[Peace-discuss] 1919 Hitler letter reveals seeds of ethnic cleansing

[David Green]

Certainly, Islamophobia is rooted in what Edward Said called "orientalism" in 
our general relation to the Arab/Muslim world. But it's still taken some work to 
move from stereotypes revolving around camels and harems to that of the Muslim 
as terrorist, just as it took some serious propaganda from the Nazis, as the 
discourse moved from religion to race. The precursors can be found in Zionist 
characterizations of the rise of the PLO in the early 1960s, which coincided 
with the (planned) after-effects of the Eichmann trial (1961), leading to the 
apocalypic rhetoric justifying Israel's 1967 attack on Egypt, and still evident 
in the column by Dore Gold that was run yesterday in the News-Gazette.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703421204576329373006279638.html  
-- an explicit justification for more ethnic cleansing.

DG




________________________________
From: E. Wayne Johnson 朱稳森 <ewj at pigs.ag>
To: C. G. Estabrook <galliher at illinois.edu>
Cc: David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com>; Peace Discuss 
<peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
Sent: Wed, June 15, 2011 3:33:18 AM
Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] 1919 Hitler letter reveals seeds of ethnic 
cleansing

Interesting it is, but anti-semitism [sic]
and ethnic cleansing in Germany already had a lengthy history
of a few hundred years before Hitler's gang came to power
bearing a message that resonated
with what was already in the hearts 
and minds of the German people.

After WW1's disgrace the Germans were seeking a scapegoat and the 
Jews were close at hand.

Likewise the hapless Americans grooving on the fundamental un-love
between the islamophobic west and their semitic objects of reproach,
bow before their imperialist high priests as they offer up a daily 
blood sacrifice of fresh "pig's blood" [sic] hoping to purge their sins 
upon the fallen and scorched carcasses of their likewise hapless victims.

So very different from Hitler's barbaric haircuts.  So civilized.


On 06/15/11 11:10, C. G. Estabrook wrote: 
The links in the article reveal a situation "when civilized society must 
intervene."
>
>"One moral truism that should not provoke controversy is the principle of 
>universality: We should apply to ourselves the same standards we apply to others 
>- in fact, more stringent ones. Commonly, if states have the power to do so with 
>impunity, they disdain moral truisms, because those states set the rules. That's 
>our right if we declare ourselves uniquely exempt from the principle of 
>universality. And so we do, constantly. Every day brings new illustrations."
>
>But Mr. Ludsin's letter does raise a practical question, given universality, 
>when he writes, "Perhaps in this modern age of instant communication we can 
>anticipate the virus of hatred and act faster and more effectively."
>
>What should we do, "act[ing] faster and more effectively"?  --CGE
> 
>
>On 6/14/11 8:21 PM, David Green wrote: 
>1919 Hitler letter reveals seeds of ethnic cleansing
>>by David Samel on June 14, 2011 
>>  
>>A momentous historical find has provided insight into the manner in which 
>>sentiment against a particular ethnicity can grow from the ravings of a deranged 
>>individual into a frightening national movement with catastrophic consequences. 
>>A letter authored by Adolf Hitler in 1919 speaks of removal of the Jewish people 
>>from Germany. While even he surely did not dream at the time that mass 
>>extermination was feasible, he spoke openly of cleansing his country of an 
>>element that he considered to be polluting the national character. 
>>
>>The enormous significance of this document from the youthful Hitler is aptly 
>>described by Steven A. Ludsin, a former member of the President’s Commission on 
>>the Holocaust and the original United States Holocaust Memorial Council, in a 
>>letter published in yesterday’s NY Times:
>>It shows that warnings existed that when a powerful speaker advocated that the 
>>Jewish people must be removed from Germany as a matter of national policy, his 
>>sick ideas should have been taken more seriously. Perhaps in this modern age of 
>>instant communication we can anticipate the virus of hatred and act faster and 
>>more effectively. Words have power, and anyone who ignores this may allow 
>>history to be repeated. The current economic downturn is fertile ground for 
>>hatred to spread. Let’s be vigilant.
>It may start with the ravings of a lowly army corporal whom some find 
>charismatic. As Mr. Ludsin notes, that’s when civilized society must intervene. 
>If not, the fever might spread, and not only to marginalized sectors of the 
>populace that are still considered by the unwary to be no threat. Without 
>unequivocal condemnation of early manifestations of racism, the notion of forced 
>transfer of an ethnically undesirable population will soon find expression in 
>higher places, including prominent government ministers. Emboldened by silence, 
>even supposedly liberal ministers may jump on the bandwagon, hoping to curry 
>favor with a population that is hurtling toward barbarity. The problem can be 
>especially insidious when it occurs in a country believed to be a culturally 
>advanced liberal democracy, as was Germany. 
>
>Other red-flag factors include whether religious or cultural leaders call for 
>anti-miscegenation measures to protect the purity of one race from mixture of 
>blood with the “underclass,” whether there is a long-standing tradition of 
>calling for transfer of the ethnically undesirable, and whether there is a prior 
>record of success at such transfer, which would only feed the ugly conviction 
>that it can be accomplished again. Ninety-two years have now passed since the 
>Hitler letter, and 66 years since the end of his nightmarish regime. While the 
>Holocaust is a historical event that is receding in the past, we can only thank 
>vigilant people and organizations like Mr. Ludsin and the President’s Commission 
>on the Holocaust, and presumably the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Abe Foxman and the 
>Anti-Defamation League, who surely will be the first to call attention to any 
>early warning signs of a recurrence. In the words of Mr. Ludsin, who asks that 
>we all join in this effort, we must “anticipate the virus of hatred and act 
>faster and more effectively. . . Let’s be vigilant.” Amen!
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