Facing the Music
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Banned
June 10, 1990
Prachtallee, Welthauptstadt Germania, German Reich
30 year old Ernst Gellman was a man of two minds: one seeking to serve the Reich, the other seeking its end.
His teacher, his Hitler Youth commander, his parents, his training adviser, all told him that if he fought for the fatherland, and helped crush the Eastern Bolshevik unter-Russians, he and his comrades-in-arms could one day have the honor of marching down this very street, and be lauded and celebrated for contributing to the defense of the Fatherland.
Well, here he was, in World Capital marching down the Prachtallee, with thousands of his fellow soldiers [1], dressed in their finest uniforms, the Great Volkshalle just in the distance.
Despite everything, he still felt his childhood wonder and love of the Reich bubble back to the surface.
But then he remembered his wounded and maimed comrades being killed for "being useless", being barred from his dream of teaching because he lost ONE toe to a landmine (he was told his infirmity would badly influence the children) , those poor kinder-the Reich's best, the Party bastards would say-being gunned down for demanding of their fatherland more food...
He set his jaw and marched on with his fellow comrades, shouting "Freiheit!" They were like him, fellow soldiers who found out all they would get for their services for the pigs would fit into a small paper bag.
While most of them waved the red, white, and black tricolor of the old German Reich, he and several others held up a large banner, which read "We fought for you! Why do you fight us?" Gellman marched, knowing he and his comrades-in-arms would most likely be shot dead-if they were lucky. His leader told him that this was likely, but that their deaths would inspire other Germans to rebel against the crackpots posing as statesmen.
Funny, it appeared I merely chose another master to die for, Gellman thought to himself. And for promises that were even less certain. Even if the Reich falls, what will replace it?
But he knew for certain that he would no longer be a servant for the Reich.
In front of them, as expected, were members of a Hitler Youth brigade. Apparently the protests and wars had left the city shorthanded, so they send 17 year olds to fight grown men. But like him at that age, they probably knew how to shoot. When he saw behind them were SS soldiers-maniacs, he had no doubt what the children would do.
I once regarded these monsters as my protectors. These children will do the same.
But he had faced death once before, as did his other comrades, so he continued his march, ignoring the loudspeakers pleading-or perhaps warning- not to "betray their fatherland."
Transcript of NBC Nightly News with Reagan Broadcast, June 10, 1990
Ronald Reagan: Good evening. Protests have continued throughout Germany for the 20th day straight. This has been only the latest in a wave of unrest since the food riots in Konigsberg ended with a deadly massacre earlier this year. In all my years of reporting, I have not seen a level of discontent in the Reich since 1970. We now cut to Hunter Thompson in Germania, currently incognito.
Hunter?
(wonky shot of Hunter Thompson, who is pointing his mini-camera at himself, and towards protesting soldiers marching down the street)
Hunter Thompson: Hello Ron. This a protest unlike any other I've seen.
Ronald Reagan: How do you mean?
Hunter Thompson: These aren't unemployed workers or college students. These are soldiers, born and bred by the Nazi system. This means that discontent is even spreading through the army, the very bedrock of the Reich.
Ronald Reagan: Unbelievable.
Hunter Thompson: Yes well-oh God, several Hitler Youth soldiers have appeared on the scene, aligned with the SS. They are ordering the soldiers marching to disperse.
Ronald Reagan: Are they stopping.
Hunter Thompson: Looks like they are actually marching much more quickly.This like the Siberian Spring all over again.
Ronald Reagan: But these are Hitler Youth, so its likely they may be too influenced-
Hunter Thompson: No way. (The visual is cut, but screams can be still heard)
Ronald Reagan: (slightly alarmed) Hunter? Hunter?! (sounds and yelling in the distance) Ladies and gentlemen, we appear to have lost our visuals at the moment. Hunter, are you-
Hunter Thompson: Ron!
Ronald Reagan: Hunter what is happening.
Hunter Thompson: The Youth, they are not firing. I think-I think they are dropping their guns. Some, some are turning their guns on the SS commanding them! I think we are seeing a mutiny breakout in the capital of the Reich itself!
********
In 1933, Adolf Hitler, an irate veteran of the First World War, exploited racial hatred, economic calamity, nationalist anger over military defeat, and upper class fear of communist takeover, to seize the machinery of the state, and guide the German nation according to his will.
The Fuhrer decided that in order to make Germany a strong world power, it required militaristic aggression and the removal of those considered to be toxic to what he deemed "True Aryans."
To that end, Hitler and his successors would attempt to build an empire that would rival and surpass all previous empires achieved in modern history. Like all empires, Nazi Germany would be build off numerous campaigns of war and death. In the latter, the Nazis were definitely unrivaled.
What made Nazi Germany truly horrifying was that, while most empires considered the atrocities they committed to be a means to an end, for the Nazis, mass death was THE end of itself.
Over six decades the Nazis would murder tens of millions of people by starvation, forced labor, or in killing factories, and wipe out entire nations and cultures. Those European nations not subjected to destruction would become vassals feeding Nazi greed and military aggression. Nations beyond their borders would still fall victim to Nazi terror.
The Nazis, arrogant in their own superiority ignored not just basic human morality, but basic history. For one of the lessons of history is that no nation built off of oppression, violence, and pride can ever last forever. In the last decade of the 20th century, Hitler's empire, like the ill-fated Weimar nation, would come crashing down in a wave of economic disaster, discontent, and military defeat.
The downfall of the Reich was perhaps a foregone conclusion, not because of the Revolutions of 1990, but as the embers of the Reichstag fire, along with the remaining democratic institutions of Weimar Germany, were snuffed out.
Excerpt from 1990: The Year That Changed The World, Francis Fukuyama, 2003
[1] According to Wikipedia, this was an intended use of the planned Nazi boulevard.
Prachtallee, Welthauptstadt Germania, German Reich
30 year old Ernst Gellman was a man of two minds: one seeking to serve the Reich, the other seeking its end.
His teacher, his Hitler Youth commander, his parents, his training adviser, all told him that if he fought for the fatherland, and helped crush the Eastern Bolshevik unter-Russians, he and his comrades-in-arms could one day have the honor of marching down this very street, and be lauded and celebrated for contributing to the defense of the Fatherland.
Well, here he was, in World Capital marching down the Prachtallee, with thousands of his fellow soldiers [1], dressed in their finest uniforms, the Great Volkshalle just in the distance.
Despite everything, he still felt his childhood wonder and love of the Reich bubble back to the surface.
But then he remembered his wounded and maimed comrades being killed for "being useless", being barred from his dream of teaching because he lost ONE toe to a landmine (he was told his infirmity would badly influence the children) , those poor kinder-the Reich's best, the Party bastards would say-being gunned down for demanding of their fatherland more food...
He set his jaw and marched on with his fellow comrades, shouting "Freiheit!" They were like him, fellow soldiers who found out all they would get for their services for the pigs would fit into a small paper bag.
While most of them waved the red, white, and black tricolor of the old German Reich, he and several others held up a large banner, which read "We fought for you! Why do you fight us?" Gellman marched, knowing he and his comrades-in-arms would most likely be shot dead-if they were lucky. His leader told him that this was likely, but that their deaths would inspire other Germans to rebel against the crackpots posing as statesmen.
Funny, it appeared I merely chose another master to die for, Gellman thought to himself. And for promises that were even less certain. Even if the Reich falls, what will replace it?
But he knew for certain that he would no longer be a servant for the Reich.
In front of them, as expected, were members of a Hitler Youth brigade. Apparently the protests and wars had left the city shorthanded, so they send 17 year olds to fight grown men. But like him at that age, they probably knew how to shoot. When he saw behind them were SS soldiers-maniacs, he had no doubt what the children would do.
I once regarded these monsters as my protectors. These children will do the same.
But he had faced death once before, as did his other comrades, so he continued his march, ignoring the loudspeakers pleading-or perhaps warning- not to "betray their fatherland."
Transcript of NBC Nightly News with Reagan Broadcast, June 10, 1990
Ronald Reagan: Good evening. Protests have continued throughout Germany for the 20th day straight. This has been only the latest in a wave of unrest since the food riots in Konigsberg ended with a deadly massacre earlier this year. In all my years of reporting, I have not seen a level of discontent in the Reich since 1970. We now cut to Hunter Thompson in Germania, currently incognito.
Hunter?
(wonky shot of Hunter Thompson, who is pointing his mini-camera at himself, and towards protesting soldiers marching down the street)
Hunter Thompson: Hello Ron. This a protest unlike any other I've seen.
Ronald Reagan: How do you mean?
Hunter Thompson: These aren't unemployed workers or college students. These are soldiers, born and bred by the Nazi system. This means that discontent is even spreading through the army, the very bedrock of the Reich.
Ronald Reagan: Unbelievable.
Hunter Thompson: Yes well-oh God, several Hitler Youth soldiers have appeared on the scene, aligned with the SS. They are ordering the soldiers marching to disperse.
Ronald Reagan: Are they stopping.
Hunter Thompson: Looks like they are actually marching much more quickly.This like the Siberian Spring all over again.
Ronald Reagan: But these are Hitler Youth, so its likely they may be too influenced-
Hunter Thompson: No way. (The visual is cut, but screams can be still heard)
Ronald Reagan: (slightly alarmed) Hunter? Hunter?! (sounds and yelling in the distance) Ladies and gentlemen, we appear to have lost our visuals at the moment. Hunter, are you-
Hunter Thompson: Ron!
Ronald Reagan: Hunter what is happening.
Hunter Thompson: The Youth, they are not firing. I think-I think they are dropping their guns. Some, some are turning their guns on the SS commanding them! I think we are seeing a mutiny breakout in the capital of the Reich itself!
********
In 1933, Adolf Hitler, an irate veteran of the First World War, exploited racial hatred, economic calamity, nationalist anger over military defeat, and upper class fear of communist takeover, to seize the machinery of the state, and guide the German nation according to his will.
The Fuhrer decided that in order to make Germany a strong world power, it required militaristic aggression and the removal of those considered to be toxic to what he deemed "True Aryans."
To that end, Hitler and his successors would attempt to build an empire that would rival and surpass all previous empires achieved in modern history. Like all empires, Nazi Germany would be build off numerous campaigns of war and death. In the latter, the Nazis were definitely unrivaled.
What made Nazi Germany truly horrifying was that, while most empires considered the atrocities they committed to be a means to an end, for the Nazis, mass death was THE end of itself.
Over six decades the Nazis would murder tens of millions of people by starvation, forced labor, or in killing factories, and wipe out entire nations and cultures. Those European nations not subjected to destruction would become vassals feeding Nazi greed and military aggression. Nations beyond their borders would still fall victim to Nazi terror.
The Nazis, arrogant in their own superiority ignored not just basic human morality, but basic history. For one of the lessons of history is that no nation built off of oppression, violence, and pride can ever last forever. In the last decade of the 20th century, Hitler's empire, like the ill-fated Weimar nation, would come crashing down in a wave of economic disaster, discontent, and military defeat.
The downfall of the Reich was perhaps a foregone conclusion, not because of the Revolutions of 1990, but as the embers of the Reichstag fire, along with the remaining democratic institutions of Weimar Germany, were snuffed out.
Excerpt from 1990: The Year That Changed The World, Francis Fukuyama, 2003
[1] According to Wikipedia, this was an intended use of the planned Nazi boulevard.
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