The German citizens of 1930 did not know a pandemic of hate was coming
Now we know it is a possibility ... what do we do?
In 1930, there were about 65 million people living in Germany; about 500 thousand of them were Jews … less than 1%.
Current US population is around 336 million with about 10-12 million undocumented immigrants, a level that has been relatively stable over the past decades, about 3.5%.
The newly elected administration claims to have a “mandate” to deport undocumented immigrants. They talk about it as a Day 1 priority.
“Deport” is an interesting word … a mild-mannered word … out of sight, out of mind, back to life as usual. The Jews were deported to “work camps.” They just went away, disappeared. People didn’t see them slaughtered, didn’t even see the bodies as they piled up in foreign lands.
So, what does “deport” mean today? … we don’t know. Are they going to build camps for 12 million people? Who is going to round them up and how? Where will they take them? How many will die in this process? And, here’s the statistic that haunts me …
4 million American citizen children’s lives could be shattered
According to current data, approximately 4 million American citizen children have at least one parent who is an undocumented immigrant in the United States. The newly elected administration wants to carry out a mass deportation of 10 … 15 … 20 MILLION immigrants.
There were heroes and villains in Germany;
however, it’s likely that most people just looked away, uneasily perhaps,
feeling powerless, probably, as neighbors started disappearing suddenly.
What will our legacy be?
In a little over a year, I will turn 80. I truly enjoy my life and have the great good fortune to be healthy and energetic. While no one knows when the final curtain will fall, actuarially, I could plan for another 10-15 years. There are many things I’d rather do than spend the next four years focused on politics and fighting for democracy.
HOWEVER, this is the day we are given. And, the thought of what might happen to the most vulnerable of us is something I can’t look away from.
While “it” might not ever happen here … it did happen in Germany and the upcoming administration has spelled out its plans. We have to believe them.
90 years from now “this” (whatever it turns out to be) will be over and most of us will be gone.
However, our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren will be here. Will they know we stood up and said … “NO … never again,” or will they wonder how we could have just looked away, hunkered down, stayed safe?
And remember … the Holocaust wasn’t just Hitler, evil attracts evil … and feeds on greed and fear.
Among the early announcements of leaders for this administration, I have yet to see or hear a compassionate, cool head.
Perplexity Report on other leaders of the Holocaust:
Several key leaders, besides Adolf Hitler, played significant roles in orchestrating the Holocaust. Here are some of the main figures:
Heinrich Himmler
Role: Head of the SS (Schutzstaffel), Himmler was one of the main architects of the Holocaust.
Responsibilities: He oversaw the establishment and operation of concentration and extermination camps and was instrumental in implementing the "Final Solution" to systematically exterminate Jews
Reinhard Heydrich
Role: Chief of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) and Deputy Reich-Protector of Bohemia and Moravia.
Contributions: Heydrich chaired the Wannsee Conference in 1942, where plans for the mass deportation and extermination of Jews were formalized. He was a key figure in organizing Kristallnacht and other anti-Jewish actions
Adolf Eichmann
Role: Head of the Gestapo's Office of Jewish Affairs.
Contributions: Eichmann was responsible for managing the logistics of mass deportations of Jews to ghettos and extermination camps across Europe. He played a crucial role in executing the details of the "Final Solution"
Hermann Göring
Role: A leading member of the Nazi Party, he held various positions including head of the Luftwaffe (German Air Force).
Contributions: Göring was involved in economic policies that facilitated Aryanization, or the confiscation of Jewish businesses. He was also instrumental in supporting policies that led to the Holocaust
Joseph Goebbels
Role: Minister of Propaganda.
Contributions: Goebbels was responsible for spreading anti-Semitic propaganda and supported radical policies against Jews, contributing to their marginalization and eventual extermination
Other Key Figures
Oswald Pohl: Managed concentration camp administration and construction
Alois Brunner: Organized deportations from several European countries
Friedrich Jeckeln: Led mass shootings in Eastern Europe
Hans Frank: Governor-General of occupied Poland, involved in implementing genocidal policies
These individuals, among others, played critical roles in planning, organizing, and executing the genocide that resulted in the deaths of six million Jews during World War II.
Immigrants and the Use of Public Benefits in the United States
Undocumented immigrants receive only a few, emergency benefits and they wind up paying billions into services such as Social Security and Medicare that they are not eligible to receive the benefits of.
Thank you for your research and engagement here with such a difficult subject, hard to face and write about. But must be faced and written about.
A thought provoking post on a difficult topic