I remember my mother telling me about the year (August 1936) she returned to school after summer break to find Hitler's picture hanging in every classroom. She came home that day and told her mother (my grandmother), who dutifully marched up to the school with my mom the next morning. The conversation with the headmaster went something like this:
Grandma: "Why is that little bastard's picture hanging in all the classrooms?"
Headmaster: "It is a directive from Berlin."
Grandma: "Berlin or Moscow?"
Headmaster: "Careful, Maria. Do not compare our Leader with those Communist savages."
Grandma: "Or what, the Gestapo will take me away?"
Headmaster: "The Gestapo does not question 'real' Germans. Just go home, Maria, and do not make a fuss. Do you want Ella (my mom) to have a rough time in school this year?"
Grandma: "Who does he (Hitler) think he is? He is nothing but a painter who thinks he's Jesus. And if anything happens to my daughter, you will answer to Hermann's (my grandfather) shotgun."
It wasn't long after that the local priest, who spoke out against Hitler, was removed from his position and 'transferred'. The next priest figured out that as long as he parroted the party line he'd be left alone. That helped later on, when the 2 Jewish families in the town were hidden in the church (4 years) until the Americans arrived. (Note to Americans: Not all Germans of the time were Nazis.) It wasn't long after that the synagogue in the next town (the only one that served the region) was closed by order of the Landeskommissar. People learned quickly enough not to question 'The Party'.
It was also about that time that my uncle joined the Schutzstaffel, Hitler's SS. He was gung ho, caught up in the German nationalist fervor that was gripping the younger generation. We'll leave it that he and I don't talk much because he's still a Nazi and I'd cut his throat as soon as look at him.
My mother and my grandmother told me this story as I was growing up, and my aunt confirmed it when I was there in 2003. Oh yes, the Germans see the similarities between Bush and Hitler far too clearly.
My point in telling you this bit of family history is because they brainwashed the children. When Hitler came to power, history taught in the schools was revised to reflect an Aryan tilt. The children learned that Germans got the short end of the stick thanks to the Allied Nations after World War I, or the Jews, or anyone else they could scapegoat. Guys like my asshole uncle, who couldn't find a job during the depression and needed someone to blame for his problems.
Maybe I'm more sensitized to it because of my family history, I don't know, but if anybody tells you we are not moving quickly toward 'Reich', they're either blind, unaware, or lying to you. Hopefully, reading the paragraphs above, you were struck by how similar things have become. It's one thing to convince most of the people to vote for you, but when you start indoctrinating the children, you're planning to be around for a while.
Let's talk about school vouchers. There is one motivation for getting kids out of the public school system and into the parochial. Control. When the kids learn creationism and revisionist history as fact, and everyone who does not believe in your version of Jesus is a heathen, you've begun to create the next generation of foot soldiers. When children learn that anyone who doesn't agree with the 'Party Line' is a traitor, you're creating the next generation of executioners. Think about the madrassas of the Middle East and then think about the Christian schools in this country. And let's not forget the Hitler Youth.
The Party Line is that liberals, gays, non-Christians, and people unlike the 'average American' are the cause of our problems and that means it's only a matter of time before these groups are silenced and rounded up. Think it can't happen here? It's already begun, motherfuckers.
