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.")

German Leaders Of The Nazi Era/Hess

"Rudolf Hess"

Rudolf Hess was born in Egypt, as his father was in the import business in the Mediterranean area, and Hess didn't actually live in Germany until he was a teenager, although his father's family was from Bavaria, which had given rise to many visits there prior to the move to Germany. He served in World War One in the infantry, and near the end, as a pilot. He joined the Nazi Party early in its existence, and he eventually rose to high position, generally considered to be the number three man, after Hitler and Hermann Göring,* and Hess was Hitler's deputy, and Martin Bormann worked as the major aide to Hess.

Hess is most noted for his devotion to Hitler, and for his words to the Nazi faithful at the Nuremberg rally of 1934, which showed how, even at that relatively early stage of Hitler's rule, Hitler's personality was merging with Germany. Hess said, "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.") Unfortunately, this statement became ever more true as time passed.

Hess was not happy about the outbreak of war in 1939, and he gradually lost influence with Hitler, who was consumed by military matters. Seemingly distraught over the decline in his association with Hitler, Hess had a simultaneous decline in his mental health, although some dispute this. In May 1941, just about six weeks before the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Hess took a plane on a solo flight to Britain, parachuting into Scotland, and leaving the plane to crash. Except for releasing the fact they had Hess in custody, the British basically kept details secret, and speculation about the reason for his flight were numerous, including in the Soviet Union, where Stalin feared collaboration between Germany and Britain to launch an attack against the Soviets. While doctrinaire Nazis believed Britain, or more specifically, England, should have been fighting on their side due to Germanic blood ties, whether Hess believed or was motivated by all of this, I don't know, but he did seem to want to bring a peace settlement between Britain and Germany; thus regaining his stature with Hitler. Hitler vehemently denied that he had authorized Hess to negotiate any such agreement, and he formally stripped Hess of all ranks within the German government and the Nazi Party. He appointed Martin Bormann as the replacement for Hess (see previous article about Bormann).

Hess was kept as a prisoner-of-war and then sent to Germany to stand trial at Nuremberg, mainly at the insistence of the Soviet Union.** In Nuremberg, too, his mental state was much in question, but he was considered to be fit for the trial. He was acquitted of some charges, since he had not really had much influence during the early war years, and then had been locked up in England for much of the war. He was convicted of conspiring with Hitler and other German leaders to launch aggressive war, and some other charges, and he was given a life sentence, again, largely at the insistence of the Soviet Union.***

Hess was imprisoned in Berlin, along with some other Nazi leaders who were later released, making him the only prisoner in the large prison facility. Repeated calls for his release by American, British and French leaders on humanitarian grounds (his mental and physical condition), and even the costs of keeping one prisoner there, were rejected by the Soviets. With Gorbachev in control in the Soviet Union, and a relaxing of tensions between East and West, it seemed Hess might be released, but he was found dead in the summer of 1987, and suicide was the official cause, although others believed a conspiracy had been launched to kill him. Hess was in his 90s at the time of his death.

Next, a son-of-a-bitch if there ever was one....Heinrich Himmler

* Indeed, Hitler publicly made Hess the number three man in his speech to the Reichstag on September 1, 1939 (about the invasion of Poland and the beginning of the war), in which he named Göring as his successor, and placing Hess next in line.

** The Soviet Union lost somewhere between 20 and 30 million DEAD as a result of World War Two. This fact alone put them in no mood to give any grace to their fascist invaders. Their repressive system and philosophy certainly only added to this hard line.

*** With the "Cold War" developing at that time, the Soviet suspicions about Hess' flight to Britain was always a part of their calculations. To my knowledge, no evidence has ever been uncovered even remotely showing Hess and British authorities considering a joint attack against the Soviet Union. In fact, Churchill, the then British Prime Minister, when asked about British support for Stalin after the German invasion of the Soviet Union, said something to the effect that he would support the devil, if he was against Hitler.

WORD HISTORY:
Fly-This is the verb form meaning, "to travel through the air." This word, closely related to "flow," goes back to Indo European "pleu," which meant "to flow." The Old Germanic spinoff was "fleuganan," which meant "to fly;" with the initial Indo European "p" becoming "f" in Germanic, which was often the case. This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "fleogan," which then later became "flien," before the modern version. It is common throughout the other Germanic languages: Dutch has "vliegen," German has "fliegen," Low German Saxon has "flegen," Frisian has "fleane," Luxembourgish has "fleien," Icelandic has "fljúga," Faroese has "flúgva," Norwegian has "flyve" and "fljuga" (depending upon dialect), Swedish has "flyga," and Danish has "flyve."

German Leaders Of The Nazi Era/Bormann

Part One/C "Martin Bormann"

One of the interesting things about Martin Bormann is, most Germans of that era didn't know who he was, yet he had a close personal and working relationship with Hitler, which brought him a great amount of power, and made him one of the most powerful Nazi leaders. It wasn't until after World War Two that Bormann's power and influence came to be understood, as he had worked behind the scenes. To my knowledge, he never made a major speech to the German public, addressing only groups of Nazi officials from time to time. Without a free press, his comments and position remained out of public notice, although he is seen in many photographs and films, and always not far from Hitler, but almost always in the background. During much of the war, Bormann controlled access to Hitler, and virtually everyone had to go through him to be able to get in to see Hitler,* and this alone gave him power. He had accommodations at Hitler's various headquarters throughout the war. Also during the war, Bormann issued orders and instructions to Nazi Gauleiters, who then implemented these policies.**

In the final days of the war Bormann remained with Hitler in his Berlin bunker. As I noted in the article about Hermann Göring,*** Bormann helped convince Hitler that Göring was betraying Hitler and that he was guilty of treason ("Landesverrat"), because Göring had properly sent a message asking about his status as Hitler's successor. After Hitler's suicide, Bormann and most of the people in the bunker tried to make their way through Russian lines to the Americans or British, or to the "government" designated by Hitler to succeed him, which was located in northern Germany, near Denmark. This episode is what has given Bormann much press coverage ever since. One of the survivors of the breakout attempt, who said he was with Bormann's group, said he saw Bormann's body in the streets of Berlin; the assumption being that he was killed by Soviet fire (remember, the war was not over, and there was still much fighting in Berlin),**** but "supposedly" no body resembling Bormann was found in that area; however, once the fighting stopped, in a matter of about a day or so after Bormann allegedly died, bodies had to be buried quickly and haphazardly to avoid disease and there was no time to properly identify remains, of which there were many. With Bormann's "status" unknown, the judicial system set up by the victors to try Nazi leaders for various possible crimes decided to try Bormann in absentia; that is, in his absence (he was found guilty and condemned to death). Bormann became the world's most wanted Nazi. Without a body to prove Bormann's death, all sorts of conspiracy theories abounded, most of them having Bormann living in South America and planning a "Fourth Reich" in place of Hitler's defeated Third Reich.***** Over time, there were unsuccessful diggings in the area where Bormann allegedly died, to see if his body could be found. Then in the early 1970s, remains were found near the same location. Dental and medical records showed one to be Bormann; the other being an SS doctor who was with Bormann as they tried to escape Berlin, and they both showed broken glass in the mouth from poison capsules, indicating that the two had indeed committed suicide. The then West German government declared Bormann legally dead, but not everyone agreed. About 25 years later, the remains were DNA tested and confirmed to be Bormann's; although controversy continued over the findings, but this is beyond the scope of this article.

One other very interesting thing about Bormann is, after the war, some thought he had been a Soviet agent in Hitler's midst. This notion gained credence due to the accusation of such by a former Wehrmacht intelligence officer, Reinhard Gehlen, who later became head of the (then)West German intelligence organization. During the war and thereafter, many German military officials wondered how the Allies anticipated so many German military moves during the war. Gehlen and others came to the conclusion that there had to be an agent (spy) close to Hitler, who then passed along information, presumably to the Soviets, who then shared it with the Allies. Bormann was like "Hitler's shadow;" thus making him a prime suspect. The thing was, in those times, the British had not yet disclosed that they had broken the German code, which then gave them access to any information sent by coded message by the Germans. During the war, the British were anxious that the Germans might find out the British were reading their messages and then go to a new system, thus depriving the British of such valuable information; so they had to deliver such information to their allies on a limited, priority basis, to keep the Germans from getting too suspicious. They also devised ways to deceive the Germans into believing they had obtained information in other ways, thus diverting attention from the broken German code, but the Germans were suspicious, and prior to the German offensive which came to be known as "the Battle of the Bulge," the Germans maintained radio silence about the coming attack. Anyhow, to my knowledge, no evidence has ever been turned up in German or Russian archives confirming Bormann as a Soviet agent. There's no question the Cold War made people nervous and made imaginations go into overdrive, and when Bormann's body was found in the early 1970s, some theorized the Russians had captured Bormann, who then later died, or that they had had the remains all along, and then reburied them in Berlin.

Next, Rudolf Hess.....

* Bormann became Hitler's deputy in May of 1941, when Rudolf Hess, Hitler's then deputy, flew solo to Scotland in an attempt to make peace between Germany and Britain. I'll cover Hess in the next article. Stay tuned....

** The Nazis reorganized the German government according to how the Nazi Party itself was structured, in a system of "Gaue" (this is the plural, one is "Gau," rhymes with "how") an old Germanic term for "district" (the Nazis loved the past, and not the recent past, but way, way back), and the head of a "Gau" was a "Gauleiter" (district leader; "leiter" and English "leader" are close relatives), and each Gau was divided into smaller districts, each headed by a Kreisleiter. Bormann had tremendous control over these party officials, who were charged with carrying out domestic policies.

*** For the article see: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2011/09/german-leaders-of-nazi-era.html

**** There were other reports that Bormann had been killed when a German tank, providing cover for Bormann and others, was hit by Soviet fire and exploded. Other reports indicated Bormann committed suicide to avoid Soviet capture. You have to remember, in the "confusion" of war (see note), people were trying to save their own lives, not taking notes about events going on around them. Note: The word "war" comes from an Old English word that meant "confusion." It also seems that first part of the Dutch and Low German words for "war" (oorlog/orlog) trace back to the same Old Germanic base.

***** I can remember in the 1960s, Bormann was regularly mentioned on television as if he were still alive, even on "Laugh In," a very popular comedy in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

WORD HISTORY:
Gray (grey)-This is still another word the origins of which are difficult to pin down, so I'll stick to the more agreed upon Germanic history of the word, as there do not appear to be any languages outside of Germanic with a form of the word, unless borrowed from one of the Germanic languages, and the word could well be an Old Germanic invention. Old Germanic had "grewjaz" or "graewas," presumably which meant "gray;" that is, "the color between black and white." This gave Old English "graeg/grei" (depending upon dialect), which then later became "grei," before the modern versions. The spelling "gray" is more American English, and "grey" is used in Britain, but with some usage in the U.S. The other Germanic languages have: German has "grau," ^ Low German Saxon has "grau" and "gries," some Low German dialects have "greiw," Dutch has "grauw," Icelandic has "grár," Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish all have "grå," Frisian has both "grau" and "griis."

^ German also has the adjective "greis" (pronounced as if "grise," and rhymes with "guys"), which means "old," and also the nouns "Greis" ("old man") and "Greisin," ("old woman"), all come from forms from Low Germanic dialects.