The German Question, Part One Hundred Eleven

The Rise of Hitler and The Nazis" Part Two/B-1
"A Beer Hall in Munich; the Beer Hall Putsch"

For those interested in more detail, and the various participants, there are lots of books and articles about this famous attempt to bring Hitler to power. Here are just the basics:

Hitler had courted the support of General Erich Ludendorff, the former German military leader during the Great War (later called World War One), who was firmly positioned on the far right of the political spectrum. In November 1923, Hitler and the other Nazi leaders, along with Ludendorff, decided to overthrow the Bavarian state government, and thus begin a series of government takeovers that would culminate in the takeover of the national government in Berlin. The whole thing was patterned after Mussolini's "March on Rome," which had occurred about a year earlier.*

Hitler's Nazi Party was headquartered in Munich, where beer halls, large and small, were often used for political speeches and meetings. One of the larger beer halls was the "Bürgerbräukeller," which could accommodate several thousand people. In November 1923, one of the Bavarian state leaders was giving a speech at the beer hall in the evening. Hitler and his inner circle, along with several hundred armed Nazi Stormtroopers,** charged into the hall and proclaimed that a revolution had begun. The Bavarian police and the German army, in spite of Ludendorff, remained loyal to the government. Without the support of either, especially the army, the "Putsch" was doomed. The next day, in an effort to revive the "revolution," Ludendorff and perhaps as many as 2000 Nazis, including Hitler and the other leading Nazis, marched through Munich, where a group of soldiers and armed police blocked their passage. There was firing from both sides and sixteen Nazis lay dead or dying, as well as some soldiers and police. Hitler fled, but Ludendorff continued to march forward through the gunfire, as no one in the government forces chose to fire on the general. Hermann Göring was seriously wounded in the upper leg, but managed to escape.*** Hitler was later arrested and was put on trial for treason.

Next..."Trial and Punishment Brings Fame"

* Thousands of Mussolini's Fascists, in an effort to show their strength, converged upon Rome from all over Italy during about a one week period in October 1922. At the end of the one week, the King of Italy, fearful of a bloody civil war, asked that Mussolini form a new government. The King, Vittorio Emanuele III (Victor Emmanuel), was the head of state, and remained as such, although docilely, throughout Mussolini's more than 20 years in power. It was only Italy's miserable performance in World War Two and war weariness by the Italian public that finally moved him to action, and he eventually dismissed Mussolini in late July 1943.

** The Nazi paramilitary force was called the "Sturmabteilung," or "SA," for short. Like its close relative, English "storm," German "Sturm" also means "storm in the sense of  'assault,' " besides the violent weather event. "Abteilung," in the military sense means "detachment," and depending upon usage, even "battalion." The SA is usually referred to as "Storm Troopers" in English, and even "Brownshirts," after their brown uniform apparel.

*** Göring's treatment with morphine for the severe pain led him on an intermittent, but life long, dependence on the drug.

WORD HISTORY:
Putsch-It is used in English primarily in reference to Hitler's failed "Putsch" in Munich. It is another word for "coup;" that is, an attempt to overthrow a government. It goes back to the 1400s and Swiss German dialect "bütsch" or "pütsch," which meant "hit, shove," and it seems to just have developed as an imitative word. That means humans try to put certain sounds or actions into words. "Crash" may well be one of those words, too. The dialect word spread throughout German, but without the umlaut; that is, the two little dots over the "u." It came into use in English during the 1920s, but gained usage later, as stories and articles about Hitler were common place during and since World War Two.

The German Question, Part One Hundred Ten

The Rise of Hitler and The Nazis" Part Two/B-1
"Hitler & The Nazis March Toward Power"

Benito Mussolini is important to Hitler's rise simply because his Italian Fascist Party, which was very similar to the German Nazi Party, came to power in Italy in the early 1920s. Mussolini had been a member of the Socialist Party earlier in his life, but he began to alter his thinking on socialist concepts, moving toward a more "collectivist" idea of people from all walks of life having to join together for the good of the "state;" that is, the nation. So, nationalism trumps individual rights and self interest. In the post-World War One era, this basic concept was a growing view among many people in various parts of the world. The Bolshevik take over in Russia sent shock waves throughout Europe. Similar communist movements quickly developed in many countries, including Italy and Germany, scaring the absolute hell out of the upper classes, industrialists, and many middle class people. In those times, many of these people were willing to accept left-leaning programs to keep far more radical ideas from taking hold, especially things like confiscation of private property and major forced restructuring of societal wealth. In Italy, Mussolini and his paramilitary forces came to be seen by middle and upper class people as their defenders against the Communists, even though there were socialist-like elements in their program. These ideas and the appeal to Italian nationalism brought many working class and lower class people into the fold, as nationalism trumped self-interest.*

In Germany, the Nazi Party gained ground with the upper classes and business people, who also began to see the Nazis as a counter-balance to the communists. Gradually these people began to give money to the Nazis. This helped Hitler to promote the movement, and also to take on even more paramilitary forces to combat German Communist Party paramilitaries in the streets of German cities. Nazi leaders, like Hermann Göring, only reinforced the notion to middle and upper class people that the Nazis were a party of heroes who would stand up to the Communists.** This notion would only grow stronger.

Next..."A Beer Hall in Munich; the Beer Hall Putsch"

*Once in power, Mussolini naturally began to implement policies according to his beliefs, implementing "corporatism," as it was called, but it is a subject beyond these articles. The main thing to remember is, Italian fascism did provide a certain blueprint for fascist groups in other countries, including Germany and Austria, where a Nazi movement also took hold. ("Corporatism" was/is the collective organization of segments of society that are then "managed" by the state.)  

**Göring was a genuine hero as a pilot in World War One. He was highly decorated, and in fact, he became the commander of the same unit of the famous Baron von Richthofen, popularly known as "The Red Baron" ("der Rote Baron," in German), not long after the Baron's death. His name was quite familiar to the German public. There's no question that Göring's joining the Nazi Party gave it a certain credibility.

WORD HISTORY:
Marshal (mare + shalk) Part Two-The word "shalk," obviously not a word in common modern English usage, goes back to Old Germanic "skalkaz," which meant "servant." Indo European likely provided the root for this word, but what that root was, I do not know. The Old Germanic form gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "scealc," also meaning "servant," and which later became "shalk." Now, some people believe Germanic already had the compound which has become modern "marshal," which is simply the combination of "mare" + "shalk;" and which originally meant "a servant who tended horses, a groom." It "seems," however, that while English had the two component words, it hadn't put them together into a word. If there was such an Old English word, it apparently died out. Meanwhile on the Continent, Old High German had put the two words together as "marahscale," with the general meaning of "servant who tended horses," and this is one of the reasons some believe Germanic already had the compound, BUT Old High German essentially developed AFTER the dialects that became English had left the mainland. Old Saxon, very closely related to Old English,  also had a compound, "marahscalc." Old Saxon was the Germanic dialect of the Saxons who remained in what is now northern Germany, after a large number of their kin migrated to Britain and helped to found England. Most believe "marshal" came to English via the French dialect brought to England by the Normans when they invaded, and then ruled, England, which had "marescal." This dialect had gotten the word from Old French, "marescal," which had inherited the basic word from Latin "mariscalus," which had borrowed the word from Frankish (a Germanic dialect) "mahrskalk/marhskalk." It had come to mean more than just "horse servant" in Latin and its offspring Old French. Horses were extremely important, and the word came to be applied to a man "in charge" of horse care; a "commander" of sorts. This eventually came to be extended to also mean "a military commander," a meaning also carried to England by the Normans. The word begins to show up in English in the 1200s. Of course later on, it came to be used as "field marshal," and, especially in America, as "a leading law enforcement officer." The word also gained a verb form in the 1500s, as in "we will marshal our forces;" that is, "our forces will be commanded to a particular location and be readied for battle."

The German Question, Part One Hundred Nine

"The Rise of Hitler and The Nazis" Part Two/A
"Hitler The Political Upstart"

The leadership of the German Workers Party liked Hitler and he quickly became one of its leaders. A few months later the name of the party was changed to the "National Socialist German Workers Party" (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei) in hopes of attracting more members. The party tended to meet in beer halls in the Munich area, and Hitler began giving speeches at these meetings; something at which he excelled, and he eventually became the major speaker for the party at events. The Treaty of Versailles, highly unpopular in Germany, gave Hitler and the party new material to use against political opponents, and use it they did. Membership increased. By October 1922, Benito Mussolini became premier of Italy. Mussolini's Italian Fascist Party was strikingly similar to the now developing Nazi Party of Germany.* This gave Hitler and the Nazis hope that they too could come to power in Germany. The reparation payments and the subsequent occupation of the German industrial region of the Ruhr** gave more ammunition to right wing extremism in Germany, and the Nazi membership continued to climb, escalating from its few dozen early on, to perhaps somewhere between fifteen and twenty thousand, but still far from one of the major political parties.

Next..."Hitler & The Nazis March Toward Power"

* Nazi is simply an abbreviation of the "Nationalsozialistische" part of the party name, and the common terminology called members either "National Socialists," or "Nazis," as spitting out the whole party name every time could take the better part of an hour.

** For more on the Ruhr occupation, see:

http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2011/05/german-question-part-ninety-nine.html

and

http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2011/05/german-question-part-one-hundred.html

 

WORD HISTORY:
Marshal (mare + shalk)-This word's meaning has changed considerably over the years, making it very interesting, and many of you will be surprised. It is a compound, so I'll deal with its two parts separately. The first part, "mar," is actually "mare," which seems to trace back to Indo European "markh(o)," although some sources believe it may have been borrowed into Indo European, or at least some dialects, from Asiatic languages, but its basic meaning was simply "horse," and was not gender specific; however, Old Germanic had "markaz," which meant "female horse." The Germanic dialects that became Old English gave Old English "miere," also "female horse," but interestingly the variant "mearh" meant "male horse." Later the word was altered to mare/mere," before settling on "mare." There are forms in other Germanic languages, and secondary meanings developed, often in derogatory form about "women," at times replacing the original meaning of "female horse." German has "Mähre," which is now archaic for "mare, female horse," having been replaced in modern times by "Stute." The German term came to be used for "old horse," as a secondary meaning, which then came to be applied, "unflatteringly," to older women. Low German Saxon has "Mähr," and it now means "an old horse." West Frisian has "merje," meaning "mare." Danish has "mær," which lost the "female horse" meaning, but not the "female" aspect, as it means "a loose woman, " and also "a woman difficult to get along with." Dutch has "merrie, "= "mare." Swedish has "märr"="mare." Icelandic has "meri"="mare." Norwegian has "merr"="mare," but also used in a vulgar way toward women.
The second part, "shal," in the next article.

The German Question, Part One Hundred Eight

"The Rise of Hitler and The Nazis" Part One/E
"Hitler Finds a Political Party"

A number of groups and parties of many political persuasions arose with the defeat of the Kaiser's Germany, and with the change to a far more democratic form of governance. One of these parties began in Munich after the war and was called the German Workers Party (German: Deutsche Arbeiterpartei). It was a right wing party favoring strong German nationalism and "pan-Germanism,* as well as those who believed in the "stab in the back"** stories then circulating around the country. The "worker" part of the party name gave it a "socialist" tilt, mainly anti-capitalist, but also anti-Bolshevik. There were also anti-Jewish feelings espoused, as Jews were not seen as Germans by at least some elements of society. Apparently the party membership was quite small, perhaps fifty or less.

Hitler returned to Munich and chose to remain in the army after the war, as this was before the Versailles Treaty limited the size of German military forces. Hitler was part of a special unit of the army which quite literally spied on political groups. He was eventually sent to "spy" on the German Workers Party. He liked what he saw and heard, so he left the army and joined this new political party.

Next...."Hitler the Political Upstart"

* Pan Germanism supporters essentially wanted ALL Germans, regardless of their present country, to be united into one strong nation. It was an idea very much promoted by Hitler and the Nazis later on.

** The "stab in the back" legend, as it is usually called, was promoted by right wing army officers and politicians who claimed Germany had not been defeated on the battlefield, but had been "stabbed in the back" by socialist, Bolshevik, and Jewish led protests at home. It was all a bunch of absolute nonsense, but it played well with many Germans who were in denial about the country's defeat and who were devastated by the consequences of losing the war. Don't forget, whether you like the recent American health care reform or not, the charge of "death panels to kill Granny" was totally absurd, but a fairly substantial minority of Americans believed it, too. Like insurance companies don't make decisions every day affecting the life or death of Americans. If the Republicans get their way, and Medicare is essentially turned over to private insurance companies, talk about "death panels for Granny!" All part of what I call "the dumbing down of America." (10-8-22 note: This was written in 2011, when the health care law was still a hot issue.)

WORD HISTORY:
Dagger-The origins of this word are uncertain, but I'll take a "stab" at it. Much of the history of this word is so uncertain or speculative, I will be using words like "seems," "apparently," and "perhaps" in many instances. The beginning documentation on this word only goes back to just before 1300, but it "seems" Latin had "daca," with a long "a," a form of knife or short sword used in what is now essentially modern Rumania, but then called "Dacia," after the Dacians, whose language was Indo European (as is English). Linguists and historians speculate that the Dacian language died out in the 500s or 600s A.D. Exactly where the term "Dacian" comes from is not clear. Did the term for the knife transfer to the people who used it?^ Or did the name of the people already exist and the knife took the name from them? Some linguists believe the term (for the knife) may be of Celtic origin (Celtic is also Indo European), and the Celtic tribes were spread over a large portion of Europe at one time, including in that northern area of the Balkans; that is, southeastern Europe. Or did the Celts name the "Dacians?" While the Latin connection is somewhat shaky, it does come onto firmer ground as Latin's descendants had similar words: Old French, a Latin-based language, had "dague" and "daguard," and Old Italian had "daga." Apparently it was borrowed into some Germanic dialects from French in the late 1300s, as the English of those times had "daggere," German had "Degen," Dutch "dagge" and modern Dutch "degen," etc. The German and Dutch terms mean "light sword." Modern Welsh, a Celtic language has "dagr," but that could be a borrowing from English. There was also in Middle English a verb "dag," which meant "to stab, to skewer," and apparently this came from the noun, and was an English creation. German and some other Germanic languages, but obviously not English, use a form of Slavic "tulich" as their word for "dagger." This borrowing from Slavic gave German "Dolch," some Low German dialects have "Dorjch," and Dutch, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian all have "dolk."

^ While not everyone agrees, some believe the name of the Saxons came from the name of the ax they used.

The German Question, Part One Hundred Seven

"The Rise of Hitler and The Nazis" Part One/D
"Hitler in the Great War"

What later came to be called "World War One" was originally called "The Great War;" and that terminology may be somewhat unfamiliar to some.

Just a further note here, Hitler is a sensitive subject. He causes extreme emotional feelings in many people. For those who suffered under him, or those who are descendants of such, this is more than a little understandable, and the dwindling number of survivors of his crimes have been scarred by Hitler throughout their lives, some literally carrying physical scars, as well as the emotional. Unfortunately, there are those, hopefully few (one is too many), misguided individuals who are stirred by Hitler the other way, and who admire him. Some people try to paint everything he did in his life as nefarious, but I do not agree with that. In fact, I find it dangerous, because some of these extreme right wing groups, militias and haters who idolize Hitler, then can make claims that people "are making things up" to "smear" him (it's pretty tough to "smear" a son-of-a-bitch), and the "conspiracy theories" abound in the troubled minds of these people. While it makes most of us uncomfortable to think of this, Hitler was part of the "human race." Just because he showed some "good" characteristics at times (like his love of his mother and dogs), doesn't make him any less of a son-of-a-bitch overall. Hitler's rule and his actions and orders (many thoroughly documented) are quite sufficient to make him one of the most evil people in all of history, if not THE most evil, especially since it was done in modern times when people should have known better; obviously, at least in theory. Trust me, most people "get it." Just because he hugged his dog and carried his mother's picture throughout his life should not make anyone fear that others might believe he was a good person. Anyone who likes him for these reasons is simply looking for a reason to like him. I hope readers understand where I'm coming from.

Hitler served as a dispatch runner in a Bavarian infantry regiment during the war. In those times  communications between various units was frequently done by runners, who literally ran, or who used bicycles. Even in later decades there were "messengers" (motor cycles were then often used, but not exclusively) used to communicate between units to prevent interception of radio or telephone messages, or for when such communications were disrupted for some reason, like air or artillery strikes, for instance. During the course of the war, and Hitler served from early on in the war in 1914 until the end in 1918, and then remained in the army immediately after the war (more on that in the next article), Hitler was decorated with the Iron Cross, Second Class in 1914 and then the Iron Cross, First Class in 1918. While in the war for four years, and with heavy casualties among all ranks, Hitler strangely only rose to the rank of corporal (German: "Gefreiter"). He was wounded in the upper leg in 1916 and was out of action for several months. In what proved to be the final weeks of the war, Hitler was temporarily blinded during a gas attack (gas was much used during the war). He spent those final weeks of the war in a military hospital, and it was there that he learned of the armistice, which in reality meant that Germany had lost the war. He was despondent, but then, so were many Germans.

Next..."Hitler Finds a Political Party"

WORD HISTORY:
Film-This word, related to pelt and fell (the now little used noun meaning "pelt" and "membrane"^), goes back to the Indo European root "pello," meaning "skin," which gave Old Germanic "fellam," meaning "skin, or furry skin from an animal," but also a secondary meaning of "membrane on skin." From this, it seems Old Germanic then developed a separate word, "filminjan," to specifically designate "membrane." This then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "filmen," "a membrane." This then later became "filme," and then the modern spelling. The basic meaning of "membrane" then began to be applied to "membrane-like, or thin skin-like coating on an object." When photography was "developing" (I couldn't resist that) in the mid 1800s, the term "film" came to be used for the thin coating of chemical spread on the plates. The word then added the additional meaning to the actual negative. When moving pictures came into being, the word came along from basic photography usage, eventually coming to mean the result of the whole process, "a film;" that is, "a movie." The verb was derived from the noun, but "to film" originally meant "to spread a thin coating on an object," and only later it came to mean "make a movie, take pictures."

^ I say "little used," but it could still be used in some local dialect(s) in England, where words not commonly used in every day English are more likely to still be in use, as opposed to such usage in North America.

The German Question, Part One Hundred Six

"The Rise of Hitler and The Nazis" Part One/C
"Hitler, Munich & the Great War"

A bit more about Hitler's developing anti-Jewish feelings;* it "seems" that these feelings were not pathological while he was in Vienna, as many Jewish shopkeepers handled his paintings in their stores. Of course, he could have been like some of the egomaniacs unleashed upon us in more recent times through incessant deregulation; "I may hate you, but if you offer me money, I don't hate you that much. Mo' money! Mo' money! Mo' money!" Further, "supposedly" Hitler had some Jewish acquaintances, including a young lady he "liked" very much. Could Hitler have been rejected by this young lady or her family, "perhaps" for religious reasons, causing a resentment that festered into hatred? Over the years, I've read so many books and articles about Hitler, it is difficult to recollect the sources of some of these "stories;" that is, how reputable the sources were, but I also remember there have been various stories about Hitler and Jewish friends, including, if I remember correctly, his mother's doctor; the officer, Hugo Gutmann, who recommended the Iron Cross for Hitler in World War One;** Erhard Milch, a field marshal in the Luftwaffe (air force) during World War Two. I'm sure there were others, but this one is in my mind, and I can't remember the source, or even the exact story, so please keep that in mind. The story went something like this: There was a Jewish businessman who helped Hitler out financially during his days in Vienna. When Austria became part of Germany in 1938, and the Nazis began to keep tabs on all Jews there, the man contacted Hitler, who told him to leave Germany for his own safety, so the man went over the not too distant border into Czechoslovakia. A year later Hitler sent German troops into what was left of Czechoslovakia (an explanation will be forthcoming in a future part of this series). When Hitler visited Prague, the man turned up again seeking Hitler's protection. Hitler told him to leave the country, but not to go to Poland. The idea here was, Hitler already had plans to go into Poland in the near future. Whether I have the story completely correct is one thing, but also whether the basic story is even true is subject to question.***

Being a citizen of Austria-Hungary meant Hitler was subject to military registration and potential call-up for duty. Hitler was a "German nationalist," not an "Austro-Hungarian nationalist," and it seems the idea of serving in the Austro-Hungarian military was not something to his liking, and he evaded the authorities for quite some time. There are disagreements about when Hitler went to Munich ("München", in German), especially either 1913 or 1911, and I'm not currently aware if they have ever been resolved through true documentation. Hitler's statements and writings have to be considered suspect, as by that time he was in politics, and the idea that he evaded military service (even though in Austria-Hungary) could have given opponents a major issue. As I mentioned in the previous article, I seriously doubt whether the border between Germany and Austria was under strict control, with only customs duties being the main goal for both countries, not necessarily why people went to one country from another, or even back and forth. At some point, Hitler was given over to the Austrian authorities (remember, Germany and Austria were close allies, besides their historical ties) and he was deemed "unfit" for military service. Since this was pre-war, standards were likely more rigid; thus even minor physical problems could have kept Hitler out of service (during wartime, standards are more relaxed, as more personnel were required). Hitler returned to Munich.

Upon the outbreak of what is now called World War One, Hitler is seen among the crowd in a photograph in central Munich, as people celebrated the outbreak of war. I've seen moving picture film in television bios of Hitler, "supposedly" showing Hitler in the crowd, but I'm not sold on its being genuine. I don't know the source of the film, and I certainly could be wrong, but in the active crowd, pushing and cheering, Hitler is seen almost isolated and simply standing, pretty calmly. The film is also too distant to see Hitler up close, but it looks like a far later picture of him, in my opinion*** (same note as from above). Though legally a citizen of Austria-Hungary, Hitler was given permission by the Bavarian state government to join the Bavarian Army, which he did.**** Hitler was now part of the "German" military.

Next...."Hitler in the Great War"

* For more information on Hitler's ancestral background, see my article, "Hitler the Jew?," at this link: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2010/10/hitler-jew.html

** For the basic story about Gutmann and Hitler, see my article, "Part 80," of this series at this link: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2011/02/german-question-part-eighty.html

*** If anyone knows more details about this, or about the moving picture film, I hope you will share the info with us here in the comments section, which is free.

**** In the Germany of those times, the individual states were still ruled by nobles; in the case of Bavaria, by a king. These states had their own armies which made up individual parts of the overall German military, which was dominated by the state of Prussia, whose king was simultaneously Kaiser (Emperor) of Germany. The German officer corps was also heavily dominated by the nobility of various ranks, and one had to almost always be from the nobility to become a high ranking officer.

WORD HISTORY:
Pelt/Fell-This is the noun "detached skin with fur from an animal." This goes back to Indo European "pell(o)," which meant "skin." This then gave Latin "pellis," which meant "skin or hide." In Old French (a Latin-based language) this became "pel," and simply meant "one/a skin." The related French word "peltry" meant "skins" in general. This seems to be the source of English "pelt," and it may not have been acquired by English until the 1300s or even 1400s. Now, while archaic, English still has the little used word "fell," its own word, and it means "skin of an animal," but it also had a secondary and associated meaning, "the membrane on the underside of an animal's skin," which gave English "film" (this will be the word for the next article). "Fell" goes back to the same Indo European root for "pelt," "pello," and this then gave Old Germanic "fellam," "skin, or furry skin from an animal." The "p" sound became "f" in Germanic. This then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "fell," which has since remained unchanged, although this noun for a fur-covered animal hide is archaic. Its forms are pretty common in the other Germanic languages: German "Fell" (German nouns are capitalized), meaning "pelt, fur, skin;" Dutch and some Low German dialects have "vel;" West Frisian "fel;" Swedish has "fäll." While I'm not certain of this, apparently any similar forms in Danish, Norwegian and Icelandic have died out, as I could not find them.

The German Question, Part One Hundred Five

"The Rise of Hitler and The Nazis" Part One/B
"Hitler in Linz & Vienna"

This is by no means meant to be a comprehensive bio of Hitler. There are countless books and articles on his life and documentaries are still most likely available on DVD.

Hitler had a contentious relationship with his stern father, Alois, who died when Hitler was thirteen. Hitler had aspirations for becoming an artist, and he later went to Vienna where he was rejected for art school. He then turned to architecture, but a troubled childhood left him without a graduation certificate (the American equivalent of a "high school diploma"),* which he needed to be admitted to school. He did some paintings in Vienna which he then sold to earn something of a living. It seems he may well have had help from family members, something he certainly kept quiet about later on when he was rising in politics. His mother, Klara, died from breast cancer in the city of Linz when Hitler was eighteen.** He eventually lived in a shelter for homeless men in Vienna.

Vienna was a very cosmopolitan city. The former capital of the Old German Empire remained as the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, often simply called "Austria-Hungary." Included in the city's people of diverse backgrounds were a fairly large number of Jews, many of whom were refugees from Russia, including the Russian part of Poland. Many were poor and others stood out in their strange (to Vienna) religious garb. Whether this was when Hitler acquired his hatred of Jews is uncertain, as some say it was earlier. The strong Catholicism of Austria certainly had to have made some earlier impression on his view of Jews, which may then have been hardened by his experiences in Vienna. Remember, it has only been in the last decade that the Vatican has reconciled to a fair degree with Judaism, softening its teachings about the other religion. Further, Hitler eventually read much of Luther's teachings. Luther was hateful of Jews, so some Protestant teachings aren't without guilt here too.

Hitler considered Linz to be his hometown for the rest of his life, just as he harbored a resentment for Vienna thereafter, too. His lack of "higher education" seems to have also fostered a resentment for those who had attended such institutions. He later lambasted his generals for having attended military academies, but that it was he who had conquered Europe, even though he hadn't been able to attend an academy. When no one dares to criticize you, you can get away with saying such things. 

Next, "Hitler, Munich & the Great War"

* Hitler's father was a civil servant, a customs official. He wanted Adolf to follow in his stead, but the boy wanted to pursue art and to attend a school where the arts were taught. His father forced him to go to another school and Hitler, by his own admission, deliberately neglected his school work in hopes that his poor marks would help to change his father's mind, but that did not happen, only embittering the boy even further. While I'm not a psychologist, there's no question that our childhoods have a big impact on what we become as adults. (Ah, pardon me for a second. "Hey, ya better not knock over my sand castle, ya moron!") Anyway, it makes me wonder if these sorts of things in Hitler's early life made him crave the power to make others do only what he wanted. The thing was, he did not always take responsibility for things that then went wrong; always blaming Jews, his generals, and finally the German people for HIS failures. Just a thought.

** After his father died, the family moved directly into Linz (they had lived nearby for some time), and Hitler considered Linz to be his hometown. Later in his life as the head of Germany, he dreamed of rebuilding Linz, and it became a bit of an obsession with him, even up to the closing days of the war.

WORD HISTORY:
Skin-This word goes back to Indo European "sken/skend," and carried the notion of "cut, peel, split." This gave Old Germanic "skinthan/skintha," which in turn gave Old Norse^ "skinn," which meant "animal skin or hide." The Old Norse speaking Danes^^ had a substantial presence in England, especially northeastern England, long ago, and Old English borrowed the word during the 1100s as "scinn," still with the "animal skin/hide" meaning. This eventually brought about a sort of flip-flop in meanings. English already had the old form of the word "hide" as the general word for "skin." The borrowed word "scinn" eventually lost, as its main meaning, "animal hide," and began to mean the more general "skin." The "animal skin" meaning then was left with "hide," although "hide" tends to be used more for large animals, and "skin" is still used for smaller animals. This all seems to have transpired by the 1300s/1400s. The spelling eventually became "skinn" before the modern spelling. The verb form, "(to) skin," developed from the noun circa 1400 (initially as 'skinnen?'). There are various forms in the other Germanic languages related to "skin," and the North Germanic languages still have the word, spelled "skinn" (although Danish has "skind"), again with the "animal hide" meaning, but I'm not certain if it is in common usage by many of them as much anymore. German has the verb "schinden" (once spelled 'skinten'), which means "to skin," but in more recent times it has taken on more figurative meanings, like "mistreatment,"^^^ Flemish, one of the major languages of Belgium, and now pretty much considered by linguists to be a dialect of Dutch, has "schinde," which means "tree bark," with the obvious connection being the "skin of a tree."

^ Old Norse is the old form of North Germanic, and didn't so much die out, as evolve into the various North Germanic languages (Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Icelandic, Faroese). The same is certainly true of Latin, which evolved into Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, etc.

^^ The English called them Danes, but they were both Dane and Norwegian.

^^^ Just as English has the expression, "skin someone alive," German too seems to have taken the idea of "skinning" to mean "mistreatment, torture."

The German Question, Part One Hundred Four

"The Rise of Hitler and The Nazis" Part One/A

The Nazi era is extremely important to the "German Question;" that is, "who is a German?" The importance certainly doesn't stop there, as this overall time period is one of the most important and tragic in all history. I've covered some aspects of the Weimar Republic, but I've chosen to cover the rise of Hitler and the Nazis as a separate part of this series, although readers should remember that the rise of the Nazis took place during the 1920s and early 1930s when the Weimar Republic was the governing system of Germany. I'll start with the very basics.

Adolf Hitler is so notorious, people the world over pretty much know who you are talking about if you mention either just his first name or certainly his family name. Hitler was born in 1889 in Braunau-am-Inn* (Braunau on the Inn [River]) in northwestern Austria. Now...I hope I've taught followers of this series that while Austria and Germany are now separate countries, they share a common history until fairly recent times, and that, in fact, Austria was the leading state of the Old German Empire, providing emperors ("Kaiser") for centuries. I've heard some Americans say things like, "If Hitler was born in Austria, why did he speak German?" Hellooooooooo!!!

Anyway, Braunau, during its history, was sometimes a part of Austria, and sometimes part of Bavaria (indeed, Bavaria/Germany lies right across the Inn River). It has been part of Austria since agreements made after the defeat of Napoleon in the second decade of the 1800s; thus Hitler, born in 1889, was an Austrian citizen, although at that time the overall nation was termed "Austria-Hungary." The family moved around during Hitler's childhood, even living on the German side of the border for a period.** The Hitler family was Roman Catholic, as were the overwhelming majority of Austrians and Bavarians, and the young Hitler sang in his church choir. Hitler did not get along with his father, but by all accounts he loved his mother, and he kept a picture of her with him throughout his life, even during the last days in his Berlin bunker in 1945.

* Pronounced like "brown-ow" (and indeed "braun" is the German word for "brown"), with the last part pronounced like the "ow" of "how."

** While I'm not certain of this, I would think the Austro-German border of those times, especially in that area, would not have been heavily guarded, and it must be remembered that many Austrians saw themselves as "Germans" too, in spite of the formal split in 1866. I would think the closer to the German border one would have gotten, the more "German nationalism" would have prevailed. Linguistically, the dialect is the same, "Bavarian," although since the end of World War Two, now often termed "Austro-Bavarian." Again, just a guess, but I seriously doubt there were any troops deployed on either side of the border, only customs officials, one of whom was Hitler's father, Alois. I have excerpted this, with some limited editing, from this series, "Part 86:"
"With the end of the war (World War One), Austria was again....Austria; not Austria-Hungary, not the Austro-Hungarian Empire, nor the Austrian Empire; just plain old Austria, well... not "plain old," rather "The Republic of German Austria." With the various ethnic and nationality groups gone their own ways, the German population remained in the territory which once dominated German affairs and produced German Kaisers (emperors) for centuries. The new entity took the name "The Republic of German Austria." The boundaries were not the same as today, although the core area was the same.... "German Austria" chose to be part of "the German Republic;" that is, the new German government established at the end of the war and known more so in the public mind as "the Weimar Republic".... To confirm the decision made by Austria's new representatives, a series of plebiscites, more commonly called referendums in the United States, were to be held throughout "the Republic of German Austria." Early regional referendums showed overwhelming support for unification with Germany, with 98% to 99% voting for the proposal (much of the early voting was in western Austria)."

WORD HISTORY:
Hide-This is the verb form, meaning "to conceal” (the noun form was covered in the previous article in this series). As with the noun, meaning "skin," the verb traces back to Indo European "(s)keut," with the basic notion of "cover, covering." This gave Old Germanic the verb form "hudjanan, with the "u" being pronounced "long," and this seems to have become just "hudjan" in the West Germanic version (English is a West Germanic language). This gave Old English "hydan," with the general meaning "to conceal," but with the interesting secondary meanings, "bury a dead person," and also "to preserve." (Remember, the general meaning goes back to "cover," and thus the "burying" part becomes more obvious. Further, if you cover something, you hope to "preserve" it by protecting it.) Later it was spelled "hiden," before the modern spelling. Low German has both "hūden" and "verhüden" (to hide, conceal), but apparently verb forms in the other Germanic languages have died out.

The German Question, Part One Hundred Three

"Germany's Weimar Republic" Part Six
"The Great Depression Shakes The Republic"

The Weimar Republic essentially stabilized for a period during the mid to late 1920s and it looked as if democracy would firmly take root in former authoritarian Germany, which was granted admission into the "League of Nations" in September 1926,*/** and German prestige was on the rise. Germany and the Soviet Union signed a treaty ("Treaty of Rapallo," named for the Italian city where it was signed) in 1922. The treaty had several clauses and it provided for extensive trade between the two nations. The "public" aspects of the treaty appeared to be relatively benign, but a secret agreement permitted the Germans to test new military technology (which was forbidden by the Versailles Treaty) in the Soviet Union.

The Wall Street Crash and the beginning of the Great Depression led to the beginning of the end for the German Republic. While the political right had scorned the Republic from its inception, linking the democratic government to the far left, this was untrue. The German government was certainly left-leaning, but it also was just as certainly not connected with the far left. In fact, when far leftist elements led rebellions in various parts of Germany during the 1920s, the government actually used right wing militias to help quell the disturbances. So much for the government being connected to the far left, but that didn't stop the right wing from the same accusations all the same. The problem was, by relying upon these right wing groups, the government only gave such groups credibility, and these groups were NOT democratic, nor did they fight the communists to save the republic. They fought to keep the communists out of power, with the hope of gaining power for themselves eventually. It was a pretty strange relationship to say the least.

The electorate was fractured, as a multitude of political parties appeared on the ballots, and delegates to the Reichstag (parliament) were apportioned by percentage of the vote; thus making majority rule almost impossible. The moderate Social Democrats continued as Germany's largest political party, but as the economy tumbled, so did the vote for moderation. The communists on the left and the National Socialists (Nazis) on the right began to garner increasing shares of the vote in regional and national elections. The Nazis, led by the man with the funny looking, Charlie Chaplin-like mustache, were suddenly becoming a political party to be reckoned with.

Next...."The Rise of Hitler and The Nazis"

* The League of Nations was the forerunner of the United Nations.

** Since Austria will be re-emerging as a part of this series, it should be noted that Austria joined the League of Nations in 1920.

WORD HISTORY:
Hide-This is the noun now meaning "skin of an animal," although it is also related to "hide," the verb, meaning "to conceal." These words are related to a number of other English words,^ as well as to words in the other Germanic languages. (I plan to do the verb form in the next article.) The word goes back to Indo Eurpean "(s)keut." which had the notion of "cover, covering." This gave Old Germanic "hudiz," which meant "skin, hide," which then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "hyd," which meant "skin." Later it came to be spelled "hide" and it also took on the more specific meaning "animal skin." Quite common in the other Germanic languages as the general term for "skin" (although some Low German dialects use a form of "pelt" for "skin"): German has "Haut," pronounced "how-t," from Old High German "hut," with a long "u;" some Low German dialects have "Hüt;" West Frisian has "hud;" Dutch has "huid;" Norwegian, Swedish and Danish all have "hud;" and Icelandic has "húð," which is much like "huth."

^ "Hide" is related to "hoard" (noun and verb) and to "hose," words from the Germanic roots of English.

"What's Happening," Raj, Rerun, Dwayne & Dee

This was first published in June of 2011, but I updated and edited it, with some additions, May 2016.

A Favorite Television Show of the Past, "What's Happening"

Some of you may remember the television comedy "What's Happening," which ran from the mid until the late 1970s on ABC. It was a favorite of mine. Just a refresher for those who remember the show, or a basic overview for those who aren't familiar with "What's Happening." The sitcom was set in Los Angeles and involved three black teenage guys: Raj, played by Ernest Thomas; Rerun,* played by Fred Berry; and Dwayne, played by Haywood Nelson; plus Raj's sister, Dee, played by Danielle Spencer; and Raj's and Dee's mother, Mabel, played by actress Mabel King, who did not stay with the show for the final season. There was also Shirley, played by Shirley Hemphill, the outspoken and tough waitress at the local soda shop, where the guys liked to hang out.

During the first season, the show had what I think was the funniest episode of all. It involved a misunderstanding, as Raj, who was a very good student, was tutoring a girl who was having difficulties passing her classes. In exchange, if the girl passed, she would give Raj a valuable breed of puppy, as her dog was near to giving birth. The boys decided they would raise the dog and then sell its offspring, perhaps even making it into a business. There were only two things: first, Raj's mother had never allowed him to have a dog, so he didn't know how to bring up the subject; second, Dee overheard the boys talking about "a baby," and "pregnant," and she thought Raj had been teaching the girl more than math and American history, if you get my drift. It all set off an absolutely hysterically funny segment. One of the highlights of the series was in the second season when the Doobie Brothers appeared in a two part episode for a rock concert.

In the final season for the show, Raj and Rerun shared an apartment, both having graduated from high school. In one episode, Rerun got a credit card, which then brought him several more cards from other card companies. At first, the cards provided a way to help get some added furnishings for the guys' apartment, but Rerun, not always the sharpest tack on the bulletin board, went on a buying binge, purchasing all sorts of things that were not only unnecessary, but which also made his monthly payments soar beyond his ability to pay. Rerun became a victim of the plastic plague.

If you've never seen this show, please check it out, is was a really good show. If you haven't seen it for a while, watch it again, it will bring back good memories, especially since Mabel King, Shirley Hemphill and Fred Rerun Berry have all passed away. Fred Berry legally changed his name to Rerun years after the show. There was a "second" edition to the show in the mid 1980s, "What's Happening Now," but it was not shown on network television, but rather it aired on some independent stations around the country.

* Rerun's real name was Fredrick, and he was played by Fred Berry. He got the nickname "Rerun," because he had to "rerun" so many of the same classes in high school.

Photo is of the first season DVD release by Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures, 2004.

WORD HISTORY:
Write-Some linguists trace this common word back to an Indo European root form of "wr" or "wer," with a notion of "cut/scratch," but I'm not sold on this, and most sources are uncertain about its ancient origins. It MAY be a Germanic creation, as Old Germanic had "writanan," with the idea of "scratch, tear apart," and the forms I found were all in Germanic languages and dialects, not in other languages. This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "writan," with the same general meaning. Before what we consider to be modern writing, people "scratched" figures on wood, stone or metal. When modern writing developed in English, the word simply transferred to that new form. "Writan" later became "writen," before the modern form. The "tear," "tear apart," notion MAY come from the idea of scratching something until it tears. German has two forms of the word; "reissen," more commonly written "reißen," which generally means "to tear," and "ritzen," which means "to scratch, etch." Some Low German dialects have "riete," or a form of "rieten," both of which mean "to tear," as does Dutch "rijten." Norwegian and Icelandic both have "rita," with the meaning "write, sketch, inscribe," while Swedish "rita" means "draw." Old Frisian had a form of the word, but I did not find a modern descendant, although that does not mean there is not one. Further, I did not find a form in modern Danish, but again, there may be one.

The German Question, Part One Hundred Two

"Germany's Weimar Republic" Part Five
"The Right Wing Strikes Back-Blaming Democratic Forces and Jews For Germany's Defeat"

To halt the hyperinflation and to stabilize the country's economy, the Germans came up with a temporary currency (called the "Rentenmark") backed by land, agricultural and manufactured products; that is, assets (and they limited the printing of such currency, thus boosting its value). The inflationary spiral halted, the democratic government regained its footing.

The man responsible for much of Germany's World War One military matters, General Erich Ludendorff, along with other military and right wing political operatives, began a "campaign," so to speak, of telling Germans that their armies had not actually been defeated on the battlefield during the war. They claimed that the civilian protests and, essentially, forced abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II, near the end of the war, which brought a left-leaning democratic government to power, had "stabbed the army in the back." The near total collapse of the German Army was seemingly forgotten by many Germans. It was easier to lay unpleasant truths aside and to believe that everything could have been different, if only the army hadn't been stabbed in the back by Bolsheviks, socialists and Jews.* While it was all a bunch of nonsense, and not all Germans bought into the nonsense, it played well with many Germans who were resentful of the Versailles Treaty, dispirited by the loss of national pride, and fearful of the economic turmoil. The "stab in the back," or "Dolchstoss," as it came to be called (literally "dagger stab"), was a popular tool used by right wing groups, including Hitler's Nazis, against the democratic Weimar Republic throughout the 1920s and early 1930s. The right wing called the backers and participants of the original protests, "die November Verbrecher;"** that is, "the November criminals," since the protests that brought the new government to power took place in November 1918.

* Obviously not all protesters in 1918 wanted some form of democracy. The extreme left wanted a system similar to that being put together in Russia at the time.

** German "die" is not pronounced like English "die," but as "dee," and it is the feminine (grammatically speaking) form that means "the" (definite article). English once also used "grammatical gender," something (thankfully!) discarded long ago.

WORD HISTORY:
Rue-This is not the French word for street, but rather the word in the expression, "You will rue the day," also in "rueful," and further, in slightly altered form, in the first part of "ruthless." This "seems" to go back to Indo European "kreu/krew," which had the notion of "push, break, hit." Old Germanic "khrewanan" or "hrewwanan," which had the general notion of "grief, sorrow, regret," seemingly developing the meaning from the "result" of the original meaning of "push, hit, break." The Germanic form gave its offspring Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "hreowan," with the meaning "feel grief, feel sorrow." A variant verb form, "hreowan," meant "to repent;" that is, if you feel sorry for something, you want to repent. Later, "hreowan" came to be simplified to "ruen," and still meant "feel sorrow, regret." Besides modern English "rue," German has "reuen" (regret, remorse), Dutch has "rouwen" (mourning), Low German has "rüün" (regret) and West Frisian has "rouwe" (grief, sadness). The North German languages once had a related word, "hryggia," which meant "to feel sad, be saddened," but apparently it died out. In English, a noun "rue," meaning "regret, sorrow," once existed, but it has now died out, except for its descendant "rueful." Then another variant came along, a noun "ruth," which meant "pity," but it too has died out, but not the derived "ruthless" (without pity, lacking pity), which is still alive and kicking.

The German Question, Part One Hundred One

"Germany's Weimar Republic" Part Four
"The Cost of a Loaf of Bread-Hyperinflation in Weimar Germany"

This is a highly complex subject, so I'm only going to do the very basics. During World War One, Kaiser Wilhelm II and the German government made the decision to fund the war by printing money, not by raising taxes nor by increasing other revenue devices. Remember, those were the times of money being backed by gold and other precious metals, commonly known as "the gold standard." To prevent people from turning in their German currency in exchange for gold, such practice was halted to protect German gold reserves. By printing more money, the value of the currency declined. Why? The value was diluted. Why? Because there was now more printed money backed by essentially the same amount of gold. When the war ended unfavorably for Germany, the value of the currency dropped even more; in this case due more to lack of faith in the defeated nation. High reparations payments in "gold Marks" further diminished the German currency.* The value of the Mark plunged astronomically.

As the value of the currency declined, prices rose for German consumers. Everything was far more costly. The value of the money dropped so quickly, and prices rose so fast by 1923, when German workers were paid, they literally ran to the stores to make purchases to get the best value for their money, since prices not only increased each day, but for a period, several times a day! The inflation became so severe, eventually it took a wheelbarrow full of money just to buy a loaf of bread!!! Confidence in the government and in democracy fell along with the value of the currency. Hatred of the Versailles Treaty soared along with prices. (Note: Remember folks, when a nation is stressed, "truths" and "facts and figures" can mean little to many people; rather, easily understood explanations can be used by those seeking to gain or to retain power can be peddled to many people in an effort to manipulate them.) 

Another consequence of this terrible period was a rise in anti-Jewish sentiment. Bankers and currency speculators, often high profile German Jews and Jews from other countries, received much of the blame for the crisis, along with the Versailles Treaty. This played into right wing propaganda, especially that made by the man with the little mustache... Adolf Hitler.

* German money was based upon the "Mark," just as French money was based upon the "franc," and American money was based upon the "dollar." "Gold Marks" guaranteed the French, and other recipients of reparations, the value of the payments, but these payments also were a drain on German gold reserves. Less gold meant less backing for the standard currency in circulation, which meant that currency dropped even more in value.

WORD HISTORY:
Dapper-This word seems to trace back to an Indo European root "dheb," with the notion of "heavy." This gave Old Germanic "dapraz," with the same basic meaning. I did not find an Old English word of this derivation, but it could have died out, as other Germanic dialects had their own form of the word: Old High German had "tapfar," also meaning "heavy" and Old Norse had "dapr," meaning "sad" (the notion being, if you're feeling "weighed down," you are "sad"). Further, both Dutch and Low German had forms of the word which eventually came to be spelled "dapper" by both, with the eventual meaning "sturdy, bold" (again something heavy is considered "sturdy;" a soldier who is sturdy is "bold"). The German form became "tapfer," and the notion of "heavy" progressed to "steadfast, bold," to "brave," which is the modern meaning of the German form. English borrowed the word, spelled just as it is today, during the 1400s from either Low German or Dutch, as English had much contact with both of these Germanic relatives because of trade (both lying just across the North Sea) They too had taken on the added meaning of "bold" for "dapper." English obviously gave the meaning a twist, with the idea being that "boldness" led to "dressing boldly/dressing well."