The word Nazi conjures up thoughts of concentration camps and soulless troops marching robotically in goose step. But that wasn’t always the case. For a very short time in both Germany and Austria the Nazi Party represented “hope and change” – an ideological mantra that should send tingles up and down spines of all 21st century Americans for a multitude of reasons.

The Nazi Party’s rise to power escalated with Hitler at the helm, and it is important to note that Hitler inspired and energized his supporters before he terrorized the rest of the world. His power grab was implemented in very deliberate stages, as both the German and Austrian people were first inspired, then motivated by hate, succumbed in complacency, then cowered in fear. A truism that has lasted throughout the ages says those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. I fear that America is about to find out just how true a statement that is, since we have exchanged the lessons of history for the same feel good and misguided ideologies that lulled the German and Austrian people first into complacency then into terror.

Nazi equals socialist

Firemen work on the burning Reichstag. Item from Record Group 208: Records of the Office of War Information, 1926 – 1951. Photographer unknown.

Perhaps the first thing we need to understand is where the name Nazi came from. It is an acronym for Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei. The literal translation into English is The National Socialist German Workers’ Party. If you haven’t embraced the implications of what the name means, go back and read it again and again until it sinks in. To be clear, the Nazi Party was a Socialist Party in every meaning of the word. Today in America, once we accepted the terminology that painted Socialists in a “progressive” frame, we allowed them to sugar-coat their agenda in Utopian terms – much as their historical counterparts did. However, a Nazi is a Nazi regardless of the whitewashing and it may be time we call the illusionists by their real name. And isn’t it ironic that the very people that call decent American patriots “terrorists” have managed to escape the proper labeling that they deserve? This is a clever tactic that has been successful throughout history – the guilty point fingers at the innocent to turn attention away from their own guilt.

The next question should be: are names really that important?

Nazi: what’s in a name?

Recently, CNAV posted an article by Kitty Werthmann, titled: I survived Hitler. America take warning! Ms. Werthmann details the process Hitler implemented that turned the Austrian and German people into both terrorists and the terrorized. It is a startling account that marries naiveté, racial division, and greed with power-crazed wolves in sheep’s clothing – all promoting the Utopian ideas of socialism.

In Werthmann’s article she makes several points that should be of concern to us. Their packaging may differ slightly from the actual programs in place in America today; however, their objectives and repercussions are frighteningly similar. I will not expound on the similarities. I will leave that to the reader’s reasoning abilities. Several of the points made below were not included in Ms. Werthmann’s article but are part of the historical record.

• Hitler was elected. He did not take office by force or a militant operation.
• His campaign took advantage of Germany’s and Austria’s economic collapse and promised hope and change.
• He victimized the Jews in the process and made them the scapegoats for all that was wrong with the economy.
• Religious education was nearly eradicated.
• The State approved and regulated what could be said and what could not be said in churches. Most of the clergy complied.
• Nationalized education replaced locally implemented standards.
• The Youth Movement consisted of political indoctrination and sports. It turned the children against the parents and began in infancy.
• There was a sudden change in society and the way people thought.
• A draft was implemented and included women, which took them away from their families. Daycare centers were opened for children as young as four weeks old. Women’s Lib wasn’t a movement; it was a mandated way of life and its impact on the traditional family structure was devastating – especially since the war left many families fatherless, as men were drafted. The State raised a whole generation of children.
• Socialized medicine was instituted. This “free” healthcare system increased taxes, which coupled with the cost of war, were raised to 80% of income.
• Many became dependent on government entitlements. College tuition was subsidized, food was rationed and types of food stamps were instituted, as well as clothing and housing – all under government control.
• Businesses were over-regulated and government took over large businesses and the small ones were forced to close. In essence, the government picked the winners and losers.
• Farmers were also regulated and told what they could produce.
• The quality of life was evaluated by government, who euthanized those with mental incapacities and enemies of the state.
• Guns were confiscated – first through registration under the pretense of controlling crime.
• Free speech was eradicated – which extended to the written word – book burnings and censorship became commonplace.
• Division among the Austrian and German people was escalated by government. Evolution was used as an explanation for racism that extended to the Jew as well as people of color.
• The media was in Hitler’s back pocket, and propaganda was elevated to an art form.

Keep in mind that all of this was done under the pretense of creating a better standard of living for the German and Austrian people.

So is a Nazi by any other name still as evil? The answer is YES – especially if they infiltrate a liberty loving country where people value life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – pretending to be progressives creating a better world for all of us. When you get right down to it – a Nazi is a Nazi is a Nazi. Pretty words and high sounding ideas can only temporarily mask the monsters that lurk among us. In the words of Kitty Werthmann,

Don’t let freedom slip away. After America there is no place to go.

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