By Edwin Cooney
This
year, as a dwindling number of former inmates of Nazi German death camps gather
to celebrate the 70th anniversary of their liberation, those of us who have
never experienced their horror wonder to ourselves: why should this old terror
matter to us? Even as we face the
uncertainties of a struggle with radical Islam, we may legitimately wonder if
there might be something instructive about Adolf Hitler’s terrorism. Although
there are vast differences between the Nazi and the ISIL threats, they have one
vital factor in common: a socio/political structure or, if you prefer, anatomy.
Both
movements were born out of the anguishes of history. As I see it, the Nazi leaders
of yesteryear and those who now seek to establish an Islamic Caliphate perhaps
harbor more resentment than they do ambition. Note that leaders of democratic
or republican movements by contrast are more likely to possess pretty equal amounts
of ambition and enlightened idealism.
Fortunately, Adolf Hitler’s vile empire was led by a group of men whose
only strength lay in their ability to run a bigoted police state. Eventually, its leadership either committed
suicide or went on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The
trial of the top living Nazi leadership held at Nuremberg, Germany opened on
Tuesday, November 20th, 1945 and lasted through Tuesday, October 1st, 1946. One
of the most revealing books written on the trial is entitled “Nuremberg Diary”
and it is authored by Dr. G. M. Gilbert.
It’s a fascinating look into the temperaments and attitudes of the
twenty-one men on trial for their lives.
Dr. Gilbert, an American-born German-speaking psychologist, was with the
defendants from the time of their indictment through the sentencing and
executions of eleven of the men. For approximately a year, Dr. Gilbert observed
as these 21 men answered for their alleged crimes. They included:
Hermann
Goering - Reichsmarschall Luftwaffe-Chief, president of the Reichstag and
second in command of the Third Reich
Rudolf
Hess - Deputy of the Nazi Party
Joachim
von Ribbentrop — German Foreign Minister
Ernst
Kaltenbrunner - Chief of German Intelligence Operations
Hans
Frank - Hitler’s personal lawyer and Governor-General of Poland
Wilhelm
Frick - Interior Minister
Alfred
Rosenberg - Chief Nazi philosopher and Reich Minister for the Eastern-occupied
territories
Fritz
Sauckel - Chief of Slave Labor Recruitment
Albert
Speer - once Hitler’s personal architect and, later, Reich Minister of
Armaments
Hjalmar
Schacht - Reichsbank President and Minister of Economics
Walter
Funk - who succeeded Schacht
Franz
von Papen - Reich Chancellor before Hitler and Vice Chancellor during the first
two years of the Third Reich
Baron
von Neurath - Hitler’s first Foreign Minister
Baldur
von Schirach - Hitler youth leader
Arthur
Seyss-Inquart - Austrian Chancellor and Reich Commissioner for the Netherlands
Julius
Streicher - Nazi Germany’s number One “Jew-baiter” and editor of Der Sturmer
Field-Marshal
Wilhelm Keitel - Chief of Staff of the High Command of the Wehrmacht
Alfred
Jodl - Chief of Operations of the High Command
Admiral
Karl Doenitz - Grand Admiral of the German Navy and Hitler’s successor
following his suicide
Hans
Fritzsche - Radio Propaganda Chief of Joseph Goebbels’ Propaganda Ministry Erich
Raeder - Commander of Germany’s U-boat squadron.
Some
of the factors that motivated these 21 defendants included the treatment of
Germany via the Treaty of Versailles ending World War I, fear of aggressive
Communism and, most notably, indoctrinated fear of Judaism. Driving personal
ambitions enhanced these fears and prejudices.
Hans
Frank, Hitler’s personal lawyer and Governor-General of Poland, eventually
converted to Catholicism. He told Dr. Gilbert that the trial was a “God-willed
world court” established to bring out the truth regarding the sins of the Third
Reich. To demonstrate his sincerity,
Frank turned over his 41-volume diary documenting his crimes against
humanity. “I had servants, possessions,
and power at age 30 that blinded my perceptions,” he asserted.
Albert
Speer, who had once been Hitler’s friend and architect before being appointed
Armaments and Munitions Minister in 1942, attempted to assassinate Hitler after
learning of Hitler’s willingness to destroy Germany if it couldn’t win the war.
Still,
many of the defendants, Frank included, found themselves drawn to Hitler as
they viewed him on film during the trial.
These Nazi gangsters earned their ultimate fate in large part due to the
blindness of the victors of World War I who sought to redress their grievances
in a revengeful spirit. Winston
Churchill once described Adolf Hitler as “the repository of past wrongs and
shame.”
As
I see it, the more we learn about the motives and personalities of past political
extremists, the better we will be prepared to overcome the threats of enemies
yet unborn. Recently I heard it observed
that as much as we learn from the legitimate testimony of the victims of crime,
we learn even more by taking into account the motives and circumstances of
those who act against us, not as a mitigating excuse for their deeds, but as
instructive causes for their actions.
That
is precisely why the motives and forces compelling yesterday’s enemies may be
among our best allies as we seek to master today’s conflicts.
RESPECTFULLY
SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY
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