Lest We Forget; The Cost of Fascism
Yes, ordinary people have beaten evil before, but at a terrible price.
(Editor’s Note: I wrote this a few hours before our sudden sneak attack on Iran. If you are old enough to remember 2003, George W. Bush declared victory over Iraq after we invaded them. And then, the war started. I have a hunch that we’ve seen this movie before, and that the remake will be worse. JL)
On this morning 84 years ago, June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany launched an enormous, violent and unprovoked attack on the Soviet Union that would make the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor six months later look like a skirmish. Three million German soldiers invaded Russia, occupied vast stretches of territory, and ultimately killed millions and millions of Soviet citizens, the majority of them civilians.
The Soviet Union was a democracy in name only, but while many of their people loathed Josef Stalin’s murderous regime, they came to hate Adolf Hitler and fascism more. Four years later, German fascism had been destroyed, but at a terrible price.
By the way, the next time you hear that the United States or Winston Churchill saved the world from Hitler, consider this: America and Great Britain each lost about 200,000 killed in the European theatre of that war. Best estimates for Soviet losses put the toll at about 27 million. It is true that we sent them a lot of equipment, and Spam.
We never want to see anything like that again, and if it happened, humanity would probably not survive. It’s worth noting that Adolf Hitler could have been deposed, essentially without bloodshed, had France stood up to him when he violated the Versailles Treaty and moved troops into the Rhineland in 1936.
This time, the anti-democratic threat the United States faces is internal, which means it could be both easier and harder to defeat — and is more essential. If we suffer a complete fascist takeover, Denmark and Norway aren’t going to send tanks to save us, nor will anyone else. In fact, the few remaining democracies will be, for Tolkien fans, in the position Rivendell and Lorien would have been had Sauron gotten the Ring.
That’s why this fight is so important. That’s why you have to make it very clear to yourself and the world which side you are on. Think I’m exaggerating?
Millions thought the same about those who warned them about Hitler when he was first in power, and some remained deluded till the day they were pushed into a gas chamber or hanged with piano wire on a meathook.
It seems as if fascism bubbles just below the surface like lava, only to erupt eventually somewhere. Too many people think it cannot happen here, only to be awakened when it is too late.
As you disclose Jack, the parallels are overwhelming, but there are differences. Hitler manipulated the humiliation of Germany in WWI to win power. Trump took advantage of the reactionary movement that began with the election of a half Black man to the presidency. Both are psychopaths who will do anything to stay in power. It remains to be seen who is capable of the worst.