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The entertainment
media have revived an interest in the evil of Adolph Hitler.
One question should be: who made this possible -- the loss
of 50 million lives! One man alone did not rise unaided to
that level.
The
old saying to the effect that evil will triumph, if good
persons simply do nothing about it, applies here as much as
in any such situation. It is so easy to point at the evil
and forget our own responsibility.
Adolph Hitler's original name, until his father was declared
legitimate, was Schickelgruber. This name was a joke to
both Germans and Austrians. No "Heil" would ever have
proceeded it. Then it should have been Hiedler, still
difficult to shout. That is a matter of fate that no one
could control. It was the mistake of one careless town
clerk.
However, other persons helped to form the real evil.
Parents, be careful! Hitler's dad, a civil servant, was
very abusive to him, because he dreamed to become an artist,
not another civil servant. Guide and help children follow
their own dreams!
Teachers, be careful! The teachers of the Linz High School
in Austria did not like Hitler and wanted him gotten rid of.
We must be careful of whom we rid,
lest they reappear in dangerous and perhaps evil roles! One
teacher did earn his respect: his social studies teacher,
who taught him all the lessons of pagan Germany and the
Teutonic Knights, who fought to conquer the Slavic peoples
to the East. After becoming Chancellor of Germany, Hitler
visited this old man alone for one hour. He emerged and told
his evil colleagues: "You will
never know the influence that old man had on my life".
Yes, we do now.
Because Hitler was thrown out without a diploma, he could
not enter the art university where he needed to study the
fine arts in which he had interest. Hitler could copy
exactly and perfectly any facade and then sell the
paintings on the streets of Vienna, but this was not his
goal. No student is dumb, and each student is the most
important person in the universe to a caring educator.
Hitler was thrown away -- be careful where such persons turn
up in the future!
Did
you know that when attending the Abbott (church) School,
Hitler wanted to become a priest? Where was his caring
mentor?
These were the early years, but "good" people continued to
do nothing. In 1933, both France and England had the power
to stop Hitler! Instead, a certain Chamberlain waved a paper
agreement and cried: "Peace in our time". The most
horrendous example of doing nothing occurred when Hitler
sent his "brown shirt" thugs throughout the streets of
Germany on "Crystal Night" to smash Jewish
store windows, beat Jews, and burn temples. Germans just
sat, sipped their tea, and listened to the crystal sounds of
breaking glass below! In a few years, there were no houses
left in which to sit!
And
their Jewish "friends" were in the ovens of Auschwitz.
Apparently, auld acquaintance can easily be "forgot"!
Then an evil and stupid Stalin signed a nonaggression treaty
??“ not worth its paper -- and Hitler attacked Poland in 1939.
WWII had begun, and no one could
now
stop the evil. No force on earth was at that time a match
for the German military. In 1941, Hitler sent three million
men and 10,000 armored vehicles to kill over 20 million
Russians. This became the greatest and longest
battle in history. In total, the world saw 50 million killed
by the Third Reich.
Yes, evil had arisen, but really whose evil was it? One
thing sure; it was not the evil of just one man alone. Let
the world remember. Let us remember!
?©
2003 Vance Agee |
