proposing the creation of the Gestapo, his<\/u> homeland security group<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and\/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.\u201d <\/em>— Joseph Goebbels<\/p>\n

\u201cThe rank and file is usually much more primitive than we imagine. Propaganda must therefore always be essentially simple and repetitious. The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly… it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over.\u201d <\/em>— Joseph Goebbels<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had the moral right, we had the duty to our own people, to kill this people that wanted to kill us. We can say that we have performed this most difficult task out of love for our people. And we have suffered no harm from it in our inner self, in our soul, in our character.\u201d — <\/em>Heinrich Himmler<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019The Jewish people are to be exterminated,\u2019 says every party member. That\u2019s clear, it\u2019s part of our program, elimination of the Jews, extermination; right, we\u2019ll do it. The wealth that they [the Jews] had, we have taken from them. I have issued a strict command\u2026that this wealth is as a matter of course to be delivered in its entirety to the Reich.\u201d <\/em>— Heinrich Himmler<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To maintain the whole F\u00fchrerprincip notion, no one in Nazi Germany was even allowed to tell a joke about the Fuehrer unless they were willing to risk a spell in a concentration camp. A joke about the F\u00fchrer was viewed as treason.<\/p>\n

But that was then and this is now, and that was Germany and this is America. \u00a0But is there actually much difference?<\/p>\n

Many people in America are, as they are all around the world, still struggling. Many people are still under-employed. Many people are still confused about what political leaders to trust. \u00a0America is still in a political crisis, whether the crisis has been orchestrated by capitalist, militarist or religionist forces.<\/p>\n

And many people, as much as we like to think that we are too smart to be bamboozled by fascist ideologies or fascist leaders, are still politically na\u00efve. Witness this quote:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe streets of our country are in turmoil! The universities are filled with students rebelling and rioting! Communists are seeking to destroy our country! Russia is threatening us with her might! Our republic is in danger, yes, danger from within and without! WE NEED LAW AND ORDER!\u201d <\/em>— Original quote from Adolf Hitler (indistinguishable from the rhetoric of Ronald Reagan two generations later)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I submit the following warnings that have been excerpted from various sources of American history.<\/p>\n

****************************<\/p>\n

Ben Franklin\u2019s Fear of Foreign Immigrants<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cThose who come hither are generally of the most ignorant Stupid Sort of their own Nation\u2026and as few of the English understand the German Language, and so cannot address them either from the Press or Pulpit, \u2019tis almost impossible to remove any prejudices they once entertain\u2026Not being used to Liberty, they know not how to make a modest use of it\u2026I remember when they modestly declined intermeddling in our Elections, but now they come in droves, and carry all before them, except in one or two Counties…In short unless the stream of their importation could be turned from this to other colonies, as you very judiciously propose, they will soon so out-number us, that all the advantages we have will not in My Opinion be able to preserve our language, and even our Government will become precarious…\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWhy should Pennsylvania, founded by the\u00a0English<\/em>, become a Colony of Aliens, who will shortly be so numerous as to Germanize us instead of our Anglifying them, and will never adopt our Language or Customs, any more than they can acquire our Complexion.\u201d <\/em>— Ben Franklin, one of America\u2019s many racist, English-speaking, English-supremacist forefathers, writing about accepting German immigrants into America: (The Trumps wouldn\u2019t have made it in if Ben had had his way.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

*********************<\/p>\n

German-American Nazism in the 1930s<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the mid-1930s, the German-American Bund was begun in New York state in order to support German immigrants who were excited by the rise of Hitler and Nazism. The organization spread rapidly, establishing a couple dozen youth summer camps throughout the US, including Camp Hindenburg in Grafton, Wisconsin, just outside of Milwaukee.<\/p>\n

The Bund held rallies all around the nation with Nazi insignias and rituals such as the Hitler salute. It roundly criticized president Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jewish groups, communists, trade unions and the American boycott of German goods. The Bund claimed to be loyal to America, proudly showed both the Nazi swastika and the Stars and Stripes at events and celebrated George Washington as \u201cthe first fascist.\u201d (The Bund claimed that Washington never thought democracy would work.)
\nAmerican Bund leaders attended the 1936 Summer Olympics in Germany and one of the leaders posed for a photo-op with Hitler.<\/p>\n

In February of 1939 the Bund hosted a huge event at Madison Square Garden. As many as 40,000 German-American supporters cheered as the gauleiters (leaders) criticized Franklin Delano Roosevelt, referring to him as \u201cFrank D. Rosenfeld\u201d, mocking FDR\u2019s New Deal as the \u201cJew Deal\u201d. Bund members often assaulted anti-fascist protesters outside their rallies.<\/p>\n

The national Bund consisted of three regions: East, West and Midwest. The Midwest region had 19 subgroups (gaus). Wisconsin had three and Minnesota had none.<\/p>\n

Following the Nazi Party\u2019s own regional administrative subdivisions, each Gau had its own leader (a Gauleiter) and a staff to oversee Bund activities, thus following Germany\u2019s Fuehrerprinzip (Hitler\u2019s principles).<\/p>\n

***************<\/p>\n

What does it mean to be an American Nazi in 2017?<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

By Annalisa Merelli – August 16, 2017<\/em><\/p>\n

(snip) There are neo-Nazi organizations in the US, including the National Socialist Movement (formerly the American Nazi Party). But you don\u2019t have to be a member to qualify as a modern-day Nazi. In fact,\u00a0white supremacists, the Ku Klux Klan, and white nationalists are all effectively Nazis, regardless of whether or not they choose to go by that name, according to Federico\u00a0Finchelstein, a professor of history at the New School for Social Research whose work focuses on the relationship between populism and fascism.\u00a0That\u2019s because all of these groups exhibit the fundamental traits of Nazism\u2014chiefly racism, anti-Semitism, and the glorification of political violence.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The first goal of neo-Nazis is to push the agenda of white supremacy, says Finchelstein. This agenda is closely linked to their idealization of America\u2019s horrific past.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir self-declared goal is to return to an America that they identify with, one that is racist,\u201d says\u00a0Finchelstein. Just as Hitler\u2019s propaganda relied heavily upon nostalgia for\u00a0German\u2019s pastoral landscapes and small villages, and Benito Mussolini idealized the Roman empire,\u00a0American Nazis look to the US before the civil rights movement of the 1960s.<\/p>\n

American Nazis also want violence<\/em><\/strong>. In Charlottesville, observers noted that it was nearly impossible to distinguish militia members from law enforcement. Neo-Nazis view the possession and display of weapons as deeply patriotic.<\/em><\/strong> Though paramilitary force is intrinsic to fascism, in the US, guns and ammunition can be portrayed and defended as an expression of constitutional rights.<\/p>\n

Their end game is that of all Nazi-fascist movements: To destroy democracy and impose a regime based on racism, discrimination, and xenophobia<\/em><\/strong>. That said, white supremacists may participate in the democratic process whenever it\u2019s convenient to their goal\u2014just as Nazis did in Germany and Italy in the 1930s, where dictators were first voted into office.<\/p>\n

To achieve that goal, Nazis need a leader who can give the movement real political power. They do not yet have one. Former KKK leader David Duke and white supremacist Richard Spencer are prominent in the racist movement, but neither has enough political credentials to lend power to the fascist cause.<\/p>\n

Many Nazis support Trump.<\/em><\/strong> However, Finchelstein characterizes Trump not as a Nazi himself but as \u201can\u00a0authoritarian, xenophobic leader elected with neo-Nazi support.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s slowness to condemn white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and the Ku Klux Klan, as well as his comment Tuesday that there were \u201cvery fine people on both sides\u201d of the Charlottesville march, suggests that\u2014<\/strong>remarkably for an American president\u2014he does not want to alienate these groups. But he has not gone so far as to explicitly align himself with them. And the Nazis seem to think that while he has some desirable traits as a leader, he is ultimately too soft.\u00a0As one of the white supremacists told Vide\u00a0in an interview, what they might want is \u201csomebody like Donald Trump, but who does not give his daughter to a Jew,\u201d someone \u201ca lot more racist than Donald Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Burning blacks in Nebraska – 1919<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Burning books in Nazi Germany – 1933<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Nazi Ralliy in Germany – 1930s<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Nazi Ralliy in Germany – 1930s<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

German American Bund parade on East 86th St., New York City – October 30, 1939<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

American National Socialist [Nazi] Party Rally at Madison Square Gardens \u2013 1934
(DAWA stands for Deutsch-Amerikanischer Wirtschafts-Ausschuss (DAWA), the German-American Economic Committee) The banner preceding the DAWA sign says \u201cGermans in America Wake Up\u201d)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Jewish Store Front in New York Supporting the Boycott of Nazi Goods<\/p><\/div>\n

_________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em>Dr Gary Kohls is a retired physician from Duluth, MN, USA and <\/em>a member of the TRANSCEND Network<\/a><\/em>. In the decade prior to his retirement,\u00a0he practiced what\u00a0could best be described as \u201cholistic (non-drug) and preventive mental health care\u201d. Since his retirement, he has written a weekly column for the Duluth Reader, an alternative newsweekly magazine. His columns mostly deal with the dangers of American imperialism, friendly fascism, corporatism, militarism, racism, and the dangers of Big Pharma, psychiatric drugging, the over-vaccinating of children and other movements that threaten American democracy, civility, health and longevity and the future of the planet. Many of his columns are archived at <\/em>http:\/\/duluthreader.com\/search?search_term=Duty+to+Warn&p=2<\/a>; http:\/\/www.globalresearch.ca\/author\/gary-g-kohls<\/a>; or at https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/search\/?q=gary+kohls+articles<\/a>; ggkohls@gmail.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When naive people are in trouble and go looking for someone to solve their problems for them, they often get bamboozled by cunning, politically-motivated con men\u2026 Adolf Hitler, ever since the 11\/11\/1918 Armistice that ended WWI, had long been part of the segment of the population that had been justifiably outraged by the terms of the massively unfair Treaty of Versailles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-121669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-transcend-members"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121669\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}