From one who might also have become a lampshade, or a bar of soap, had Mr. Hitler not been stopped - and whose ancestral homeland of Galitzia, Ukraine was completely depopulated of my kind- I come away from my study of WWII with a different perspective on the "what ifs".

I think we learned nothing from WWII and that makes me very sad.

Hitler's method:

scapegoat the welfare recipient;
exacerbate fear and resentment of immigrants;
designate certain populations to have no civil rights - to be "non-persons";
establish geographical zones where detention facilities imprison "non-persons";
employ the national guard outside of their own regions, make them commit atrocities so that their spirits are broken;
control the media and the message;
intimidate the population with "with us or against us" slogans;
consolidate powers through "enabling act" legislation;
create ever new methods for the mass incineration of "undesireables"

Today, we are dealing with the "war on terror" where we citizens of the U.S. have been asked to condone the indefinite detention of "enemy combatants" in secret prisons - without trial - because their testimony in open court would reveal that their confessions were obtained under torture. It has already been revealed that the Bush administration was well aware that many of the people being held at Guantanamo Bay had absolutely nothing to do with the Taliban, Osama Bin Laden or any terrorist group whatsoever. They continued to hold them because they came from certain areas where we needed information they could provide. (This is according to former Secretary of State Colin Powell's ex-chief of staff, Colonel Larry Wilkinson.) For crying out loud (and I do) we detained and tortured a twelve year old boy at Guantanamo until he was released just last month.

I set about early in life trying to understand how it was that the Nazi's got away with what they got away with for as long as they did without people knowing about it. In the aftermath of the murders of September 11th, 2001, I understand exactly how they got away with it.

A look into the roots of Hitler's career will show who got rich off of supporting him early on - and who is still getting rich off the "never ending war." As they say, follow the money. For instance -check the U.S. Congressional record from 1942 and you will see that George W.Bush's grandfather - Prescott Bush - was censored for trading with the enemy(ie Hitler). It wasn't just the Bushes either. And it wasn't just here in the U.S. Check out the Congressional Record for May, 2001 and you will see the U.S. gave the Taliban $43 million dollars (this while they were blowing up ancient Buddhas and terrorizing women into Burkas). A daily check of the business page will show which folks are doing quite well profitting off of the privatization and machinery of war.

Seems to me the method is: identify the baddest guy on the block and make him "your guy". Build him up with weaponry until he gets too big for his britches then go back to your people and declare that Mr. Bad Guy is the devil (or the new Hitler). Disseminate disinformation through a cooperative (and corporately controlled) media. Bomb the heck out the infrastructure. Install a new regime. Rebuild the new infrastructure. Lots of money to be made all around.

Some folks marched in the 60's and then went their various ways feeling good about themselves for stopping the war. Problem is, the war never really stopped - it just changed fronts. Some of us kept marching: against the dirty proxy wars in Argentina and Chile...against U.S. support for the apartheid regime in South Africa...against the training of Central and Latin American death squads at Ft. Benning in Georgia (US), against the development of newer and more "useable" nuclear, biological and chemical weapons; and against the invasions of Grenada, Panama, Afghanistan and Iraq - we are still marching to this day.

It's been said before - it is still true. All that is necessary for evil to prevail is for good people to remain silent. I may not be able to stop a war by singing anti-war songs - but I can at least look at myself in the mirror and know that I am not cowered into silence. Silence is the voice of complicity. This little light of mine...I'm gonna let it shine!


In never ending hope and song,
Joyce Katzberg