As a young child, I lived under both the Nazis and the communists. I learned much about this chapter of my life from my parents and my brother. My fellow Americans recoil, as they should, at the mention of Nazis.
What most Americans do not realize, is that Nazis were Socialists. Yes, they called themselves National Socialists. The word “Nazi” is derived from the German “Nationalistische Sozialistesche Partei”, (National Socialist Party). Americans also do not remember that Lenin called himself a Democratic Socialist.
Americans generally don’t know that Nazis, communists, and socialists use the same playbook. All three believe in a powerful government that controls their subjects’ lives. They practice censorship, do not allow free speech, and control the news. Sometimes the news is called state media. Sometimes it is corporate media, but the government controls what is reported.
Communists, socialists, and Nazis all believe in the government controlling industry and commercial businesses. The leadership firmly believes that the smart bureaucrats running the government know better how to run businesses than the owners of businesses. They think they even know how to run the corner coffee shop or your grocery store better. How does that work in the real world? An example from my homeland of Romania in the 1970s – My cousin, Diethard, started waiting in line at the local government-controlled grocery store at 5 AM to buy milk for his children. When it was time for him to go to work, as a teacher, his wife took his place in line. His children did not always get milk. There is a more recent example from socialist Venezuela. The average Venezuelan has lost 25 pounds because of food shortages. Since 2014, 6.8 million Venezuelans have fled the country of their birth, seeking a better life and the ability to feed their families.
We know Nazis practiced racism. A less provocative term for racism, is identity politics. Identity politics is the judging a person for their immutable characteristics, (race, ethnicity, background, color, et al) rather than their character. Identity politics is the opposite of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Dream, that people be judged for their character, and not the color of their skin. Identity politics is evil! It was the root of the genocide against the Jews.
My family and I were Transylvanian Saxons, an ethnic German minority, who had lived in Romania for hundreds of years. Thanks to having German genes, if we kept our mouth shut, we had nothing to fear from the Nazis. But woe to you if you were a Jew or a Slav.
In September 1944, Mom, my brother, and I fled our homeland, ahead of the advancing Russian army on a Red Cross train. Thanks to identity politics, the Nazi officer in charge of the train signed a pass giving us permission to board. The pass included the words, “Help these people along their journey. Treat them as if they were German.”
If you are comfortable with the identity politics trend in the US today, consider this. When my father was released from a Russian POW camp, he returned home to communist Romania. The new regime had changed the identity politics hierarchy. Those with German genes were now being schlepped off to slave labor camps. Dad didn’t become a slave laborer only because his Jewish friend, whom Dad had helped during the war, was now the communist police commissioner. He saved Dad at considerable risk to himself. My cousin Hanna wasn’t so lucky. At the age of 21, she was arrested in the middle of the night and sent to a slave labor camp, where she nearly died. Her crime? She had German genes! Remember, the identity politics hierarchy can change in an instant.
Shudder when someone mentions Nazism. Shudder also when someone mentions communism and socialism. Champion our constitution and bill of rights, it is the only way we can live free, prosper, and stay united. Champion Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Dream.
Written by Gerhard Maroscher, Circleville