Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men," Great Book & Movie

Updated 12-8-18 to include the very ending. 


John Steinbeck is generally considered by many to be one of America's greatest writers. His best known works are "The Grapes of Wrath," "East of Eden" (my personal favorite), and a little novel called "Of Mice and Men," the title of which was taken from Scottish writer Robert Burns' poem, "To A Mouse," from the late 1700s. You can read the novel quickly, as it is so small, it is often referred to as a "novelette" or "novella," comprising only about 100 pages, depending upon the edition. The book was released in 1937, followed shortly thereafter by a stage play version. By 1939, a movie version, with generally minor variances from the novel, had also been released. The film received several Oscar nominations, including for "Best Picture." Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" has had its share of controversy, as its "salty" language was considered a bit much for some in those days, but hey, it was about farm hands, not nuns in a convent. The movie toned down the language considerably, as "Gone With The Wind," also released in 1939, shocked some viewers when Clark Gable's Rhett Butler character said "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." We may laugh about such "propriety" today, but in those days, it was quite real. The book also dealt with sex, although in the sense of "flirtatiousness." Perhaps its most controversial aspect was about "euthanasia," made an even hotter topic just a few years later as the Nazis actually implemented a euthanasia program in Germany to murder mentally and physically disabled people, although it took Hitler's defeat to actually bring out the details of the policy. Further, the book also deals with racism, as a black ranch hand is isolated from the others. Steinbeck's sympathetic portrayal of the black man was highly controversial in the America of the 1930s, especially in the South, and unfortunately, I'm sure it still rubs some people the wrong way. 

The book deals with people's loneliness and their desire for companionship. Written during the Great Depression, it certainly also dealt with people's desire for economic security. Just generally, the story evolves around two itinerant California farm workers, George Milton and Lennie Small. George is the protector and keeper of Lennie, a large and powerful man physically, but whose mental limitations make him like a big child. Lennie's childlike mind draws him to small animals, especially rabbits, as he likes to hold them close and pet their soft fur. The whole practice proves fatal for the animals, as Lennie's feeble mind leaves him unaware of his tremendous strength, and he always ends up killing the animals.

George has a dream of getting a few acres with a little house, where he and Lennie can settle down and work their own land with no worries of being let go by bosses. Lennie loves to hear George tell about this dream and "how it's gonna be," although Lennie has heard the story so many times, even with his limited mind he can repeat the story word for word. Lennie is especially taken with the idea of their dream farm having rabbits, which he will look after and get to pet. The two men get a job on a farm and George has a plan for them to save enough money to make their dream into a reality. Even though George tells Lennie to keep their plan secret, Lennie's absentmindedness brings him to tell one of the other ranch hands about it. This man, named Candy, is older and with physical limitations due to the loss of one hand. He's troubled by the thought of no longer being needed in a time when "survival of the fittest" was still a big part of American thought, the revival of which has been a major part of more recent American right wing ideas. Candy is immediately drawn to the plan and offers financial help with money he has saved, if George will let him join, which he does.

Then there's a man called "Crooks." He is a black stable worker with a crooked spine. He has a small room in the stable area all to himself, separate from the white workers. He's proud, but bitter, due to his treatment by white society. One night Lennie comes to Crooks' door, unaware that he's not supposed to associate with a black man (racism and bigotry are taught, not inherent). Crooks' bitterness relents, and Lennie is invited in. Crooks tells how tough it is not having any friends or even anyone to talk with. Lennie eventually brings the subject around to the rabbits he'll soon be tending and he tells Crooks of the plan. He too wants in.  

All the while these events have been going on, there is potential trouble on the horizon. The farm's boss has a highly insecure adult son named "Curley," due to his curly hair. Curley is a little guy who is so insecure (weak ego), he needs to constantly demonstrate his power to others. He's especially bothered by men bigger than he is. He's a boxer and he likes to threaten others with a beating, but like many bullies, he looks for easy prey. Lennie fits the bill, as he's big, but his mental capacity is so limited, he looks like easy pickings for Curley, who tries repeatedly to lure Lennie into a fight. Finally one time, Curley hears Lennie laughing. His insecurity imagines that Lennie is laughing at him, which is untrue, but he begins punching Lennie mercilessly. George yells to Lennie to go after Curley and Lennie grabs Curley's fist. Now Lennie's tremendous strength comes into play as he mangles Curley's hand. George fears that Curley will eventually want to get even.

Then there's Curley's wife. She is locked in an unhappy marriage to her insecure husband, who runs around the farm keeping tabs on her and threatening any of the men who even dare talk to her. She too is lonely, as Curley tries to keep her away from everyone. She likes to flirt and her vibrant personality and soft look attract Lennie's attention, but he keeps his distance as George has told him; that is, for the most part. While the farmhands have a bit of a party, Lennie remains in the barn. He has accidentally killed a pup that had been given to him. He frets about how George will react to the pup's death, as he's always fearful that George will not let him tend the rabbits they are going to have on their little farm. Curley's wife comes in and when Lennie tells her how he likes soft things, she has him pat her soft head of hair. Lennie's strength begins to hurt her and Lennie panics and, just like with the little animals, he accidentally kills her. Earlier on their way to this farm, George had shown Lennie a place to hide if there were ever trouble. Lennie's feeble mind is sometimes able to keep George's orders straight, and Lennie runs for the hiding place. Curley's dead wife is discovered and the whole ranch takes out to find Lennie and to kill him. George figures Lennie has gone to the hiding place and he goes there and finds him. George has Lennie sit with his back to him as he tells him the story of how things will be on their own little place. George shoots Lennie in the back of the head to keep him from torture and horrible death at the hands of Curley and the others.
     
There have been several remakes of the movie, but in my opinion, the best is the 1939 film, starring Burgess Meredith as George and Lon Chaney, Jr. as Lennie.

Photo is from the Image Entertainment/Corinth Films DVD

WORD HISTORY:
Mouse-This word goes back to Indo European "mush/moosh," which meant "mouse, rodent," but also "leg or arm muscle," perhaps from the scampering mouse like appearance of the muscle when being flexed. Remember, while some of the meanings of various words seem strange to us today, in ancient times there undoubtedly was more reason to them than we now see. Who knows, if mankind even just lasts to 2500, people may look back on some of our words today and say, "Why the hell did they say that?" Anyway, the Indo European form gave its Old Germanic offspring "mus," with the same meanings, but apparently the muscle meaning was limited to the lower arm. This then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "mus," which retained the meanings (the plural was "mys"). This then became "mous," before the modern version, but the "arm muscle" meaning died out, but of course, in more recent decades, "mouse" has come to be applied to the computer device, due to its appearance. A verb form developed from the noun in the 1200s, which meant "to hunt for mice," but this is now certainly obsolete. Common in the other Germanic languages: German has "Maus" (pronounced very similarly to the English word/ German plural "Mäuse," pronounced as if "moyzeh"), Low German Saxon has "Muus," Dutch has "muis," West Frisian has "mûs," Danish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish all have "mus."

It's About Coalitions Not Purity, Part Thirty-Eight

This was first published in February 2013


"War Again, Iraq"

First, the lead up to the Iraq war was, and remains, highly controversial. The public was given information at the time to justify the commencing of military operations against Iraq, some of which was later deemed to be untrue, or at least unreliable. The overall subject is far beyond the scope of this article, but as I always mention, if you are interested in a particular aspect of an article, please check out your local library's resources. The information here will be very basic and certainly incomplete for such a subject. It's been difficult to write this article, even though it is basic, as the evidence used to initiate hostilities in 2003 took time for Congress and the media, and therefore, the public, to evaluate. Positions and beliefs of the 2002/03 Bush administration were at times later changed, when contrary evidence was brought forward, but that was AFTER the war had started, and in fact, ended; that is, the invasion phase of the war.

The war in Afghanistan remained settled down by late 2002,* but Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Omar remained at large. The Bush administration then chose to focus on Saddam Hussein and Iraq. After the religious fundamentalists had taken over Iran by revolution in the late 1970s, American leaders found Saddam, a secular military dictator, and his nation of Iraq, to be a counter force to Iran. Hostility between Iraq and Iran grew and developed into a bloody all out war in the 1980s, with American leaders openly supporting Saddam, including with financial aid. The war eventually ended in an armistice arranged by the United Nations in the summer of 1988. Saddam, however, was unable to get along with neighboring Kuwait, a nation which had helped him finance the war against Iran. As has already been covered in an earlier segment, Saddam occupied Kuwait, bringing a military coalition together, led by the United States, and including Muslim nations of the Middle East, to oust Iraqi forces from Kuwait. Saddam's forces were quickly defeated, but the Iraqi dictator remained in power by ruthlessly purging anyone within his inner circle thought to be inclined to lead a revolt against him and his regime. Hussein remained a problem in the Middle East throughout the 1990s, and when the 9/11 attacks occurred, initially, it was not unreasonable to at least suspect his involvement in some way. The U.S. believed there had been some meetings between al Qaeda agents and members of Iraq's intelligence service. The ultimate fear was an alliance of some sort, where Saddam supplied biological or chemical weapons to al Qaeda, whose agents would then use those weapons against the U.S. and other nations. The problem was, the lack of evidence of such a Saddam role, or in fact, of any conclusive ties between Saddam and al Qaeda.

Notably, Vice President Dick Cheney tied Iraq to al Qaeda, indicating the administration's belief of a relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda for the better part of a decade. Further, the Vice President told of one of the 9/11 hijackers meeting with an Iraqi agent just a few months before the 9/11 attacks. The public connected the all too obvious dots laid out by the Vice President. Saddam Hussein had and used chemical weapons in the past, a point emphasized by the administration, a point not lost on the American public and others. The question, however, has remained, was the Bush administration already intent on going to war with Iraq and therefore seeking any justifications it could find to do so?**  

The agreement to end the Gulf War (1991) had, as part of a United Nations' resolution, the prohibition of Iraq possessing or developing biological, nuclear or chemical weapons ("weapons of mass destruction," or "WMD," the terms that came to be applied for such weapons). During the 1990s and up until 2003, Saddam's very reputation made a number of people question whether he had truly destroyed his "WMD" cache, or that he was not trying to develop an atomic weapon of some type. In the time just prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration believed Saddam had such weapons, although no real evidence supported that position. Saddam Hussein's defiant behavior also lent credibility to those saying he was hiding biological and chemical weapons and likely pursuing a nuclear weapon.

By March of 2003 more than 200,000 troops, about 3/4 Americans and 1/4 British,*** invaded Iraq after massive aerial and missile bombardment against the country. Saddam's forces collapsed and by April, Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, was taken. A couple of weeks later, in what turned out to be a display of terribly poor judgment, President Bush landed on a U.S. aircraft carrier, complete with a huge banner reading "Mission Accomplished." The President then declared an end to "major combat operations."

Next... "Combat Operations in Iraq Go On.. and On"   

* It's always a different matter for the population and for the troops stationed there, as there was fighting and civilian and military personnel were killed and wounded.

** The administration had a number of so called "neocons;" that is, "neoconservatives," who believed the U.S. had a duty to spread freedom to all parts of the world, even militarily. They also tended to support "pro-active" military action to defend American interests, as opposed to the "generally" more reactive American historical policy. What does this mean? Well, from its founding, the U.S. was, for the most part, protected from major military nations in Europe and Asia by the great oceans. This certainly developed a sense of  "you leave us alone and we'll leave you alone" isolationist foreign policy. When Europe went to war in 1914 (World War One) and again in 1939 (World War Two), it seems most Americans were perfectly content to remain out of direct involvement in those conflicts, until further events developed. In the early years of World War Two, this isolationism seems to have been much to the consternation of Franklin Roosevelt and his administration, which feared a Nazi victory over beleaguered Britain in the 1940-41 period of the war. As World War Two neared its end, some, what you might call "neocons" of that time, felt the U.S. and other western nations should confront Stalin's Soviet Union, while troops were already mobilized and supplied in Europe, and go to war if need be, with some even believing former Nazi troops should be used, if war with the Soviets broke out. So, you get the idea.

*** While President George W. Bush touted a military coalition against Saddam, the actual military forces contributed by most coalition partners, except for Britain, were small, at least in the invasion phase of the operation.

WORD HISTORY:
Talk-For what is now a very common word, its history is a bit cloudy. This word is something of a variant of "tale" (thus also related to "tell"), which had a verb form in Old English, one of the meanings of which was "tell, relate a story or events;" therefore the spinoff which meant "to talk."^  "Talk" goes back to Indo European "del/dal/dol," which had the notion "to count, to count off (recount) events of a story." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "taljanan," with the same meanings, but "apparently" some of the West Germanic dialects, especially along the North Sea coast, developed a variant, something on the order of "talkonan," which meant "to talk." The East Frisian dialect has "talken," with the same meaning. German has "Talk" (the noun form), but it was borrowed, likely from English, with reinforcement from East Frisian and Low German. I'm not quite sure where Low German got the word; that is, whether it came from the original source, as part of Low German is right up there by the North Sea coast, or whether it came from Frisian or English. Anyway, "apparently" the Anglo-Saxons carried their word to Britain (some Frisians also went), where it remained among the common people (thus not written down, at least in any writings ever found), and eventually became "talken " in the early 1200s, before the modern version and its common usage. The noun developed from the verb in the 1400s; that is, "a speech or conversation." 

^ For the Word History for "tale," see my article:   http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2013/02/beautys-only-skin-deep.html  

Big Man On Campus, A Real Lesson: Beauty's Only Skin Deep

Main Cast:

Allan Katz as Bob, Corey Parker as Alex, Melora Hardin as Cathy, Cindy Williams as Diane Girard, Tom Skerritt as Dr. Webster, Jessica Harper as Dr. Victoria Fisk

"Big Man On Campus" was a movie released in 1989. If you've never seen it, please watch it, it's hilarious. A man is found to be living in the bell tower of a university. He's sort of a combination "hunchback" and "Neanderthal man," with long stringy hair, mismatched clothing, and an unkempt appearance. He speaks little English, but no wisecracks about him therefore fitting in on a college campus. He speaks a strange language (see previous remark), later admitting that he just made it up (okay, one more time; see previous remark. Just teasing, college people). He has the hots for Cathy, one of the students, and if anyone dares to try to harm her, he comes bounding out of the tower building to teach them a quick lesson (you see, it was a university... a lesson... oh forget it). One of the university counselors wants the guy locked up so he'll never be heard from again, but others, including Cathy, want him to be given a chance to learn and to prove he can live in society. Cathy's boyfriend, Alex, is chosen to live with the guy and to try to teach him how to get along in the modern world. Up to that point, the guy's best friend had been a rat he's named "Mocha" or "Moocha," sorry, I'm not a Todd Akin or Michele Bachmann supporter, so I don't speak Neanderthal. Besides the rat, whatever the hell its name is, the guy loves two things: Cathy and chocolate. There's a funny scene in the university cafeteria where Alex tries to get the guy to eat a proper meal, but he tries sneaking some chocolate pudding or mousse. He then gets into trouble when Alex leaves him alone for a few minutes.

The guy gradually learns English, but he has trouble with some expressions, as he takes everything literally, although his quick progress leads him to read some of the classics of literature. The psychology professor decides it's time for the guy to have a name, thank God, as I'm tired of writing, "the guy." By that time, "the guy" is pretty far advanced, and he chooses the name "William F. Buckley," after the famous political commentator. When told that name already belongs to a famous person, he tries "William G. Buckley," only to be told to pick a name that will distinguish him from others. He picks Bob, but with a sentence long last name (I won't spoil it for you, if you haven't seen the picture), after which, he asks the professor if there's anyone famous with that name. In a touching moment, he also tells how his mother died and how he was then left all alone. People made fun of him and he went off and lived in the bell tower.

The counselor who wanted Bob locked up still wants to prove she was right in her judgment and she schemes to get him committed to an asylum. All along Bob proves himself to be brilliant, getting good grades and learning far more than anyone thought possible. This brings jealousy from some, and when Bob is lured out by the counselor, who tells him Cathy is in trouble, the police start a manhunt for Bob. While on the run there's another funny scene, where Bob peeks into a living room window of a house, and the family has the television tuned to the news. Bob hears a television reporter telling about the manhunt, only to hear the reporter get his last name wrong. Meanwhile, a talk show host, patterned after the then fairly popular Morton Downey, Jr. Show,* is ranting how Bob, and all "social misfits," should be locked up, because it's those damned liberals who want to help everyone have a chance in America. The host whips his audience into a frenzy as they pretty much call for Bob's head. The movie ends shortly thereafter, but I won't spoil it for you.

So, the movie is about a "physically deformed" man who is not nearly as deformed as his persecutors, who are warped in their minds. No, Bob is not handsome, but that doesn't affect his mind, which is shown to be topnotch, when he's given a chance to learn, and he has a good heart, compared to the small minds and heartlessness of those who oppose him. The movie's theme song is "Beauty's Only Skin Deep," which says it all.

* Morton Downey, Jr. hosted a syndicated "in your face" talk show (actually a "shout" show), giving "voice" to those angry Americans (Downey's followers were dubbed "Loudmouths") who, I'm sure, not long thereafter formed much of the core of Ross Perot's presidential bids, and undoubtedly latched onto propagandist Rush Limbaugh, who was about to gain traction back in those times. Those still around now most certainly would belong to the Tea Party (update: Trumpists). The shouting and anger displayed during the shows, often whipped up to fever pitch by Downey, was often directed at Americans who actually cared about helping those who faced poverty, medical problems, bigotry or terrible discrimination; thus, while I'm sure some portion of those trying to help people had little or no religious beliefs, they actually espoused Christian values, likely the values of other religious groups too, far more than some percentage of people who actually called themselves "Christian," or some other religious designation. To my recollection, shouting, threatening and bellowing hatred toward others isn't a religious value (certainly NOT Christian). Many guests were those who still dared to call themselves "liberals" in the age of Reagan and the early days of George Bush's presidency, when angry conservative elements referred to liberals as "the 'L' word." The sheer nastiness of the show proved to be its undoing, as advertisers feared a backlash for sponsoring it, and the show was eventually cancelled. To Downey's credit, he did stand by his gay brother, who was also HIV positive and he later admitted the show got to be too extreme. Downey may have had an awakening of sorts, as he went bankrupt not long after his show was cancelled. It's often a hell of a lot easier to spout to others, "Pull yourself up by your bootstraps," than to actually do so successfully ourselves. While he tried a comeback in several locations, including here in Cleveland, he never regained his popularity. A chain smoker who once touted tobacco use as "cool" (maybe I should say, "Kool"), Downey died of lung cancer, but not before he admitted his mistake about tobacco and he advised others not to use it, a case of too little, too late.

  WORD HISTORY:
Tale-This word goes back to Indo European "del/dal/dol," which had the meaning of  "to count, to count off (recount) events of a story." This gave its Old Germanic offspring the noun "talo," which meant "number, a reckoning of numbers." This then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "talu," which meant "list of numbers or events, something told/stated (recounted), a story." This then became "tale," presumably with the final "e" being pronounced "eh/ah," before the modern pronunciation, and the meaning became more specific to "a story," although it expanded to "exaggerated, or untruthful story," with the expression "tall tale." There was once a common verb form also, which is now obviously obsolete, although it "apparently" is still used in parts of England and Scotland. The verb was "talian" in Old English, which then became "talen," and finally "tale." A variation, "tael," was the English word for "number," until "number" was borrowed from French (likely the Anglo-Norman dialect) in the late 1200s or early 1300s. Also, if you guessed that "tale" is related to "tell," you are right. Forms of the word "tale," both nouns and verbs, are extremely common in the other Germanic languages, but they often have meanings related to "number" or "reckoning," as German has "Erzählung" (story, tale, narrative),^ Dutch has "taal" (language/speech), Danish has "tale" (speech, speaking voice), Icelandic "tala" (speech, number), and the verb "tala" (to talk, to speak), Norwegian "tale" (speech, voice), Swedish "tala" (to speak) and "tal" (speech). 

^ German "z" is pronounced "ts," like the end of "hits."    

It's About Coalitions Not Purity, Part Thirty-Seven

"GOP Gains In 2002"

George W. Bush's presidency began with major controversy over the election itself, but as the President approached the midpoint of his term, his approval rating was high. The economy hadn't been great, going back to Clinton's waning days in office, then it was made worse by the 9/11 attacks, but the public didn't hold Bush responsible for the economy, correctly, in my opinion (for that moment). The 9/11 attacks brought about the Bush-coined expression, "the War On Terror."* Tensions with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein also kept Americans focused on a potential war with Iraq.

Going into the 2002 midterm elections, Democrats held a slim 51-49 majority in the Senate (actually one independent caucused with Democrats) and Republicans held a narrow majority in the House of Representatives. Several senate races were very close, and the race in Georgia became especially nasty, as incumbent Democrat Max Cleland, a Vietnam veteran and amputee from that war (Cleland had both legs and one arm amputated) was depicted with Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden in an ad run by  Republican challenger Saxby Chambliss and, I believe, the Republican National Committee, which painted Cleland as being soft on terrorism. Even some Republicans complained about the nature of the ad, and after a while it was finally withdrawn. Cleland lost the election.** In the end, Republicans gained two seats in the Senate and eight in the House, therefore giving Republicans control of both houses for the legislative session beginning in January 2003. The results went against historical trends, where the party holding the White House usually loses seats, especially in the House, during midterm elections.

As the campaigns ended, the drumbeats of war were in the air. Next stop, Iraq.

* Not long after the 9/11 attacks, Americans were further traumatized by anthrax-laced letters mailed to various news outlets and two Democratic senators. Several people died and many others were hospitalized due to severe illness and exposure to the bacteria. The letters contained anti-American and anti-Israeli slogans. The timing of the accompanying letters, as well as initial statements by President Bush, Vice President Cheney and others, led many, if not most, Americans to believe the anthrax attacks were connected in some way to al Qaeda. Iraq's Saddam Hussein came onto the radar screen as well, as the possible supplier of the bacteria to al Qaeda. Investigators soon became convinced that the anthrax used in the attacks was unlikely to have come from overseas, but rather came directly from within the U.S., due to the type of anthrax used. Years of investigation have still not conclusively proven that an Army bio tech researcher was responsible, although the FBI reached that conclusion, and the man apparently committed suicide in 2008. There have been numerous theories about who was responsible, including one involving one or more of the 9/11 hijackers, but each case has gaps that leave a final verdict impossible to determine without further evidence. The hijackers were all dead by the time the anthrax letters were sent, although if one or more were involved, they could have had other accomplices who then mailed the letters. Some believe the anti-Israeli elements of the letters were a deliberate attempt by the perpetrator(s) to point to a Middle Eastern source at a time when Americans were inflamed over the 9/11 attacks, which had occurred just a week or two before.

** Republicans claimed they were only questioning Cleland's judgment, not his patriotism, because of his opposition to President Bush's version of the "Homeland Security Bill," but Cleland helped write the bill and objected to a part pushed by the President and Republicans that would not have provided civil service status to employees of the new department. (See the article in "Salon," November 21, 2003 by Eric Boehlert) Cleland voted "for" passage of the bill in the vote that came after the election, a time when, if he had been against the bill, he could easily have voted against it, as the election was over. 

WORD HISTORY:
Most-This word goes back to Indo European "me," and the variant "meis," both with the general meaning of "big(ger), large(r)." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "maiz," which then produced "maist." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "maest," with the meaning "largest amount, greatest part." By Middle English it had become "most." The addition of "ly" makes it an adverb. Used extensively by other Germanic languages: German has "meist," Dutch has "meest," Swedish, Danish and Norwegian have "mest," and Icelandic has "mestu/mestur" (mostly/most). I could not find a form in modern Frisian, but Frisian once had "mast." Likewise, I could not find a form in Low German, but Old Saxon had "mest."

It's About Coalitions, Not Purity, Part Thirty-Six

"Initial Military Action In Afghanistan"

Americans and the world mourned the loss of the nearly three thousand people killed by the September 11th attacks, which included many non Americans. As the heat from the burning fires caused by the attacks subsided, the heat of anger in many people rose. The United States and many other nations remained on alert for any possible further attacks, but the knowledge of the location of Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda bases in Afghanistan made a military strike there imminent. American, British, French, Australian, and Canadian forces began assembling for an assault, along with the "Afghan Northern Alliance," a military force of Afghani citizens opposed to the rule of the Taliban and the mainly non Afghani al Qaeda. In early October 2001 U.S. Special forces entered combat in Afghanistan, as large U.S. air strikes pounded key infrastructure and troop positions of the Taliban and al Qaeda. Coalition forces, assisted by the Northern Alliance advanced steadily.

By December al Qaeda and remnants of the Taliban were deployed in a mountainous area, complete with numerous caves, known as Tora Bora. After heavy aerial bombardment and ground fighting, the area was cleared, but Osama bin Laden was nowhere to be found. He had escaped into neighboring Pakistan, along with Taliban leader Mullah Omar. The victors then tried to secure the rest of Afghanistan, as well as provide the country with basic supplies. An international force provided various security and logistics.
 
Meanwhile at home, Republicans and Democrats generally continued to get along. With the nation firmly behind the military action, Bush found a broad coalition of support, even with many Democrats, but things were about to change, as the President made a crucial decision.

WORD HISTORY:
Kill (#2)-This is a noun first used in Colonial American English during the mid 1600s, pretty much in place names with "kil, kyl, kyll" as part of the name. It was taken from Dutch, as the Dutch were involved in the settlement of parts of the New York/New Jersey area during colonial times. The word's origins are unclear, although "apparently" Germanic; perhaps a twist or variant of another Germanic word. Slang and secondary meanings develop in words, which are then very difficult to track down for the historical record. It "seems" likely to be a North Germanic development (the largest North Germanic languages being Danish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish), as forms of the word appear in North Germanic areas, including those in northern Germany and Holland, once occupied by North Germanic speakers, as the northern German maritime city of "Kiel" is derived from a North Germanic form "Kyle," with the "y" pronounced like a long "e." It meant "an inlet from the sea, a bay." Dutch seems to have retained the word from North Germanic as "kille," and while keeping the association with water, in Dutch it meant "creek bed." German has "Keil" (pronounced as "kile"), also likely a leftover from North Germanic, and it means "wedge;" the idea being a "wedge (inlet) along the sea coast." In Colonial America it meant "creek." The Dutch and German usages "seem" to have come well AFTER the Germanic tribal elements, concisely rendered as "Anglo-Saxons," left northern Germany for Britain, as Old English "apparently" did not have a form of the word. 

It's About Coalitions Not Purity, Part Thirty-Five

"Tax Cuts and 9/11" (Part Two)

On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was driving to work. I was only a few blocks away from my job when a report came over the radio about a plane striking the World Trade Center in New York City. There were no other details at that point and my first thought was that a small plane must have hit the complex. When I got to work a few minutes later, I put the radio on and then came a report of a second plane hitting the World Trade Center. Now I knew this all was something more than an accident. Of course as time passed, reports came in of a plane hitting the Pentagon, and another plane crashing in Pennsylvania. We all remember where were were when we heard these things, and this will not be a retelling of those terrible events.

At that time, I managed an apartment building occupied mainly by college students, many of whom were international students. As events unfolded, the college, located just down the street, closed, and city officials asked employers to send workers home, as no one knew if further attacks were coming. I stayed at work, as many of our students were absolutely terrified, and that counted those whose actual homes were generally in the area, not just overseas. Phone service out of the country was down for awhile, as I recall, and there was an air of fear in many of the students. A police officer came to the building, as the city wanted workers out of the downtown area, because they were preparing to close some streets, so I finally left later in the afternoon.

After the initial shock, the country rallied and President George W. Bush addressed the nation. For quite some time Americans actually got along as they had not gotten along for years. Even the politicians stopped calling each other names and crime declined, and it's a shame it took such a series of events to shake us out of our nastiness. We found out that a radical Islamic group called "al Qaeda," led by one Osama bin Laden, a Saudi born extremist, was responsible for the attacks, as their agents hijacked four airliners. Three of the four planes were turned into "suicide missiles," as the hijackers struck their targets. Passengers on the fourth plane, "Flight 93," seem to have heroically battled the fanatical nutcases, causing the plane to crash into a field in Pennsylvania, rather than into its presumed target of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.

I pay a lot of attention to news in various forms, but I must admit, I, like many other Americans, had just not paid enough attention to events which had gone on involving Islamic terrorists in other parts of the world, and the idea that these extremists would strike right here inside the United States was certainly not on the radar screen of many Americans. Unfortunately, it took these attacks and the loss of nearly 3000 lives to get our attention, but, once focused, we remained so for quite some time. To be honest too, when some of these extremists had gone to Afghanistan to fight against the Soviet forces there in the 1980s, the American government supported them, as did a number of Americans, although I question how much many Americans really knew, if anything, about the situation, except that these extremists were opposed to the Soviets, and that was all they (and the Soviet-obsessed government of Ronald Reagan) needed to know. Sometimes people make a pact with the devil, as the saying goes. During World War Two, Winston Churchill allied himself with Josef Stalin against Hitler, although Stalin, just a couple of years prior to that, had signed a pact with Hitler; a pact that gave Stalin a large part of Poland, and included the eventual annexation of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and parts of Rumania. Not only that, Stalin then turned around and attacked little Finland in late 1939, and though Stalin's forces eventually prevailed, the hardy Finns left Stalin's forces so bloodied, Soviet leaders were relieved when the Finns asked for an armistice.

The thing was, when Hitler attacked Stalin's Soviet Union in June 1941, Churchill leaped at the idea of having a powerful ally, especially one on the other side of Hitler, thus relieving Britain from the possibility of facing a Nazi invasion, or at least from continued heavy aerial bombardment. He knew this would divide Hitler's forces. You must remember, the United States was NOT at war with anyone at that point in time, although the U.S. was aiding Britain, and France had been defeated by Hitler. Churchill even said something to the effect that he'd have been willing to say a good word about the devil, if the devil was against Hitler. Churchill's hand was forced, as Hitler was one very dangerous nutcase. Defeating the more threatening devil of the moment was the important matter. Judging who the most threatening devil of the moment is, can be another matter, but Churchill made the right call, in my opinion. The point is, the U.S. supported Islamic extremists when they opposed the Soviet forces in Afghanistan, a country at that point, that was about as threatening to the United States as.... Finland! After Hitler was defeated, the association with Stalin came to an abrupt end, as the other side of the "pact with the devil" then came into play. Stalinist governments took over eastern Europe with the military backing of the Soviet Union. The price of allying with the devil out of necessity continued for more than four decades, although Stalin himself died in 1953.

In the case of bin Laden and Islamic extremists, the price continues to this day, although bin Laden too is now dead. The whole matter in Afghanistan during the 1980s helped to train and equip, but mainly finance, militant Islamists, with further loads of equipment captured from, or left behind by, Soviet forces there. These extremists then spawned the Taliban, an extremist group that took over Afghanistan and combined with al Qaeda to provide training facilities and operational bases to launch attacks against various targets around the world, including the 9/11 attacks. Making a pact with the devil is tricky and dangerous business.      

WORD HISTORY:
Kill-This word apparently traces back to Indo European "kwel," which had the notion of "to inflict pain, to torture, torment." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "kwaljanan," with the same basic meanings. This then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "cwellan," which meant "to kill, to murder." Later the "cw" came to be spelled "qu," and this form became modern "quell" (covered in a previous "Word History"), which once meant "to kill," but then the meaning softened into "suppress." "Apparently" it had a spinoff, "kyllen," which showed up by the late 1100s meaning, "to beat, to hit," then proceeded to the meaning "to kill," a meaning then being vacated by its close relative "quell." Not uncommonly, words for "hit, beat, strike" eventually came to mean "kill," as the synonym of kill, "slay," once did. The noun "kill," as in "the lions devoured their kill," developed from the verb. Several of the other Germanic languages have had forms of "kill," but not usually with the modern English meaning, but rather they retained the "hit, strike" meaning. These terms appear to have died out in the standard languages, but may still be dialectal in usage. For Germanic language relatives of "kill" (and its relative "quell") see the "Word History" in the previous part of this series:  http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2013/01/its-about-coalitions-not-purity-part_9.html

Will Responsible Republicans Admit Mistake?

This was first published in February 2013, but as the forces of greed are already running ads to "reform" the tax code, it is very appropriate, since to them, "tax reform" means, "give us tax cuts, don't you know how tough it is to get by on a few billion? Life is tough."

In the late 1930s, film producer/director Frank Capra, who was born in Sicily, but came to the United States as a child, did a picture called "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington." Americans need to sit down and watch this picture again, and again, to remind us of what this country has tried to stand for in its relatively short lifespan, compared to the rest of the world. We aren't perfect, maybe we've been far from it, but we haven't let our imperfections stymie our desires to correct flaws, or to file down our rough edges. Even in the last thirty plus years of conservative influence, the country has at times chosen to go in the opposite direction of those who would keep us divided and keep us from moving forward. But this age, which began with "so called conservatism,"* has not "pro"gressed, but "re"gressed to the point where the wealthy and large business interests have come to dominate; never satisfied to make millions, but rather to pile millions upon millions, upon millions, upon billions, with many showing not the slightest concern for their fellow, far less well off, citizens, and by demanding tax cuts and taxpayer money as an "entitlement" for their being rich and powerful. Whether this "era of nonsense, sold as sense," is coming to an end remains to be seen, as the ruthless interests still have many cards up their sleeves, cards with lots of $$$ signs, and they won't hesitate for one moment to play those cards.

For those who have seen "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington" and may have forgotten the gist of the picture, and for those who've never seen the film, Capra put together a story of a young idealistic average citizen, "Jeff Smith," who is tapped to replace a senator who has just died. The young man, played by James "Jimmy" Stewart, is so overwhelmed by his choice to serve his country and to help others, he is unaware of really WHY he was chosen. A wealthy and powerful businessman in his state, played by Edward Arnold, has gotten a seemingly benign clause about a land deal inserted into an important relief bill before the Senate. The land will prove to bring in a bundle for the greedy businessman, and the feeling is, Smith will never notice what is going on. The actual bill is important to the nation, with the potential to provide help to millions of Americans (this was in the Depression era), but so much for patriotism, money is the ONLY important thing to the ruthless businessman and his bought and paid for cronies. Claude Rains plays the state's senior senator, a well respected and progressive man, but who has come under the thumb of the ruthless businessman. The new Senator Smith takes the floor to offer his first bill for a boys' camp. Little does he know, the proposed camp is right smack dab on the land included in the businessman's deal. The reaction is swift and ruthless, as the businessman and his cronies try to stymie the young senator, who finds out just what has been going on. Efforts to discredit the senator and to make him a laughing stock appear to work, until the young man, abandoned by much of the Senate, but supported by his aide, played by Jean Arthur (whom he loves), decides to take to the floor himself in an effort to get the attention of his home state and of the nation. He holds the floor for hours and some senators start to wonder whether such a determined man would stage such a grueling effort without having some truth to his claims.

Little does the young senator know, in his home state, the ruthless businessman has closed off contact with Washington and has gotten the newspapers and radio stations he owns (and those under his thumb) to condemn the young senator. A youth organization tries to spread the truth to help Senator Smith by delivering leaflets to the people, but the businessman's thugs overturn their wagons and bicycles and destroy the leaflets, injuring some of the kids. Further, the businessman has his cronies send thousands of telegrams to the Capitol Building telling the senator to stop and let the bill be passed by the Senate. The young man becomes despondent, but then bounces back and lectures the other senator from his state on how he once had been an idealist who fought for what was good for America, not what was good for wealthy interests. Totally worn out, the young senator collapses. The senior senator rushes to the back offices and tries to shoot himself, but is stopped by others. He dashes to the floor of the Senate screaming that the young senator has been telling the truth and that he himself has been corrupt as Senator Smith had said all along. In the end, he takes responsibility in an effort to correct a terrible wrong.

My question is, which Republicans nowadays will now stand up and admit to their terrible mistakes of letting a bunch of nutcases and fascists take over a segment of their party? Just like with the wealthy, ruthless businessman in "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington," once you let these kinds of people in and they get a foothold, getting them out is painful and dangerous. You may lose some elections if you root out these nutcases and fascists, but it may make you stronger in the future. I'm not saying you should totally agree with Democrats, hell, Democrats don't always agree with one another, and we need competing ideas, but this nonsense of opposing just about EVERYTHING just to oppose, or often to help wealthy interests, it's not acceptable and I believe many Republicans see this too, but they may be afraid to speak out, as the roughneck thugs you have let in to your party are a threat to them, but also to the nation. Capra's movie was about American patriotism and ideals. Not patriotism manufactured to keep a political ideology in power, but a patriotism that came with the founding of this nation, one of inclusion, not exclusion, although we've struggled with that idea from the very beginning, but no one can say we haven't tried to right many a wrong, a struggle we continue with to this very day. Republicans were once the party of Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt, and in Capra's film, the young senator goes to the Lincoln Memorial to renew and steady his belief in the ideals of America. Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt had ideals that were based upon the patriotism that came with the founding of this country. It's time Republicans once again found that same patriotism. Stand up and be counted!   

* I say "so called conservatism," because any philosophy which renounces deficits and deficit spending, only to use "deficits and deficit spending" as policy, is anything but conservative. No, this was the beginning of an outright "reactionary" period, using "liberal" economic policies, combined with an ever increasing appeal to patriotism, to remain in power, and all the while sapping the strength of the nation's middle class and poor in a gigantic transfer of wealth to already wealthy interests.
   
WORD HISTORY:
Responsible-The ancient origins of this compound word are uncertain, so I am going to go backward in this history. English borrowed the word from French "responsible" in the latter part of the 1500s, which had been derived from Latin "responsus," the participle form of "respondere," which meant "to respond, to answer to." This came from the Latin prefix "re," a common form in Latin derived words, usually with some context of "go back, return, repeat," but why Latin, an Italic language, has this prefix is unclear. The second part is from Latin "spondere," which was derived from Latin "spondeo," which meant "to promise or to pledge, to assume responsibility for." The trail after this is more than a little murky. 

Traudl Junge, Working For Evil, Part Three/Final

In both her book and her interviews, Traudl Junge relates a number of anecdotes about life so close to Hitler, including his obsession with his female German Shepherd, Blondie. In her interviews she said that Hitler was detached from the ruin he was bringing to Germany, let alone to other nations, and that, when she once  mentioned to him about the destruction in Munich (she was from Munich) from air attacks, he just started spouting his usual slogans about how he would retaliate against his enemies once he regained the upper hand. She noted that, as far as she could recall, Hitler never saw a bombed out German city or area of a city, as he kept the curtains drawn in his private train and when he went to Berlin, the train would arrive in the darkness of night and the chauffeur would travel on streets with little or no damage. This is the sign of a man hiding from himself.

Traudl Junge spent much time telling of the final days of Hitler in his Berlin bunker, located well beneath the Reich Chancellery complex. His long time mistress, Eva Braun (pronounced like  "brown," not "brawn") joined him there. About a week before his death, Hitler told the women to get ready to leave Berlin, as a plane was going to take them to southern Germany. He admitted the war was lost. Two secretaries left, along with a number of other personnel, but Traudl Junge and one other secretary, Gerda Christian, as well as Eva Braun, chose to remain in Berlin. Traudl told of how during lulls in the fighting for Berlin, she, Eva and Gerda Christian would venture above ground and out into the garden part of the complex. They once came upon a fountain statue of a woman much to Eva's liking. Upon returning to the bunker, Eva told Hitler of the statue, and, with Soviet troops only a few blocks away, she asked if he would buy the statue for her if he won the war. Now, you've got to admit, that's pretty bizarre, BUT he answered her! He told her the statue was government property and that he couldn't just buy it and give it to her for her own private garden, but she asked if he would make this one exception just for her. These people were NUTS! 

Also along those same lines, as the war approached its end, some of the Nazi leaders still played cutthroat politics in an effort to grab more power. As the Soviets closed in, Hermann Göring, Hitler's designated successor, sent a telegram from southern Germany to Hitler stating that with Hitler surrounded in Berlin, and with the likelihood of his losing the ability to communicate orders to the military and to the nation, that if a reply to his telegram was not received from Hitler by that evening, he would assume Hitler no longer had the ability to communicate orders, and that he, Göring, would assume power as Hitler had specified several years before. The telegram was not anything unreasonable, and at first, according to Junge, Hitler too seemed to have accepted it as such. Then Martin Bormann convinced the fanatical, furious Führer that Göring's act was high treason. Hitler became violently upset and ordered Göring's arrest and possible execution.* Then came word from a British radio broadcast that Heinrich Himmler, the powerful head of the dreaded SS, and a murderous nutcase if there ever was one, had entered into negotiations with the Allies through a neutral party. Hitler had another serious temper tantrum, as the man he called "mein treuer Heinrich" (my true or loyal Heinrich) abandoned the fanatical, furious Führer too. He ordered Himmler's arrest and execution.** For good measure, Hitler ordered the arrest of Himmler's adjutant, Hermann Fegelein, who was Eva Braun's brother in law (he was married to her sister, Gretl, who was like 8 months pregnant at that time). Eva's brother in law notwithstanding, Fegelein was then executed. Even in the final days of his life, with the Russians just a block or two away, Hitler spread death over essentially meaningless things.

Junge noted, Hitler had told her he would never be captured alive, and in preparation for that situation, he had received cyanide capsules from Himmler. With Himmler's peace negotiations Hitler became suspicious that the poison Himmler had provided would not be sufficient to take his life; the fear being that Himmler might try to trade "a live Hitler" for his own safety, so Hitler had it tried out on his dog Blondie, and it was found to be potent, as the poor dog died immediately. Hitler married Eva Braun and he told Traudl Junge he wanted her to take some dictation from him. It was his last will and testament. Traudl said at first she thought something like, "Now we'll hear the real reasons for everything, the truth," but instead, Hitler spouted his usual nonsense, including blaming Jews for the war. Not long after she typed the dictated notes, Hitler and Eva committed suicide. Traudl Junge was part of a group that tried to get through the Soviet lines to the Western Allies. Some of the group were killed, others were captured, but Traudl got through, only to turn around and return to Berlin before getting to the Allies. I believe she said she hoped to be able to get a train to her parents in southern Germany. Instead, she ended up in Soviet captivity for about a year and a half.

Traudl eventually made it home and she worked at a number of jobs over the years, but she also learned what Hitler and the Nazis had done during their time in power. She said initially she felt no particular connection between her life and the terrible events that had transpired, that she had just been a secretary and had not known about the atrocities, but then one day in Munich, she saw the plaque commemorating Sophie Scholl for her resistance to the Nazis,*** and she realized that some Germans DID try to learn about what had been going on. For the rest of her life she had emotional troubles, as she struggled to deal with her role in the tragedies wrought by Hitler. Her guilt feelings got to the point they were not rational, as she even blamed herself for the initial Nazi persecution of German Jews in 1933, when she was only 12 or 13 years old. She said she took some consolation in the knowledge that millions of other Germans had been swayed by Hitler, but that it was just not enough to soothe her conscience. She died of cancer in 2002, age 81. As I've "preached" here at times, Traudl Junge came to realize, too late, that once you let fascists in, you don't get them back out easily, and that people from all walks of life can become susceptible to their hate and destructiveness. Stopping the advance of fascism starts with our own self evaluation and then the determination not to fall under the spell of simplistic solutions or hate filled slogans and rants by radio or television personalities trying to worm their way into our lives and minds. They lay the groundwork for fascist politicians to gain control. Traudl Junge's message was, "Pay attention to what's going on around you! Don't think it has nothing to do with you."   

* Martin Bormann was one of Hitler's closest and most powerful associates during the war, when his power grew tremendously. He controlled who got in to see Hitler and he saw all correspondence before it got to Hitler's desk. The German public knew little about Bormann, although he was almost always by Hitler's side from 1941 until the very end. With loads of captured Nazi documents available after the war, historians came to realize that the little known Bormann was one of the most powerful Nazi leaders, besides Hitler himself. For more on Bormann, see my article: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2011/09/german-leaders-of-nazi-erabormann.html

** Himmler did not fall victim to his fanatical, furious Führer, but rather he was captured by the British awhile later. He committed suicide while in their custody. For more on Himmler, see my article: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2011/10/german-leaders-of-nazi-erahimmler.html 

*** In early 1943, Sophie Scholl, her brother, Hans, and a friend, Christoph Probst, were arrested for distributing leaflets at the University of Munich urging Germans to resist the Nazis and the war. They were "tried" before a Nazi court and then beheaded. There are several memorials and honors to this young courageous German woman and to the other Germans who tried to fight evil, and who gave their lives doing so. A 2003 poll of Germans showed Sophie and Hans Scholl are viewed as some of the most important Germans in history, and another poll of Germans placed Sophie as one of the greatest women of the 20th Century. Germans have learned the lessons the hard way, others should pay heed to the German experience.

Photo is from the paperback edition of "Bis zur letzten Stunde" (Until the Last Hour) by Traudl Junge, with cooperation from Melissa Müller, published in paperback in 2003 in German (there have been English language editions also), although there have been various printings since the original paperback. This is the 8th German paperback printing from 2011 from List Taschenbuch.

WORD HISTORY: 

Turf-This word for "grass covered area" goes back to Indo European "darbh/dorbh," which meant "clump or tuft of grass." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "turb," which meant "grass covered surface/area." This then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "turf," with the same meaning. Some dialects had "torf" and "tyrf," but eventually English kept "turf" as the standard spelling. In post World War Two American English the word was used for "a neighborhood dominated by a gang;" that is, "their turf." Common in the other Germanic languages: Low German Saxon has "Torf/Törf," which means "peat" (soil with dead and decomposing plants, as the area of northern Germany and northern Europe had bogs/marshes, where such was common), standard German has "Torf," also meaning "peat," as the word came into standard German from Low German; Dutch and West Frisian have "turf" (peat), Danish "tørv"  (peat), Icelandic has "torf" (sod), Norwegian has the compound "gresstorv" (sod, turf) and Swedish has "torv" (turf, peat).

Traudl Junge, Working For Evil, Part Two

During her interviews, Traudl Junge was asked about how much Hitler and other Nazi leaders talked about Jews. She said the subject was really not discussed, at least not around her or the other secretaries, but it's important to remember a couple of things here. First, neither Traudl Junge nor the other secretaries were involved in Hitler's meetings with Nazi leaders, where the subject most certainly would have been discussed. Second, the Nazis talked in "code," if you will; that is, they used euphemisms about their plans or ongoing operations to murder German and other European Jews, and indeed other people too. Terms like "resettlement" and "final solution" were used in place of "shipping Jews off to be killed" or "extermination." They KNEW what they were doing was an abomination, otherwise, they wouldn't have tried to hide it. Traudl also mentioned how Hitler would tell subordinates to just follow his orders about whatever the subject, that he assumed all responsibility, as if, Traudl noted, "one person can assume the conscience of another." After the war, and really up to recent times, apologists for Hitler have noted that no written order, signed by Hitler, was ever found among the many tons of captured Nazi records ordering the extermination of Europe's Jews. Hitler was a psychopath, but that didn't make him unaware of his criminality. Somewhere deep inside that disturbed mind was the reality of wrongdoing on an incomprehensible scale.

Traudl did cite one telling incident, which took place in 1943 at Hitler's villa, "the Berghof," above the town of Berchtesgaden. She admits that she only heard about it from others who were present, including her husband, who was one of Hitler's personal aides. The Schirachs had been invited to the Berghof, at Henriette von Schirach's request, to see and dine with Hitler. The husband, Baldur, had been head of the Hitler Youth in the 1930s and then the Gauleiter (Nazi Party district leader) of Vienna, and if you've seen any of the documentaries on the Nazi Hitler Youth, you've undoubtedly seen Baldur von Schirach in the films or still photos from that time. By the way, Schirach was under lots of American influence from both sides of his family, as his mother was an American and his paternal grandfather served in the Union army during the American Civil War, and Baldur grew up speaking both English and German. At the time of the dinner with Hitler, Henriette von Schirach had recently been in Amsterdam, where she had witnessed the brutal round up of Dutch Jewish women, who were then packed into railway cars and sent to the "east," which was another Nazi euphemism for "sending Jews to their death," as the extermination camps, designed to kill Jews and others as quickly as possible, were located primarily in Poland. "Auschwitz," the most infamous of all, was located there, and others were too. Mrs. Schirach told Hitler the terrible things she had witnessed in Amsterdam, adding that people there felt these Jews would never be heard from again. She apparently was under the impression that Hitler was unaware of such things. The conversation at the dinner table stopped, Hitler momentarily went silent, then he told Mrs. Schirach not to get involved in matters that she didn't understand, adding that she was "too sentimental." Hitler abruptly arose from the table, left the room and did not return, nor did the Schirachs ever return to Hitler's company, as he never invited them back *

Traudl Junge also talked and wrote extensively about the plot to kill Hitler in July 1944, when a bomb was carried into a temporary conference room by Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg inside his briefcase. She and the other secretaries had been out swimming in one of the nearby lakes and they returned to their rooms, located near to where Hitler was holding a major military conference. An explosion shook their building, but at first they thought a deer may have stepped on a landmine. They heard the commotion outside and were told that a bomb had exploded in the military meeting. Since initially they did not know if Hitler had been killed, they fretted about what would happen to them without Hitler. She mentioned how conditioned they had all been to Hitler's thoughts on everything and the idea that he might have been killed left them badly shaken. One of Hitler's aides finally told them Hitler had not been seriously injured and that they could even visit him, which they did. Traudl mentioned how funny he looked, as his hair was still standing on end from the blast and his trouser legs were in tatters. The more ominous thing, however, was that he took his survival as a sign he was  destined to fulfill his "mission," and she noted that she had often thought before this incident, that one day Hitler would say, "Alright, I can't win the war, so I'll make peace," but after he survived the bomb plot, she said he seemed more determined than ever to win or take everyone and everything down with him.

For more on the failed bomb plot against Hitler, see my article, "Heroes Against Hitler/Stauffenberg":

http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2011/11/german-military-leadersheroes-against.html 

Next, the final part and the end in Berlin, but Traudl Junge finds herself.

* At the Nuremberg Trials in 1946, Baldur von Schirach was convicted of "crimes against humanity," primarily for transporting thousands of Viennese Jews "to the east," and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He served the entire sentence and was released in 1966  He "claimed" he didn't know about the extermination camps, and that he thought Jews were being sent to live in ghettos in eastern Europe, which was criminal enough. It "may" have been an act of "denial," rather than of actually "not knowing" (there is a difference), but I must admit, I've never read all that extensively about von Schirach to give a firm opinion, but it seems rather difficult to believe he didn't at least hear the rumors that circulated about the mass killings, just as his wife saw the mistreatment and heard opinions offered in Amsterdam. Of course, even if he did firmly know about the atrocities, it is unlikely he could have done anything, because once such a criminal regime is allowed into power, it is very difficult to remove it. The key is to keep such people out of power and marginalized at the fringes of the political system, as there will always be extremists, but when they come to be accepted as just politicians and anything like mainstream, this is the beginning of accepting them into governing positions. Von Schirach denounced Hitler as a mass murderer during his trial, and after his release from prison he did speak against Hitler and Nazism, but that's scant consolation to those whose loved ones suffered and died.

 

More in Part Three, the final part, and the end in Berlin ...

 

Photo is from the paperback edition of "Bis zur letzten Stunde" (Until the Last Hour) by Traudl Junge, with cooperation from Melissa Müller, published in paperback in 2003 in German (there have been English language editions also), although there have been various printings since the original paperback. This is the 8th German paperback printing from 2011 from List Taschenbuch.

WORD HISTORY:

Team-This word goes back to Indo European "deuk," which meant "pull" and by extension "lead" (for example, a leader pulls people in his/her direction on issues). This gave its Old Germanic offspring "taugjanan," with the same meaning (it is also the ancient ancestor of "tow," as in "pull something," and "tug"). This then produced Germanic "taumaz," meaning "something that pulls," which came to be associated with animals that pulled carts/wagons, or with the reins used to equip animals for such. This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "team," but pronounced in two distinct syllables, "te-am." which meant "animals harnessed together to pull a wagon or cart," and this later became "teme/tem," before the modern version. Later, the notion of animals working together to pull a wagon brought the extended meaning, "people working together toward a common objective," which also came to be applied to players of sporting events. The verb form developed from the noun in the 1500s, although it is sparsely used in American English, and then often as "team up with." Dutch, West Frisian and German all borrowed "team" directly from English, with the meaning "group working together and sports team." The other Germanic languages have: German has "Zaum" (the "Z" is pronounced "ts"), which means "bridle gear for animals," Low German Saxon and Dutch have "Toom," with that same meaning; West Frisian has "team" (also = bridle), Danish and Norwegian have "tømme" (rein), Icelandic "taumur" (=bridle/rein), Swedish has "töm" (rein).

Traudl Junge-Working For Evil, Part One

 I just recently finished reading the memoirs of Traudl Junge, one of Hitler's personal secretaries. I have to admit, the book fascinated me, as it was not so much about Hitler the military leader and German ruler, but rather it was more about Traudl Junge's personal observations about the Nazi nutcase's every day life, as well as comments about many of the other Nazi leaders. I also have a DVD of extensive interviews with her (all in German) done only about a year or so before she died in 2002. So this article is derived from both sources, although her book and her comments in the interviews are very consistent. I'm not sitting peering over her book or listening to her interviews again, so this is from memory, but none of this will end the world or destroy civilization. I thought maybe some of you might be interested in her book, which is available in an English language version, "Until The Last Hour," although I read the original German, "Bis zur letzten Stunde." Her interviews are also available on DVD with English subtitles ("Blindspot"). Traudl Junge did speak English, which she used in some appearances made for the British 1970s television documentary series, "The World at War."

Hitler had up to four "personal" secretaries; that is, they didn't deal with government or military matters, but rather his personal mail and things like taking dictation from him for his public speeches. This is from memory, so be advised, but one woman worked for him from before he took power until the end of the war. Two others came on during the 1930s, if I remember right, and one of those got married in 1942 and was given leave, prompting Hitler to hire another secretary to fill her place, and that turned out to be Traudl Humps (Humps was her maiden name, as she was not married until mid 1943), and then a few months later the married secretary returned from leave, giving him four personal secretaries. As Traudl noted in her interviews and writings, these secretaries did not sit outside Hitler's office and make appointments for him, take phone calls, or "boil (make) coffee" ("Kaffee kochen") [see note], as she put it, nor did they even have an office (at least when she joined him in late 1942). They were more or less "on call," and, since it was wartime, Hitler was usually in either his military headquarters in northeastern Germany, in the province of East Prussia, in the midst of the forest near the city of Rastenburg, or at his villa in the southern alpine region in Bavaria, above the town of Berchtesgaden, less than 20 miles from Salzburg. From the time Hitler launched his attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941 until January 1945, Hitler was rarely in Berlin, and even when he did go there, it was usually only for a brief stay. Traudl believed Hitler had the secretaries not just for the limited work they did, but for companionship, and I think she was correct in this belief. His orderlies and adjutants filled a similar role. [Note: English "cook" and German "kochen" are from the same word and essentially mean the same thing, but the German version is broader, in that it also means "boil," which, in the 1940s and until somewhat later (special coffeemakers), you did to make coffee.]

So how did this woman become one of Hitler's secretaries? Traudl came from a Munich family where politics was never discussed, but she wanted to attend a dance school in Berlin and through a family friend who had connections to a Nazi bigwig, she landed a job as a secretary in the (Old) Reich's Chancellery building in Berlin during 1941. She said she never saw Hitler, nor had any other of the secretaries there seen him. This building had been renovated back in the 1800s to serve as the residence of the German chancellor, then Otto von Bismarck. In 1937/38, Hitler commissioned the building of a "new" chancellery building nearby, which opened in 1939. This then served as his residence and office building, while parts of his staff still used the old building. According to Traudl, she and the other secretaries basically handled "fan" mail and love letters sent to Hitler by adoring women. As noted above, when one of Hitler's actual personal secretaries married and went on leave, word went out that Hitler wanted a replacement for her and Traudl and several others were selected to be interviewed by, and to take dictation from, Hitler, in a trial to see whom he would hire. Hitler sent his lavish personal train to pick up the secretaries and transport them to his military headquarters. At this point in time Hitler's armies were locked in a major struggle with Soviet forces around the southern Russian city of Stalingrad, and the deteriorating German military situation there took up much of his time. Consequently, it took a few days for him to see the secretaries and they lived on his train during that time.

This is where it gets interesting. Traudl said her only images of Hitler, up to that time, were from newsreels where he was frequently shown with a serious expression and outstretched arm in the Nazi salute (called "Hitlergruss;" that is, "Hitler greeting"), often accompanied by speeches where he bellowed and rolled his "Rs" in a forceful manner. Finally the secretaries were called in to see Hitler and she said this "older" man (Hitler was then 53, but she was only 22, so I guess "older" applies), with a soft voice and kind manner came out to meet them. She was surprised that he was nothing like his public image. He treated them all very cordially and eventually he hired Traudl. Hitler was a "south German," being born and raised in Austria, and having lived in Munich for many years, and I wouldn't be surprised that he liked the idea of Traudl being from Munich and that may have given her an advantage over the others. She also said he was like a father figure to her, something that had been lacking in her life, as her father had died when she was just a baby. This all came to tie her to Hitler. While she had not aspired to this job, she said she couldn't bring herself to turn it down, and she thought she would be at the source and center of all the news. On this point she was very disappointed, as Hitler led a life dominated by his daily routines, including staying awake virtually all night, then sleeping until around noon. The security measures at the headquarters kept everyone out, except military officers and government or Nazi officials. She noted that many on Hitler's staff were just plain bored, as even the dinner conversations were often repetitions of previous such talks. She said the staff personnel were thus only subject to the world according to Hitler. She ended up marrying one of Hitler's SS adjutants, Hans Junge, in the summer of 1943. The man desperately wanted out of the daily routines, so much so, that he asked to be sent to the front. He was killed about a year later during the fighting in Normandy. 

More in Part Two, including the attempt on Hitler's life ...

Photo is from the paperback edition of "Bis zur letzten Stunde" (Until the Last Hour) by Traudl Junge, with cooperation from Melissa Müller, published in paperback in 2003 in German (there have been English language editions also), although there have been various printings since the original paperback. This is the 8th German paperback printing from 2011 from List Taschenbuch. 

WORD HISTORY:

Secret/(Secretary)-Secret traces back to Indo European "khrei," which had the notion of "to separate, to divide; thus also, to sift," as to sift particles separates them. This gave Indo European's Latin offspring "cerno," which meant "to separate, to divide;" thus also, "discern," from the notion of "separating items helps to distinguish between them." The "se" prefix traces to Indo European "se(d)," which was a pronoun, in this case indicating "by itself, apart from." The two parts produced Latin "secernere," meaning "to divide, to separate." Its participle form, "secretus," came to mean "set off to itself;" thus, "private, hidden." Old French, a Latin-based language, inherited a form of the word as "secret," and English borrowed it in the 1300s, initially also "secrette." Secretary is derived from Latin "secretus," as originally it meant "a person trusted with the secrets of another, usually an official;" thus, "a clerk or record keeper privy to an official's 'confidential' papers." Latin "secretus" then produced "secretarius," which was borrowed into English in the late 1300s. The meaning expanded to include "letter writing for an official," and then "to the head of government departments," a meaning still used in American English, but not, interestingly, in England (Britain), where such officials are typically called "ministers." Example: in America, "Secretary of State," but in Britain, "Foreign Minister." 

Rolling Back Fascism Is Not Easy, Part Five/Final

Ingrained within fascism has been a "survival of the fittest" code. This seems to appeal to some of the wealthiest people in society (and some others), but certainly not all.  When you aren't particularly worried about how you'll get your next meal or how you're going to pay your rent or electric bill, there might just be a tendency for a disconnect with those struggling to make ends meet, although there are certainly people who abuse the system. The thing is, not everyone getting some sort of assistance is a freeloader; yet, to hear those on the political right talk, the country is just teeming with a bunch of bums. Some of those who have screamed and whined the loudest, like Mitt Romney, have done very well in this country, and I just wonder if they've ever considered how much corporate welfare and questionable, if not outright wasteful, government money from government at all levels (federal, state, local), including for defense, has gone into the bank accounts of some of our wealthiest citizens. My "guess" is, there's been more of that abuse than by those citizens far, far down the economic ladder. The wealthy wouldn't have lobbyists otherwise. The poor can't afford to hire big time lobbyists. Unlike many poorer Americans, the wealthy aren't fighting for survival, they're fighting for "mo' money, mo' money, mo' money." Remember this slogan, "Success, not excess." We need to stop paying heed to those concerned with the plight of billionaires and millionaires, and get back to paying attention to America's struggling middle class and poor. The rich can and will take very good care of themselves, as they always have, but they will have to take less and workers at all levels will have to get more, and that means the wealthy will be kicking and screaming all the way, such is their sense of "entitlement." 

The survival of the fittest part of fascism also appeals to those who want virtually no rules or regulations, as that's true "survival of the fittest." They like the idea of returning to the pre-civilization era, before some humans started worrying about others and sharing certain things. Nope, in their narrow little world, you're on your own, except when it comes to fighting wars, then you MUST belong to their community or face severe consequences, including death.* Their ultimate point is to keep the government and economy from functioning so that people will turn to them. "Hate the government, shut down the government, try to stop the economy from recovering, stop Obama from succeeding, then let us establish a government," this lies behind their ideas.

Unions have declined, but that hasn't stopped the whining by wealthy interests, who have been rather successful in convincing many average people to support the war on unions with the tactic, "Support our anti-union plans and we'll give a job for $8.00 an hour." Of course, said under their breath and with a snicker is, "How you get by on such wages is YOUR problem, but we'll do just fine paying you eight bucks." Fascism always seeks to destroy unions to keep wealthy interests supporting them and to eliminate a source of organized opposition. Beware before it's too late! As I just noted, the economic meltdown brought on by deregulation and poor oversight of financial markets and banks has given wealthy interests a chance to exploit the fear of many average Americans by getting them to take less money and benefits and pitting workers against unions; "divide and conquer." Of course, the wealthiest Americans don't take less money, they take more! There's been little shared sacrifice; in fact, some wealthy interests have whined that they deserve more! As I've mentioned in previous articles, the Mr. Thurston Howell multimillionaire character from "Gilligan's Island" perhaps put it best when he heard that someone was spending some of his money, he said something to the effect, "Little does he care how hard other people worked to make me that money." This survival of the fittest mentality, if carried to its ultimate, would lead to the demise of mankind, as only one person, the most ruthless of all, would survive, and their ultimate death would extinguish humans. And of course, with no other humans to exploit, their death would probably come rather quickly.

Fascists seek to exclude others from their own self created little worlds where they dominate as an elite. Their warped minds build up false enemies as Hitler did with Jews. In this country the hate has spewed forth against African-Americans, Latinos, unions, and yes, sometimes Jews or Muslims. You can't maintain a nation by exclusion, including "undesirables" only when you want them to fight wars or to exploit their labor. The survivalist, ultra nationalist fascists feel a devout hatred for people they see as "foreigners," and they'll use any lie, seeing themselves as above reproach because of their duty to protect others from the people they hate. The "birthers" prove this point all the time, led by one Donald Trump, a survival of the fittest fascist if there ever was one. Roger Ailes has provided the drumbeat of propaganda for the increased fascism in our country, using the technique of  "keep repeating the same lies until enough people accept them as truth." No political party or philosophy has a monopoly on truth, but this is orchestrated by Ailes-led "Fox News," a propaganda organization devoid of any shame as Ailes promotes it as "fair and balanced." 

So, you don't want to be called a "fascist?" Don't act like one and don't support those who are. I suppose all of us at one time or another needs to look into a mirror and ask ourselves some tough questions. If you have been trending toward fascism, take a deep breath, look into the mirror and face reality, you'll feel a lot better than being on the side of evil. We're all part of selfishness, that's why we have to keep reminding ourselves about reaching out to those less fortunate. We have to keep fighting the fight against our own worst inclinations and fears. We aren't perfect individually and we won't be perfect as a nation, but we don't have to be fascists! 

* See "Note ** " in the previous part of this series:  http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2013/01/rolling-back-fascim-is-not-easy-part.html

WORD HISTORY:
Frock-This word's meaning has varied over time, but generally it came to mean "a long, loose, gown-like garment worn by people of the clergy," but also used as a term for "a hunting coat," and "a formal coat for men," which evolved into the "tails," for white tie, and as part of the term "frock coat," a coat previously used for formal daytime dress for men. The word is still around, but I suppose its most common usage in today's English is as part of "defrock;" that is, "to dismiss someone from the clergy." It "seems" to go back to Indo European "ruk/rugk," which meant "to spin (cloth/fabric)." Its Old Germanic offspring was "rukkaz," which meant "a jacket," but also could mean "a skirt" (Old English had "rocc," meaning "over garment," and German still has "Rock," which means both "jacket" and "skirt," and the other Germanic languages have forms, too). Latin borrowed a form of the word from Germanic, which was then inherited by its Old French offspring, or Old French borrowed a form from Frankish, a Germanic dialect/language, and then passed it to Latin. In any case, the Old French form became "froc," with the religious garment/gown meaning, which was then borrowed into English in the 1300s as "frok," before the modern version. The "f" beginning in the French word "could" be from the influence of Latin "floccus," which meant "a lock of wool," thus; if true, making "froc" something of a compound meaning "wool gown/garment." German borrowed the word from English in the 1700s as "Frack" (the "a" is pronounced as in "father," making it very similar to English "frock") and in modern German it means "a man's formal evening dress, tails."