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| Click image to enlargify From Picture Post Magazine, July 13, 1940, pp 16-17 |
[...] Through the underground passages men were hurrying into the the deserted Reichstag. They carried bundles that smelt of tar, of shavings, of paraffin. German freedom slept. Slept, and never woke again.
The Reichstag went up in flames. "It's the work of the Reds," cried Dr. Goebbels. "It's the beacon of insurrection," cried Minister Goering. "It's a sign from heaven," cried Chancellor Hitler.
And that night, in the name of the Führer, men and women by the thousand were imprisoned. That night, liberties were put in pawn that have never since been redeemed. That night, the opposition was broken by violence. The rule of the bullies and the sneaks was assured. The world knows what followed. The unbelievable, the indefatigable brutality, the stealthy kindness of ordinary folks, the total ignorance of most people as to what went on in their own country, the attempt to bring a whole intelligent nation to the level of insects. All this in general is well known. The hideous Nazi melodrama of the silencing of opposition by whip, by barbed-wire and by axe, is more familiar to many British people than the history of their own Empire in recent times.
But here we do not intend to deal with such sensational aspects of the German brand of Fascism. Here let us rather consider what National Socialism has meant to the Man-in-the-German-Street, the ordinary quiet, peace-loving, pipe-smoking Herr Schmidt and his wife.
First it must be remembered the Nazi regime is impressed on the masses as the regenerator of the German people, ruling those people by flattery and fear, organising economy till the needs of war have dominated national life. And now, like it or not, the German nation is drilled to say in chorus: "We thank our Führer." But for what? For concentration camps? No. For the creation of work? Perhaps. For the feeling that, after years of humiliation, Germany is once again a power to be reckoned with? Yes.
[...]
(continued on WWAFF post 6)
Jay's thoughts: For public health and tobacco control, it's all about instilling fear and exploiting fear to control you, as it was in 1930s and 1940s Germany. There are differences, naturally. But the means are the same. The ends are very similar. Make no mistake, socialism is alive and well in Britain and throughout Europe. It is a socio-political means of controlling people, to make them conform to what is always an impossible ideal. They do this by forcing compliance through imprisonment and fines, through propaganda, by way of false education, through telling you that something else is to blame for all that ails you and society. Surely we should be able to see right through that?
Well, this line stands out for me: "The rule of the bullies and the sneaks was assured." That's what our country has become under the auspices of Public Health, the EU, the WHO, our press and our once-fine academic institutions. We are a nation ruled by bullies, from all over the world. How do you fight back against an enemy that has no true national borders ...?
