The German Question, Part One Hundred Twelve

The Rise of Hitler and The Nazis" Part Two/B-2
"Trial and Punishment Brings Fame"

So Hitler was charged with treason and he was put on trial in early 1924. The involvement of General Ludendorff in the "Putsch" made the whole thing a national news story and German newspapers covered the trial quite extensively. Ludendorff was still seen by many Germans as a hero, and his connection to Hitler helped Hitler during the trial, as with Hitler's gift for public speaking, he presented himself as a patriotic German and former decorated soldier trying to improve the country.* Many Germans, especially right wingers, took notice of the little man with the toothbrush mustache, and he now became more of a national political figure, rather than being limited pretty much to Munich. The judge was impressed by Hitler and the future dictator received a five year sentence, but he served less than a year, with no hard labor (remember folks, he was charged with treason, not with stealing a loaf of bread).

Hitler was confined to a prison in the town of Landsberg am Lech in Bavaria, which today has a population of somewhat less than 30,000. It was here that Hitler, with help especially from fellow Nazi Rudolf Hess, began writing a sort of combination autobiography and political manifesto, which came to be called "Mein Kampf," or "My Struggle."** It is beyond the scope of this article to go into the details of the book, but it essentially laid down the details of Hitler's racist ideas, including about Jews and others, as well as his ideas about why Germans were so important to the world. I have never read the entire book, which is tedious, at best, and it has much nonsense, but I also have to say, unfortunately, that in those times, many people, not just Hitler, believed "blood" determined much about peoples' lives, without taking into account many other factors, like history, education and upbringing. When I was a kid growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, many Americans, primarily in my parents' or grandparents' age groups, had similar ideas. Hitler's "racial" ideology connected to many Germans, and later non-Germans, as it still does today, although hopefully on a far lesser scale. None of us is perfect, but please don't be a bigot or a racist. THINK!

Next... "The Depression Gives Hitler A Boost"

* It is also important to remember, the German Republic, the "Weimar Republic," was not all that popular in the era of the early to mid 1920s, especially among the political right. Well, the political right NEVER liked it, at any time.

** "Mein Kampf" sold well enough upon its release in 1925 to give Hitler some income, and sales would increase as he became a major player in German politics.

WORD HISTORY:
Vane (Fane)-This word goes back to Indo European "pan," with the general meaning of "fabric, cloth." This gave Old Germanic "fano/fanon," with the same meaning, although it "seems" that the developing Germanic dialects may have even then begun to use the word for "banner, flag." Old English had "fana," with the "banner, flag" meaning. Later it was spelled "fane," but in southern England it was spelled "vane," and that spelling finally prevailed by the latter 1400s. Gradually "flag, banner" overtook "vane" in that meaning, but it had by then come to be used as "weather vane" ("weather banner, flag") and also for the "flat part of a feather," and then for "a blade or blades in various machinery." Most, but not all, of the other Germanic languages still have the word, but as in English, forms of the word "flag" began to prevail, or at least to enter common usage, and in the modern Germanic languages, the two words often stand as synonyms. German has "Fahne," Low German has "Fahn," Dutch has "vaan," Swedish has "fana," Danish and Norwegian have "fane," Icelandic "fáninn." I did not find a modern form of the word in Frisian, as its form has apparently died out, and it now just uses a form of "flag." Interestingly, the German word "Fahne" (all German nouns are capitalized) is more common in usage for ''flag," than their word "Flagge." Also, an interesting little note, the German word "Fahne," pronounced like "fawn-eh," also is used in every day speech for someone who has the smell of alcohol on their breath; thus, "Er hat eine Fahne," means "He's been drinking rather heavily," or bluntly, "He reeks of booze."