30.1.2013

Eighty years to the Nazi rise to power

Today, 80 years ago, "Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of a coalition government of the NSDAP-DNVP Party. The SA and SS led torchlight parades throughout Berlin. In the coalition government, three members of the cabinet were Nazis: Hitler, Wilhelm Frick (Minister of the Interior) and Hermann Göring (Minister Without Portfolio)."

What would you have done during the ascent to power or in the first years following it ?

Fact is, of those few who tried, most met a horrible end. 

In retrospect, it is easy to adopt extreme views and imagine one's heroism, but in real life, the risks and chances make every act weigh rather differently. 

Remembering the Nazi's rize is a good opportunity to remember two brave men who displayed each a different form of resistance to tyrrany, and paid the ultimate price:

August Landmesser who lived a life of passive resistance, of the type that his stance in the following photo depicts.

This image is quoted from wikipedia; the quotation there and here is done according to the Fair Use doctrine

Johan Georg Elser whose story depicts how close can a single man come to changing history.. 
On 1939, Elser attempted to "kill Hitler with a bomb during his speech at the Bürgerbräukeller. He built a time bomb with which he travelled to Munich in the weeks preceding Hitler's anniversary speech. Elser managed to stay inside the Bürgerbräukeller after closing hours each night for over a month, during which time he hollowed out the pillar behind the speaker's rostrum, and placed the bomb inside it. ...Fog prevented a flight back to Berlin, forcing Hitler to deliver his speech earlier than planned in order to take the train. Hitler left the beer hall at about 13 minutes before Elser's bomb exploded as planned at 21:20...The bomb killed eight people, and injured sixty-three, seriously injuring sixteen of them."

If only luck was on his side, he would have changed history.

This image is quoted from wikipedia; it is in the Public's Domain. 

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