HISTORIC SOLUTION
By Sidney Du Broff
With Nedra Du Broff

HISTORIC SOLUTION, ready now. Illustrated.
Rights available.
 

When the War ended 5,000 Jews emerged from the rubble in Germany, some of whom were concealed by Germans who did it despite the risk to their own lives. These were acts of extreme heroism. Unfortunately, there weren't more of them. Former German President, Richard von Weizsacker, and front-man extraordinary, has admitted that there were "affronts" against Jews, but in his role as apologist, suggests that these were committed by a few bad people, and the rest were unaware of the fate which had befallen their fellow countrymen, or, for that matter, the fate of six million Jews who were not German. This had been a deliberate policy to mislead, to obscure the crimes for which Germany is guilty.

Yet, the present government, and German governments generally, whether Right or Left, continue to be culpable, allowing the passage of time to cover up all that has gone before. What has changed most is not the objective, but only the method by which it can be achieved. On the surface Germany would appear to be benefactors of both Israel and the Jewish people, picking up the tab for a Jewish library here, a visit to Germany there - to speak with, for example, Russians, who could not express their Jewishness until they reached Germany (whom you will meet in due course).

‘Die Neue Synagoge (East ) Berlin, recently restored’

While in the beginning we experienced good co-operation from the Germans, a wider examination, which did not show Germany as the Jews' benefactors, terminated co-operation. Even a request for an interview with the (non-Jewish) chief librarian of the (Jewish) Wiener Library was denied. Her salary, by no coincidence, was paid by the German Foreign Ministry, on the face of it, an expression of great altruism, but in reality the exceptional opportunity to impose censorship on anything that did not have their approval. They projected themselves into a position of being able to determine the direction in which the library was allowed to proceed; a library meant to show the malignancy of Nazism, had, in fact, been taken over by the very sources it had mandated itself to expose.

Today German ambitions are being promoted by proxy, in which they lodge their aspirations in the Arab cause, and came very close to realising them. This is an old alliance - the Arab/German one -- they feel comfortable with each other, since the aspirations of each are virtually identical. With a large number of Jews concentrated in one place, Israel is especially vulnerable.

Not such a long time ago Germany had gone behind the backs of her European partners in an effort to gain advantage in Iran, for which the then British Foreign Minister Douglas Hurd demanded an explanation. But the Germans, caught in the act, went into hiding, refused to acknowledge him or his demands, which is typical behaviour, and the way they reacted to us.

Throughout history, whenever governments were unable to deal with their problems, the solution was - and is - to blame the Jews. It is a historic solution. And it always works, even when there are virtually no Jews -- Poland, for example.

The German tragedy will have its ramifications not in the Thousand Year Reich, but in the thousand years that Germany will have the finger of accusation pointed at it, the thousand years in which succeeding German generations, themselves guiltless, will always be judged as guilty of having committed genocide.

‘German contribution – posted – a list of their concentration camps’

What made a people provide such unequivocal support for the elimination of another people, some of whom were its own citizens, so many of whom had brought glory to Germany?

What genuine benefit could they possible derive? As a cultured people and nation, how could they acquiesce so easily in accepting a programme that advocated, then effectively, efficiently and systematically carried out the elimination of a people, including its own citizens?

Could any of this have made any logical sense, at the time, to an essentially logical people? Only if they rationalised an emotional response by viewing it as logical. At the same time, the rest of the world watched, largely indifferent, with only rarely an expression of disapproval.

Germany's crimes could not have been committed in isolation. We need to look at the wider picture, to see the whole, in order to understand the historical background that resulted in the destruction of a people. It is essential to view the connections -- the United States, the Soviet Union, Spain -- remote from each other, but interacting, reacting, engendering solutions in the historical context which suited them, or which they thought suited them.

Did the German people know? Not only did they know, they participated enthusiastically. For the details in full see Daniel Goldhagen's outstanding book, Hitler's Willing Executioners, which is required reading. Even here, amongst Goldhagen's irrefutable evidence, the Germans are busy trying to obscure it, aiding and encouraging those who think they may have something to gain by diminishing it.

Only afterwards the German people pretended they didn't know. Where were the Communists and Social Democrats? According to Goldhagen, they were no great defenders of their, or anybody else's, Jews either. The opposition acquiesced with inordinate speed. Hitler took over with amazing ease.

What is there about Germans that they have this overwhelming need to kill Jews? They do not do it in isolation, secluded from the rest of the world. They do it with the approval of most of the others. The lone voices of opposition are feeble in comparison to the approving silence of all the rest.

There were 72,000 German Jewish military fatalities in the First World War. Jews who had distinguished themselves in the German cause were later forced to scrub the streets on their hands and knees, subjected to the contempt which their fellow Germans felt for them, in an effort to humiliate them.

The Germans also failed to say Thank You to their Jewish countrymen, one per cent of the population pre-War, who were awarded 25% of the Nobel prizes. Perhaps they did not feel grateful. Perhaps it made them feel inadequate; the Jews were not really bringing glory to Germany, they were robbing Germany of it, and bestowing it upon themselves. Take back the German pride, they no doubt felt. Stand up for Germany.

‘Some views regarding Jewish refugees’

Even as the German military was suffering irreversible defeat, they did not halt the process of killing Jews, but, on the contrary, accelerated it. Their "idealistic" determination in their Holy cause could not be so easily ended by the mere reality of the approaching enemy.

Is there a profound need to blame Jews for the ills of the world? There is obviously. But it is a gentile problem, engendered by their church. However, it is a manifestation of their personal failings, and this is what needs careful study. The Germans, as outstanding proponents of the total elimination of the Jewish people, will no doubt wish to begin their study by self-examination, to be expanded to include the rest. They will need to understand that they are dealing with an emotional affliction, not usually treated with logic - though they certainly tried hard enough to present it in reverse, to show logically what they felt emotionally to be Jewish failings.

A good starting point will be to acknowledge their own sickness. Unfortunately, this is not the course they would wish to follow. In their view, they reluctantly admit some of the mistakes that happened in the long, distant, and all but forgotten (by them) past, by a few misguided individuals. Hear the former President of Germany say it: "Preparation for this crime was carried out by a few people. It was concealed from the eyes of the public, but every German was able to experience what his Jewish compatriots had to suffer, ranging from simple indifference through hidden intolerance... Who could remain unsuspecting after the burning of synagogues, the plundering of Jewish shops, the stigmatisation of Jewish citizens with the Star of David... "

And so former President von Weizsacker thus dismisses the murder of six million Jews by the Germans. von Weizsacker is a good front man, good at covering up, showing us the face of the "repentant" German. The American institute for Contemporary German Studies, a part of Johns Hopkins University in the USA, has come up with a whole booklet of Weizsacker's "repentance" speeches, and biographical data extolling his many virtues, which says as much about Johns Hopkins University as it does about Weizsacker.

On the other hand, Alan Dershowitz, in his book Chutzpah, has some things to say about von Weizsacker, and his father, Baron Ernst, Hitler's state secretary, on the personal staff of Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS and Gestapo. It was von Weizsacker Senior who rejected Sweden's offer to accept Norwegian Jews, who were instead murdered in German death camps. (You might well ask, why were the Norwegians so eager to turn their Jews over to the Germans - the Danes didn't -- which is a very good question. We will have more to say about this in due course.)

Richard von Weizsacker served in Poland, in the German army, where everyday military personnel showed enthusiasm equal to that of'the SS in disposing of Jews. "After the War", Dershowitz says, "he helped his father construct a perjurious and unsuccessful defence before the Nuremberg Tribunal which included the outrageous claim that even the Jews had no 'misgivings against Auschwitz'. As recently as 1985, von Weizsacker said, 'I really believe that (my father) did not know about the existence of the gas chambers and the systematic mass killings.'"

Baron von Weizsacker was sentenced to seven years -- rather than death – and was released after serving just one year.

Jewish Memorial

While the Germans expressed "regret" and paid out some money to Germany's victims who managed to survive, more recently the German firm Degussa was busy manufacturing a compound similar to Zyklon B, which they had made before -- during the War -- to liquidate Jews in the gas chambers. Further, they have expanded into nuclear activities, calling themselves NUKEM. They were "heavily involved in trading with Iraq" - for both products, as Kenneth Timmerman points out in his book, The Death Lobby.

Saddam Hussein had immense support in Germany, those eager to destroy Israel, with the nuclear know-how they were providing. According to Timmerman, German chemists, ballistics engineers, and nuclear scientists worked with Iraq "to develop one of the most diversified arsenals of unconventional weapons found anywhere in the world."

About 150 German firms were involved in supplying Iraq with its military potential, including help with the Scud. The areas were chemicals, manufactured goods, heavy machinery, and machine-tool controllers and scientific instruments. The Germans were back in the business of killings Jews -- if not directly, then by the provision of equipment to those who would do it by proxy; throughout the book, Timmerman makes it unmistakably clear that Saddam Hussein was even more eager to eliminate Israel than Iran. Israel came very close to being obliterated, which probably would have been the final outcome, except for the efforts of Jonathan Pollard.

Germany was in the fortunate position -- for Germany -- of being paid for the supply of equipment to Arabs, meant for killing Jews. Profits for West German firms went into the billions. Arabia always looked upon Germany in a most favourable light, and the other way around as well, having at least one goal in common. It was to Germany that the Mufti of Jerusalem fled when the British decided that they wanted to terminate his efforts on behalf of the Nazi cause. And it was to Arabia where large numbers of German war criminals fled, where they were warmly welcomed and provided with asylum. Sadat, the assassinated ruler of Egypt, had the strongest pro-Nazi sympathies, of which he made no secret.

Germany has promoted, and continues to promote, the concept in the Arab world (in unison with many other nations) that Israel is not necessarily here to stay -- not at least if Israel's survival depends upon German good will. It is a good selling point in pushing arms and arms-producing equipment, and a welcome tune in Arab ears.

(Egypt, having recognized Israel -- though it is is symbolic rather than actual -- was a conduit for the surreptitious acceptance of US military equipment designated for Iraq. Further, Egypt was, and no doubt continues to be, involved with missile technology meant for the first strike against Israel, which will eliminate the need for a second one. See Spider's Web, by Alan Friedman. Recognition, Israel has learned, does not imply approval, nor a predisposition to refrain from future acts of aggression.)

Regarding the participation of the German Army in the destruction of European Jewry, despite attempts at exoneration, Omer Bartov, of Harvard University, in a paper presented at a conference which met at University College, London, said that, without the participation of the Wehrmacht, the Final Solution would not have been feasible. A book, entitled Ordinary Men, by Christopher R Browning outlines in detail how ordinary soldiers volunteered to personally kill Jews.

‘’Jewish Centre, (West) Berlin’

The perpetrators of these crimes all have their rationalizations, easily acceptable to a German judiciary who are basically sympathetic. None is punished. All are absolved. Few, if any, appear even to have been burdened by a moment of guilt. While they might not have been ordered to "do their duty", they nevertheless volunteered to do it. The concept of individual responsibility is a myth, no matter what was said at Nuremberg. There are those -- probably the vast majority -- who want to do what they are told, extremely eager to do the bidding of a leader, whose approval they seek, and to be part of the organization whose aspirations they approve, as well as to be provided with an identity which they might not otherwise have.

It is the victor who determines who is responsible. Had the Germans achieved overall victory, we don't need much by way of imagination to know what they would have done. Yet, the United States, and Britain, failed to administer the justice which was not only their prerogative, but also their duty and obligation. On the contrary, with all due haste, they rehabilitated the West German enemy who, similarly placed, would have annihilated them. The Soviet Union, to an infinitely greater extent, dealt with the guilty -- stood them up against a wall and shot them.

(It is an irony of grotesque proportions that had the Soviet Union/Russia had custody of "Ivan the Terrible", of death camp notoriety, they would have shot him -- his crimes, regardless of his identity, of sufficient magnitude to justify it. But in Israel he is given an unconditional discharge on the grounds that he wasn't Ivan the Terrible after all, though Alan Dershowitz, who attended the trial, insists that, beyond the shadow of any doubt, that is exactly who he is.)

There are those who might say that American/British reluctance to "reap revenge" -- their terminology -- is a manifestation of their greater humanity; too bad the British Government remains indifferent to even more recent revelations of murdered British prisoners of war who suffered their fate as a result of the orders given by a German general who was never required to expiate for his crimes.

The unfortunate aspect is that the United States and Britain wanted to make use of this defeated, though easily rearmed, entity, as a weapon against the Soviet Union. The Germans, eager to rehabilitate themselves, and resume the role they had taken before, albeit under a somewhat different banner, and a realignment of alliances, could now face the easily-recognised eastern enemy (they had always said it), sanctioned now in their efforts, and wearing the crown of righteousness bestowed upon them by the United States and Britain.

We have observed, with varying degrees of anxiety, the extent to which Germany takes over. The German leadership hungered to swallow East Germany, and, when at last they did, choked on it. This bitter lunch -- the one-time German Democratic Republic -- had its failings, to be sure, and a goodly collection of former Nazis, reborn to serve the GDR as anti-Nazis. But, at the same time, many German Jews returned there to build what they believed was a different, and better, Germany. They often held lofty places, but very few held leading ones that determined policy. The need to eliminate Israel was as compelling here, as in West Germany, exacerbated by an acute need to gain favour with the Arabs.

During the Yom Kippur War an East German "colleague" appeared at our home one evening, bursting with happiness, more exuberant than we had ever seen him. "I have just returned from the Foreign Office," he told us excitedly. "And we are in complete agreement." That we could easily believe. "Israel," he told us confidently, "is going to lose this war." We vehemently disagreed, in hope and an unflagging optimism, which he brushed aside, confidentially informing us that his brother-in-law worked on the electronic systems that were responsible for the terrible destruction of Israeli aircraft. In the end, my colleague was wrong. But he was almost right. The East Germans too found it difficult to refrain from trying to kill Jews.

The German Left, the Social Democrats (SDP) are sympathetic to Jews when they are victims, but not when they are seen as wanting to fight back. Even Israel's "old friend", who fell on his knees at Yad Vashem as an act of contrition, the now-deceased Willi Brandt, Chancellor at the time of the Yom Kippur War, "informed President Nixon", to quote from an article I wrote for the American Zionist at the time, "that arms bound for Israel -- to assure her continued survival -- could not be loaded on an Israeli ship from a German port, and he actually refused permission for such a ship to enter a German harbour. Later the West German Foreign Ministry had the audacity to ask that the United States stop shipping arms to Israel from German territory, while loudly proclaiming its neutrality."

The Left, the Right - what is the basic difference in Germany? It is extremely hard to discern. Theo Sommer, Chief Editor of Die Zeit, tells us that far from being the aggressive giant that many people perceive Germany to be, it is, on the contrary, a fallen, snivelling, just miniature-size giant. But extremely dangerous, nonetheless.

To quote myself again, from the same source: "Germany's shameful policy of Arab appeasement can succeed only in inflicting serious damage upon herself. By perpetuating her crime she breeds it anew in this era and in this generation. Far from trying to expiate her sins, she recreates them, passing them on to those who were not guilty because they were not born, by making them guilty into perpetuity, writing it anew in history. She does this by sanctioning the activities of those amongst this generation who seek what must be the ultimate destruction of Israel with a government policy not very much different from theirs (Nazi)."

But, do Germans care very much? It all happened a long time ago, the older ones say by way of cover up. And the younger ones, now two generations removed from the events, know little about what their grandfathers did or failed to do - or even care. It has nothing to do with them - they weren't born.
 

©  Sidney Du Broff 2009