Hitler Gradually Consolidated Power, Part Four/Final

Note: Hitler, Mussolini, Franco and other fascists have used rallies to spread hate, to keep their supporters motivated and to get their own extremely weak egos the affirmation they so desperately needed. Trump has used his own rallies for such things, but he has also turned non partisan events with the Boy Scouts, law enforcement, the military and business people into political events for himself. Fascists LOVE chants, and the chants of "Duce! Duce! Duce!" for Mussolini, "Sieg heil! Sieg Heil! Sieg heil! for Hitler, have been turned by Trump into audiences chanting, "Lock her/them up!," depending upon the target of his remarks at the moment.
 
For "Part Three," here is the link: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2019/05/hitler-gradually-consolidated-power_23.html

As I noted in "Part Three," just before President Paul von Hindenburg died in August 1934, Hitler had the cabinet issue a new law combining the chancellorship with the presidency for when the 86 year old president passed away. With Hitler now Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, all military personnel were gathered in their various locations, where they swore an oath to Adolf Hitler, personally, not to Germany or to the German people. This oath proved to be a major problem for many in the military, including the highest officers, who saw disloyalty to Trump.... I mean Hitler, as "treason," although now Trump is doing the same thing, by declaring it is treason to investigate him.

By late 1941 his armies in Russia were halted before the gates of Moscow, Leningrad (the name for St. Petersburg for much of the communist era), and the naval fortress of Sevastopol in the Crimea, and Hitler, never one to take responsibility for his own decisions, replaced the commander-in-chief of the army, Field Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch. Hitler replaced him with himself! So Hitler was now Supreme Commander of the Wehrmacht (armed forces), commander-in-chief of the armed forces and commander-in-chief of the army. When would he fire a captain and take charge of a company himself?

Hitler's power was complete and throughout his time in leadership, he and the Nazis used fear to keep people in line by using the powers of the German state to punish enemies and make examples of anyone who dared to challenge Hitler's policies, or threatened the regime in any way, just as Sturmabteiling (SA) leader Ernest Röhm and other SA leaders were murdered or sent to concentration camps, and young brother and sister Hans and Sophie Scholl, and their friend Christoph Probst, were beheaded for distributing antiwar and anti-Nazi leaflets. As the German military was staggered by defeats on a continuing basis beginning in late 1942, and more and more disturbing reports of terrible atrocities swirled around, the oath to Hitler became a shield to hide behind for many military personnel, but not all, and some gallant officers actually joined with existing anti-Hitler and anti-Nazi Germans to come up with a way to rid Germany and the world of Hitler, in hopes of saving their country. *

During the course of the war, Nazi "political officers" (Nationalsozialistische Führungsoffiziere= National Socialist Leadership Officers) were put into units to help ensure the troops were following Nazi ideology of being strong in the face of adversity and to make strict and harsh treatment of designated groups, like Jews and Gypsies, acceptable. After the failed attempt to kill Hitler in July 1944, the traditional military salute was replaced by the Nazi salute in the armed forces,** and the head of the infamous SS, Heinrich Himmler, was put in charge of the Replacement Army (Ersatzheer), a part of the German army, not the Nazi SS. As the war neared its end on German soil, the Nazis couldn't break their old habits, and they formed special squads to look for and execute Germans for abandoning the war effort and going against the Nazi slogan of "final victory" (Endsieg), even when Allied or Soviet troops were advancing just blocks away through the ruins of German cities and towns. In those closing weeks and days of the war, tens of thousands of people, military and civilian, and from all sides, were killed or maimed just to keep Hitler's nasty ass alive. This was the man who called himself a "genius." Let's see... what American fascist leader has recently claimed to be a "genius?"    

* For a bit more on the German resistance to Hitler, here is the link: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2011/08/german-question-part-one-hundred-fifty_29.html 

** The Nazi salute was/is called "Hitlergruß" in German (Hitler greeting), and it was always used in Nazi organization, but the German armed forces had used the traditional military salute. Wouldn't Trump LOVE to have a salute named for him? I have a salute FOR him, an extended middle finger! 

WORD HISTORY:
Swirl-While the origin of this word is in question, it seems likely to be related to "swarm," a word from the Germanic roots of English. This likelihood means the word goes back to Indo European "swer/suer," which meant, "to buzz;" and was likely used for bees and other insects (thus, "swarm"). I can find no Old Germanic form, but it "could" have been derived from a form of "swarm" later, and there were/are forms of words in Germanic like Old Norse "sverra," meaning "to swirl, to whirl", and "swarra," "to whiz," Swedish dialectal "svirra," "to crackle (of fire)," Danish "svirre," "to buzz or to whiz," Norwegian "svirla" "whirl," German "surren," "to buzz, to whir," and German also has "schwirren," meaning "to buzz, to whir," but it seems to have been taken from Low German "swirren" about 250 to 300 years ago, which referred to the sound made by a swarm of insects, and Dutch "zwirrelen," "to swirl, to whirl." The noun form "swirl" first seems to have been used in the first part of the 1400s, as "swyrl," in Lowland Scots English,^ and it "might" be a borrowing from the Dutch verb, as it meant "an eddy, a whirlpool," or from the Norwegian dialect form.

^ "Lowland Scots" is now classified by linguists as a separate language from English, although it developed from English, and is, therefore, a Germanic language, not a Gaelic language from Celtic, like Scottish Gaelic (also called, "Scots Gaelic").

Hitler Gradually Consolidated Power, Part Three

 For Part Two, here is the link: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2019/05/hitler-gradually-consolidated-power_20.html

Little more than a month after President von Hindenburg thanked Hitler for taking action against Ernst Röhm and the SA, the 86 year old president died. The day before Hindenburg's death, Hitler had the German Cabinet agree to a law combining the chancellorship with the presidency (notice how well having conservatives in the cabinet worked... FOR HITLER!). With this new law, when von Hindenburg died, Hitler became the supreme commander of the armed forces, the "Reichswehr," which he soon renamed the "Wehrmacht." Hitler was now truly "der Führer" ("the leader") of Germany. By March of 1935 Hitler openly announced conscription for the army, which was as good as his tearing up the military limitations imposed on Germany by the Versailles Treaty. Hitler was now well on his way to becoming an even more dangerous man, as he was a man with an expanding military force under his control.    

By March of 1936 Hitler was ready to test the waters on an aggressive foreign policy move. After the end of what would come to be called "World War One," the Rhineland part of Germany in western Germany was demilitarized; that is, no troops or fortifications were allowed in the area. On March 7, 1936 Hitler sent troops into the Rhineland, thus demonstrating that the region was once again a militarized area of Germany, and symbolically extending a "middle finger" to the French and British, who stamped their feet and shook their fists, but actually did nothing. Hitler's popularity rose. 

In early 1938, Field Marshal Werner von Blomberg, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, married a much younger woman. Hitler and Hermann Göring attended the wedding; but afterwards, it was reported that the young woman had a police record, with the implication being that she was a prostitute (the police also had evidence her mother had been a prostitute). This was all played up to be a major affront to Hitler, and von Blomberg was asked to have the marriage annulled, something he would not do. Göring threatened to make the information on the woman and her mother available for release to the public. Von Blomberg resigned to avoid a total scandal. Hitler did not appoint a new commander-in-chief of the Wehrmacht, he simply took over the position himself. Hitler was now both supreme commander and commander-in-chief. 

Within days of von Blomberg's resignation, the commander-in-chief of the army, Colonel-General Werner von Fritsch, faced charges that he was homosexual. Von Fritsch resigned, but he chose to go before a court to argue his case, and he was acquitted. Hitler appointed Colonel-General Walther von Brauchitsch to replace von Fritsch.*
      
In March 1938, after various maneuverings, German troops and Austrian border guards removed barriers from the Austro-German border, allowing German troops to move into Austria. Not long thereafter, Hitler crossed the border into his native Austria to cheering crowds. Austria was incorporated into Germany. Britain and France did nothing. Hitler was more popular than ever among Germans.  

Meanwhile, within the German government, Franz von Papen, the vice chancellor (Vizekanzler), and one of those "conservatives" appointed to help keep a check on Hitler, was lucky to remain alive after the "purge," although he was arrested. Afterwards Hitler sent him to Vienna as his ambassador. By the way, von Papen was fluent in English (and I "believe" French). Alfred Hugenberg, another conservative, was both the Minister of Economics and the Minister of Agriculture and Nutrition/Food (Reichsminister für Wirtschaft, Reichsminister für Landwirtschaft und Ernährung). Hugenberg was a leader of the German National People's Party (Deutschnationale Volkspartei),** a partner of the Nazis in the coalition government, but within just a few months of Hitler becoming chancellor, Hitler and the Nazis went after the DNVP, and Hugenberg drew critical attention when the backward looking government minister publicly advocated for German colonies in Africa. Hugenberg resigned in June of 1933 and he was replaced as Minister of Economics by Kurt Schmitt (an insurance executive and a member of the Allgemeine SS, "the General SS"), and by Walther Darré as Minister of Agriculture.*** Konstantin von Neurath, a conservative, was in the diplomatic service of Germany for a number of years and he was named Minister of Foreign Affairs (Reichsaußenminister) before Hitler was appointed chancellor, a position von Hindenburg kept him in when the president appointed Hitler as chancellor. Over time, Hitler moved more and more aggressively in foreign policy, and by late 1937 he laid out a plan for war at a meeting with Field Marshal von Blomberg (commander-in-chief of the armed forces), Colonel-General von Fritsch (commander-in-chief of the army), Admiral Raeder (the commander-in-chief of the navy), Hermann Göring (commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe/air force), Foreign Minister von Neurath, and Hitler's adjutant Colonel Friedrich Hossbach (usually written as "Hoßbach" in German). Blomberg, Fritsch and Neurath all had concerns about Hitler's war plans, and Blomberg and Fritsch were replaced within two months (see above), and Neurath was replaced right after that. His replacement was Joachim (von) Ribbentrop, an arrogant man who had been a wine salesman.****  

* Von Fritsch is not in any way a sympathetic figure. He believed a lot of the anti-Jewish nonsense espoused by Hitler, Himmler, etc, and he continued to support Hitler after his own resignation. Von Fritsch served during the Polish Campaign in September 1939, and he was killed by gunfire in Warsaw during the battle for the Polish capital.

** The "DNVP," as it was commonly known, was a reactionary political party, which had many anti-Jewish supporters, racists and even supporters of bringing back Kaiser Wilhelm II. Even before Hitler took power, some of the DNVP party members switched to the Nazis.

*** Darré was heavily involved in the "Blut und Boden" philosophy; that is, "Blood" equals "race/ethnicity," specifically, "Nordic/Germanic," and "Soil" equals "land/territory (of the Nordic/Germanic people)." Interestingly, Darré had partial French and Spanish ancestry, besides German and Swedish. In the Nazi/White Nationalist marches in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017, marchers periodically chanted, "Blood and soil." Counter protesters outnumbered the Nazis, but the President of the United States, Donald Trump, publicly said, "There were good people on both sides." He has periodically whined that some people call him "a fascist," but we see and hear, what we see and hear, you fascist!

**** While I don't recall all of the details at the moment, Ribbentrop's name was somewhat controversial, as I believe he later added the "von" (designating nobility), and I'm relatively certain he was not born with that designation. Ribbentrop was not all that well liked by the other Nazi leaders, especially Göring, who, as I recall, was able to irritate Ribbentrop by raising the subject of his family name, or by deliberately leaving out the "von" when mentioning the name. 

WORD HISTORY:
Crony-This word is related to "chronicle" and "chronic," words derived from Greek, borrowed by Latin, then passed to Latin-based French and eventually borrowed by English. While not a word from many hundreds of years ago, it goes back to transliterated Greek "khronios," which meant "long lasting, enduring," which was derived from transliterated Greek "khronos," which meant "time." The origin of the Greek form is not known. It developed from Greek "khronios" in the mid 1600s at Cambridge University, initially as, "chrony" with the meaning, "long time friend," and it only later developed the negative meaning, "close associate or subordinate to a criminal boss or in a criminal enterprise."

Hitler Gradually Consolidated Power, Part Two

For "Part One": https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2019/05/hitler-gradually-consolidated-power.html

As Hitler and the Nazis tried to gain power throughout the 1920s and early 1930s, they took on a virtual army of men to protect Nazi meetings, rallies, marches and facilities. They also used these men to disrupt the rallies and marches of other political parties, often of the German Communist Party. Large street fights were not an uncommon event in some German cities in those times, with people wounded and even killed. The Nazis called this "Nazi army," the "Sturmabteilung" ("storm or assault detachment"), often shortened to the initials "SA," the term I'll use here. Eventually, the SA had a couple of million active men, and many more Nazis were "honorary" members, rather than every day members. The commander of the SA was Ernst Röhm, a long time friend of Hitler, and if I remember right, one of only a couple of non family members with whom Hitler used the familiar form of "you;" that is, "du," instead of the more polite and formal "Sie."* 

After Hitler was appointed chancellor, the split in the Nazi Party became more evident. Röhm and many in the SA wanted the SA to combine with the traditional army, making the German army a truly Nazified army. This was talk that made the conservative army leaders nervous. The reputation of the SA as a force of brawlers and bullies was not something the army, a very conservative part of German society, looked upon in the least bit favorably. In this, the army was often supported by German industrialists and other business people. The army and business leaders expressed their concern to Hitler, and Hitler knew, that for him to remain in power and to enact his foreign policy goals of reversing the Treaty of Versailles and of bringing German regions then outside the borders of Germany into Germany, he needed the army and business people on his side.**

For a number of years within the SA there had been, and continued to be, a relatively small force dedicated to the actual protection of Hitler during his public speeches. This Nazi force was generally unknown to the public, but that was all about to change, as the initials of this force would strike terror into the hearts and minds of Germans and non Germans alike... the "SS." The initials stood for "Schutzstaffel;" that is, "defense staff." At the end of June 1934 Hitler decided to strike. In what historians have often called, "the Night of the Long Knives" (German: "Nacht der langen Messer"), Hitler used the "SS" to have numerous SA leaders arrested and Röhm and some other SA leaders executed. The actual purge lasted more than one night, as it went into the early days of July. Hitler didn't stop there, as this was also an "eliminate opponents and get even" action, as the former German chancellor, General Kurt von Schleicher and his wife were murdered, as was Gregor Strasser a long time Nazi, who had had substantial differences with Hitler not long before Hitler was appointed chancellor. Strasser resigned his leadership position in the Nazi Party in late 1932. Hitler had a long memory, and one of the men who helped to quash the Nazi putsch in Munich in 1923, Gustav von Kahr, was hacked to death.*** How many people were actually killed by the Nazis in the purge is not actually known, but it could well have been hundreds, and others were thrown into concentration camps. Hitler explained the killings and arrests as a necessary action to stop a conspiracy by some SA leaders to overthrow the government. In the end, President von Hindenburg, a conservative, approved of the action, and Hitler's grip on power tightened. Outright murder had become an instrument of the German government, with the German president even giving his approval to the purge.**** 

The SA was never again a truly prominent force, but the SS began to dominate many branches of the Nazi system, and it would continue to grow in power and influence virtually right up to the very end of the regime in 1945. Interestingly, while the army had serious misgivings about the SA early in the Nazi regime, and army leaders did not want the Nazi SA combined with the army, during World War Two the SS expanded its military arm (the "Waffen SS"), and provided some elite units that served extensively in Russia, in Italy and in Western Europe, under army command. Also, the head of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, became the commander in chief of the German Replacement Army***** after Hitler was nearly killed by a bomb carried into a military conference in July 1944. So, gradually the army was being "Nazified," something the army had earlier feared. 

* "Du" is the close relative of English "thou," which was once pronounced "thu," and I believe it still is often pronounced that way in "Lowland Scots," classified by linguists as a separate language from English, although it developed from English, and is, therefore, a Germanic language, not a Gaelic language from Celtic.  

** There's no question Hitler also wanted to eventually attack and conquer the Soviet Union, as his talk and writings about "Lebensraum in the east" made clear.  

*** Gustav von Kahr was a right wing politician and an official in the Bavarian state government at the time of Hitler's "Beer Hall Putsch," as it came to be known. He helped to organize opponents to Hitler's takeover during the putsch, which ended with gunfire and the collapse of the putsch in the streets of Munich in November 1923.  

**** On July 2, 1934, President von Hindenburg sent a telegram to Hitler saying, "... that by determined action and the brave insertion of your own person, you have nipped all the treasonous activities in the bud. You saved the German people from a grave danger. For that I speak my heartfelt thanks to you..." (German: "... dass Sie durch entschlossenes Zugreifen und die tapfere Einsetzung Ihrer eigenen Person alle hochverräterischen Umtriebe im Keime erstickt haben. Sie haben das Deutsche Volk aus einer schweren Gefahr gerettet. Hierfür spreche ich Ihnen meinen tiefempfundenen Dank..."). From: Domarus, Max, "Hitler-Reden und Proklamationen" (Volume One: 1932-1934), Süddeutscher Verlag, München, 1965 

***** "Generally," the German Replacement Army inducted, equipped and trained men to be used as replacements for casualties in units or to form new units.    

WORD HISTORY:
Purge-This word is related to "pure," a Latin-derived word borrowed by English from French. "Purge" goes back to Indo European "pu/puh," which had the notion of "to clean completely, to cleanse." This gave its Latin offspring "purus," with the same general meaning. It also goes back to Indo European "ag/eg," which meant, "to drive, to drive forth;" thus also, "to do, to make." It forms the main part, or a part of a number of words, including, for instance, "agile," a word of Latin derivation and borrowed by English from Latin-based French. This gave Latin "agere," meaning, "to do, to make." These parts gave Latin "purgare," meaning "to make pure, to cleanse," often in reference to the body. This passed into Latin-based Old French "purgier," with the same meaning, but seemingly with more emphasis on "cleansing the body." The Norman form "seems" to have been "purger" (?), which they carried to England. English borrowed the word in the late 1200s as "purgen," but more with the meaning, "to clear from legal suspicion of some offense." It didn't develop the political meaning of "removing people from offices within government or other organizations by dismissal, imprisonment or execution," until about the mid 1700s.

Hitler Gradually Consolidated Power, Part One

First... Adolf Hitler did not "seize" power. Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany very legally on January 30, 1933 by President Paul von Hindenburg, a major German military figure and field marshal during the "Great War" (later to be called "World War One").*//** Hindenburg was an old time conservative, and he had resisted appointing "the Bohemian corporal," as he referred to Hitler at least on one occasion. He also appointed more traditional conservatives to the cabinet, with the idea that they would "control" Hitler. But with Hitler as chancellor, he and his Nazi inner circle began to outmaneuver the conservatives and to circumvent the German constitution and to consolidate power for himself and for the Nazi Party in general. Conservative opposition began to melt, as more conservatives became complicit in Nazi rule, if not outright accomplices. Does this sound familiar Americans?

In the Reichstag election of November 1932, the last truly free German election before Hitler became chancellor, the Nazis received 33% of the vote, a drop from 37% in the prior election, but the Nazis still remained the largest German political party in terms of the number of votes. After Hitler was appointed chancellor on January 30, 1933, new elections were authorized for March 5. On the evening of February 27, the Reichstag building in Berlin was reported to be on fire. Police arrested a mentally unstable Dutch communist named Marinus van der Lubbe, who admitted he set fire to the building. The Nazis screamed "communist conspiracy," and some other known communists were arrested and put on trial with van der Lubbe. Hitler got President von Hindenburg to sign a decree to "protect" against a communist conspiracy. The decree suspended virtually all civil liberties in Germany, including freedom of the press, freedom of assembly and freedom of speech. Further, the decree turned over many state powers to the national government.*** The law essentially gave the Nazis a free hand to arrest about anyone who opposed them by accusing the person of being a communist. "Generally," the German courts were still outside Nazi control. While van der Lubbe was convicted of the Reichstag fire, and then beheaded, the other main communists were acquitted, a verdict by the judge that led Trump... I mean Hitler, to establish a new Nazi court, the People's Court (German: Volksgerichtshof), to get around the not yet Nazified constitutional courts.

To be clear, the situation with the Reichstag fire has been, and still is, contentious. Van der Lubbe admitted to starting the fire by himself, but there are those who feel the fire was too big for one person to start, and that van der Lubbe had help, either from the communists, or from the Nazis, who, some quite logically believe, wanted an incident to provide them with a reason to crack down on opponents prior to the approaching election. There have also been theories that Hermann Göring, who was then the president of the Reichstag, had helped to plan the fire and to provide aid by sending Nazi stormtroopers through a tunnel that connected his office and residence to the Reichstag, which were across the street from one another. Whether such a tunnel existed, I don't know, but regardless of who started the fire, or who participated in the fire, the Nazis used the Reichstag fire to full effect. On election day the Nazis stationed Stormtroopers throughout the country. Even the strong arm tactics could not win the bastards a majority, and the Nazis received just shy of 44% of the vote. Less than three weeks later, the Reichstag was to vote on what is usually called "the Enabling Act" in English (German:  "Ermächtigungsgesetz"). The law allowed Hitler and the cabinet to make changes to the German constitution WITHOUT the consent of the Reichstag. Because the law changed the constitution, it needed support from two-thirds of the delegates, with two-thirds of the delegates needing to be present. All Communist delegates had been locked up after the post Reichstag fire decree and this removed a block of "no" votes. Still, Hitler lacked votes to get to the necessary two-thirds affirmative vote, and he turned to the Center Party, a Catholic-based political party. After Hitler's promise to protect Catholic religious practices and Catholic schools, the Center Party, although skeptical about Hitler's promises, voted with the Nazis and the Reichstag became irrelevant for the rest of the Nazi era. Hitler periodically used the Reichstag as a forum for important speeches, and to rubber stamp his policies, but it actually held no importance.

By the way, the fire destroyed much of the main meeting hall in the Reichstag, and thereafter, meetings were held in the nearby Kroll Opera House (German: Krolloper), and if you've seen photos or films of Hitler speaking to the Reichstag, almost all of the films and photos were taken in the Kroll Opera House, not in the actual Reichstag building itself. The Kroll Opera House was badly damaged by bombing during the war and it was torn down a few years after the war ended. The damaged Reichstag building remained, and it was a focal point in the fighting between Soviet and German troops in late April and early May of 1945, during the street fighting in Berlin, but it was not used for any legislative meetings until after German reunification in the 1990s. When Berlin was divided into "occupation zones" after World War Two, the Reichstag building was in the British zone, essentially right on the line with the Soviet zone. The (Communist) East German government erected a wall to divide Berlin in the early 1960s, "officially" to keep other people "out," a propaganda ploy that fooled no one. The Reichstag building was substantially renovated in the 1990s and it has kept its name, "Reichstag Building," but since the post World War Two years until the present, the German national parliament is called the Bundestag; that is, the Federal Parliament or Diet.

This is a picture of the Reichstag from a postcard I bought in Berlin back in the mid 1980s. The infamous "Berlin Wall" and Communist East Berlin was right behind the building. 

* The German president was the head of state; the German official, elected by a vote of the German people, who represented Germany in public ceremonial events. He also had the tremendous powers to appoint the chancellor and cabinet ministers, to dissolve the Reichstag (the German representative parliament) and to call for extraordinary national elections for delegates to the Reichstag (Note: this means the president could call for elections to be held outside the normally scheduled election dates). He was also the supreme commander of the armed forces, a very substantial power, as the army, especially, was held in very high regard in those days in German society, as the army was limited by the Versailles Treaty to 100,000 men, meaning that likely EVERY soldier was a veteran of the Great War. The chancellor of Germany was the head of the German government and its various departments (called ministries in German terminology and in many other countries, too).

** Hitler and the Nazis always wanted to present themselves as "strong," and the idea of "seizing power" was part of that effort, with the further idea that they were "revolutionaries," wanting to overthrow the then constitutional German government, and to prevent the Communists from taking power. The failed Nazi putsch (coup) of November 9, 1923, which was truly an attempt to "seize power," became a sacred event to the Nazis year after year, and a virtual holiday to them, complete with a Nazi banner carried during the coup attempt, and a solemn ceremony officiated by Hitler. You would likely be hard pressed to find elsewhere so much time and effort expended in celebration of a failure, but it was a failure Hitler and the Nazis turned to their advantage; thus, covering up just what a colossal failure it had actually been. A similar effort was made with the expression "seizure of power" ("die Machtergreifung"), which in reality, was simply the legal appointment of Hitler as chancellor by President von Hindenburg, but the terminology was used to make it sound strong and to show it as the realization of the putsch from 1923. As Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels said, "Truth isn't truth" ... oh wait, Rudy Giuliani said that.       

*** Germany had a federal system; that is, a system where the states had many powers delegated to them and where the national government had other powers for the entire country. By allowing the national government, then under Hitler's authority, to control many powers within the individual states, the Nazis took control of much of the authority in all states, including in those states where they were in a distinct minority. 

WORD HISTORY:
Cough-While the ancient origin of this word is uncertain, its "likely" an Old Germanic attempt to imitate the "sound of the act of coughing, throat clearing, forcefully expelling air from the mouth or gasping," as "kokh." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "cohhetan," meaning, "to cough, to make noise by forceful expulsion of air." This then became "coughen," with the "gh" pronounced similarly to "ch." The noun developed from the verb (between 1200 and 1300?). Words spelled with "ough" in them gradually began to change in pronunciation, as English speakers got further away from the more guttural sounds of before. As with "laugh," "cough" came to be pronounced as if "coff." Relatives in the other Germanic languages: German "keuchen" ("to wheeze, to huff and puff, to gasp for air"),^ Low German "seemingly" does not use a form in modern times, but it once had "küchen" (cough, clear the throat), Dutch "kuchen" ("to cough, to clear the throat"), Swedish "kika" (breath heavily, but its use seems to be limited today).

^ German also has "hauchen," meaning, "to breath (through the mouth)." It's a word not used by everyone, but initially it carried the idea of "to breathe audibly through the mouth," and it was spelled with a beginning "k." While I'm not totally certain, it could well be another form of the modern German form "keuchen" (once spelled "keichen"); thus, this would make it, too, a relative of English "cough."        

Many Contributed To Hitler's Defeat

Recently I decided to watch the 1965 movie "Operation Crossbow," a movie I've seen several times over the years.* This World War Two film is "loosely" based on history and the British efforts to disrupt Hitler's rocket program. There is an important scene at the end of the film that shows the head of Britain's forces to combat German rockets, Duncan Sandys (played by English actor Richard Johnson), speaking with Prime Minister Winston Churchill (played by English actor Patrick Wymark)** about how so many unknown people were contributing to defeating Hitler. Many people have heard the names of political leaders and generals who became famous during World War Two, but these leaders would have been nothing without the men and women who took on Hitler and the Nazis on a smaller and a more personal level: from the Allied military personnel who helped to attack and defend against Hitler's forces, to the Allied personnel who monitored and decoded enemy messages, to secret agents who risked their lives to get information to help the Allies plan military operations, to resistance members who worked in a variety of ways to get information, to pass information along or to actively sabotage Nazi military installations and facilities, to other resistance members, including Jews, who rose in armed conflict against Nazi occupiers, to workers in factories producing Nazi military goods who sabotaged Hitler's war effort by slowing production or by weakening the quality of the goods they produced. It's almost impossible to know how much of the latter sabotage went on, but it did happen. Remember, as I said above, we'll never know all of the little bits and pieces that went into efforts to defeat Hitler, but they happened, and likely taken together, they did substantial damage to the fanatical, furious Führer, also known as the, "Wacko-in-Chief." 

The movie shows one man, a Dutch sailor, who becomes an Allied agent who makes it into Germany to get information on the Nazi rocket program. He ends up being arrested, and after torture, he faces execution, but he never gives up the names of his accomplices. Just before he is executed, a Nazi officer tries one more time to get the badly beaten man to give him information, telling the Dutchman that if he doesn't cooperate, he will die and no one will ever know even how he died, that his heroism will be for nothing. He tells the Nazi NOTHING, and he is then executed. Later in the film, two other Allied agents inside the Nazi rocket facility, located underground in Germany, are supposed to open the facility launch doors to provide light to guide Royal Air Force bombers to the Nazi rocket center. Their heroics make the mission a success, although both men are killed. While the movie has much fiction to it, I can't help but believe that there were real incidents of a similar nature throughout the war, and these things all helped to drive nails into the coffin of the Nazi nutcase. Just as the Nazi official threatened the Dutchman in the movie that no one would ever know how brave he had been, or even know how he died, so many people likely really did fit into that category in real life, but they all did things to help defeat Hitler and fascism. We owe so many a debt of gratitude.

* For my article about "Operation Crossbow," this is the link: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2017/04/operation-crossbow-george-peppard.html

** Just as a point of information, Duncan Sandys was married to Winston Churchill's eldest daughter, Diana.

WORD HISTORY: 
Sabotage-This is a tough word in its meaning development, and its ultimate origin is uncertain. First, forget about the modern meaning completely at the moment. There are forms of the word in Turkic and Arabic, as well as in some Indo European language branches like Persian, Latin-based languages and some Slavic. While some believe it spread FROM Persian, Turkic or Arabic INTO Latin and then into other Indo European languages, that is not a certainty. Anyway, one of the Latin-based languages to have a form was French, which originally acquired the word as "savate" (perhaps first as, "chavate?"), which meant, "shoe, slipper, old shoe," a meaning similar to forms of the word in other languages, all of which had to do with "shoes, slippers." This then became "sabat," and then "sabot," with the "bat" part being altered in spelling (perhaps mistaken by French speakers for "bot," the French word for "boot"), by which time (1200s) it meant "wooden shoe." A French verb form developed from the noun as "saboter," which seems to have at first meant, "to bungle something," and from this came the idea of "workers in a dispute with employers remaining on the job, but doing shoddy work to make customers angry, and thus, hurt the employer." Why a word for "wooden shoe" spawned a verb with this meaning is not understood and there are various theories, including, "workers throwing or putting shoes into machines to cause malfunction," but the reason is just not known. French later developed the word as "sabotage," by taking the root "sabot," and then adding the noun forming ending "-age," which indicated a state of action or being. The meaning also broadened to "obstruction, interference, disruption by non official military personnel of a nation's military forces, infrastructure or means of production," but the labor dispute meaning also persisted into the 1900s. The word is a relative newcomer to English, as it was just  borrowed in the early 1900s, and at first, it had both meanings in English too.  

A Bomb For Hitler: "Valkyrie," 2008 Tom Cruise Movie

I've done a few articles on the subject of the attempt on Hitler's life and this one provides an overview to the actual historical events, if you are interested: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2011/08/german-question-part-one-hundred-fifty_29.html

The problem with these kinds of pictures is that they are based upon historical events; thus, we already know the overall outcome. It's like with the various pictures about the Titanic, the ship hits an iceberg and sinks. It always ends the same. Damn! You'd think after the first movie, they'd know to stay away from icebergs! With the July 20, 1944 attempt on Hitler's life, the subject has been covered, in whole or in part, in numerous films dating back decades. Perhaps we need to have new versions to continue to show younger generations that resistance to fascism did exist, even in a totalitarian system like that of Germany under the Nazis. Notice too, I said, "based upon historical events." This doesn't mean that the movies are documentaries, but rather, that they contain scenes depicting, "to some degree," events that actually took place historically.* Movies are written, filmed and released to make money and in many cases the overall real historical events wouldn't keep people in their seats or make them want to buy tickets to a movie theater, so..... things get spiced up to hold the attention of the audience; or at least, that's what the movie studios hope. So it is with this film, "Valkyrie," although you must admit, planting a bomb near Hitler and then trying to take control of Germany from the Nazis is a story that should hold the attention of most viewers.  

"Valkyrie" (German: "Walküre")** comes from that word's use as a German code name for a military plan to secure parts or all of Germany due to any threat to German government control for any reason, including rebellion. A number of the officers with responsibilities for carrying out any such military operation were anti-Nazis, and they cleverly decided to use the plan to take over the German government FROM the Nazis, once Hitler was either arrested or killed.     

There is a large cast for this movie, and some of  the main cast members are: American actor Tom Cruise as Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, British actor (from Northern Ireland) Kenneth Branagh, as Colonel (later General) Henning von Tresckow, English actor Bill Nighy as General Friedrich Olbricht, English actor Terence Stamp as General Beck,*** English actor Tom Wilkinson as Colonel General Friedrich Fromm, German actor Thomas Kretschmann as Major Otto Remer,**** English actor Jamie Parker as Stuaffenberg's military aide, Werner von Haeften, and last, but not least, The Wacko-in-Chief, Hitler, is played by English actor David Bamber.

This version of the nearly successful attempt to kill Hitler begins with Claus von Stauffenberg serving with the German army in Tunisia, where he is severely wounded. The scene shifts to Hitler visiting a group of officers, including then Colonel, and soon to be General, Henning von Tresckow,  on the Eastern Front in Russia. When Hitler boards his plane to leave, Tresckow asks one of the officers who will accompany Hitler on the flight to take a package containing a bottle of liquor with him to be delivered to another officer. The package indeed contains a liquor bottle, but it is specially fitted with a bomb. The plane flies off, and later Tresckow learns that it lands safely; that the bomb failed to go off for some reason. The bomb must now be retrieved, lest the plan by Tresckow and others be discovered. He contacts the man with the "package" and he then makes the trip to get the bomb back into his possession. When he arrives, he learns from General Friedrich Olbricht, that one of the other conspirators has been arrested for unknown reasons, but Tresckow retrieves the package containing the bomb without incident. This whole segment shows how dangerous it could be to plot against Hitler.

The badly wounded Stauffenberg is released from the hospital, minus his right hand, two fingers on his left hand and his left eye. Stauffenberg, a devout Catholic, meets General Olbricht in church, where Olbricht tells him the resistance movement needs someone like him. Stauffenberg tells him that as he lay on the ground badly wounded in North Africa, and thinking he would die, he hung on because he says he thought, "If I die, I will leave my children nothing but shame," but he also tells Olbricht that if any plot against Hitler fails, that he fears for what will happen to his wife and children at the hands of the Nazis. Stauffenberg goes to a meeting of a number of army officers of the German resistance, but he doesn't like their lack of a plan for what they will do if Hitler is successfully removed from power, as other Nazi leaders will be able to step in; so, he leaves the meeting without making a commitment to the resistance. Afterwards, Stauffenberg sees his wife and children, but the air raid sirens sound and Allied aircraft drop bombs in the area, which helps to convince Stauffenberg that something has to be done.

Stauffenberg is assigned to the German Replacement Army (German: Ersatzheer), which the Germans used to induct, train, equip and then dispatch men to combat units in need of replacements. This substantial military force also acted as a "home army," with the general assignment to help keep public order or quell any rebellion. Several officers of the Replacement Army were anti-Nazis, with some being active members of the resistance. Stauffenberg meets with a couple of high ranking resistance officials and proposes using the army plan for securing Germany during a rebellion, but to use the plan AGAINST the Nazis. The idea was that once Hitler was killed, that the resistance would tell the German military and the German public that the Nazis and Heinrich Himmler, the head of the notorious Nazi SS, are the ones responsible for Hitler's death; thus, the army will oppose the Nazis and the SS out of German patriotism. One person they will need is Colonel General Friedrich Fromm, as he is the head of the Replacement Army and he will be needed to issue orders if this plan is to be put into operation. Stauffenberg and Olbricht go to see Fromm and they make "obvious hints" about him becoming a high official in any post-Hitler army. Fromm listens, understands the "hints," but he tells them that they have all sworn an oath of loyalty to Hitler, and that as long as Hitler is alive, he will remain loyal, and that he will forget that this meeting has ever taken place. This leaves a major lose end, but the plotters move on with their plan for the use of the army to suppress the Nazis and the SS and they lay out an actual assassination plan to kill Hitler. Further, they establish who will form the new German government to replace the Nazis.
  
Stauffenberg goes to meet Hitler and takes a bomb along in his briefcase. The plotters hope to kill Hitler, Göring and Himmler at the meeting, but Himmler is not present, so the plan is canceled.***** A few days later, however, on July 20, 1944, Stauffenberg attends another meeting with the intention of carrying out the assassination, regardless of which other Nazi leaders are there. Stauffenberg puts his bomb laden briefcase under the conference table with Hitler nearby and then he leaves the room for a prearranged telephone call. The bomb goes off and Stauffenberg and his aide, Werner von Haeften, manage to get through security and head to a waiting plane to fly to Berlin, where Stauffenberg believes that "Valkyrie" is being put into effect. Once back in Berlin, nothing has happened, as none of the leading conspirators were bold enough to act, because there was no confirmation that Hitler was dead. In fact, reports come in saying that Hitler is alive. The order for Valkyrie is given without Colonel General Fromm's actual signature, and in fact, Fromm is arrested by the conspirators. Various scenes show the army forces rounding up Nazis and SS personnel, but Berlin itself is not under the control of the army as yet. An order goes out to arrest Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propagandist and one of Hitler's chief subordinates. The "Grossdeutschland" Battalion is mobilized to take Goebbels into custody and to help secure Berlin.****** As the unit arrests Nazi officials, the unit's commander, Major Otto Remer, receives a new, but conflicting order to arrest Colonel Stauffenberg. Remer and his battalion go to the Goebbels residence to arrest the Nazi. Goebbels watches the army troops arrive and he places a poison capsule into the side of his mouth. He then telephones Hitler's headquarters so that, when Remer comes into the office, Goebbels hands him the phone. On the other end is Hitler himself, who orders Remer to take the conspirators alive. When Remer leaves, Goebbels pulls the poison capsule from his mouth and swallows hard.

Like Remer had been, other army officers are left with a decision to follow the orders coming from Stauffenberg and his associates in the War Ministry in Berlin, or to follow orders from Hitler's headquarters, where communications to elsewhere have resumed after being shut down in the aftermath of the explosion. More and more officers choose the latter, as word spreads that Hitler is not dead, as Stauffenberg had believed, although Stauffenberg at first remains in denial. The army communications center cuts the phone lines from the War Ministry and the main participants of the plot are now isolated. Remer and his men arrive and take the anti-Nazi officers into custody. Colonel General Fromm is released and he orders that the arrested officers be shot. The men are taken outside and one by one they face a firing squad. (Note: I've read somewhere, but I don't recall where, that before filming of the scene began, the film crew and actors observed a moment of silence for the real plotters executed in the scene, as the scene was filmed on the exact location of the executions in Berlin.)

* While not terribly important, I caught a mistake early on in the film. The scene showing Stauffenberg being wounded comes before the scene of the attempt to blow up Hitler's plane with a bomb hidden in a liquor bottle. In fact, the attempt on Hitler's life came in March 1943 and Stauffenberg was wounded in Tunisia in April 1943, just 4 to 5 weeks before the surrender of the Germans and Italians in North Africa to the British and American forces there. 

** "Valkyrie" is a term from Old Germanic, "perhaps" more specifically from Old Norse, for female subjects of the god "Odin"/"Wotan" who led selected fallen warriors to "Valhalla," a large hall ruled by Odin; thus, they are "super heroes." The Old Norse mythology has endured to the present, but it seems that the various gods and characters in these stories were widespread among the Germanic tribes, not just the Norse. English once had several words for "Valkyrie," including "wælcyrie," and "wælcyrge." Just my opinion, but the first seems to be more of a true English form, while the second may have come from the closely related Old Norse form "valkyrja." Old Norse and English are related languages, and Old Norse had many influences on English, as the Norse and the English often clashed. Norse speakers conquered and settled in large parts of northern and eastern England; thus, many Norse forms of existing English words, and some new words, came into English.      

*** Terence Stamp became a sensation in his first major film in the title role of "Billy Budd," a movie I went to see with my father when it was released in the early 1960s.

**** Remer survived the war and promoted right wing, fascist-like, political stances.

***** This part of the movie goes partially against history, as Stauffenberg did indeed meet Hitler, but it was at his villa above the town of Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian/Austrian Alps, not at his military headquarters in a forested area near Rastenburg in northeastern Germany. Hitler had remained at his villa, because his headquarters was being strengthened against attack. The meeting took place, but the bomb plan was called off, because Heinrich Himmler was not at the meeting. Not long thereafter, Hitler did, indeed, leave for his military headquarters where the assassination attempt would take place a few days later.

****** The "Grossdeutschland" Battalion was an elite German army unit that provided security in Berlin. It also provided personnel for ceremonial purposes in the capital. It was part of a very large overall military formation that also provided Hitler with an army security detail, as well as combat units for the front during the war. The name is usually rendered as "Greater Germany" in English, but it literally means, "Large Germany," as it goes back in German history to the debate over whether the German states would unite into a modern nation with Austria (known as the "large Germany" plan) or without Austria as a constituent part (known as the "small Germany" plan; "Kleindeutschland"). The Habsburg family that then ruled Austria had amassed a large number of territories populated by non Germans, which made this a contentious issue. After Austria was incorporated into Germany in March 1938, the term "Grossdeutschland" came into more use.     

Photo is from the 2009 2 disc Special Edition United Artists/MGM DVD 

WORD HISTORY:
Cost-This word is a contracted form of a previously prefixed word beginning with the common Latin prefix "co/con/com," which had the general meaning, "with, together." The second part is from Indo European "sta," which meant, "to stand," and it is the ancestor of a whole series of words in English and other Indo European languages, including original English word "stand," which is from its Germanic roots. The two parts gave Latin "constare," which meant, "to stand at/with;" thus also, "to consist of," ("components which makes it stand/be firm") and "to cost" ("a set/standing price or cost for something"). This then became "costare," and it passed into Latin-based French as "co(u)ster" (to cost) and the noun "co(u)st." English borrowed the noun in the early 1200s, but when the verb was borrowed is unclear to me (1390s?). An interesting tidbit: German also borrowed the verb, as "kosten," with the same meaning, "to cost," but the noun form, "Kost," by its older meaning in German of "a cost in money or effort for food" saw the meaning transfer to "food," and it is one of German's words for "food." 

"Real Americans" Are NOT Nazis

Updated somewhat 10-8-20

We hear or see statements claiming, "Real Americans ...," and then comes an action or thought that the person seems to believe are "un-American." What is a "real American?" I can't define it, but I can tell you, it indeed isn't a Nazi, or any fascist for that matter, as many thousands of American soldiers fought and died to help defeat the Nazi Nutcase In Chief, Adolf Hitler, and his strutting Fascist ally, Benito Mussolini, as well as a string of other fascist, or right wing authoritarian and militarist regimes also allied to the Nutty Nazi, most notably, in Japan. Many thousands of other Americans were wounded, and none came home without some physical or mental scar from having fought to help roll back fascism.

More than 400,000 Americans died during World War Two, and more than 600,000 were wounded.   

We aren't a perfect country, and we never have been. "Some" Americans are so insecure, they can't ever admit that there are or were injustices and flaws in the nation from its very birth. The American Civil War showed the terrible divide in just such attitudes over the major injustice of slavery in the United States, as the northern states and the southern states didn't just decide to have a war out of boredom. That war cost somewhere between 600,000 and 750,000 military deaths, and an unknown number of civilian deaths, most which would have been in the Confederacy. No, the United States isn't perfect, but Americans have worked, and continue to work, to correct our flaws, no matter how painful it may be. Fascists, while trying to portray themselves as strong, only show themselves as weak, as they can't even admit to problems in the nation, let alone join with others to fix those problems. Such weakness and insecurity brought about Hitler's Gestapo and Mussolini's OVRA, both organizations of secret police used to subdue critics.* The United States now has a president who wants to use the Justice Department and that department's FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) to go after his critics and political opponents. Will Americans let this happen? Did so many Americans die to let fascism "trump" us? (Pun intended!) No..... "real Americans" are not Nazis! FIGHT FASCISM! VOTE to defeat Trump AND his Republican accomplices who have sat by and watched this nearly four year anti-democracy spectacle take place.

 * "Gestapo" was an abbreviation for "Geheime Staatspolizei" (Secret State Police), and "OVRA" was an abbreviation for "Organizzazione per la Vigilanza e la Repressione dell'Antifascismo" (Organization for Vigilance and the Repression of Anti Fascism).   

WORD HISTORY: 

Err-This word goes back to Indo European "ers/ars," which had the notion, "move around, wander about." This gave Latin the verb, "errare," meaning, "to wander around;" thus also, "to lose one's way;" thus also the figurative, "to make a mistake, to err." This was passed to Latin-based Old French as "errer," with the same meanings, and this was borrowed into English in the very early 1300s as "erren," meaning, "to wander off, to stray, to make a mistake (thus also, "to commit a sin"). In those times, many English infinitive verbs were formed with an ending of "en," which didn't require "to" to be added to the infinitive, but English verb conjugations later changed, and this then produced infinitive forms like, "to err," "to go," "to say," as the "-en" was dropped. Close relative German still uses "-en" to form infinitive forms (to match the above English forms: "irren," "gehen," "sagen"). "Err" is related through Indo European to former English words, "ierre," a noun meaning, "wrath" (from the idea of "going astray from normal"), and an adjective of that same spelling meaning, "confused, gone astray, wrathful," and the verb, "iersian," meaning, "to be angry," but also, "to provoke to anger." German "irren," mentioned above, is a close relative through Germanic, and there are more relatives in other Germanic languages.   

Hitler Thought He Was A Genius Too

Well... recently we had Donald Trump declare himself to be "a very stable genius," so I thought I'd do a little piece on something Hitler had said.

Traudl Junge was one of Hitler's personal secretaries for the last two and one half years of his life. After the war, she wrote down the recollections of her time in that secretarial position, but then those actual recollections were not published until 2002 (2003, in English), after Viennese writer Melissa Müller* found Junge and did a series of video interviews with her. Müller published Junge's postwar notes in a book called, "Bis zur letzten Stunde" ("Until the Last Hour"). The notes were published without corrections to mistakes, and only with notations indicating illegible words or phrases, although Müller added extensive footnotes of her own to the back of the book to correct the errors, as well as to give a bit of background on the various people Junge mentioned, as many people on Hitler's staff and in his immediate circle were not generally known to the public. The video interviews, which largely parallel Junge's notes, were also released on DVD as, "Im Toten Winkel"("Blindspot," literally, "In the dead angle"), and with English subtitles. In her notes, as well as in the interview with Müller, Junge tells how Hitler had said that he hadn't married because he could not devote sufficient time to a wife, and that he did not want children of his own, as he believed, "offspring of geniuses have a difficult time in the world" ("Nachkommen von Genies haben es meist sehr schwer in der Welt"). And that these children were expected to be of the same caliber as their famous parent and that they wouldn't be excused for being just average. "Moreover, they are mostly Cretins" ("Außerdem werden es meistens Kretins;" that is, "idiots").** And Junge then comments about how she thought it odd that Hitler considered himself to be a genius, and that Hitler's statement made her flinch inside ("innerlich gezuckt"). It should be noted, by the time Traudl Junge, then known by her maiden name, Traudl Humps, went to work for Hitler, German cities were becoming ever greater targets of Allied air attacks. Wow, what a genius!

* Melissa Müller is the author of "Anne Frank: The Biography," first released in 1998.

** German text from, "Bis zur letzten Stunde," 2011 German paperback edition, by Traudl Junge in cooperation with Melissa Müller, List Taschenbuch

WORD HISTORY:
Genius-This word, related to Latin-derived "genus," and to "genealogy," a word tracing back to Greek, both words borrowed by English, goes back to Indo European "gen," which had the notion, "offspring, produce." This gave its Latin offspring the verb "gignere," meaning "to produce, to give birth to." This then produced the Latin noun "genius," which meant, "guardian spirit which accompanies and guides a person from the time of birth," but also, in some cases, "the intellect of a person."This was borrowed into English in the second half of the 1300s with the "guardian spirit" meaning, along with the secondary meaning of "intellect," but it wasn't until the 1600s that the "intellect" meaning became primary, with the added, "high intellectual capacity" meaning. German borrowed its form of the word, "Genie," from French in the 1700s.

Trump & The United States Are NOT One And The Same

Way back in 1934, in Nuremberg, Germany, Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party held their annual party rally, a series of special events and speeches that took place in September of that year. Hitler had been chancellor of Germany only since January 30, 1933, and he had only been total ruler for about a month, as President Paul von Hindenburg had died in early August, bringing Hitler to combine the presidency with the chancellorship, as "Führer." During one event, Rudolf Hess, a major Nazi official, declared: "The party is Hitler, Hitler however is Germany, just as Germany is Hitler" ("Die Partei ist Hitler, Hitler aber ist Deutschland, wie Deutschland Hitler ist.").

The most important aspect of Hitler's assumption of the presidential powers was that he became the supreme commander of the armed forces, a situation that worked out so well for the world (written, of course, with GREAT SARCASM, for those in need of clarification). With this power now vested in Hitler, he had the military forces swear loyalty to HIM, not to Germany: "I swear to God this sacred oath, that I shall give unconditional obedience to the Führer of the German Reich and people (and) supreme commander of the armed forces, Adolf Hitler, and, that as a brave soldier, I shall, at any time, be prepared to lay down my life for this oath." (German: "Ich schwöre bei Gott diesen heiligen Eid, daß ich dem Führer des Deutschen Reiches und Volkes, Adolf Hitler, dem Oberbefehlshaber der Wehrmacht, unbedingten Gehorsam leisten und als tapferer Soldat bereit sein will, jederzeit für diesen Eid mein Leben einzusetzen.")

So, one can see the entwining of Hitler and the German nation with the idea that an attack on, or criticism of, Hitler, being seen as an attack on, or criticism of, Germany itself. It had stunning affect, as German officers (including Austrians), long associated with respect for powerful, and even autocratic rulers, but with otherwise a general lack of political involvement, could not easily bring themselves to oppose this little man with the toothbrush mustache, because of this oath, even though they could see the terrible destruction he was bringing to others and to Germany. A few independent thinkers in the military opposed many aspects of Nazism from early on, but most German officers remained in denial right up to the very end, cowering behind the above oath. A few military officers, with the knowledge they had of Nazi crimes and the downward spiral of the war, did act, risking their own lives FOR Germany, but AGAINST Hitler. They finally admitted the truth to themselves, that Hitler and Germany were TWO different things, not one and the same. While their attempt against Hitler and the Nazis failed, there is a memorial plaque in Berlin where some of the anti-Hitler participants were executed. The plaque reads: "Here died for Germany," followed by the names of those executed on that spot, but it represents ALL who tried to overthrow the evil they saw. And note, it says, "died for Germany," not a word linking Germany and that son-of-a-bitch Hitler.

Any president of the United States, including Donald Trump, is chosen by Americans as their temporary national and international representative and head of the executive branch of a three part system of government, along with the legislative and judicial branches. Criticism of our presidents, including Donald Trump, does not mean Americans hate their country, as the president and the nation are separate, not linked in any way as the Nazis did with Hitler and Germany. Presidents of the United States are asked direct questions by the media, and sometimes even by every day citizens. Presidents also receive criticism, fairly, unfairly, or somewhere in between, by the media and every day citizens. It is not only permitted, it is expected. We are not a nation of lockstep zombies, although some Americans seem to be doing a great imitation of such. Americans also can, and should, question military leaders, including four star Marine generals, an act we recently were told was "highly inappropriate," by the spokesperson for the current Trump administration. In our system, no one in a position of authority is immune from being questioned or criticized, it goes with the territory, and those who assumed those positions of authority "knew what they were getting themselves into," as Trump told the widow of Army Sergeant La David Johnson, a man who was killed in operations in Niger, along with three other Green Berets, in October 2017.   
     
WORD HISTORY:
Cower-This word, unrelated to "coward," in spite of the modern similarity in spelling and meaning, has a cloudy history, but it goes back to Indo European "guh/geu," with the notion, "to bend, to curve, to arch." The problem comes as to how some Germanic languages got their forms of the Indo European word; that is, was it by a direct offshoot from the parent Indo European? Or an indirect borrowing by way of another language? I can find no form in Old Germanic, and "perhaps" a form entered Germanic by way of its North Germanic branch, where it then spread southward to Low German, which eventually passed it to High German and to English. Its basic meaning in the long distant past seems to have been, "to sit or kneel down in a hunched (arched, bent) position." Lithuanian, a Baltic language in northeastern Europe, had "gurnas," from the Indo European form, and meant, "hip, hipjoint;" that is, "the bone or joint that permits crouching down." The word first appears in English circa 1300 as "curen," although there could have been an earlier unrecorded form, but it seems to have been borrowed from Low German "kuren" ("watch or peek out from a hiding place in the woods"). Some relatives are Old Norse "karr," more directly tied in meaning to the Indo European, meant "curly, wavy" ("bent, curved"), while Swedish "kura" means "huddle." German has "kauern," which means "to crouch in an arched position, to cower." The Brothers Grimm, who not only assembled fairy tales, but who also did extensive work on word histories, wondered if "cower" might be related to the English verb "cow," meaning, "to intimidate;" thus with the possible original meaning, "to cause someone to crouch in fear." I must admit the two words likely come from the same Indo European base (Old Norse had "kuga," meaning, "to oppress;" so, a likely relative of "cow." It has nothing to do with the noun for the name of the animal, "cow.")

Operation Valkyrie (2004): The Plot to Kill Hitler

Note: "Valkyrie" (German: Walküre) was the cover/code name of a plan by the German army to implement a form of strict martial law in case of a breakdown of order in Germany. The anti-Nazi plotters in the army cleverly decided to use this plan to take over the German government from the Nazis after Hitler had been killed (or perhaps, arrested). 

Main Cast: Colonel Stauffenberg: Sebastian Koch; Henning von Tresckow: Ulrich Tukur; Werner von Haeften: Hardy Krüger, Jr; Nina Stauffenberg (the Colonel's wife): Nina Kunzendorf; Joseph Goebbels: Olli Dittrich; Friedrich Fromm: Axel Milberg   

There have been a number of movies about the plot to kill Hitler on July 20, 1944, and this German/Austrian production should not be confused with the film "Valkyrie," starring Tom Cruise, released in 2008 (I have now posted the article on this movie as of July 17, 2018). The 2004 film's original German title was, "Stauffenberg," after the man who actually planted the bomb near Hitler that July day. Since the end of World War Two, Germans/Austrians* have struggled to come to terms with the Nazi period of their history. It has not been an easy thing to do, as fascism is a movement that is tough to define precisely, but it always mixes in ultra nationalism with other elements. Nationalism can make people highly sensitive to criticism of one's country, as some folks allow themselves to become so identified with their country, they seem to feel personally attacked and insulted by any attempt to point out real or perceived flaws in their country or its leaders. And, in this case, I mean criticisms coming from their fellow citizens, not from people outside of their country, which, when that happens, can quickly ruffle feathers and cause tempers to flare. The more distant the war's end has become, the more some younger Germans have tried to face their history. This movie is one of those attempts at such. It is available on DVD, and it has settings for the original German, with subtitles in English (or, presumably for other languages in other editions), or for dubbed English, so you will not have need to read along in subtitles.

The horrific crimes against humanity committed during the Nazi era left many postwar Germans very defensive and conflicted about their own roles during those times. Some tried to deal with it by pretending (or maybe even believing) that things weren't as bad as claimed by historians, foreign governments and survivors of Nazi terror, while others said, "I was just following orders," and others still felt some degree of shame and complicity. Traudl Junge (pronounced as if, "yung-eh" **), one of Hitler's personal secretaries during the last two and one half years of his life, felt so much guilt after the war, she had pretty serious emotional troubles, even involving hospitalization.*** This movie and others that have dealt with this subject, faced a difficult task, as it is almost impossible to show all of the feelings and motivations involved in the anti-Nazi German resistance. Further, films are made to make money, and that means movies are made to try to maintain audience interest, but actual history is not always so dramatic at every turn. The movie does correctly show that Claus von Stauffenberg, played by German actor Sebastian Koch, was supportive of Hitler for quite some time. The thing to remember about the anti-Nazis is, they were NOT saints who opposed Hitler and the Nazis from the very first, but rather, they were people who gradually saw that Hitler was exposing Germany to great danger by leading the country into an ever expanding war, and that later, Hitler's racism and murder would also drag Germany's honor and reputation into the abyss with the defeated nation. This is "essentially" Stauffenberg's own history up until about 1942, and it is so depicted in the film. He begins to learn of other officers who are more than a little troubled by the course of the war and by atrocities committed by Germans, especially in Russia. One of those officers is Henning von Tresckow, played by German actor Ulrich Tukur, who moves Stauffenberg's doubts about the Hitler regime along by providing him with an eyewitness to mass murder. The disillusioned Stauffenberg is sent to Tunisia in North Africa, where the German and Italian forces are facing the end of their military resistance to the Allies. His rising anti-Nazi feelings are reinforced when a young German officer from Stauffenberg's home province of Swabia is killed just after reporting for duty. He sees the futility of it all and he smashes Hitler's photo.

Allied aircraft attack a German column and Stauffenberg is severely wounded; so severely, in fact, he is sent back to Germany for treatment. He loses his left eye (over which he always wore a black patch after his release from the hospital), his right hand, and two fingers on his left hand. He is now also more convinced that Hitler must be removed from power, which means Hitler will have to be killed. The anti-Nazi plotters eventually agree to have Stauffenberg make the actual move to kill Hitler, as he is on the staff of the German Replacement Army (German: Ersatzheer), the part of the army responsible for inducting, training and then sending men to units as replacements, and also responsible for the raising of new units. This gives Stauffenberg periodic access to Hitler at military conferences, and indeed, on July 20, he will again be in Hitler's presence. Plans are made to take over the German government once Hitler is dead, and on July 20 the whole operation begins with Stauffenberg and his aide flying to Hitler's military headquarters in northeastern Germany, located in a forested area of East Prussia. Stauffenberg carries the bomb into the military conference in his briefcase. After a momentary exchange with Hitler, Stauffenberg gets as close as possible to the Führer and he places the briefcase under the large conference table. Stauffenberg then exists the conference with the excuse of a telephone call. I'm not going to go into everything that happens, as much of the film deals with actual historical details, as known. When the bomb explodes, Stauffenberg is convinced that Hitler could not possibly have survived, a view quickly reinforced when he sees a body being carried out of the devastated room covered with Hitler's cloak. Stauffenberg flies back to Berlin only to learn that virtually nothing has been done to advance the take over of the government. The problem: reports that Hitler is alive! Stauffenberg tries to convince other conspirators that the Nazis are lying and that Hitler is really dead. Orders go out to military units in Berlin to ignore orders from Nazi leaders, and some SS officers and men are arrested in Vienna and Paris (which is still in German hands), but the conspirators mistakenly leave a pro-Hitler major, Otto Remer, played by Italian actor Enrico Mutti, in charge of part of one of Germany's elite army units, "Grossdeutschland." Remer is summoned to the home of Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels, who then contacts Hitler directly by telephone. Hitler speaks to Remer and issues orders to put down the revolt and the major sets about doing just that. Once it is confirmed that Hitler is alive, the plot, already on life support, is left with the final acts to be played out; namely, the arrest of the army leaders of the conspiracy. General Fromm, the actual head of the Replacement Army, is, at first, arrested by the conspirators when he won't commit himself to the anti-Hitler side, but he is then freed by pro-Hitler army troops. Fromm sets about rounding up the officers in the building, including Stauffenberg.

Longtime anti-Nazi (dating back to the 1930s), General Ludwig Beck, asks that he be allowed to take his own life, but he botches it, and Fromm orders others to finish off Beck. The other officers are led outside during the early part of July 21. A vehicle's headlights are used to provide light for the executions. When Stauffenberg is led up, just before the order to fire (German: Feuer) is given, his aide, Werner von Haeften (played by Hardy Krüger, Jr.), attempts to run in front of him, and both are killed by the execution squad. We then hear a part of the actual radio broadcast of Hitler speaking about the assassination plot.***** The film ends with General von Tresckow, one of the leading conspirators, holding a hand grenade to his body to commit suicide just behind the Eastern Front, where he was stationed.             

* For the sake of simplicity; hereafter, I will use "German," in the broad ethnic sense, to include Austrians, as well as people of German ethnicity who lived in German communities in other countries back then. Switzerland and Liechtenstein are excluded, but it should be noted, some men from both countries did serve in the German armed forces during the war, including in the Waffen SS, although the overall numbers were very small. To make this clear too, however, I must also say that MANY non Germans participated in Hitler's military or in his murder apparatus, in some way.

** The German name "Junge" is closely related to the English name, "Young."   

*** For more detail about Traudl Junge, I did a three part series on her. Here are the links:

http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2013/02/traudl-junge-working-for-evil-part-one.html

http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2013/02/traudl-junge-working-for-evil-part-two.html

http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2013/02/traudl-junge-working-for-evil-part-three.html

**** General Friedrich Fromm has long been a controversial figure regarding the anti-Hitler conspiracy. Fromm's exact involvement with the conspirators has never really been satisfactorily explained, but he certainly generally knew of the conspiracy and he did not report it, which legally made him culpable. Since Fromm had the main conspirators in Berlin executed within hours (detractors feel Fromm 'conveniently' had these officers executed, as they knew of his complicity), it's doubtful we'll ever know everything about Fromm's participation prior to July 20, 1944. Even though the Gestapo could not make a direct link with Fromm and the conspiracy, he remained under heavy suspicion and the Nazis removed him from his military positions. Two months before the end of the war, Fromm was sentenced to death by a Nazi court for "cowardice before the enemy" (German: "Feigheit vor dem Feind;" see Word History, below). The sentence was carried out just days later.

***** As Hitler's headquarters was in an isolated part of Germany, a recording unit had to be  dispatched there by Goebbels to record Hitler's speech, then the recording was transported from there to a plane and flown to Berlin. It wasn't broadcast on German radio until late at night.  

Photo is from the 2009 The Weinstein Company DVD 

 WORD HISTORY:
Fiend-This word goes back to Indo European "pheyeh," which had the notion, "to give pain, to hurt." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "fijand," which meant, "to hate;" perhaps from the notion, "we hate someone or something that brings us pain," or perhaps even the reverse, "someone or something that causes pain, hates us." The Germanic form gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "feond," which meant, "enemy" (someone we hate, someone who wants to do us harm; thus, the opposite of friend). This meaning even expanded later to mean, "the enemy of humanity, enemy of all;" thus, it was also a way of referring to, "the devil, Satan," and later to the less specific, "evil spirit." Its primary meaning of "enemy," which it shared as something of a synonym with the old form of modern "foe," began to be lost in English, when a form of the word "enemy" was borrowed from French, although "foe" has kept that meaning to this day. The notions of "evil spirit" and "someone wishing to harm us," still underlie the modern meanings of "fiend," as in the meaning of being possessed (in the sense of being "obsessed"); thus, "I'm a real music fiend," or the less flattering, "He is a dope fiend." The primary modern meaning, "someone who is evil and cruel," still connects to the old meaning, just not in the direct sense of "enemy" today. The Old English form later became "feend/fend," before what became the modern form. Other Germanic forms: German has "Feind" (enemy), Low German Saxon has "Feend" (enemy), West Frisian "fijân" (enemy), Dutch "vijand" (enemy), Danish "fjende" (enemy), Swedish and Norwegian "fiende" (enemy), Icelandic "fjandi" (enemy, but no longer the primary word for such). 

The Desert Fox, The Movie & History

I first saw this 1951 movie in the 1960s on NBC's Saturday Night at the Movies, which showed movies for their first time on television. The film was based upon a popular book, "Rommel: The Desert Fox," * by British officer Desmond Young, who served in North Africa with the Indian forces stationed there during World War Two (India was still a British colony at that time). German General/Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, has enjoyed a popular and respected place in the history of the world's worst war, as even the British and Commonwealth forces that opposed him heaped praise upon him at times, and this movie does much the same (remember, this movie was made just six years after the war ended). After a few decades of praise for Rommel, historians turned to scrutinizing the former field marshal's record, and such scrutiny was not a bad thing, in my opinion. The thing is, like many Germans, including those of the German officer corps, Rommel's association with Hitler and the Nazis is not always easy to untangle. In essence, all were tainted to some degree, including highly respected senior general Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt. Rommel was much liked by Hitler, probably somewhat because he was not from the German nobility, another segment of German society with a mixed record with the Nazis. He also became a favorite of Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels during the war. As for Rommel's association with Hitler, early in the war, the fanatical furious Führer chose Rommel to lead his escort battalion, a highly trained army (not SS) unit that provided security for Hitler. 

Like American general, George Patton, Rommel was insubordinate at times, but like Patton, he was also known for appearing anywhere on the battlefield. In the movie, one of Rommel's subordinate commanders in North Africa, General Bayerlein (pronounced as if, "buyer-line"), played by George Macready, tells the headquarters staff, after repeated attempts to reach Rommel in the field, that he wishes they had a commander with at least a little bit of cowardice about him, so he would report back to his headquarters occasionally. The biggest "plus" to the Allied view of Rommel's record was his "participation" in the plot to kill Hitler in 1944, although the extent of Rommel's involvement is still debated and likely it will never be truly known in great detail. The movie shows Rommel's anguish as he gradually comes to terms with the need to rid Germany of Hitler. At first he makes excuses for Hitler and he blames the crowd around Hitler for Germany's growing prospect of defeat. To be quite honest, the movie's portrayal of Rommel's participation in the plot is probably close to what it actually was; that is, Rommel certainly knew of the plot, but he didn't report it, which indeed made him complicit in it, although admirably so. Any further role Rommel had with the plotters is just not completely known; after all, everything had to be very secret, lest the Gestapo and other Nazi agents find out about it, so few written records were kept, but the fact that Hitler wanted Rommel dead speaks volumes as to what the Nazis knew, or, at least, thought they knew.    

The movie deals with Rommel's life from about the time of the decisive Battle of El Alamein in Egypt, which began in the summer of 1942. Rommel, played by James Mason, is first seen returning a salute from captured British Lieutenant-Colonel Desmond Young (played by himself). Young tells how, after the war, he decided to find out what had actually happened to Rommel, since the Nazi line had been that the renowned field marshal had died from wounds he had suffered during the battle in Normandy, in July 1944. He mentions that to compile the story, besides using Rommel's papers and official records in Germany and England, he talked with Rommel's son Manfred, his widow Lucie, with Germans who had served with him and with some who had served under his command, and with British troops who had fought against him. 

The scene shifts to the British offensive at El Alamein, with Young noting that Rommel was in Germany recovering from nasal diphtheria at the time of the attack, but that he immediately returned to North Africa to take command.** There is a lot of actual World War Two combat footage incorporated into the movie for the large scale battle scenes. Rommel finally admits that his forces can't keep up the fighting, and that they need to retreat to fight another day. Meanwhile, Hitler (played by Luther Adler) sends a message that there is to be no retreat, only "victory or death." At first Rommel seems inclined to obey the order, as it is from Hitler himself, but then Bayerlein tells him that obeying would double the madness, and that it is an order to throw away an entire army. Rommel gives the order to retreat. The movie quickly moves to the surrender of the German and Italian forces in North Africa in May of 1943, but with the explanation that prior to the surrender, Rommel had again returned to Germany due to illness. 

We next see Rommel in the hospital in Germany, visited by his wife Lucie (played by Jessica Tandy), his son Manfred (played by William Reynolds) and the Lord Mayor of Stuttgart, Dr. Karl Strölin (played by Cedric Hardwicke), who is on the Gestapo list to be "watched." After Rommel tells Strölin that Hitler knows that none of the Allies will negotiate a peace settlement with him, Strölin says that "abdication" is the answer, but Rommel bristles at the idea, and Lucie brings the visit to an immediate end to relieve the tension. When Strölin leaves, he is followed by a Gestapo agent, but Strölin manages to lose him. 

Rommel checks the German defenses in France and then meets with the commander-in-chief of the German forces in western Europe, Field Marshal von Rundstedt (played by Leo G. Carroll).*** Von Rundstedt, known for his little quips and bluntness, tells Rommel that neither of them will really be in charge of much of anything when the Allies invade, because "the Bohemian Corporal himself is assuming sole and total command of this operation."**** He also tells Rommel to be wary, as he will be under constant observation by "friends of the management." 

Rommel returns home and receives another visit from Strölin, ***** who tells Rommel there are some very respected people, military, religious, labor, and government, who want to end Hitler's rule. Rommel immediately throws up the "soldier's duty is to obey" defense, prompting Strölin to tell Rommel to stop hiding behind his uniform. When the Field Marshal orders Strölin to leave, he tells Rommel that he knows his true feelings about Hitler and the war, because Lucie has told him. This stuns Rommel.  

The Allies successfully invade France and Rommel and von Rundstedt confer. The old field marshal tells Rommel that Hitler believes the real invasion is yet to come and that Hitler is following his usual pattern of hold at all costs, no retreat and "victory or death." Von Rundstedt says he wishes he had a free hand and that the Allies would know they had fought an army, "not a series of stationary targets. He'll never lets us, of course. You know how firm corporals are." (That is such a GREAT line!) Rommel discusses with von Rundstedt the idea of overthrowing Hitler, and asks the respected commander, if he would receive any of the plotters, if they asked his advice, to which von Rundstedt replies, "Oh no, it's too late." Rommel assumes he means the war is so far gone that even an overthrow of the Nazi government couldn't save Germany, but the Field Marshal corrects him, and tells him he means that it is too late for himself, as at his age (the picture says 70, but he was 68 at that point), "I'm too old to revolt. Too old to challenge authority, however evil." After telling one of  Hitler's staff generals, Field Marshal Keitel, "make peace, you idiots" (German: "den Krieg beended, ihr Idioten"), he says to Rommel that he's not too old to wish him and "his friends" the best of luck in their plans. (Historically, after that remark, von Rundstedt was fired by Hitler the very next day, although von Rundstedt was brought back in a couple of months.) 

Rommel goes to meet Hitler personally at Margival, France, and the meeting shows Rommel the nutcase Hitler really is. While on the road in Normandy on July 17, 1944, Rommel's car is strafed by a British plane and he is seriously injured (historically, fractures to his skull and facial wounds). Just three days later the plot to assassinate Hitler was carried out, with a bomb carried into a military conference by Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg. The bomb exploded, but failed to kill Hitler, who was only injured. He took quick revenge.****** This is all depicted in the movie. In October, with Rommel still recovering at home, he receives a call from Keitel to receive a couple of officers being dispatched to him. Rommel assumes it is about a new command. When the officers arrive, they tell Rommel there is substantial evidence against him for treason. At first he wants to fight the charge in court, but is told, "the verdict is already in." He is also told that they have brought a quick acting poison and that if he takes the poison, his wife and son will be taken care of and it will be announced that he died of his wounds. While reluctant, concern for his family matters more, and he accepts the "offer." He says goodbye to his wife, and then to his son (but doesn't tell him he will be dead in a few minutes). He gets into the car with the officers and it drives off. The movie ends with film and a description of his most famous exploits and then a quote of Winston Churchill honoring Rommel.  (Note: Richard Boone appears several times in the film as Rommel's military aide, Captain [German: Hauptmann] Hermann Aldinger, who indeed was his historical aide.)   

* The Desert Fox, in German der Wüstenfuchs, and the German compound word is closely related to English "waste" (see Word history below), although English tends to use "wasteland" to equal "desert," and of course, German "Fuchs" is English "fox." For the history of the word "fox," this is the link to the article: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2011/08/german-question-part-one-hundred-forty_20.html 

** In Rommel's absence, General Georg Stumme, who had commanded a corps on the Eastern Front, was sent to North Africa. On the day after the opening of the British offensive, Stumme apparently suffered a heart attack while in the field, as his body was found with no wounds, after his staff car had come under attack. 

*** Three things: first, the movie makes numerous mention of "Berlin" sending orders, but in reality, after Hitler launched the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, he and the key officers of the German High Command were seldom in Berlin, as Hitler preferred his military headquarters near Rastenburg, in northeastern Germany (East Prussia), or his villa in southern Germany above Berchtesgaden. Second, the film shows von Rundstedt, Rommel and other high ranking officers giving the Hitler salute to one another. This most certainly did not happen; at least, not at that point in the war, as the traditional military salute was used. After the bomb was placed in Hitler's headquarters in July 1944, the Nazi salute was mandated, but I don't recall if that included between officers. Of course, the Nazi salute had always been part of the SS, a Nazi organization. Third, while Rommel and von Rundstedt were both field marshals, von Rundstedt was the senior commander and in western Europe, Rommel was subordinate to von Rundstedt, and the movie correctly shows that relationship. 

**** Hitler had been born on the border of Austria and Germany, in an area near the Czech lands of Bohemia, once a part of the Old German Empire. During World War I, Hitler served in the German army and rose to the rank of corporal; thus, von Rundstedt referred to him, derogatorily, as "the Bohemian corporal" ("böhmischer Gefreiter") a term he likely learned from Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, the late president of Germany, who used the term to describe Hitler in the early 1930s.    

***** It should be understood, Karl Strölin was a longtime Nazi and an official in the Nazi Party, but he began to become disenchanted during the war. While suspected of being involved in the bomb plot against Hitler in 1944, the Nazis could not obtain evidence against him, but he was dismissed from his position in the party. 

****** For more detail on the bomb plot, here are two links: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2013/07/heroes-against-hitler-overview.html

 http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2013/07/heroes-against-hitler-colonel-klaus-von.html

Photo is from the 2003 20th Century Fox DVD

WORD HISTORY:
Waste-This word, with noun, verb, and adjective forms, and distantly related to "vast," goes back to Indo European "euehst," which had the notion of "empty, lacking, absent, alone, abandoned, desolate." This gave its Old Germanic offspring the verb form "wostijanan," which meant, "to make desolate, to ruin, to ravage." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "westan," with the same meaning. The Indo European form also gave West Germanic the noun "wosti," which meant "a waste(land)." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "westen," meaning "waste(land), wilderness." In western Europe, the Germanic tribe the Franks had the related "wostijan," which was borrowed into Old Northern French as "waster" ("to ruin, to spoil, to lay waste to"). When the Normans went to England the existing English word and the French word merged. The same thing happened with the noun. German has the verb "wüsten" (to waste, to squander), also the verb, "verwüsten" (to ravage, to lay waste, to devastate) and the noun "Wüste" (desert, desolate area); Low German Saxon "Wööst" (desert, wasteland); Dutch has the adjective "woest" (bleak, desolate, also fierce, savage, from the notion of making things desolate) and the noun "woestijn" (desert); West Frisian "woastine" (desert).