Duke Louis IX Overturns his Predecessor's Protections, Leading to Arrests, Fines, & Banishment

"Louis IX, Duke of Bavaria, successor to Henry of Landshut, who had invited the Jews to live in his area, decided to banish them. He first tried conversion, then had many Jews arrested, then fined them 32,000 florins, and finally expelled them." http://www.jewishhistory.org.il/history.php?startyear=1450

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"Yet the clergy continued to excite the populace against them, thus leading (1442) Duke Albert to expel the Jews from Munich and from forty other places in Upper Bavaria. The property of the Jews was then seized by the duke, and their synagogue, which stood on the ground now covered by the south wing of the Munich police court, was presented to his physician Johann Hartlieb, who changed it to the Marienkirche.

Most of the Jews expelled from Upper Bavaria were received by Duke Henry in Lower Bavaria, who hoped to get golden eggs from these "chickens." These hopes were not fulfilled, and his successor, Ludwig IX., expelled the Jews (Oct. 5, 1450).

Henceforth they were not permitted to trade in the country, or even to enter it. A century later, on Dec. 23, 1551, another decree of expulsion was issued. The law of 1553 classes them among the "dangerous, frivolous, and suspicious persons" whomust be prevented from dwelling in the country or carrying on trade and industry in it. Jews obliged to pass through Bavaria had to procure a passport, for which they paid toll and convoy-money and the humiliating Leibzoll.

An imperial privilege granted to the duke in 1566 declared contracts between Jews and Bavarian subjects void, thereby putting an end to all trade relations with the Christians. On March 12, 1715, the elector Max Emanuel ordered the deportation of the few Jews who, in spite of oppression and restriction, still remained in the country.

In 1733 all current passports were recalled, and a new "Leibzoll" and convoy-tax introduced. These conditions continued under the elector Maximilian III. (1745-77), although the contracts made with Jews in foreign countries were declared to be valid in Bavaria.

The Jews were furthermore excluded from all trades, military service, and merchant gilds, were denied entrance to the public baths, and were still forbidden to settle in Bavaria." http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/11216-munich

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Bavarian anti-Semitism rears its ugly head - “Bavaria is where Nazism began, making the rise of anti-Semitism there once again especially significant.”: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/22814

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History of the Jews in Germany--> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Germany

How Hitler's Urgent Weapons Timeline Triggered a Massive, Brutal Wave of Forced Labor Conscription

Nazi Slaver Fritz Sauckel writes to Alfred Rosenberg, the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories, demanding another two million slaves from the East "at all costs":

>"The Fuehrer has worked out new and most urgent plans for armament which require the quick mobilization of two million more foreign workers. The Fuehrer therefore has granted me, for the execution of his decree of 21 March 1942, new powers for my new duties, and has especially authored me to take whatever measures I think are necessary in the Reich, the Protectorate, the Government General, as well as in the occupied territories, in order to assure, at all costs an orderly mobilization of labor for the German armament industry.

>The additional required labor forces will have to be drafted, for the most part, from the recently occupied Eastern Territories, especially from the Reichskommissariat Ukraine. Therefore, the Reichskommissariat Ukraine must furnish 225,000 workers by 31 December 1842 and 225,000 more by 1 May 1942.

>I ask you to inform Reich Commissioner, Gauleiter, Party Member Koch at once about the new situation and requirements and especially to see that he supports personally in every possible way the execution of this new order. I intend to visit Party Member Koch shortly and I would be grateful if he could inform me as to where and when I could meet him for a personal discussion.

>Just now though, I ask that the recruiting be taken up at once with all energy and the use of every factor, especially the experts of the labor offices. All directives which temporarily limited the procurement of Eastern Workers are annulled. The Reich procurement for the next months must be given priority over all other measures. I do not ignore the difficulties which exist for the execution of this new order, but I am convinced that with the ruthless use of all resources and with the full co-operation of an concerned the execution of the new demands can be accomplished by the date fixed.

>I have already communicated the new demands directly to the Reich Commissioner for the Ukraine by teletype. In reference to our phone-call of today, I will send you the text of the Fuehrer's decree at the beginning of next week."

DOCUMENT SOURCE: https://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/12-12-45.asp

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Fritz Sauckel BIO: https://4rs.neocities.org/nur14.html

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Alfred Rosenberg BIO: https://4rs.neocities.org/nur05.html

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Forced Labor: “An Overview Forced labor played a crucial role in the wartime German economy. German military, SS, and civilian authorities brutally exploited Jews, Poles, Soviet civilians, and concentration camp prisoners for the war effort. Many forced laborers died as the result of ill-treatment, disease, and starvation.” --> https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/forced-labor-an-overview

1: “A German Jewish prisoner named Rosenthal pushes a cart in the stone quarry of the Im Fout labor camp in Morocco. The camp housed a group of foreign workers, many of whom fell ill because of poor living conditions. Im Fout, Morocco, 1941-42.” A German Jewish prisoner at forced labor in the Im Fout camp | Holocaust Encyclopedia

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2: Forced labor in the quarry of the Mauthausen concentration camp. Austria, date uncertain. Forced labor in a quarry | Holocaust Encyclopedia

How Nazi Propaganda Weaponized the Airwaves & Criminalized the Truth

"Goebbels explains why Germans may not listen to foreign broadcasts. The Herr Bramsig and Frau Knöterich he refers to several times are his examples of foolish Germans taken in by British propaganda."

EXCERPT:

>"There are even some unteachable people among us who cannot resist turning secretly and quietly, behind closed doors, to Radio London in order to enrich their political and military knowledge with English swindles. Two recent death sentences and a series of prison terms prove that."

THE REST OF THIS GARBAGE: https://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/goeb6.htm

NOTE: Authoritarian and dictatorial regimes must strictly limit the Freedom of the Press to control information, suppress opposition, and ensure their survival.

Because these regimes lack democratic legitimacy, a free press poses a direct threat to their authority. \A free press acts as an independent watchdog, uncovering corruption, economic mismanagement, and human rights abuses.

By silencing investigative journalists, a regime prevents the public from seeing failures or learning about alternatives to the current leadership, creating an environment where the state's narrative goes unchallenged.

To maintain control, dictatorships must stop dissenting citizens from organizing. Independent media serves as a vital communication network where fragmented groups can share ideas and realize they are not alone. By blocking this flow of information, regimes isolate citizens, crush political coordination, and prevent widespread public protests before they can start.

Total control requires more than just blocking bad news; it requires actively telling people what to believe. Authoritarian states replace independent reporting with state-controlled propaganda to manufacture public consent, amplify nationalistic fervor, and cultivate a cult of personality around the leadership. -W

“Feindsender (English: enemy-radio-station) is a term used in Nazi Germany to describe programs produced by radio stations of the enemies of the German Reich before and during World War II, such as the United Kingdom or the United States, or by radio-stations inside Germany broadcasting material against the Nazi government. The term has not been in general use since the downfall of the Third Reich.” --> https://alchetron.com/Feindsender

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"The BBC came to be regarded as the main Feindsender, and listening to the German-language longwave program from London was punishable with imprisonment." MUCH MORE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feindsender#:~:text=One%20of%20the%20new%20law,station%20under%20threat%20of%20prison

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1: “...Goebbels’s ministry negotiated with German radio manufacturers to produce a relatively inexpensive radio for Germans. It was called the Volksempfänger, or People’s Receiver. It quickly went into production in the spring of 1933.

The radio sold for 76 Reichsmarks, or about $18 (about $400 in today’s dollars). This figure was about half the price of comparable sets and was thus one of the cheapest radios available in Europe. Although the People’s Receiver had a limited range, the expansion of larger German radio towers brought radio broadcasts into the countryside.

The radio itself contained a propaganda message. Its full name was the Volksempfänger 301 (abbreviated to VE301), which was a reference to January 30, the day Hitler was appointed German chancellor. This title served as a reminder to listeners that they were indebted to Hitler for providing them with access to radio broadcasts.

The Nazi’s propaganda ministry and the German radio industry heavily promoted the People’s Receiver. Not surprisingly, sales soared, as did radio listenership. In 1933, the VE301 accounted for about half of the total radio sales in Germany.

The following year, this number soared to 75 percent of all sales. The VE301 occupied a key spot in the Great German Radio Exhibition in 1933.” MORE---> German Radio: The People’s Receiver | State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda

How 8,000 Human Lives Were Reduced to Four Brutal Transports to Auschwitz

"Plonsk, situated in the district of Warsaw, had a Jewish population of 4,913 in 1931. The invading German army conquered the city on September 5, 1939, instituting a regime of forced labor and extortion. As a destination for many refugees from other areas of Poland, Plonsk’s Jewish population almost doubled.

The Germans established a Judenrat in July 1940, and a ghetto was established in May 1941. A typhoid epidemic immediately broke out with the establishment of the ghetto, which was only brought under control in April 1942.

On Oct. 28, 1942, 2,000 elderly and sick Jews were deported from Plonsk to Auschwitz. Three more transports, each carrying 2,000 Jews, left from Plonsk for Auschwitz in the next six weeks." https://www.yadvashem.org/holocaust/this-month/october/1942.html

Clubs, Hatchets, & the Systematic Slaughter of Survivors in a Forgotten Auschwitz Sub-Camp

"The penal company for women prisoners in Budy, about 7 km. from Oświęcim, was founded in June 1942 in reprisal for an escape from Auschwitz by a Polish woman prisoner.

400 women of various ethnic backgrounds were imprisoned in Budy. Their living conditions were lamentable, and the Germans forced them to perform backbreaking labor. German women criminals and prostitutes made up the cadre in charge of the penal company.

The massacre of the French Jewish women prisoners took place in early October. Using clubs, hatchets, and rifle butts—and throwing some of their victims from the windows in the loft of the building—female prisoner functionaries and SS guards butchered 90 women.

The camp administration investigated the incident, but failed to discover the cause. Commandant Rudolf Hoess defined the massacre as “a revolt instigated by prisoners who used stones and clubs in an attempt to terrorize the capo and make their way out of the camp.”

SS man Pery Broad claimed that a German woman noticed a stone in the hand of Jewish woman returning from the toilet to the dormitory room. Broad felt that this was a “hysterical illusion.” Nevertheless, the German woman called for help and shouted that the Jewish woman had struck her. At that point, the female supervisors and guards began slaughtering the French Jews.

The following day, the Germans exterminated all the women who remained alive after being injured in the massacre. They also killed six German women functionaries who had taken part in the incident." http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/news/the-budy-massacre-a-grim-anniversary,23.html

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"A sub-camp at a farm set up on agricultural land covering the localities of Budy, Bór, and, in part, Nazieleniec near Brzeszcze. In various periods, a men’s camp, women’s camp, and the women’s penal company (Strafkompanie) functioned there." DETAILS: http://auschwitz.org/en/history/auschwitz-sub-camps/budy/

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Subcamp Auschwitz Bor/Budy: https://legendarykrakow.uk/2020/12/11/subcamp-auschwitz-bor-budy/

NOTE: No surviving photos of the Budy Massacre exist.

The event is documented through survivor testimonies and camp records. There is no visual evidence left due to systematic Nazi cover-ups.

Ironically, photographs were taken immediately after the massacre. The SS reconnaissance service (Erkennungsdienst) took photos of the scene and the victims as part of their internal investigation into the incident. However, to ensure that no proof of this horrific atrocity could leak to the outside world, the camp administration ordered the original photographs and all remaining copies to be destroyed.

The Nazi regime worked to maintain absolute secrecy regarding the daily operations and atrocities inside concentration camps and sub-camps. Regular guards and prisoner functionaries were strictly forbidden from carrying cameras or taking casual photos.

Following the massacre, the SS systematically executed the surviving injured victims and the six German prisoner functionaries involved to eliminate any firsthand witnesses who could speak about what happened.

1: The Penal Company at Work by Janina Tollik

“Recent days have seen the 65th anniversary of the tragic events that befell the women’s penal company of the Auschwitz German camp in the sub-camp at Budy, outside Oświęcim.

One night in early October 1942, German women prisoner functionaries battered 90 French Jewish women to death. The events of 65 years ago have never been fully explained. Many sources term it a mutiny. Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Hoess referred to it as the “Budy-Revolte.”

The penal company for women prisoners in Budy, about 7 km. from Oświęcim, was founded in June 1942 in reprisal for an escape from Auschwitz by a Polish woman prisoner. 400 women of various ethnic backgrounds were imprisoned in Budy. Their living conditions were lamentable, and the Germans forced them to perform backbreaking labor. German women criminals and prostitutes made up the cadre in charge of the penal company.

The massacre of the French Jewish women prisoners took place in early October. Using clubs, hatchets, and rifle butts—and throwing some of their victims from the windows in the loft of the building—female prisoner functionaries and SS guards butchered 90 women.

The camp administration investigated the incident, but failed to discover the cause.

Commandant Rudolf Hoess defined the massacre as “a revolt instigated by prisoners who used stones and clubs in an attempt to terrorize the capo and make their way out of the camp.” SS man Pery Broad claimed that a German woman noticed a stone in the hand of Jewish woman returning from the toilet to the dormitory room. Broad felt that this was a “hysterical illusion.”

Nevertheless, the German woman called for help and shouted that the Jewish woman had struck her. At that point, the female supervisors and guards began slaughtering the French Jews.

The following day, the Germans exterminated all the women who remained alive after being injured in the massacre. They also killed six German women functionaries who had taken part in the incident.”

News / Museum / Auschwitz-Birkenau

Forcing Jewish Men & Women to Bear the Names "Israel" & "Sara"

"The Reich Ministry of the Interior invalidates all German passports held by Jews. Jews must surrender their old passports, which will become valid only after the letter “J” has been stamped on them.

The government required Jews to identify themselves in ways that would permanently separate them from the rest of the German population. In an August 1938 law, authorities decreed that by January 1, 1939, Jewish men and women bearing first names of “non-Jewish” origin had to add “Israel” and “Sara,” respectively, to their given names.

All German Jews were obliged to carry identity cards that indicated their heritage, and, in the autumn of 1938, all Jewish passports were stamped with an identifying red letter “J”. As Nazi leaders quickened their war preparations, antisemitic legislation in Germany and Austria paved the way for more radical persecution of Jews." https://www.ushmm.org/learn/timeline-of-events/1933-1938/reich-ministry-of-the-interior-invalidates-all-german-passports-held-by-jew

NOTE: The Swiss request for the "J" stamp was driven by a desire to block Jewish refugees at their border while avoiding a full diplomatic fallout with Nazi Germany.

Following Nazi Germany's annexation of Austria in March 1938, thousands of desperate Austrian Jews began fleeing toward Switzerland. In response, the Swiss government closed its borders to refugees who lacked pre-approved visas.

However, because German and Austrian passports did not explicitly state a citizen's religion or ethnicity, Swiss border guards could not easily tell who was a "standard" German tourist and who was a Jewish refugee seeking asylum. To solve this, Switzerland threatened to require visas for all German citizens.

To avoid this restriction on general travel, the Nazi regime agreed to a compromise proposed during negotiations led by Heinrich Rothmund, the head of the Swiss Federal Police.

On this day, an official agreement was finalized. Nazi authorities invalidated all existing passports held by German and Austrian Jews, requiring them to surrender the documents. The passports were only reissued after a large, red letter "J" (for Jude) was stamped on the front page.

The stamp provided Swiss border guards with a clear visual marker to instantly identify and deny entry to Jewish refugees. Historical investigations, such as the Bergier Commission report, concluded that this policy directly contributed to the Holocaust by closing off one of the last available escape routes just weeks before the violence of Kristallnacht.

1: “In 1943, little more than a year before his murder in Auschwitz, Nussbaum painted one of his most striking and devastating self-portraits titled “Self Portrait with Jewish Identity Card.”

Unlike the first two portraits discussed here, in this portrait, the symbols of Jewish identity do not come from the Jewish faith itself, but rather are symbols of persecution and degradation imposed upon Jews by the Nazis.

Turning his head to visually engage the viewer, Nussbaum seems to have been cornered next to a crumbling and dirty white wall (a symbol of menace in Nussbaum’s visual vocabulary). Lifting his coat collar up, he reveals the yellow badge of shame concealed under it, while his left hand shows us his Jewish identity card.

His expression is furtive, alert, his direct gaze is penetrating. What does it mean to us as viewers? Is it a conspiratorial gaze, asking us to help keep the secret of his Jewish identity? Is it the gaze of the accuser, demanding from the viewer answers as to why he has been allowed to be so humiliated and persecuted? Is this the terrified face his persecutors will see when he is eventually arrested in July, 1944?

Or perhaps, 17 years after first painting himself as a Jew, he again asks the viewer to consider the implications of what it means to be a Jew at this point in history, with the threat of annihilation looming so close. Beyond the wall, a dark cloud floats in the lowering dark sky, while windows of a nearby house witness the scene.

Do these windows represent the life-saving shelter of hiding, now lost? Perhaps they symbolize the bystanders, those who detachedly witness Nussbaum’s revelation from the safety of their own homes? The tree, which juts up on the other side of the wall, combines two symbols that appear repeatedly in Nussbaum’s artwork.

The most prominent part of the tree is limbless; a symbol in Jewish funerary art of a life cut short, and in Nussbaum’s art, a symbol of melancholy, hopelessness and death. In the midst of this dark and despairing scene with a portent of approaching doom, a blossoming branch grows from a lower limb of the dead tree, highlighted by a small patch of blue sky behind it. This small symbol of optimism represents the quintessentially human quality of hope. Even in the shadow of death, most people are loath to believe they will actually die.

In the midst of his horrible predicament, it appears that Nussbaum still held on to a glimmer of hope that he and his loved ones would somehow survive. Felix Nussbaum was one of six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust for merely being a Jew.

His genius, his vision, his voice were all snuffed out by those whose hatred prevented them from seeing Nussbaum as a human being. Until the bitter end, Nussbaum created his art, using his talent to visually portray his inner struggles with fear and solitude as an artist, a man, and a Jew spiraling toward catastrophe. Even under such horrific circumstances, in his brief 40 years of life, he still managed to bring great beauty to the world.

By seeing Felix Nussbaum’s artwork, and trying to understand its messages, we honor one of his last wishes: that after his death, his artwork would not die with him.” MORE---> Felix Nussbaum: Self Portraits of a Jew in Turmoil, by Liz Elsby

2: Left: “German police authorities issued this passport to Erna "Sara" Schlesinger on July 8, 1939, in Berlin.

This first page of the passport illustrates the German laws that facilitated the identification of Jews in Germany. From 1938, German regulations required that Jewish women with a first name of "non-Jewish" origin use the middle name "Sara" on all official documents. Jewish men had to add the name "Israel".

The letter "J" (standing for "Jude," that is, the word "Jew" in German) was stamped in red on the passports of Jews who were also German nationals. Erna Schlesinger immigrated to the United States in 1939.”

Right: “Passport issued to Lore Oppenheimer, a German Jew, with "J" for "Jude" stamped on the card. "Sara" was added to the names of all German Jewish women. Hildesheim, Germany, July 3, 1939.”

From "Shell Shock" to "PTSD" - How We Sterilized the Psychological Cost

"Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower distributes to his combat units a report by the U.S. Surgeon General that reveals the hazards of prolonged exposure to combat.

“[T]he danger of being killed or maimed imposes a strain so great that it causes men to break down. One look at the shrunken, apathetic faces of psychiatric patients…sobbing, trembling, referring shudderingly to ‘them shells’ and to buddies mutilated or dead, is enough to convince most observers of this fact.”

On the basis of this evaluation, as well as firsthand experience, American commanders judged that the average soldier could last about 200 days in combat before suffering serious psychiatric damage. British commanders used a rotation method, pulling soldiers out of combat every 12 days for a four-day rest period.

This enabled British soldiers to put in 400 days of combat before being deleteriously affected. The Surgeon General’s report went on to lament the fact that a “wound or injury is regarded, not as a misfortune, but a blessing.” The war was clearly taking a toll on more than just men’s bodies." https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ike-warns-of-the-risk-of-shell-shock

Brilliant George Carlin Video “In the age when torture has become "enhanced interrogation techniques"; when the rich are "job creators"; when murdered children are "collateral damage"; it is good to remember these brilliant words from the late, great, George Carlin. It is also good to remember that the phrase "Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder" has now been officially changed in American English to "PTSD", a totally lifeless non-threatening acronym, totally devoid of even pity and with an almost whiny feel to it.”---> George Carlin - Euphemisms

1: Right: Private First Class Frank Pomroy of the 1st Marine Division resting and visibly overwhelmed by exhaustion during the intense Battle of Peleliu in September 1944. The photograph became an iconic representation of extreme combat fatigue and the profound psychological toll experienced by service members in the Pacific Theater.

Left: 19-year-old U.S. Marine Private Theodore James Miller exhibiting the "thousand-yard stare" after two days of heavy combat.

Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands. February 1944. Taken by an official U.S. Coast Guard photographer as Miller climbed back aboard an assault transport.

The term "thousand-yard stare" describes a blank, unfocused gaze caused by extreme exhaustion and combat trauma. Theodore James Miller was killed in action just one month after this photo was taken, at the age of 19.

"When Someone Shows You Who They Are, Believe Them the First Time." -Maya Angelou

"A guillotine functioning after approved historic precedent awaits the men who made the German revolution of 1918 if the National Socialist party (Fascists) ever gets hold of the government.

This was solemnly predicted by Adolf Hitler today at the outset of his testimony before the criminal bench of the German Supreme Court, which is trying three Reichswehr officers for high treason in connection with alleged Fascist plotting in the German Army.

"If our movement succeeds," Herr Hitler said to the judge, "we shall erect a people's tribunal before which the November criminals of 1918 shall expiate their crime and I frankly predict you shall then see their heads rolling in the sand."

Will Combat Treaties

Responding to questions from the judge, Herr Hitler said:

>"We the National Socialists refuse to recognize the treaties concluded over the heads of the German people as of permanent duration and also propose to fight the war guilt lie. We shall seek to abrogate or revise these by diplomatic negotiations, and I solemnly assert if these fail we shall proceed to ignore or circumvent them, with legal means if possible; failing that, with illegal means. The world may call that illegal, but I am solely answerable to the German people for my actions."

The judge then asked whether the National Socialists proposed to stage a physical revolution in Germany. Herr Hitler said he believed that was impossible because the party was not an outlet for a revolutionary movement, but merely aspired to bring about a gigantic moral uprising along peaceful lines.

Herr Hitler made use of the opportunity to unburden himself of a patriotic oration which ranged between a savage indictment of conditions under the republic and defense of the Fascists, the plans of whom, he stoutly asserted, would be executed only within legal channels."

Sees Bigger Election Gains

The Fascists contemplate a gigantic intellectual awakening of the German people, and the 107 Reichstag seats captured in the last election would be expanded to 250 at the next election, he declared.

He vehemently denied having encouraged attempts to promote disintegration of Reichswehr discipline. He said he was opposed to such procedure as he also was to any other violence in furthering the party's aims.

Fascists who crowded the courtroom cheered their idol and met a stern rebuke from the judge, who reminded the spectators the session was neither a theatrical performance nor a political meeting.

A crowd of several thousand had besieged the venerable Supreme Court Building since 7 A.M., and there were frequent clashes between the police and jubilant Fascists, who either sought entry to the building or an opportunity to cheer their leader. Inside, further police precautions were required to maintain the staid dignity of the court.

Fifteen minutes before the session opened a police official stepped before the barrier which separated the spectators from the bench and admonished the former to observe a becoming decorum, especially when Herr Hitler entered the chamber, because the court otherwise would be compelled to resort to measures "which might be uncomfortable for the spectators." It was observed that this was the first time such precautions had been taken in sessions of the German Supreme Court."

Hitler Cheered on Arrival

Herr Hitler arrived shortly before 9 o'clock and was vociferously cheered as he gave the Fascist salute while walking up the steps into the building. He slipped almost unobserved into one of the seats reserved for witnesses. He was soon called to the witness stand, where the judge explained the nature of his subpoena and informed him he was present only as a witness, that he was expected to make truthful assertions regarding the aims of his party and tell whether it aspired to attain them through legal, constitutional methods. The court incidentally admonished him not to indulge in a lengthy political speech or to seek to defend himself.

After announcing that he had been born at Branau am Inn in Tyrol in 1889, Hitler said he had lost his Austrian citizenship because he had fought in the German Army from 1914 to 1918, when he was gassed and forced to remain in a hospital.

>"At the close of the war I clearly recognized that Germany was doomed to internal disintegration as a result of Marxism and internationalism and that even during the war democracy and pacifism had begun their work of destroying the vitality of the German people. I was convinced in 1918 that only a new national movement which would inflame a fanatic national zeal among the German people could effectively combat the Red terror of the Left parties. It was for the purpose of carrying on this work of illumination that the so-called storm divisions of the National Socialist Labor party were organized."

Herr Hitler began a length account which dealt with the expansion of his party and its subsequent part in German political activities. It carried him down to the Munich revolt in 1923 which was staged by him and in which General Ludendorff had an ignominious part.

That outbreak, he contended, was the result of events beyond his control, and the revolt, as such, was contrary to his wishes. He emphasized that the relations between the Federal Government and Bavaria had reached a state of latent war and it was only a question of whether a march on Berlin was to be undertaken under the blue and white colors of Bavaria or by other forces."

Party "Peaceful" Since 1925

Since 1925, he said, his organization had been directed into peaceful channels and sought to conduct itself as a strictly non-military political unit.

At this point in his testimony the judge intervened with an examination which resulted in more emphatic and picturesque declarations by the Fascist leader. He denied responsibility for any illegal currents in the Fascist ranks and said they had no secret aims. Replying to the court's question as to his attitude on the Reichswehr, Herr Hitler said:

>"I consider the Reichswehr the most important instrument for the restoration of the German State to the people. I have never undertaken any action inimical to the Reichswehr or tending to disrupt its discipline and morale. As a former soldier, I know only too well the folly and futility of such a policy. We are not foes of the Reichswehr and consider as its enemies and as enemies of the German people all who would seek to undermine it. Such elements in my party who toy with the thought of revolution have been summarily expelled or have voluntarily left it when informed of my attitude."

The judge then reminded Herr Hitler of a statement contained in one of his publications to the effect that "heads would roll in the sand" when his party came into power. It was here that the Fascist leader made his dramatic prediction of the guillotine.

Cries of "Bravo!" echoed through the chamber but they were quickly suppressed with a warning from the bench that the chamber would be cleared if the plaudits were repeated.

Herr Hitler became more informative as he proceeded to answer the questions of the judge with respect to some of the more immediate political aims of the Fascists.

"With ten years our movement has won a place as the second strongest political party in Germany," Herr Hitler replied.

>"In three years it will be the strongest party and in the future 35,000,000 of the 40,000,000 voters will support us. That Germany which today hails us into court will some day be glad that our movement was begun. National socialism will convert this defeatist and pacifist State into a nation of iron strength and will.

>To us the old imperial Germany was a State for which we were proud to fight—a State with glorious traditions. The second Reich in which we now are living is predicated on democracy and pacifism. We propose to make the third Reich one of healthy and vigorous nationalism—a State for the people, and shall put an end to the process of national disintegration. We shall accomplish this with legal and constitutional means, and shall mold our state into that form which we deem necessary for it."

Herr Hitler charged that the Reichswehr as it was now constituted did not represent the German people, that it no longer was an expression of the national spirit. The old imperial army, he said, was an exponent of the monarchical idea and urged that the Reichswehr in the new State should also feel itself responsible for the fate of the nation. He denied having sought political ingress into the ranks of the Reichswehr. He said he had prohibited the spread of his publications in the soldiers' barracks.

The judge reminded him that the Italian army made common cause with the Fascisti in October, 1922, and asked whether that would serve as a precedent for the National Socialists.

"The Italian Fascisti," replied Herr Hitler, "did not make a revolution in the sense the German Socialists did in 1918, for Mussolini proceeded in a strictly legal manner; otherwise he could not be the royal Premier today. Any force he applied was not directed against the state, but was aimed at the terror of the street mob."

Denies Violence Since 1923

Herr Hitler then was requested by the court to deny categorically that he at any time since the Munich revolt in 1923 had sought to change the German Constitution by violent means or that he had instructed his subordinates to do so. His denial was emphatic, and that ended his testimony.

Numerous official representatives of the German States attended today's session of the trial because their governments are concerned with the further progress of the National Socialists throughout Germany.

Under-Secretary Zweigert of the Reich's Ministry of the Interior submitted an exhaustive memorial at the conclusion of Herr Hitler's examination which purports to prove that the National Socialist party since its inception has been pursuing revolutionary tactics. Dr. Zweigert testified he possessed evidence proving that Herr Hitler gave the Bavarian Government his word of honor he would not undertake any putsch (revolt) there, despite which he staged his insurrection in 1923. Dr. Zweigert demanded that the government's memorial be made part of the official evidence to offset Herr Hitler's personal testimony, which he declared was insufficient and not binding on the party as a whole.

Counsel for the three accused Reichswehr officers, Lieutenants Scheringer, Ludin and Wendt, objected on the ground that the charges were not supported by documentary evidence. Dr. Zweigert was dismissed as a witness despite the motion of the prosecuting attorney that the memorial be received as evidence. The hearing was adjourned to Friday." https://www.billdownscbs.com/2017/05/1930-hitlers-outburst-at-leipzig-draws.html

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HITLER BIO CONTEXT---> https://1rs.neocities.org/ht17.html

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How Adolf Hitler popularized ‘heads will roll’ in 1930 - https://wordhistories.net/2018/06/23/heads-will-roll/

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VIDEO - The Leipzig Trial Sept 1930 - “A brief explanation of why Hitler's speech at the trial of three soldiers, accused of spreading Nazi revolutionary aims in the Army, provided an opportunity for him to convince the State authorities that cooperation with the Nazi Party was possible.” ---> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31SwSCoyfFs

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1: Left: “Army lieutenants Hans Ludin (far left), Richard Scheringer, and Friedrich Wendt were arrested and tried for treason for establishing contacts with the Nazi leadership and for advocating the formation of Nazi cells within the Reichswehr.

The trial created a public sensation. Called as a witness for the defense, Adolf Hitler (center) used the trial as public relations opportunity to assert that the Nazi party remained within the bounds of legality and that it respected the independent role of the armed forces.

He also stated that “heads would roll” when the National Socialists came to power and that those responsible for twelve years of bad government would have to account for their actions." Hitler on the Witness Stand at the Reich Court in Leipzig (September 25, 1930) | German History in Documents and Images

Right: Elections in Memel today Lithuanians say Nazis terrorize voters with cheerful slogan.

>“Hitler is coming and heads will roll”.

The Criminalization of Any News Coverage Judged to "Weaken the Strength of the Reich."

"The Editors Law (Schriftleitergesetz) forbids non-“Aryans” to work in journalism.

The German Propaganda Ministry (through its Reich Press Chamber) assumed control over the Reich Association of the German Press, the guild which regulated entry into the profession. Under the new Editors Law, the association kept registries of “racially pure” editors and journalists, and excluded Jews and those married to Jews from the profession.

Propaganda Ministry officials expected editors and journalists, who had to register with the Reich Press Chamber to work in the field, to follow mandates and specific instructions handed down by the ministry. In paragraph 14 of the law, the regime required editors to omit from publication anything “calculated to weaken the strength of the Reich abroad or at home.” https://www.ushmm.org/learn/timeline-of-events/1933-1938/editors-law

>Editors are especially bound to keep out of the newspapers anything which: (…) tends to weaken the strength of the German Reich, outwardly or inwardly, the common will of the German people, the German defense ability, culture, or economy, or offends the religious sentiments of others.

Totalitarian Regimes Deeply Distrust a Free Press Because Their Survival Depends on Absolute Narrative Control.

When journalists are free to report, they act as an independent watchdog that exposes corruption, uncovers state failures, and gives a voice to public dissent. By revealing facts that contradict official state propaganda, a free press strips away a regime's illusion of infallibility and threatens its grip on power.

Persecuting opposition journalists is a calculated survival tactic designed to silence critics, eliminate alternative perspectives, and terrorize the public into compliance.

Modern authoritarians copy these exact same century-old censorship tactics with slavish, uninspired precision—proving that while technology evolves, the intellectual world of state paranoia remains thoroughly bankrupt. -W

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Nazi Germany’s Schriftleitergesetz: The End of Freedom of the Press - A law that fundamentally changed the work of journalists in Germany. -> Nazi Germany’s Schriftleitergesetz: The End of Freedom of the Press | Arolsen Archives

1: “A pedestrian stops to read an issue of the antisemitic newspaper Der Stuermer (The Attacker) in a Berlin display box. "Der Stuermer" was advertised in showcase displays near places such as bus stops, busy streets, parks, and factory canteens throughout Germany. Berlin, Germany, probably 1930s.” Public posting of the antisemitic newspaper "Der Stuermer" (The Attacker) | Holocaust Encyclopedia

How a United East End Crushed Oswald Mosley’s Fascist March at the Battle of Cable Street

The clash pitted the Metropolitan Police—sent to protect a provocative march by Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists—against an estimated 300,000 anti-fascist demonstrators, including local Jewish, Irish, communist, anarchist, and socialist communities uniting under the famous slogan "They shall not pass."

The ensuing melee left 175 people injured, including officers, women, and children. Occurring alongside the rise of Hitler, Mussolini, and Franco’s forces in the Spanish Civil War, this historic victory for solidarity not only halted the fascist march but also served as a profound political awakening, driving many British volunteers straight to Spain to fight for the Republicans.

“The battle took place when fascism seemed to be on the rise in other European cities, led by Hitler, Franco and Mussolini.

The fact that so many different communities came together and resulted in such huge numbers turning out against countervailing pressures tells us something”, Rosenberg says. “It was a victory for the united people of the East End.”

It was also an awakening for some in the British left, says London School of Economics research fellow Richard Baxell, only months after the outbreak of the Spanish civil war. “For some people that were involved in the protest, Cable Street was the road to Spain, and many would go on to volunteer as soldiers for the Republicans there”, he says.

Little is recognizable from that period on today’s Cable Street, apart from the faded street signs. Since 1936, the demographic of London’s East End has undergone multiple reincarnations, yet new residents have faced similar struggles.

The area became home to a large Bengali and South Asian community from the 1960s, which has faced racism incited by Britain’s far right. As Baxell understands it, anti-Semitism and racism “resurface in different guises”, evidenced by developments in Britain and Europe over the past year.

British politicians were criticized by the UN for allowing the divisive and anti-immigrant rhetoric surrounding Brexit to fuel a spike in reports of race hate crimes, a trend that has been replicated across the continent as countries struggle to handle the record influx of migrants from the Middle East and Africa.

The increasing intolerance displayed across the European political spectrum show that the same winds that blew across Cable Street eighty years ago still exist today, Rosenberg says. “We are fortunate that the far right in Britain is small and fragmented, but you just have to look at France, Germany, Austria and Hungary to see echoes of the 1930s in much more powerful and coordinated far right movements.” https://time.com/4516276/cable-street-battle-london-east-end-80-years

Antifa

The word "antifa" is a loanword from the German language, where it serves as a direct abbreviation for antifaschistisch (anti-fascist).

The term first gained prominence in 1932 with the creation of the Antifaschistische Aktion. This was a network initiated by the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) to build a unified front of workers and leftists to engage in physical direct action against Adolf Hitler’s paramilitary forces, the SA, in the violent final years of the Weimar Republic.

Following WW2, the label and its distinct two-flag iconography were revived by post-war de-Nazification committees. In the 1980s, the modern variation of the movement took root in West Germany’s autonomous squatter scenes and crossed into the United States via groups like Anti-Racist Action, who mobilized to physically confront neo-Nazi skinheads and white supremacists at punk concerts and community events.

Modern political rhetoric frequently weaponizes "antifa" as a highly effective, shadowy catch-all bogeyman. This narrative relies on a deliberate falsehood: framing a decentralized philosophy as a highly organized, centrally funded domestic terrorist group.

In reality, academic and law enforcement consensus confirms that antifa is a decentralized movement, a set of tactics, and an ideology—not an organization. It possesses no headquarters, no official membership roster, no funding hierarchy, and no singular leader.

The propaganda apparatus deliberately hallucinates a structured, monolithic enemy because it allows bad-faith actors to dishonestly brand any mainstream civil rights protest, left-leaning voter, or political opponent with the "antifa" label to instantly delegitimize their message.

Also, by magnifying or completely fabricating the scale of left-wing militant violence, it successfully distracts the public from the statistically far more lethal and pervasive threat of organized, far-right violent extremism. -W

1: Riots erupted between anti-Fascists and Blackshirts (British Fascists) when Mosley's supporters were gathering in Great Mint Street for a march through the East End of London in what is now called the Battle of Cable Street on Oct. 4, 1936.

In a Packed Royal Albert Hall, the Legendary Physicist Predicts the Doom of European Freedom

"Professor Albert Einstein spoke to a packed audience at the Royal Albert Hall for the first and only time, speaking of his fear of the looming crisis in Europe, asking “How can we save mankind and it’s spiritual acquisitions of which we are the heirs and how can one save Europe from a new disaster?”

This speech was made almost six years before war in Europe began and it would be another ten years before the full horrors of the war would be fully understood in Britain, but to Albert Einstein and other Jews living in Germany, the crisis had already begun. By 1933, Jewish academics in Germany had begun to lose their jobs on racial or political grounds, violence against Jews was escalating at an alarming pace and their properties and possessions were being confiscated.

In his speech at the Royal Albert Hall he declared:

>‘If we want to resist the powers which threaten to supress intellectual and individual freedom we must keep clearly before us what is at stake, and what we owe to that freedom which our ancestors have won for us after hard struggles.’

>‘Without such freedom there would have been no Shakespeare, no Goethe, no Newton, no Faraday, no Pasteur and no Lister. There would be no comfortable houses for the mass of people, no railway, no wireless, no protection against epidemics, no cheap books, no culture and no enjoyment of art at all.

>There would be no machines to relieve the people from the arduous labour needed for the production of the essential necessities of life. Most people would lead a dull life of slavery just as under the ancient despotisms of Asia. It is only men who are free, who create the inventions and intellectual works which to us moderns make life worth while.’

The Times reported that Einstein was wildly cheered on rising and during his speech, which was delivered in English. Other speakers at the meeting were physicist and Nobel Prize winner Lord Ernest Rutherford; leading anti-Nazi politician and Nobel Prize winner Sir Joseph Austen Chamberlain; preacher and suffragist Dr Maude Royden and leading economist and social reformer Sir William Beveridge.

Lord Rothermere’s Daily Mail newspaper urged its readers to stay away from the meeting as they regarded Albert Einstein as a communist threat to the country. At this time, Lord Rothermere was a supporter of both Adolf Hitler and the British Union of Fascists.

Four days later, Albert Einstein sailed to New York from Southampton to start a new job at Princeton University, originally planning to be away for only six months.

He was never to return to Europe again." Search Results

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VIDEO CLIP (1:12) - Albert Einstein speaks at the Royal Albert Hall 1933

1: Einstein Royal Albert Hall, 1933 – Academics, scholars, spiritual leaders, and political activists, united against Hitler. Recognizable on the first row: Ernest Rutherford (physicist, director of the Academic Assistance Council), Austen Chamberlain (brother of Neville), Lord William Gascoyne-Cecil (the Bishop of Exeter – with beard and cross).

David Ben-Gurion’s Historic Visit to the Bergen-Belsen Displaced Persons’ Camp

"Approximately 35,000 inmates died in the camp before liberation, from diseases, starvation and the harsh weather. After liberation, about half of the 60,000 liberated inmates perished.

A displaced persons’ camp was established in Bergen-Belsen, in which the liberated inmates carried on widespread cultural, political and social activities.

The visit of David Ben-Gurion, chairman of the Jewish Agency for Eretz Israel, in the DP camp in Bergen-Belsen was part of his visit to the concentration and DP camps in the vicinity of Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Munich, Heidelberg and Hanover, including Dachau and Bergen-Belsen. In the reports on his visit he wrote:

>“I saw the furnaces where they incinerated hundreds of thousands and millions of Jews throughout Europe- from the West, from the East, the South and the North, Ashkenazim and Sephardim, from all of the different ethnic communities and political parties… the few remnants, who were miraculously saved from the gas chambers, the forced labor, the tortures and the sufferings, from the beatings and the humiliation- in their name I bring to you (in Eretz Israel) blessings of brotherly peace.

They charged me with informing you of two requests. The first request: Jewish unity. Together, they died, were tortured and suffered, with no regard to tribe, origin, or political affiliation. The murderers did not distinguish… and the second request: the State of Israel. That is the last will and testament of millions of martyrs who went to their deaths: only because we are a nation lacking a homeland and a country we were murdered, and justice and freedom cannot prevail, unless this historical injustice that has been committed against us has been rectified.”

From "Ben-Gurion", by Michael Bar Zohar, Volume I (Hebrew), p. 531)

“As Ben-Gurion made his way to the hall, the survivors broke out in a powerful rendition of Hatikva.” From “The Road to Iyyar” by Shabtai Tevet

>“Shocked and deeply moved, Ben-Gurion walked through the camps and held long meetings with the refugees who had gathered around. He wanted to know everything: what they had experienced, how they are living, how much food they receive, if they want to make aliyah, if they are willing to put themselves in harm’s way in order to do so.” (Bar Zohar)

The DP camp in Bergen-Belsen was closed in 1951, and the majority of its inhabitants either immigrated to Israel or to other countries outside of Europe." https://www.yadvashem.org/holocaust/this-month/october/1945.html

1: David Ben-Gurion visits Holocaust survivors in Bergen-Belsen, Germany, October 1945 Yad Vashem Photo Archives 4613/196

Tracking the Path of the Fanatical Austrian Nazi Who Orchestrated Widespread Extermination.

“Ernst Kaltenbrunner (4 October 1903 – 16 October 1946) was an Austrian lawyer, high-ranking SS official during the Nazi era, major perpetrator of the Holocaust, and convicted war criminal.

After the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in 1942, and a brief period under Heinrich Himmler, Kaltenbrunner was named the third director of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), which included the offices of Gestapo, Kripo and SD, serving from January 1943 until the end of World War II in Europe.

He was also the president of Interpol during the same time period. Kaltenbrunner obtained a doctorate in law from the University of Graz in 1926.

He joined the Nazi Party in 1930 and the SS in 1931, and by 1935 he was considered a leader of the Austrian SS. In 1938, he assisted in the Anschluss and was given command of the SS and police force in Austria. In January 1943, Kaltenbrunner was appointed chief of the RSHA, succeeding Reinhard Heydrich, who had been assassinated in June 1942.

A committed antisemite, Kaltenbrunner played a pivotal role in orchestrating the Holocaust, which intensified under his leadership. He oversaw the coordination of security and law enforcement agencies involved in widespread extermination, the suppression of resistance movements in occupied territories, extensive arrests, deportations, and executions.

He was the highest-ranking member of the SS to face trial (Himmler having committed suicide in May 1945) at the Nuremberg trials, where he was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Kaltenbrunner was sentenced to death, and was executed by hanging on 16 October 1946. ...

At the Nuremberg trials, Kaltenbrunner was charged with conspiracy to commit crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Due to the areas over which he exercised responsibility as an SS general and as chief of the RSHA, he was acquitted of crimes against peace, but held responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Kaltenbrunner wheeled into court during the Nuremberg trials after a brain hemorrhage during interrogation. During the initial stages of the Nuremberg trials, Kaltenbrunner was absent because of two episodes of subarachnoid hemorrhage, which required several weeks of recovery time. He was examined by Chief Medical Officer Lt. Col. Rene Juchli who reported that Kaltenbrunner was suffering from gallstones.

After his health improved, the tribunal denied his request for pardon. When he was released from a military hospital he pleaded not guilty to the charges of the indictment against him. Kaltenbrunner said all decrees and legal documents that bore his signature were "rubber-stamped" and filed by his adjutant(s). He also said Gestapo Chief Heinrich Müller had illegally affixed his signature to numerous documents in question.

Despite his reputation as "the man who terrified millions" and his intimidating appearance, Kaltenbrunner was, of the high-ranking Nazis on trial, one of the least capable of coping with the pressures of prison life.

American psychiatrist Douglas Kelley, who spent months interviewing and evaluating the prisoners, described him as "a crybaby ...the hardness of character which marked him as an executioner had been replaced with this soft, sobbing personality", who crumbled into fits of depression, and was deeply frightened by the prospects of the trial.

Kaltenbrunner argued in his defence that his position as RSHA chief existed only theoretically and said he was only active in matters of espionage and intelligence. He maintained that Himmler, as his superior, was the person culpable for the atrocities committed during his tenure as chief of the RSHA. Kaltenbrunner also asserted that he had no knowledge of the Final Solution before 1943 and went on to claim that he protested against the ill-treatment of the Jews to Himmler and Hitler.

Further denials from Kaltenbrunner included statements that he knew nothing of the Commissar Order and that he never visited Mauthausen concentration camp, despite documentation of his visit (see the picture captions below). At one point, Kaltenbrunner went so far as to avow that he was responsible for bringing the Final Solution to an end.

In response to his denials, people in the courtroom laughed.

During the trial, Hans Bernd Gisevius described Kaltenbrunner as "even worse than that monster Heydrich".

Conviction and execution

On 30 September 1946, the International Military Tribunal (IMT) found Kaltenbrunner not guilty of crimes against peace, but guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity (counts three and four). On 1 October 1946, the IMT sentenced him to death by hanging.

Kaltenbrunner was executed on 16 October 1946, around 1:15 am, in Nuremberg. His body, like those of the other nine executed men and that of Hermann Göring (who committed suicide the previous day), was cremated at the Eastern Cemetery in Munich and the ashes were scattered in a tributary of the River Isar.[” ALL THE DETAILS---> Ernst Kaltenbrunner - Wikipedia

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The Devastating Evidence Against Kaltenbrunner Presented at the First Nuremberg Trial-----> Avalon Project : Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression - Volume 2 Chapter XVI Part 6

1: Kaltenbrunner, Heinrich Himmler and August Eigruber (in black) inspect Mauthausen concentration camp in 1941, in the company of camp commander Franz Ziereis (center left)

2: Kaltenbrunner with Himmler and Ziereis at Mauthausen in April 1941

3: Kaltenbrunner (front row, second from left) as a spectator at a People's Court show trial following the failed 20 July plot in 1944

4: Kaltenbrunner testifying as a witness on his own behalf at the International Military Tribunal.

5: Kaltenbrunner wheeled into court during the Nuremberg trials after a brain hemorrhage during interrogation.

6: Kaltenbrunner's body after execution by hanging on 16 October 1946

He Survived the Abyss & Spent a Lifetime Ensuring the World Could Not Claim Ignorance

Elie Wiesel transformed the unimaginable horrors of the Shoah into an urgent, global moral imperative. He frequently challenged the historical complacency of bystanders, famously noting that indifference is the ultimate victory for Evil.

In the links below, take a deep dive into his life, his specific philosophical definitions of the Holocaust, and his brilliant and compelling literary contributions with the following curated index, which provides verified documentation, historical records, and direct sources explaining and celebrating this Great Man.

Excerpt from Night by Elie Wiesel

>“Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky. Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever. Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes. Never shall I forget those things, even were I condemned to live as long as God Himself.”

Elie Wiesel Foundation: Elie Wiesel was born in 1928 in Sighet, Transylvania, now a part of Romania. He was 15 years old when he and his family were deported by the Nazis to Auschwitz. His mother and younger sister perished, his two older sisters survived. Elie and his father were later transported to Buchenwald, where his father died shortly before the camp was liberated in April 1945.---> About Elie Wiesel - The Elie Wiesel Foundation

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United States Holocaust Memorial Museum - Elie Wiesel Bio --> https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/elie-wiesel

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VIDEO - Interview with Elie Wiesel, December 10, 2004. Interviewer is Professor Georg Klein. Elie Wiesel talks about his perspectives on the world after World War II, recollections of his time in concentration camp (5:41), the indifference of the world (12:42), antisemitism (16:42), the importance of education (22:26) and that the tragedy of the Holocaust could have been avoided (24:31).

Professor Georg Klein:

>“Your prize is the only Peace Prize, certainly, that has been explicitly given concerning genocide and the need of remembrance.”

---> https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1986/wiesel/interview/

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Books By Elie Wiesel---> Books By Elie Wiesel - The Elie Wiesel Foundation

Ruth Franklin (Literary Critic and Author), writing for The New Republic:

>"Wiesel’s great achievement was to make the story of his survival into a work of art that feels as close to unmediated reality as text can get. His writing does not ask for our pity; it demands our presence."

1: Left: The Night Trilogy by Elie Wiesel is a profoundly devastating, brilliant collection of literary works that explores the psychological annihilation and existential aftermath of the Holocaust.

While the three pieces—Night (1958), Dawn (1960), and Day (1961)—are frequently bundled together, they form a thematic progression rather than a linear, continuous story. Together, they transition from raw, firsthand biographical horror into deeply complex fictionalized philosophy.

Night: The cornerstone of the trilogy, this haunting autobiographical memoir details Wiesel’s survival in Auschwitz and Buchenwald. It acts as a visceral account of humanity's deepest cruelties and a young boy's total loss of faith in God and mankind. It is brief, razor-sharp, and emotionally shattering.

Dawn: Moving into fiction, this short novel is set in British-controlled Palestine. It follows Elisha, a young Holocaust survivor recruited by a militant Jewish underground movement. Ordered to execute a captured British officer at dawn, the narrative shifts into a suffocating psychological study on how the victim becomes the executioner.

Day (originally published as The Accident): This final fictional piece follows a journalist and survivor living in New York who is hospitalized after a near-fatal taxi accident. The text turns inward, exploring the profound paralysis of survivor's guilt, the limits of conscience, and the painful question of whether true recovery is ever possible.

Right: Elie Wiesel standing in front of a 1945 photograph of Buchenwald concentration camp inmates at the Yad Vashem memorial in Jerusalem in 1986. Wiesel is visible in the background photo as a young teenager in the bunk beds (bottom row, third from the right).

The Largest Murder Trial in History Based on the Number of Victims Involved

The Einsatzgruppen Trial (1947–1948) was the ninth of the 12 Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings conducted by the United States military.

The U.S. prosecuted 24 high-ranking officers of the Einsatzgruppen, the mobile death squads of the Nazi SS. These men were not uneducated soldiers; many were highly educated professionals, including lawyers, economists, and a theologian.

The defendants were charged with War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity for the systematic murder of over one million people (primarily Jews, Romani people, and Soviet officials) in occupied Eastern Europe.

Chief Prosecutor Benjamin Ferencz rested the entire case in just two days using the Nazis' own meticulous, daily paperwork (Ereignismeldungen UdSSR), which documented the exact dates, locations, and body counts of their massacres.

The defendants primarily argued "superior orders," claiming they would have been executed if they did not follow commands.

The prosecution successfully proved that no Nazi officer was ever executed for refusing to participate in these killings.

All 22 remaining defendants were found Guilty. The tribunal handed down 14 Death Sentences (four of which were ultimately carried out in 1951), while the remaining defendants received varying prison terms.

WIKI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einsatzgruppen_trial

Spring 1941: The Einsatzgruppen units are officially formed in preparation for the invasion of the Soviet Union. Their directive is to exterminate Jews, Romani people, and Soviet state officials behind the front lines.

1941–1943: Mass shootings and mobile gas vans are deployed across Eastern Europe, resulting in the murder of more than one million men, women, and children.

November 20, 1945 – October 1, 1946: The International Military Tribunal (IMT) tries the highest-ranking Nazi officials. During these proceedings, defendant testimonies and captured German documents officially expose the scale of the Einsatzgruppen atrocities.

1946: U.S. investigators discover the complete, highly meticulous "Einsatzgruppen Reports" (daily logs sent by the units back to Berlin), providing an ironclad paper trail of the mass genocide.

July 29, 1947: A U.S. Military Tribunal officially indicts 24 high-ranking Einsatzgruppen officers. They are charged with war crimes, crimes against humanity, and membership in criminal organizations.

September 29, 1947: The trial formally begins before Military Tribunal II at the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg. Benjamin B. Ferencz, a 27-year-old lawyer trying his very first case, serves as Chief Prosecutor.

Late 1947: The prosecution presents its case in just two days, resting entirely on the official, self-penned Nazi reports without calling a single witness. The defense spends months arguing "superior orders" (that they were only following chain-of-command laws).

February 1948: The evidentiary phases conclude. Out of the 24 original defendants, Emil Haussmann dies by suicide post-indictment, and Otto Rasch is removed due to severe medical illness, leaving 22 to receive verdicts.

April 8–9, 1948: Presiding Judge Michael A. Musmanno reads the verdicts. All 22 remaining defendants are found guilty on one or more counts.

April 10, 1948: Sentences are officially handed down. 14 defendants are sentenced to death, 2 receive life terms, and 5 receive prison sentences ranging from 10 to 20 years (1 is released for time served).

1949–1950: Growing Cold War tensions pressure the U.S. to build stronger political alliances with West Germany, leading to strong local political pushback against the Nuremberg sentences.

January 31, 1951: U.S. High Commissioner John J. McCloy reviews the sentences under a clemency board. He commutes 10 of the 14 death sentences to prison terms and significantly reduces most other prison sentences.

June 7, 1951: The four remaining death sentences—including leader Otto Ohlendorf and notorious commander Paul Blobel—are carried out via hanging at Landsberg Prison.

May 1958: Due to ongoing reductions and early parole programs, the final three surviving prisoners of the Einsatzgruppen Trial are released from confinement, concluding the judicial cycle of the case.

USHMM-> https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/subsequent-nuremberg-proceedings-case-9-the-einsatzgruppen-case

1: Otto Ohlendorf and Heinz Jost at the Military Tribunal

From a Unanimous Death Verdict for Göring to a Single Vote for Fritzsche; a Look at How 32 Journalists Quantified the Guilt of the Third Reich's Leadership

Just a few days before the Verdicts come down in the Major War Criminals Trial, the thirty-two American journalists covering the trial create a blackboard in the foreign press room listing the correspondents' predictions concerning the defendants' sentences in columns headed 'Guilty,' 'Not Guilty,' 'Death Sentence' and 'Prison.'

The pressmen are unanimous on the death sentence only for Göring, Ribbentrop and Kaltenbrunner; as regards the rest, bets on the death sentence were: Keitel and Sauckel 29, Hans Frank 27, Seyss-Inquart 26, Rosenberg 24, Hess 17, Raeder 15, Dönitz and Streicher 14, Jodl 13, Frick 12, Speer 11, von Schirach 9, von Papen 6, Schacht 4, von Neurath 3 and Fritzsche 1.

Source: Nuremberg: A Nation On Trial, by German author Werner Maser

IMAGE: War correspondent Wes Gallagher and other reporters rushing from the courtroom on October 1, 1946, to broadcast the verdicts from the Nuremberg Trials.

All While Looking For ‘Racially Valuable’ Polish Children to Kidnap for the Insidious Lebensborn Program

"Euthanasia was widely carried out in the German-occupied East in Poland and the Soviet Union. A high excess mortality has been identified in France, and patient deaths arose from hunger, and wartime shortages. One estimate is of ca. 40,000 French victims of deprivation as opposed to deliberate killing.

After the war, a series of trials were conducted against the perpetrators of euthanasia in Austria, Germany, and Poland. There were numerous acquittals and shielding of those responsible. The German Psychiatric Association claimed falsely in the 1950s that its members opposed euthanasia.

The case against Heinrich Gross, a neuroanatomist in Austria who dissected the brains of many child victims of euthanasia in Vienna during and after the war when he ran a histo-pathological research institute sited at the hospital Am Spiegelgrund in Vienna where many victims were killed, was prevented until his death in 2005 by his plea of mental incapacity.

In 1987, an association for those damaged by Nazi euthanasia was founded and limited compensation was paid to relatives. There has been only limited compensation to the relatives of those killed, and only rarely memorials naming individuals who were killed, as was notably the case for the Spiegelgrund victims at the Otto Wagner Hospital in Vienna.

There is no death book commemorating victims of Nazi euthanasia as the German authorities consider it illegal to publicly release the names of murdered victims. A counter-argument is that non-disclosure perpetuates the stigma of mental illness.

Post-war “voluntary euthanasia” advocates in North America and Europe (notably the Netherlands) argue that their procedures have nothing to do with the Nazi measures, in that they seek the consent of the person or when this is not possible of relatives.

On the one hand, there are terminally ill persons who themselves insist that the pain and level of disability makes them wish to end their lives. Yet the concepts of a life without value, expert medical advocacy in favour of euthanasia, and relatives finding the severely ill person a burden are difficult to exclude from the decision-making procedures.

For these reasons euthanasia remains a contested topic and the Nazi abuses a salutary warning in favour of caution in complex and difficult end of life decisions." Eugenics Archive

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NAZI EUTHANASIA PROGRAMME IN OCCUPIED POLAND 1939-1945: https://tiergartenstrasse4.org/Nazi_Euthanasia_Programme_in_Occupied_Poland_1939-1945.html

1: Left: This historic photograph from October 1942 in Poland shows an SS doctor examining children as part of Nazi racial screening and selection programs. The SS and the Lebensborn program carried out operations in occupied Eastern Europe to identify and kidnap children deemed "racially valuable" or suitable for "Germanisation" and adoption by German families.

Children were lined up and subjected to physical and racial measurements. Those who failed to meet Nazi racial standards or were rejected were frequently sent to concentration and extermination camps. -> Doctores de las SS examinan niños polacos juzgados de "valor racial importante" para la adopción por alemanes. | Enciclopedia del Holocausto

Right: Hitler's Forgotten Children: A True Story of the Lebensborn Program and One Woman's Search for Her Real Identity by Ingrid Von Oelhafen (Author), Tim Tate (Author), Dr. Schmitz-Koster, Dorothee

“Hitler’s Forgotten Children is both a harrowing personal memoir and a devastating investigation into the awful crimes and monstrous scope of the Lebensborn program in World War 2. Created by Heinrich Himmler, the Lebensborn program abducted as many as half a million children from across Europe.

Through a process called Germanization, they were to become the next generation of the Aryan master race in the second phase of the Final Solution. In the summer of 1942, parents across Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia were required to submit their children to medical checks designed to assess racial purity.

One such child, Erika Matko, was nine months old when Nazi doctors declared her fit to be a “Child of Hitler.” Taken to Germany and placed with politically vetted foster parents, Erika was renamed Ingrid von Oelhafen. Many years later, Ingrid began to uncover the truth of her identity.

Though the Nazis destroyed many Lebensborn records, Ingrid unearthed rare documents, including Nuremberg trial testimony about her own abduction. Following the evidence back to her place of birth, Ingrid discovered an even more shocking secret: a woman named Erika Matko, who as an infant had been given to Ingrid’s mother as a replacement child.” (Amazon)

NOTE: We apologize for the swastika hate symbols in the historic picture and book cover.

Certain historical documents, testimony, quotes & images are presented for the record, as evidence and background pertaining to criminal activities, horrific acts, and other notable evils. The words of murderers, criminals & their lawyers should never be mistaken for fact, as they are often bold-faced lies, nor should they be misconstrued as providing a viable justification for their crimes. Don't believe any of it, beyond the fact they did write & speak this nasty stuff and did purport to believe it. As always, read with an abundant degree of cautious skepticism. -W

How Early Nazi Decrees Stripped Jewish Citizens of their Land, Livelihoods, & Professional Rights

On this day, the Nazis accelerate their coordinated efforts to isolate Jewish citizens from both the economic foundation of Germany and its cultural identity. Through two major actions—the total exclusion of Jews from agriculture and the creation of the Reich Chambers of Culture under Joseph Goebbels—the Reich effectively bans Jewish professionals from key fields including film, theater, music, fine arts, and journalism.

"The power of Jewish Cultural life in Germany was transferred to Joseph Goebbels, who established chambers of culture that would regulate activity in their chamber of either film, theater, music, fine arts, literature, broadcasting, and the press. The chambers of the different genres of culture were combined in their umbrella body, the Reich Chamber of Culture.

Each Chamber had the power to exclude anyone involved in any of the facets of culture, even without an "Aryan clause" written into the legislation.

For example, the film chamber could dismiss any Jews involved in any stages of the film-making process including the "producer, actors and ticket collectors in the theater". To continue involvement in the film industry one would need "licensed permission from the chamber president".

As a supplement to the Chambers of Culture, a journalism law went into effect on October 4, 1933, stating that to produce work for the press, journalists and editors would also need specific legal permission." MORE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Jewish_legislation_in_pre-war_Nazi_Germany

NOT MY LINKS

“The Reich Chamber of Culture (German: Reichskulturkammer, abbreviated as RKK) was a government agency in Nazi Germany. It was established by law on 22 September 1933 in the course of the Gleichschaltung process at the instigation of Reich Minister Joseph Goebbels as a professional organization of all German creative artists.

Defying the competing ambitions of the German Labour Front (DAF) under Goebbels' rival Robert Ley, it was meant to gain control over the entire cultural life in Germany creating and promoting Aryan art consistent with Nazi ideals. Every artist had to apply for membership on presentation of an Aryan certificate. A rejected inscription de facto resulted in an occupational ban. ...

Nazi authorities established the RKK to further control public expression and performance. The RKK initially permitted Jews, but Nazi authorities purged Jews from the RKK in mid-1935. After the March 1938 German annexation of Austria, the RKK extended its cultural control to Austria.

The RKK was ultimately dissolved and its assets confiscated by Law no. 2 (October 10, 1945) of the Allied Control Council. Footage and archives material are kept by the German Federal Archives (Bundesarchiv) and the Berlin Document Center.” MORE--> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reich_Chamber_of_Culture

1: An antisemitic sign posted in Bavaria, Germany, in 1937 that reads "Juden sind hier unerwünscht" ("Jews are not wanted here").

American documentary photographer and filmmaker Julien Bryan captured this photograph during a visit to Nazi Germany in 1937. Bryan later used such photographs in public lectures across the United States in 1938 to warn audiences about the escalating dangers and aggressive exclusion of Jewish people under the Nazi regime.

Signs like this were part of state-sponsored propaganda, intimidation, and exclusionary campaigns designed to segregate Jewish people from everyday public and social life in Germany years before the full implementation of the Holocaust.

The Last Major Roundup & the Complex Legacy of the Netherlands' Nazi-Mandated Jewish Council

The last major roundup in the Netherlands, about 5,000 Jews, including the heads of the Joodsche Raad, are deported via Westerbork:

"In July 1942, deportations began, continuing through September 1943. Two transit camps, Westerbork and Vught, were set up where Jews were concentrated until schedules permitted their entrainment to Auschwitz.

On September 29, 1943, in the last major roundup, about 5,000 Jews, including the heads of the Joodsche Raad, were deported via Westerbork. Only small protected categories of Jews still remained, including diamond workers and Jewish partners in mixed marriages. Most of these were deported early in 1944.

Some 110,000 Jews were deported to Auschwitz, Sobibdr, and, in smaller numbers, to other camps. About 5,000 survived the death camps. Seventy-five percent of Dutch Jewry perished."

From The War Against the Jews, 1933-1945, by Lucy S. Dawidowicz

"Joodse Raad - The Jewish Council in the Netherlands that was formed in Amsterdam in 1941. It was disbanded in 1943. The Nazis formed compliant Jewish councils in many places to help administer their Jewish populations.

Controversially, the Raad was involved in selecting Dutch Jews for labour camps. In September 1943, the Nazis deported approximately 2,000 Dutch Jews to Westerbork, including the Raad’s leadership." https://www.theholocaustexplained.org/joodse-raad/

NOT MY LINKS

The Jewish Council, still controversial 80 years later - https://over.nos.nl/nieuws/de-joodse-raad-80-jaar-later-nog-steeds-controversieel/

1: Left: (Joodse Raad voor Amsterdam) during WW2, featuring co-chairmen Abraham Asscher and David Cohen alongside other members. Right: The Politics of the Lesser Evil: A History of the Jewish Council for Amsterdam, 1941-1943, Dutch Edition by Bart van der Boom

“During the German occupation, Dutch Jews were isolated from the rest of society in a ghetto without walls. By order of the Germans, this ghetto was governed by the Jewish Council. It began its existence in February 1941 with an appeal to Amsterdam's Jews to hand over their weapons. The Council consistently preached obedience to German orders, even when deportations began in July 1942.

Anyone who worked for the Jewish Council was exempted from these deportations until the summer of 1943, when they too were taken away. Consequently, the Jewish Council's policy turned out to be disastrous, and after the war, no one had a good word to say about it. Today, "Jewish Council" stands for the worst kind of betrayal—the betrayal of one's "own" people in a cowardly attempt to stay out of the line of fire themselves.

That judgment is understandable, but it is not enlightening. During the war, many could justify the existence and policy of the Jewish Council as the only way to save what could be saved. Award-winning historian Bart van der Boom reconstructs the perspective of the Jewish Council in an attempt to understand how good intentions paved the path to destruction. Bart van der Boom (1964) teaches history at Leiden University.

His previous book, ‘Wij weten niets van hun lot’. Gewone Nederlanders en de Holocaust ("We know nothing of their fate." Ordinary Dutch People and the Holocaust) was awarded the Libris History Prize.” (Amazon)

Historical Analysis of the Israeli-Palestine Conflict

Amidst the Chaos of the First Arab-Israeli War, the Arab League officially declares the establishment of the All-Palestine Government in the Egyptian-controlled Gaza Strip. Headed by prominent Palestinian figures and recognized by most Arab nations, this entity issues a declaration of independence over the entirety of former Mandatory Palestine, naming Jerusalem as its capital.

While heralded by proponents as the first modern attempt to build an independent Palestinian state, the government possesses virtually no executive power, no revenue, and no independent military. Operating under strict Egyptian tutelage, its creation immediately sparks intense political maneuvering among neighboring Arab regimes, setting the stage for it to be utilized more as a regional geopolitical instrument than a sovereign state.

This government is born out of intense rivalry within the Arab League. King Abdullah I of Transjordan (now Jordan) had openly desired to annex the West Bank and parts of Palestine. Egypt and other Arab states had strongly opposed his growing power. Egypt sponsored the All-Palestine Government on this day, precisely to block Abdullah's ambitions. As Shlaim notes (below), it was used as an "instrument for frustrating his ambition".

The Arab states had promised their publics a swift victory in the 1948 war. When Israel won decisive victories instead, the Arab League used the declaration of this government to distance themselves from the military failure. It allowed them to symbolically hand "control" to the Palestinians and withdraw their own armies without facing a massive public backlash at home.

If the entity were a genuine attempt at statehood, it would have been given the tools to govern. Instead, it was completely hollow.

The government had no executive role, no budget, and its attempts to form an independent army were quickly crushed by Transjordan. Within months of its creation, Egypt will force the government out of Gaza and relocate it to Cairo, where it will exist purely on paper until Gamal Abdel Nasser will officially dissolve it in 1959.

The Take-Away

Ultimately, the All-Palestine Government achieved exactly what its creators intended. By distracting the world with the grand, paper-thin illusion of a sovereign Palestinian state, the Arab League successfully masked their primary objective: an uncoordinated scramble to crush the infant Israeli state before it could take its first breath.

It is a masterclass in historical cynicism that the decades of bloodshed that followed were set in motion not by a genuine desire for Palestinian independence, but by an obsession with ensuring Israel had No Right To Exist. -W

"Despite its lofty declarations and goals, the All-Palestine Government proved to be generally ineffectual.

The Palestinian Arabs, and the Arab world in general, were shocked by the speed and extent of the Israeli victories, and the poor showing of the Arab armies. This, combined with the expansionist designs of King Abdullah, cast the Palestinian Arab leadership into disarray.

Avi Shlaim writes:

>'The decision to form the Government of All-Palestine in Gaza, and the feeble attempt to create armed forces under its control, furnished the members of the Arab League with the means of divesting themselves of direct responsibility for the prosecution of the war and of withdrawing their armies from Palestine with some protection against popular outcry.

>Whatever the long-term future of the Arab government of Palestine, its immediate purpose, as conceived by its Egyptian sponsors, was to provide a focal point of opposition to Abdullah and serve as an instrument for frustrating his ambition to federate the Arab regions with Transjordan'."

MUCH MORE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-Palestine_Government