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Информация о материале
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Автор: Suzanne Fields
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Категория: english
Jewish World Review Sept.
7, 2006 / 14 Elul, 5766
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who likes historical analogies,
compares the appeasers of Germany in the run-up to World War II to his
critics who stubbornly refuse to see in full the terrorists who want to
destroy the civilized way of life, and us along with it.
The 1930s were "a time when a certain cynicism and moral confusion
set in among the Western democracies." Men and women who should have known
better refused to see what was writ large and plain before their eyes,
and what Winston Churchill meant when he said that accommodating Hitler
was "a bit like feeding a crocodile, hoping it would eat you last." The
analogy to modern appeasement is not exact, but the faint-hearted who demand
a quick withdrawal from Iraq are trying to appease a hungry crocodile.
The French, as the Germans of the Weimar Republic had before them, wore
blinkers looking at the crocodile. Those most blinded to the evil threat
of Hitler were exactly those with the most to lose.
Many intellectuals and Democratic politicians of our own time resemble
the Germans so soothed by rhetoric and intoxicated by the creativity of
the 1920s and early 1930s that they could not see how all they held dear
could be destroyed by Hitler. The Germans were afflicted with a terminal
naivete, confronting the emerging fascists in their country, just as many
Americans are confronting the "new fascism."
When Walter Rathenau, the Jewish foreign minister for the Weimar Republic,
was assassinated in 1922 by right-wing thugs, an outpouring of grief enveloped
one of the largest funerals in German memory. Thousands of fascists at
that very moment raised their beer mugs in celebration of his death. Those
in the liberal press of Weimar who called for stern measures against the
fascists conspiring against the republic were ignored or discounted as
unreasoning hysterics. The government did nothing to curb the anti-republican
forces in the judiciary, the police or the state bureaucracies; all would
contribute to the rise of Nazism.
When Hitler famously marched into Munich in 1923 with like-minded thugs
calling for the dissolution of the "criminal government" of Germany, the
minimum sentence for high treason was five years, the maximum, life. A
sympathetic judge saw that Hitler served less than a year. When "Mein Kampf"
was published in 1925, it was largely ignored, and the few who publicly
noted his plans for the Jews and the republic were largely ignored as well.
Not even the German Communists, who despised the fascists, deigned to unite
against him, calculating that he was a mere minor threat. They could wait
him out.
The Bush administration now concedes errors in Iraq, foremost among
them failure to understand the reluctance of so many Iraqis to support
a democratic government. While historical parallels are always imperfect,
it's fair to observe that the Germans who supported Weimar also failed
to understand how fragile their republican government could be. The Western
democracies were slow to perceive that, too.
Just as anti-Semitism was harnessed to bring down Weimar, hatred of
the Jews keeps trouble on the boil today in the Middle East. Anti-Semitism
is the refuge of cowards who are eager to exploit the appetite for hatred
of the Jews. Anti-Semitism in the '20s and '30s was respectable in Germany,
just as it is fashionable today among certain intellectuals and creative
artists, including some Jews. Describing the Israelis as the "new Nazis"
invites no outrage among certain bright young (and old) things who decry
bigotry in others.
Martin Heidegger, the German philosopher of the 1930s, complained about
the "Judaization" of the German university. He defended himself, saying
that he was no more anti-Semitic than many of his Jewish colleagues. It
was a glib observation not entirely wrong, but few took on Heidegger for
his outspoken anti-Semitism.
Noam Chomsky is widely respected today for his linguistic theories,
but he is willing to join forces with those who deny the Holocaust. He
wrote the foreword to the standard French-language textbook of Holocaust
denial. He praises "Jewish History, Jewish Religion," a book by Israel
Shalak, one of the most outspoken Jewish anti-Semites. Gore Vidal, who
insists he's not an anti-Semite, wrote the foreword for that one.
"The appearance of political anti-Semitism in the Arab and Muslim world
is of relatively recent date," writes Walter Laqueur in "The Changing Face
of Anti-Semitism." He observes how the Muslims who preach hatred of the
Jews have found friends in Europe: "Islamist anti-Semites have collaborated
with European anti-Semites of the left and with the neo-fascist anti-Semites
in convening various conferences, protest meetings, demonstrations and
declarations."
Those who assisted the Nazi rise to power held diverse views and were
motivated by different influences, both inside and outside Germany, and
the rest of the world recognized the peril of Nazism only slowly and reluctantly.
Islamo-fascism poses a similar danger for us now.
© 2006, Creators Syndicate, Suzanne Fields
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