>Subject: [lbo-talk] Hitler and Children (for Chuck Grimes)
>To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
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>(What a subject heading!)
>
>Chuck, I know you're interested in WWII historical
>documents like that Ehrenburg stuff I was translating,
>so I thought you might be interested in this. I'm
>reading the book "Chyornyi PR Adol'fa Gitlera" (The
>Black PR of Adolph Hilter -- I love what
>back-transliteration does to Hitler's name!) by the
>Russian historian Aleksandr Gogun, which is about Nazi
>propaganda in the Soviet Union. It contains a reprint
>of the following short Nazi propaganda brochure
>translated. The thing is actually mostly pictures of
>Hitler standing around smiling children, so keep in
>mind that most of the text below is actually photo
>captions. Translation from Russian is by me.
>
>Adolf Hitler and Children
>German propaganda brochure distributed in the Soviet
>Union in 1941
>
>Having been torn by the Bolshevik hangmen from the
>rest of the world for long years, you were unable to
>know the real truth.
>They constantly lied to you, saying that the German
>people hate Adolph Hitler, that there is a river of
>blood flowing in Germany, and that the world does not
>know a crueler dictator.
>Yid propaganda has especially tried to blacken the
>person of the Fuehrer, and with reason, as the Yids
>hate him as much as the German people love him.
>In this book we would like to show you just one side
>of the life of Adolph Hitler.
>We will try to show you how the people of Germany,
>especially childern, love their Fuehrer, just as he
>loves childern and his people.
>The Fuehrer especially loves children. Almost as if he
>has no need for rest and relaxation, he will always
>find time for kids.
>That's the truth! This is what this person is really
>like, this person who annihilated Yid communism in
>Germany.
>Adolph Hitler will also destroy the diabolical system
>of Bolshevism in your Motherland (CD--Rodina) and will
>give your people peace, happiness, and order.
>Southern Germany. The high mountains sigh up to the
>clouds; their peaks are covered winter and summer with
>snow. This is the Motherland of Adolph Hitler.
>The view from the terrace of the Fuehrer's home.
>Adolph Hitler spends his brief hours of leisure in
>this house.
>The reception room for guests in the Fuehrer's home.
>The view from the enormous window looks on the
>mountains, covered in snow.
>The Fuehrer taking a walk.
>But he is often interrupted by unexpected visitors on
>his pleasure walks.
>If the local people learn that the Fuehrer has come,
>the immediately flow in a crowd to his home. Of
>course, Adolph Hitler cannot speak with everybody, but
>he always finds time for children.
>With Hitler, children feel like they are at home.
>Every sense of embarrassment departs from them under
>his gentle gaze. They trustingly show him their toys
>and dolls.
>For kids running around the rooms, in the yard, and in
>the garden, the Fuehrer always finds a gentle word and
>a present.
>It often happens that some child will ask the Fuehrer
>to play with him. There has never been a time when the
>Leader (CD--Vozhd') of the German people has turned
>down a child.
>Peasant children from neighboring villages are his
>constant guests.
>Children come to him even from the farthest parts of
>Germany.
>After a joyous reception leave the Fuehrer with great
>sadness, and he often personally accompanies them to
>their waiting parents.
>At the last minute, saying good-bye, one of the little
>fellows runs to the Fuehrer with a special question.
>The Fuehrer is heading back to Berlin. People greet
>him with joy everywhere. The streets are filled with
>people, and the crowd is too thick for cars to pass...
>Thousands of hands reach out to him.
>Everywhere he has stopped along the way, he is met
>with true joy.
>The people greet Adolph Hitler with rapture at the
>stations. On April 20, Hitler's birthday, is an
>especially joyous day for children.
>With flowers and presents in their hands, children are
>the first to congratulate him. On this day all of
>Germany is decorated with flags and flowers.
>Eberyone wants to look at the Leader (CD--Vozhd') of
>the German people. From morning to night endless
>groups of people move along the paths of his garden,
>hoping for at least one little glimpse of the Fuehrer.
>
>(CD--That's pretty fucking creepy.)
Definitely.
My mother had to be in the Hitler youth as a child. Like many others, she described it like the girl scouts, except for the political rallies on the weekends. She mentioned memories of other kids fainting from standing at attention for hours. I don't know whether they ever had a rally like one of the huge ones you see photos of.
During the early part, when she would have been first-to-third grade, she had school teachers and neighbors running businesses who were part of the scapegoated groups which had to flee the country in the middle of the night. Everyone recognizes that multiple factors contributed to things, but my family tends to explain the antisemitism aspect which flared up under naziism as a a political inflammation of a weak european tendency straightforwardly rooted in the dramatic tradition of the passion play, or a tendency to overfocus on crucifixion scenes as opposed to other bible scenes in european art during the era before people were literate. Perhaps I could imagine antagonism against mormons or muslims, who were previously accepted neighbors, to be inflamed by leaders directing attention at a few case examples such as Warren Jeff's compound in Utah.
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