It was called "The night of the Long Knives"

Saddam did the same thing.

Remember that video showing him and his cigar as old political acquantances were taken out of the hall and never were seen again?

The Night of the Long Knives, also known as Reichsmordwoche or "the Blood Purge" (German, Nacht der langen Messer) was a purge ordered by Adolf Hitler of potential political rivals in the Sturmabteilung, or S.A. The Night of the Long Knives took place during the late night of June 30 and the early morning of July 1 in 1934. Official records tally the dead at 77, though 400 are believed to have been killed.

By the summer of 1933, the S.A. had grown discontent with the progress of the Nazi regime. Many had taken seriously the "socialism" of "National Socialism", and were angry that Hitler and the other party leaders had not. As a result, they grew increasingly distant from the Nazi leadership and believed further steps needed to be taken to achieve substantive social and economic change. They also wanted to become the core of a new German army.

By 1934, Hitler dominated Germany's government, but still feared losing power in a coup d'état. To maintain complete control, he allowed political infighting to continue among his subordinates. As a result, a political struggle grew, with Hermann Göring, Joseph Goebbels, Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich on one side and Ernst Röhm, the leader of the S.A., on the other. The S.A. was the only remaining viable threat to Hitler's power.

The power of Röhm and his violent organization frightened his rivals. Goering and Himmler asked Heydrich to assemble a dossier of manufactured evidence to suggest that Röhm had been paid 12 million marks by France to overthrow Hitler. Himmler presented the "evidence" to Hitler, fuelling his suspicion that Röhm intended to use the S.A. to launch a plot against him. At the time, Himmler was also organizing his own Nazi paramilitary group, which later came to be known as the SS (Schutzstaffel).

Hitler had always liked Röhm; he was one of the first members of the Nazi Party, participating in the Beer Hall Putsch. But Hitler was under increasing pressure to reduce the S.A. influence. German military leaders were unhappy with Röhm's proposal that the German army be absorbed into the larger S.A., and the industrialists that supported Hitler were concerned over the S.A.'s socialist leanings. The regular army was also alarmed by the size of the S.A. — in early 1934 it numbered 2.5 million, while the army was limited by the Treaty of Versailles to 100,000. Members of the Nazi party also viewed Röhm and some other S.A. leaders with distaste because they frequently practiced homosexual acts.

With all these groups aligned against Röhm, Hitler decided to act. He ordered all S.A. leaders to attend a meeting at the Hanselbauer Hotel in Wiessee near Munich. On June 30 Hitler took personal command of Röhm's arrest. Alfred Rosenberg's diary provides an account:

With an SS escort detachment the Führer drove to Weissee and knocked softly on Röhm's door: “Message from Munich,” he said with disguised voice. “Well come in,” Röhm called to the supposed messenger, “the door is open.” Hitler tore open the door, fell on Röhm as he lay in bed, seized him by the throat and screamed, “You are under arrest, you swine.” Then he turned the traitor over to the SS. At first Röhm refused to get dressed. The SS then threw his clothes in the Chief of Staff's face until he bestirred himself to put them on. In the room next door, they found young men engaged in homosexual activity. “And these are the kind who want to be leaders in Germany,” the Führer said trembling. (Spielvogel, 78)

In the following hours other S.A. leaders were also arrested, and many were shot out of hand. Apparently Hitler intended to pardon Röhm, but eventually decided to have him die. It is believed that Röhm was offered a chance of suicide but was eventually shot. Hitler also used this purge of the S.A. to settle old scores: Gregor Strasser, Gustav von Kahr, General Kurt von Schleicher and Edgar Jung were all murdered, totaling over 100. Franz von Papen was put under house arrest.

On July 3, the Reich government decided upon the Law Regarding Measures of State Self-Defense, consisting of a single article simply declaring the "measures taken" to be "legal State self-defense."

Hitler announced the purge on 13 July, claiming 61 had been executed, 13 shot while resisting arrest, and 3 had committed suicide. In announcing the purge he stated, "If anyone reproaches me and asks why I did not resort to the regular courts of justice, then all I can say is this: In this hour I was responsible for the fate of the German people, and thereby I became the supreme judge (oberster Gerichtsherr) of the German people". - from William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1959.

As a result of the purge, Hitler gained a measure of gratitude and support from the Reichswehr. On July 26th, the S.S. was made independent of the S.A., with Himmler as its Reichsführer, answerable only to Hitler. Victor Lutze became the new leader of the S.A., and it was soon marginalized in the Nazi power structure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_of_the_Long_Knives

The key reason Hitler sanctioned this operation was to gain the loyalty of the military. Ernst Rohm and his brownshirts saw themselves as the people's army and wanted to usurp the role of the Wehrmacht.

This paved the way for Hitler getting his oath of loyalty from the armed forces.

Bush's "you're either with us, or against us" philosophy, combined with his puppet appointments, could be considered a modern day parallel.

interesting.

Let us all try to remember, as many Americans need to....that the apple does not fall far from the tree.

Karl Rove's grandfather was Karl Heinz Roverer, a huge financier of Hitler's Concentration camps.

George W. Bush's grandfather, Prescott Bush, was a buddy, for all intents and purposes, and had a lot of business dealings with Adolph Hitler in the times up to, and during World War II.


This , alone, should tell all of us, of the philosophies, and perhaps the teachings, of both of these men, and the influence on the families....

MOst of what this administration has done, or is attempting to do, mirrors in many ways what the fascist, nazi, government of Germany implemented in the days leading up to the Holocaust and to World War II, and the intended ethnic cleansing of Europe, and the entire world.

And if the American people dont wake up to what is happening, and stop it from going any further....then the time will come when...

THEY WILL COME FOR THEM AND THERE WILL BE NO ONE LEFT TO SPEAK FOR THEM.

Anyone who does not believe that this can, actually, happen in our country better wake up to reality. It has begun.


"Loyalty and responsibility toward the people and the Fatherland are most deeply anchored in the Christian faith."
--Adolph Hitler

I borrowed that from jessiegirl who used it in another thread.

Sadly, you are exactly right. Believe it or not, I have seen this coming for about twenty years, and have been trying to warn people, of course all I got was, you are crazy, or people laughing at me. At least now, some people will listen today. It is getting better, I hope it is enough.

This is what scares me. I remember sometime either earlier this month or late last month watching a Hitler documentary and there were so many similiar things going on.... Only thing really different between Hitler and Bush is that Hitler had better public speaking skills.

These CIA shakeups are a serious thing and I don't want to shrug them off; however at the same time it's probably not a fair comparison to equate people being fired or changing offices with The Night of Long Knives, where Hitler murdered his political opponents.

It is fair to compare early trends today with early trends of the 30s.

We must investigate these thugs. Given the evidence of their willingness to steal elections, who knows what other kinds of actions they have taken.

There is a suspcisious death of some man who was the owner of a company (truvote?) that was a competitor with all the paperless voting machines.

Lastly, George Bush invaded a country illegaly and without justification, and that in itself bears stark resemblance to Hitler's first invasion.

I guess I equate the two men this way...

Hitler used force with propaganda.....

Bush is using Propaganda and loopholes to achieve the same aim.....

Both men are rely on the ignorance of the masses to blindly follow.....

Bush's invasion of Iraq, is like Hitler's attack on Poland. How do you imagine the German press under Dr Joseph Geobbels reported this? Compare this media coverage with a lot of what you are getting from the mainstream media today!!!

Just recently you've had reports of a marine shooting a wounded "insurgent" in the head. Prior to this, Abu Graihb.

Under Bush, has America's image improved, either domestically, or internationally. If you think it has, you should share with this board whatever it is you are on.

Jason asked for information on this.....I am not stating my opinion

For anyone interested,the night of long knives is shown in the play/movie BENT

The only difference is that Bush has not yet consolidated his position, and that in spite of the patriot act, it's impossible to make high-ranking personnel in the CIA just disappear.

here's the synopsis


This film draws from the award-winning play by Sherman Martin that spotlights the Nazi persecution of homosexuals. This emotional drama chronicles the struggles of a gay man who not only survived a concentration camp, but also emerged from it a better, more caring human being at peace with his sexuality.

http://www.mgm.com/title_title.do?title_star=BENT

Karl Rove is quite a history buff and has probably advocated some of Hitler's tactics to Bush so far as the ones he knows that had proved effective.

I agree but just because they use the same tactics do not mean they have the same objectives, obviously. For me, the sky will start falling if Bush somehow begins a 3rd term.

It is wrong to equate Hitler's murder and Bush's reorganization of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Bush's actions are within his rights as the Chief Executive Officer of the United States of America, even though many American Citizens are uncomfortable with the appearances of these moves at the CIA.

I do not believe this is the first time in the agencies history that there has been a shake-up like this. Wasn't the last time during the 1970's, before the Republican Revolution actually became mainstream?

You're right but it fits a pattern. It's never just one thing.

After Osama nukes us all things are possible.
Missing suitcase nukes + missing high grade explosives needed to light the nuke fuses + OK from clerics to nuke us + "Constitution Restoration Act of 2004" + purging of CIA liberals disloyal to Bush (I'm told this is not actually that unusual) + deregulation/consolidation of media + in control of all wings of govnt. + Diebold + Patriot Act. = totalarian state

Bush doesn't have that far to go for *absolute* consolidation of his power.

I have to agree with all that I am hearing...he (bush) is insulating himself to the fullest extent possible, and ensuring he leaves a lasting legacy/mark on this nation. My only problem with the CIA shakeup is that its happening before that new report is to come out...question now is, will it come out with Goss at the helm. I guess I have one other problem with the shakeup....when you have that kind of shakedown, what critical information may be lost in the process??!!! :o

This is interesting. Ernst Rohm was of use to Hitler for many years. Ernst Rohm, leader of the SA (Wehrmacht wannabes) - who was one of the targets of the "Night of the Long Knives" - was "as camp as a row of tents".

Hitler was first and foremost a politician in search of power, whatever the means. Big business made zillions off WWII!!! The persecution/extermination of Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, the disabled and so on, was sanctioned - almost, by the German people who were the subject of Goebbel's Ministry of Propaganda afterall - by public opinion after the Treaty of Versailles and The Great Depression.

911 as part of the hijacking of the American government can be equated to the Treaty of Versailles + The Great Depression. The target of today - after 911 - just happens to be "extreme" Islam. Herr Bush, Zieg Heil!... Heil Bush!!!

Nazis = FOXIS?

You couldn't be implying that if there were something like evidence of a BushCo connection to Osama, it would be DESTROYED?

Oh, no...

That would be... criminal.

This is quite interesting........

The Third Reich: Consolidation of Power

Hitler rapidly transformed the Weimar Republic into a dictatorship. The National Socialists accomplished their "revolution" within months, using a combination of legal procedure, persuasion, and terror. Because the parties forming the cabinet did not have a parliamentary majority, Hindenburg called for the dissolution of the Reichstag and set March 5, 1933, as the date for new elections. A week before election day, the Reichstag building was destroyed by fire. The Nazis blamed the fire on the Communists, and on February 28 the president, invoking Article 48 of the constitution, signed a decree that granted the Nazis the right to quash the political opposition. Authorized by the decree, the SA arrested or intimidated Socialists and Communists.

The election of March 5 was the last held in Germany until after World War II. Although opposition parties were severely harassed, the NSDAP won only 43.9 percent of the vote. Nonetheless, with the help of political allies, Hitler presented the Reichstag with the proposal for an Enabling Act that, if passed by a two-thirds majority, would allow him to govern without parliament for four years. On March 23, the proposal was passed with the support of the Center Party and others. All Communists and some Social Democrats were prevented from voting.

Hitler used the Enabling Act to implement Gleichschaltung (synchronization), that is, the policy of subordinating all institutions and organizations to Nazi control. First, left-wing political parties were banned; then, in July 1933, Germany was declared a one-party state. The civil service and judiciary were purged of "non-Aryans" (Jews) and leftists. Local and state governments were reorganized and staffed with Nazis. Trade unions were dissolved and replaced with Nazi organizations. Even the NSDAP was purged of its social-revolutionary wing, the SA. The enormous and unruly SA was brought under control by a massacre of its leadership at the end of June 1934 in the "night of the long knives." Other opponents were also killed during this purge, among them Schleicher. After Hindenburg's death in early August 1934, Hitler combined the offices of the president and the chancellor. With the SA tamed, Hitler assured the army that he regarded it as Germany's military force, and the soldiers swore an oath of personal allegiance to Hitler, pledging unconditional obedience. Heinrich Himmler's Guard Detachment (Schutz-Staffel--SS) replaced the SA as Hitler's private army.

Once the regime was established, terror was the principal means used to maintain its control of Germany. Police arrests, which had focused originally on Communists and Socialists, were extended to other groups, most particularly to Jews. This systematic use of terror was highly effective in silencing resistance. Some enemies of the regime fled abroad. However, all but a tiny minority of those opposed to Hitler resigned themselves to suppressing their opinions in public and hoping for the regime's eventual demise.

Like its secular institutions, Germany's churches were subjected to Nazi pressure. They resisted incorporation into the regime and retained a substantial degree of independence. This situation was tolerated by the regime, provided that the churches did not interfere with its efforts to control public life. When the churches were outraged by such Nazi practices as euthanasia, they protested. The regime responded by more carefully concealing such medical procedures. Otherwise, with the exception of a few brave isolated clergymen, the churches rarely spoke out against the regime. The regime's chief victims--Jews, Communists, Socialists, labor leaders, and writers--generally had not been close to the churches, and their persecution was witnessed in silence.

Joseph Goebbels, the minister of propaganda, contributed to the regime's consolidation with the establishment of the Reich Cultural Chamber, which extended Gleichschaltung to the educational system, the radio, and the cultural institutions. However, an elaborate system of censorship was not considered necessary to control the press. Non-Nazi party newspapers had already been suppressed. The editors of the remaining newspapers soon were able to figure out what was deemed suitable for public consumption. Goebbels also took an interest in Germany's substantial film industry, pressuring it to make pleasant, amusing films that would distract the German public in its leisure hours.

The regime soon achieved its desired consolidation. Many Germans supported it, some out of opportunism, some because they liked certain aspects of it such as full employment, which was quickly achieved. The regime also brought social order, something many Germans welcomed after fifteen years of political and economic chaos. Many were won over by Hitler's diplomatic successes, which began soon after he came to power and continued through the 1930s and which seemed to restore Germany to what they saw as its rightful place in the international community.

http://www.germanculture.com.ua/library/hi...third_reich.htm

and this...

The Third Reich: Foreign Policy

Once his regime was consolidated, Hitler took little interest in domestic policy, his sole concern being that Germany become sufficiently strong to realize his long-term geopolitical goal of creating a German empire that would dominate western Europe and extend deep into Russia. In a first step toward this goal, he made a de facto revision to the Treaty of Versailles by ceasing to heed its restrictions on German rearmament. Soon after becoming chancellor, Hitler ordered that rearmament, secretly under way since the early 1920s, be stepped up. Later in 1933, he withdrew Germany from the League of Nations to reduce possible foreign control over Germany. In 1935 he announced that Germany had begun rearmament, would greatly increase the size of its army, and had established an air force. Italy, France, and Britain protested these actions but did nothing further, and Hitler soon signed an agreement with Britain permitting Germany to maintain a navy one-third the size of the British fleet. In 1936 Hitler remilitarized the Rhineland, in violation of various treaties. There was no foreign opposition.

In 1936 Germany began closer relations with fascist Italy, a pariah state because of its invasion of Ethiopia the year before. The two antidemocratic states joined together to assist General Francisco Franco in overthrowing Spain's republican government during the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). In November 1936, Germany and Italy formed the Berlin-Rome Axis. That same year, Germany, Italy, and Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact, the three signatories pledging to defend each other against the Soviet Union and international communism.

It was also in 1936 that Hitler informed the regime's top officials that Germany must be ready for war by 1940. In response, the Four-Year Plan was established. Developed under the direction of Hermann Goering, it set forth production quotas and market guidelines. Efforts to regiment the economy were not without conflict. Some of the economic elite desired that Germany be integrated into the world's economy. Others advocated autarchy, that is, firmly basing the German economy in Central Europe and securing its raw materials through barter agreements.

In the end, no clear decision on the management of the German economy was made. Large weapons contracts with industrial firms soon had the economy running at top speed, and full employment was reached by 1937. Wages did not increase much for ordinary workers, but job security after years of economic depression was much appreciated. The rearmament program was not placed on a sound financial footing, however. Taxes were not increased to pay for it because the regime feared that this would dissatisfy workers. Instead, the regime tapped the country's foreign reserves, which were largely exhausted by 1939. The regime also shunned a rigorous organization of rearmament because it feared the social tensions this might engender. The production of consumer goods was not curtailed either, again based on the belief that the morale of the population had to remain high if Germany were to become strong. In addition, because Hitler expected that the wars waged in pursuit of his foreign policy goals would be short, he judged great supplies of weapons to be unnecessary. Thus, when war began in September 1939 with the invasion of Poland, Germany had a broad and impressive range of weapons, but not much in the way of replacements. As in World War I, the regime expected that the defeated would pay for Germany's expansion.

Through 1937 Hitler's foreign policy had the approval of traditional conservatives. However, because many of them were skeptical about his long-range goals, Hitler replaced a number of high military officers and diplomats with more pliable subordinates. In March 1938, the German army was permitted to occupy Austria by that country's browbeaten political leadership. The annexation (Anschluss) of Austria was welcomed by most Austrians, who wished to become part of a greater Germany, something forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles. In September 1938, British prime minister Neville Chamberlain consented to Hitler's desire to take possession of the Sudetenland, an area in Czechoslovakia bordering Germany that was inhabited by about 3 million Germans. In March 1939, Germany occupied the Czech-populated western provinces of Bohemia and Moravia, and Slovakia was made a German puppet state.

Immediately after the German occupation of Bohemia and Moravia, Britain and France finally became convinced of Hitler's expansionist objectives and announced their intention to defend the sovereignty of Poland. Because Hitler had concluded that he could not hope for British neutrality in the coming war, he formed a formal military alliance with Italy--the Pact of Steel. In August he signed a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union, thus apparently freeing Germany from repeating the two-front war it had fought in World War I.

http://www.germanculture.com.ua/library/hi...eign_policy.htm

Classic... nothing quite ruins the mood like Adolph Hitler walking in on you in the middle of sex... nope

Here's a portion of a christmas sermon,which includes writtings of Eli Weisel:

Eli Weisel came to the same conclusion in his concentration camp. As the man asked, "Where is God Now!" In his heart Eli responded, "He is there in the Gallows." Where was God in the Holocaust? One response is that God was in the concentration camps experiencing the pain. God had given the Nazis free will and they chose to use it to do evil. God could not steal that gift of free will away without going against his nature. God could also not just sit by while others suffered. So God suffered with them and was present to comfort and even to die.

If you want to find God look for pain and suffering. If you really want to find out where God is go to the slums, he is there. Go to the AIDS wards and cancer wards; God is there. Go to the war torn parts of the world where children are being slaughtered. And you will find God there.

Thanks for posting this underbear1. This is beautiful.

I wish I could figure out just what the "target" is. It's certainly not extreme Islam, or Bush would have attacked Saudi Arabia instead of Iraq.
The Nazis had a handbook (Mein Kampf), a scapegoat (Jews) and an external enemy (Communism). Of course, I can't imagine what it was like to live in Germany in the 30's, but the goals of the regime were pretty clear, if you listen to the speeches.
In our country today, we have the analogies of a rising Fascist one party state, but no discernable goals, except for achieving power for its own end. If Bush were supreme dictator (and I can't imagine what more power he'd want beyond which he's already taken) what would he do? We're trying to predict based on a four year record. But Bush has never written anything of note. His remarks are unintelligible gobbledygook. His speeches are never his own words. His "principles" amount to poorly thought out unsustainable hypocracy. Is fear of Bushco really fear of the unknown? Or maybe fear of incompetence?

One thing that Hitler did not have was global media

When the owners of the US mainstream media own world media which they

do they are duplicitous to this scheme.

If a tree falls in the woods, who hears it?

If a crime is commited and no one is there to prosecute it , who cares?

In 4 years the FCC has approved mergers & acquisitions.

Where is Clinton and Carter on this?

Why are all our politicians so ambivalent to this Reichsmordwoche?

Iraq was nothing, the next event is huge!

It's still early.

Whatever happened to the Curious Case of Valerie Plame?

Don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out what the outcome of that case will be now.

The Valarie Plame case will go the way of the Halliburton fraud case.

The goals of Bush and the Christian Reich are to stop civil liberties and return this country to their version of "PLEASANTVILLE"
Women back in the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant. White straight men regaining all corporate and government control. Gays dead or silenced.Muslims and illeagal
aliens vilified, and subservient.

perhaps the target is mid-east oil.

The target is us, the American people: destroying the concept of dissent and the free exchange of ideas.

I stand by what I said earlier, a comparison between the Night of Long Knives and this CIA shake-up is a stretch.

I did NOT say, as some posters seemed to think, that I in any way condone or support Bush's or Porter Goss's actions in the current CIA shake-up. I don't, and I see it as a very troublesome sign. The Bush Administration at its core does not believe in disagreement as the cornerstone of democracy. It is of course. The fundamental concept is that through people disagreeing and raising valid arguments that any decisions made are informed ones. President Bush seems to believe that his decisions are never weak, but that his decisions are weakened by the sheer act of someone questioning them.

I DO think there are valid comparisons between Hitler's rise to power and Bush's rise to power.

I should have read all the posts before responding. I agree with this one whole-heartedly.

Now who does this quote sound like

"The national government will maintain and defend the foundations on which the power of our nation rests. It will offer strong protection to Christianity as the very basis of our collective morality. Today Christians stand at the head of our country. We want to fill our culture again with the Christian spirit. We want to burn out all the recent immoral developments in literature, in the theatre, and in the press-- in short, we want to burn out the poison of immorality which has entered into our whole life and culture as a result of LIBERAL excess during the past years."
— Adolf Hitler

The Speeches of Adolph Hitler, 1922-1939, Vol.1(London, Oxford University Press, 1942), pg. 871-872

posted at democratic underground

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...2712643#2712847

25. Fom my Hitler 'quotations' file, taken from DU and other places

on doing God's work

"Let us pray in this hour that nothing can divide us, and that God will help us against the Devil! Almighty Lord, bless our fight!"
-- Adolph Hitler to the SA in 1930.

on ignorance and gullibility

QUOTATION:The great mass of people ... will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one. Especially if it is repeated over and over.
ATTRIBUTION:Adolf Hitler, German dictator. Mein Kampf, vol. 1, ch. 10 (1925).

"How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don't think."
-- Adolph Hitler

"It also gives us a very special, secret pleasure to see how unaware the people around us are of what is really happening to them."
-- Adolf Hitler

"Through clever and constant application of propaganda people can be made to see paradise as hell, and also the other way around, to consider the most wretched sort of life as paradise."
-- Adolph Hitler, Mein Kampf, 1923

on corporatism

"We stand for the maintenance of private property... We shall protect free enterprise as the most expedient, or rather the sole possible economic order."
-- Adolph Hitler

on the importance of eternal war

QUOTATION: Mankind has grown strong in eternal struggles and it will only perish through eternal peace.
ATTRIBUTION:Adolf Hitler, German dictator. Mein Kampf, vol. 1, ch. 4 (1925).