Historical Tidbits
By DONN BROOKS
Ike stands tall.
No, I am not referring to Dwight David Eisenhower’s command of the Supreme Headquarters Allied European Forces during World War II. I am not commenting on his integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, nor his building of the interstate highway system.
He stands tall because he had the presence of mind to insist upon the full and complete documentation of the Holocaust. This is important because there have always been forces that wanted to deny that most heinous event in world history. Some deny out of pride and embarrassment. Others deny because of hatred for the Jews.
I can understand Hitler. His was a sick mind made worse by syphilis. I do not like what he was and what he became, but we have always had lunatics. What befuddles me is the reality that a large number of people let it happen and, even worse, collaborated in the terrible event.
The German people were culpable, but not in the same way of the Nazis. Extensive efforts were made to keep the rank-and-file German ignorant of the death camps. Where the German population lost its way was in allowing the political propaganda to interfere with their sense of decency. They adopted the mantra that the Jewish people were evil incarnate.
What Hitler did with his twisted thinking was leverage the political instincts that had developed in Germany and Austria. The big issue for the German people was poverty and somebody convinced them that the Jews had all the money. In much of my lifetime I have heard rabid complaining about bankers, and I think that had a touch of hatred for Jews, because the Jewish community was heavily involved in banking.
It is incorrect to assume that it was only Jews who were persecuted during and just prior to World War II. The Nazi party opposed college professors, gypsies, gays and Catholics. Did they treat them as harshly as the Jews? I doubt it, but the Nazi regime certainly felt them to be groups that ought to be opposed.
For all the progress we have made in human rights, and it has been considerable, we still look upon one another as fools if we differ on our vision for the nation. We lapse into ridicule as the primary weapon in dealing with differences of opinion and we are loath to spend any time looking for the things we have in common.
Can another Hitler take hold in these United States? I don’t know. But, if it does, it won’t be Ike’s fault.
Eisenhower took the time to make sure we knew about the Holocaust. It is up to us to remember it and the causes that led to it.
