"The Holocaust is for many the yardstick ...

"The Holocaust is for many the yardstick against which they measure evil and condemn contemporaries they don’t like."

A spot on comment here on Germany's absurd practice of hauling nonagenarian German ex-soldiers in front of war crimes tribunals 75 years after the event and more here on the Farce Masquerading as Justice, read virtue signalling, in Germany.

Einstein Letter Warning Of Zionist Fascism In Israel

cross-posted from Mike Norman Economics.

Letter That Albert Einstein Sent to the New York Times1948, Protesting the Visit of Menachem Begin

Today, Einstein and many other leading Jews would be considered to be a racists for their anti-Zionist views. Well, what if they actually said that Zionism was fascism - imagine the outrage and condemnation? It would be said that they were very bad people indeed for holding such 'extremist views'!

Black is white, war is peace, the Western neoliberal dictatorship is democracy, our enslavement to work is freedom, we have a free and fair press, being greedy is virtuous, and the West stands for everything that is good.

And the BBC and the Guardian, manned by 'very nice' liberals, can be trusted to tell the truth and not put out right-wing imperialist propaganda to fool the British public and the rest of the World.

Letters to the Editor New York Times

December 4, 1948 TO THE EDITORS OF THE NEW YORK TIMES: 

Among the most disturbing political phenomena of our times is the emergence in the newly created state of Israel of the "Freedom Party" (Tnuat Haherut), a political party closely akin in its organization, methods, political philosophy and social appeal to the Nazi and Fascist parties. It was formed out of the membership and following of the former Irgun Zvai Leumi, a terrorist, right-wing, chauvinist organization in Palestine. 

The current visit of Menachem Begin, leader of this party, to the United States is obviously calculated to give the impression of American support for his party in the coming Israeli elections, and to cement political ties with conservative Zionist elements in the United States. Several Americans of national repute have lent their names to welcome his visit. It is inconceivable that those who oppose fascism throughoutthe world, if correctly informed as to Mr. Begin's political record and perspectives, could add their names and support to the movement he represents. 

Before irreparable damage is done by way of financial contributions, public manifestations in Begin's behalf, and the creation in Palestine of the impression that a large segment of America supports Fascist elements in Israel, the American public must be informed as to the record and objectives of Mr. Begin and his movement. The public avowals of Begin's party are no guide whatever to its actual character. Today they speak of freedom, democracy and anti-imperialism, whereas until recently they openly preached the doctrine of the Fascist state. It is in its actions that the terrorist party betrays its real character; from its past actions we can judge what it may be expected to do in the future. 

Attack on Arab Village 

A shocking example was their behavior in the Arab village of Deir Yassin. This village, off the main roads and surrounded by Jewish lands, had taken no part in the war, and had even fought off Arab bands who wanted to use the village as their base. On April 9 (THE NEW YORK TIMES), terrorist bands attacked this peaceful village, which was not a military objective in the fighting, killed most of its inhabitants ? 240men, women, and children - and kept a few of them alive to parade as captives through the streets of Jerusalem. Most of the Jewish community was horrified at the deed, and the Jewish Agency sent a telegram of apology to King Abdullah of Trans-Jordan. But the terrorists, far from being ashamed of their act, were proud of this massacre, publicized it widely, and invited all the foreign correspondents present in the country to view the heaped corpses and the general havoc at Deir Yassin. The Deir Yassin incident exemplifies the character and actions of the Freedom Party. 

Within the Jewish community they have preached an admixture of ultranationalism, religious mysticism, and racial superiority. Like other Fascist parties they have been used to break strikes, and have themselves pressed for the destruction of free trade unions. In their stead they have proposed corporate unions on the Italian Fascist model. During the last years of sporadic anti-British violence, the IZL and Stern groups inaugurated a reign of terror in the Palestine Jewish community. Teachers were beaten up for speaking against them, adults were shot for not letting their children join them. By gangster methods, beatings, window-smashing, and wide-spread robberies, the terrorists intimidated the population and exacted a heavy tribute.

The people of the Freedom Party have had no part in the constructive achievements in Palestine. They have reclaimed no land, built no settlements, and only detracted from the Jewish defense activity. Their much-publicized immigration endeavors were minute, and devoted mainly to bringing in Fascist compatriots. 

Discrepancies Seen 

The discrepancies between the bold claims now being made by Begin and his party, and their record of past performance in Palestine bear the imprint of no ordinary political party. This is the unmistakable stamp of a Fascist party for whom terrorism (against Jews, Arabs, and British alike), and misrepresentation are means, and a "Leader State" is the goal.

In the light of the foregoing considerations, it is imperative that the truth about Mr. Begin and his movement be made known in this country. It is all the more tragic that the top leadership of American Zionism has refused to campaign against Begin's efforts, or even to expose to its own constituents the dangers to Israel from support to Begin. The undersigned therefore take this means of publicly presenting a few salient facts concerning Begin and his party; and of urging all concerned not to support this latest manifestation of fascism. 


ISIDORE ABRAMOWITZ
HANNAH ARENDT
ABRAHAM BRICK
RABBI JESSURUN CARDOZO
ALBERT EINSTEIN
HERMAN EISEN,
 M.D. HAYIM FINEMAN
M. GALLEN, M.D.
H.H. HARRIS
ZELIG S. HARRIS
SIDNEY HOOK
FRED KARUSH
BRURIA KAUFMAN
IRMA L. LINDHEIM
NACHMAN MAISEL
SEYMOUR MELMAN
MYER D. MENDELSON
M.D., HARRY M. OSLINSKY
SAMUEL PITLICK
FRITZ ROHRLICH
LOUIS P. ROCKER
RUTH SAGISIT
ZHAK SANKOWSKY
I.J. SHOENBERG
SAMUEL SHUMAN
M. SINGER
IRMA WOLF
ESTEFAN WOLF. 

New York, Dec. 2, 1948 

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Do read the comments

Reading Lounge

1. Trump stars

2. See Ancient Greek Music Accurately Reconstructed for the First Time

3. YOU ARE NOT ORIGINAL OR CREATIVE ON INSTAGRAM - kinda sucks, right?

4. It wasn’t just hate. Fascism offered robust social welfare

5. "Rozenberg wanted to find a way to highlight the gender biases embedded in architectural terms learned by technology, to make it easier to produce "post-gender architecture". - switch off your BS detector

6. The Chinese broadcaster quoted Turkish economist Emre Alkin: “Stability for the Turkish Lira will come from cooperation with valuable countries like China ..."

Germany's 'Leitkultur' discussion 'Bowling for fascism'?

What a cruel male-dominated society

Germany's Interior Minister & Chief Anti-Muslim Hate Monger Tommi de Maizière had a stroke of genius over a cuppa coffee and Platenkuchen. Things were not exactly aligning with what a true teutonic German likes, ORDER and KULTUR. So he went into subcutaneous and subconscious ​ intellectual overdrive and penned a piece and called it "We are not Burka". Just so you know.

Thus was born "The German Leitkultur Ten Points Program", aka the Constitution of the Willing, at the end of a cold month of April in the 17th year of 2000. In his tenets he waxes, not particularly eloquent I might add, about conduct and social capital that permeate​s the country Germany in his view.

Not that the subject Leitkultur had never been mentioned before, but only this time is was invested with some real though not tender flesh. Unless you are a diehard teutonic German, it makes for odd reading but then, the minister is not a gifted conversationalist to begin with.

As it so happened, I ventured across a Pdf on Nber.org with the intriguing title 'Bowling for fascism'. Now you got to be careful in fucking Bavaria and their courts because potentially just by mentioning this slightly funny sounding title you might run afoul of one of Germany's sick § 86 STGB laws. Mayhaps.

Anyway. This is a very interesting study, unless you believe in the rather crude and hairraising way of explaining the rise of fascism in Germany with Dear Leader Adolf just having been a cunning and drugged nutcase who conned his innocent subjects into something they actually and deep down really did not want to do, or how about the mesmerizing oratory feats of Jo Goebbels who put the people in his Charles-Manson-like spell, or the splendid swan-white uniform of Goering promising nirvana soon. The authors examine how social capital contributed to the rise of fascism in Germany.

I could not help but think of Tommi de Maizière's piece in Die Zeit with his odd and staid phraseology. A phraseology that smacks of bigotry, nationalism, of 'Schrebergarten' idyll, while at the same time sounding daft, churlish and unrefined.

So I picked out two of his ten points strong Leitkultur. Judge for yourself:

5. We are a nation of culture. Hardly any country is as shaped by culture and philosophy as Germany. Germany has greatly influenced the cultural development of the whole world. Bach and Goethe "belong" to the whole world and they were Germans. We have our own understanding of the importance of culture in our society. It is self-evident that music is played at a political ceremony or at a school anniversary. At the opening of a large concert hall - as a matter of course - the Federal President, representatives from government, parliament, jurisprudence and society are on the spot. Hardly a country has so many theaters per inhabitant as Germany. Every county is proud of its music school. Culture in a broad sense, our gaze on it and what we do for it is also part of us.

10. We have a mutual collective recollection of places and memories. The Brandenburg Gate and the 9th of November, for example, are part of such collective memories. Or win the world championships. In addition regional events: carnival, folk festivals. The native roots, the market places of our cities. The affinity with places, smells and traditions. Mentalities of territorial association, the sound of the language recognized by everybody, belongs to us and shape our country.

Here is the ABSTRACT of the study 'Bowling for Fascism'.

Social capital is often associated with desirable political and economic outcomes. This paper contributes to the literature exploring the “dark side” of social capital, examining the downfall of democracy in interwar Germany. We collect new data on the density of associations in 229 German towns and cities. Denser networks of clubs and societies went hand-in-hand with a more rapid rise of the Nazi Party. Towns with one standard deviation higher association density saw at least 15% faster Nazi Party entry. All types of societies – from veteran associations to animal breeders, chess clubs and choirs – positively predict NS Party entry. Party membership, in turn, is correlated with electoral success. These results suggest that social capital aided the rise of the Nazi movement that ultimately destroyed Germany’s first democracy. Crucially, we examine the question when a vibrant civic society can have corrosive effects. We show that the effects of social capital depended on the political context – in federal states with more stable governments, higher association density was not associated with faster Nazi Party entry.

On page 5

Relative to the existing literature, we make the following contributions: Our paper is the first to show  –  on the basis of detailed cross-sectional data – that social capital can undermine and help to destroy a democratic system. This adds a new dimension to the “dark  side” of social capital. Second, we demonstrate that the positive relationship between social capital and the rate of joining  an extreme party is not simply a reflection of preexisting differences in ideological outlook. Our  results are equally strong for bowling, singing, and animal breeding clubs, etc. This implies that  even civic associations without a militaristic agenda can have negative effects. Third, we find that  association density did not only  boost Nazi Party membership, but also helped the party win more  votes. Finally, we find an important interaction with political stability – the Nazi Party was  particularly successful at exploiting social capital in federal states with weak governance.


Here is their Conclusion

When is social capital beneficial?  Tocqueville pioneered the argument that social capital is crucial  for democracy. At the same time, he already  pointed out  that  “the  liberty  of association is  only  a  source  of  advantage  and  prosperity  to some  nations, it  may  be perverted …and … changed into a  cause  of  destruction”  (Tocqueville  1835, Vol.  I, Ch. 12).  Using  the case of  interwar  Germany,  we show  that  a vigorous  civic society  can  indeed help to undermine  the  existing  democratic  order. There, vibrant  networks  of  clubs  and associations  facilitated  the rise of  the  Nazi  Party.  New  data  on  associations  and clubs  in 229  German  cities  from  the  interwar  period  show  that  where there  were  more grass-root social  and  civic  organizations, the  Nazi  Party  grew  markedly  faster.  This  is  true  both for the  party’s  early  years  and during its  final  ascendancy  to  power, after  the  start  of  the  Great Depression.  Association  density  also  predicts  the NSDAP’s  electoral  success  –  in part because  a  strong  organizational  base  with hundreds  of  thousands  of  members  facilitated canvassing  during the  elections. Our findings  highlight  the  importance  of  personal, face-to-face interactions  for  the rise of  a radical  new  movement.  In this  way, dense  networks  of associations  contributed directly  to the  eventual  collapse  of  democracy, leading  to one  of history’s  most destructive  regimes.

Our  main  finding  is  in  stark  contrast to  an  earlier  literature  that blamed  Germany’s path to totalitarian rule  on a  “civic  non-age”  of  low  social  capital  (Stern 1972), and Nazi entry  on rootless,  isolated individuals  in a  modernized society  (Arendt  1973;  Shirer 1960).46  Our  study  also extends  the  important  findings  of  Acemoglu et  al. (2014)  by showing  that social  capital can  not only  be  built by  autocratic  leaders  to  entrench  their  rule – but  that  pre-existing  social  capital  can  foster  the  rise  of  undemocratic  regimes.  Why is  social  capital  associated with benign political  outcomes  in some  contexts, but not in  others?  We  examine  differences  in  political stability  at the  state  level.  Overall, Weimar  Germany’s  institutions  did  not  work  well  –  governments  were  weak and shortlived, economic  policy  often failed, and extremist  parties  blossomed (Bracher  1978). At the  same  time,  some  states  (including  Prussia)  were  bastions  of  well-functioning  republican institutions.  We  use  an indicator of  state-level  government  stability  to show  that  where governments  changed rapidly, the  link between association density  and Nazi  Party  entry was  much stronger  than in  stable states.  Where the  same parties  formed  stable governments, social  capital’s  corrosive  influence  disappears  in our  data. Therefore, the effects  of  social  capital  depend crucially  on the  political  and institutional  context. Rather than being  an unambiguous  force  for  good, our  results  suggest  that  social  capital  itself  is neutral  –  a tool  that  can be  used for  both  good or  ill.

(Pages 30/31)

BOWLING FOR FASCISM: SOCIAL CAPITAL AND THE RISE OF THE NAZI PARTY
Shanker Satyanath, Nico Voigtlaender, Hans-Joachim Voth

Working Paper 19201
http://www.nber.org/papers/w19201

NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH
1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
July 2013
_____________________________

Also of interest

Could Bowling Leagues and the PTA Breed Nazis?

R E Q U E S T to remove Munich Chief prosecutor Hummer from public service

Prosecutor Hummer, Munich

English  version  (for chronological  documentation  and  presentation at  the  USCIS.gov)

Munich, March 08,  2016

Good day at the Bavarian State Ministry of Justice,

After we had first approached the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection in Berlin, we were told in a letter dated 02 March 2016 that the Federal Ministry can not intervene in this matter for legal reasons, because the administrative supervision of the courts and prosecution of federal state workers - without prejudice to its independence - lies in the judicial authority of the respective federal state. We therefore turn now to the Bavarian State Ministry of Justice.

 My daughter and I hereby table the

 R E Q U E S T

 to remove from public service

 Chief prosecutor Hummer, Munich

R E A S O N

 On the occasion of my written appeals pertaining the case Az 18 Ns 112 Js 170286/14 of May 10, 2015 - a case based on racist and discriminatory insinuations against my daughter and related by an employee of the German government agency Jobcenter - a court case which in a country with free speech would have been rejected by a judge as frivolous and thrown out - I referred among other things to quite considerable historical falsifications in the film "The Rise of Evil", which was aired on the channel RTL at the beginning of April 2015 at prime time. Moreover, on TV financed by a compulsory monthly fee!

 The number of historical falsifications in this movie about Hitler is substantial. So substantial and misleading that the US state of Texas decided against showing the film. The German magazine Spiegel ridiculed the movie, the Canadian film critic Scott Feschuk called it " Hitler for Dummies". I referred to these facts in my written appeals as further evidence that in Germany latent glorification of the Nazi period is being broadcasted on several German TV stations on several days per week. To our knowledge at least since ten years, but according to a report of a South American journalist since nearly fifteen years.

 I received the following letter from chief prosecutor Hummer (see attachment) after having submitted my appeals. Mr. Hummer is professionally active as chief prosecutor in Munich, the city which was the springboard of Adolf Hitler! It should be noted, that in 2013 a well-known Neonazi served as judge in Bavaria for a year!

 This letter contained the following unbelievable passage:

 "Apart from that, comparisons between the acts of the accused on the one hand and press and TV coverage on the other hand are out of the question, because the latter regularly serve as political information, report on events of current affairs or history and therefore are according to § 86 no. 3 in conjunction with § 86 a no. 3 Penal Code exempted from the offense. The actions of the defendant, however, do not fall under that exception as the Court of Appeal has set out in detail and without any error of law (UA p.7)."

 My daughter and I are shocked that such a person is employed at a court in a democratic country. If he thinks a critique of clear historical falsifications of events of the Nazi era, broadcasted on German television and financed by a compulsory levy, is prohibited, then there can be no place for such a person in public office in a democratic state.

 Such an objectionable statement, which we believe is a reflection of his true mental attitude, is incompatible for a civil servant. A civil servant's foremost duty is fostering and preserving democratic and liberalist values. Mr. Hummer failed dismally.

 We therefore ask to restore the dignity of this position with a person of merit.

 Sincerely,