"Never Again"- Reflections on The Third Reich

Churchill once quipped "The farther back you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see" Ever since I encountered this morsel of Churchillian wisdom, I have taken to history with a new found alacrity. On a visit to Germany this summer, I set about exploring the history of the The Third Reich. However, it was not just the factual, physical or the temporal history of the Nazi rule, but the  social and psychological impact that I wanted to understand.  As I spent hours walking through museums, galleries, memorials, old towns and even underground cellars, more and more facts started to piece themselves and history started to acquire a spatial and temporal meaning. I knew as to why and how the horrors of Holocaust took place, but did I really understand it? Was I capable of understanding as to what transpired in the minds of those who planned the final solution? 

Months of rumination after my visit, and I still do not have my answers, but just another question, a more fearful one, if I did understand their motives will I be justifying their barbarism? What happened in Germany and much of Europe under the Nazis, was it human enough to be understood by posterity?

I certainly do not know. Yet, despite all our revulsion, pogroms of the worst kind have continued, be it in Cambodia by the Khmer Rouge or in East Timor, we have time and again promised "Never Again", but have failed to honor it. 

Today, November 8, happens to be the anniversary of Hitler's failed beer hall Putsch. In the year 1923, through a mix of armed rebellion and deceit he tried to overthrow the government in Munich, but failed in doing so, was tried for treason and imprisoned for five years. This was also the time when he wrote Mein Kampf.

Here, I share my reflections. 

"Eerie Smoke"- This is a popular bratwurst place in the heart of Nuremberg, but in days of the war, people dreaded the smoke billowing chimneys for it could be just any one of them.

"Underground Cellars"- These underground cellars date to the 14th century. Nuremberg City law mandated brew houses to  build these cellars, 16 square metre in size at a depth of 15ft below ground for fermenting beer. The cellars were extensively linked to serve as an escape route in the event of the house above catching fire. They were also used as shelters against bombings of the City of Nuremberg by the allies during the second world war.

Hyperinflation-The Treaty of Versailles (1919) required Germany to pay large amounts of money to the victors as war reparation, Germany recklessly printed money to meet its obligations and soon enough people were doing calculations with so many zeroes, that it was difficult than even the logarithm function. The National Socialist German Workers Party or the Nazis came to power by raising a nationalist sentiment that relied, in part, on people's frustration with a failing economy.  Among other reasons for rising discontent against Weimer Republic were the harsh conditions of the Treaty of Versailles.  In 1923, France captured the industrial belt of Ruhr on account of Germany's failure to meet its treaty obligations, this precipitated matters even further, generating a general nationalist wave. Some believe that the extreme conditions of the Treaty of Versailles were responsible for the rise of Hitler and the second world war. 

My guide told me about Hitler's Brown Coincidence: He was born in Braunau, was married to Eva Braun and all his dresses were brown

The Beer Hall. After the end of the first world war, Hitler was tasked by the army to keep an eye on political activity in Bavaria, consequently he joined one of the groups that was to become the Nazi Party.  He was member number 555 of the party, in a count that started from 500. It was at this beer hall in Munich that Hitler gave his first public speech.

Inside the Beer Hall

"The Model Camp": Dachau concentration camp, situated near Munich, was opened in the year 1933 and has the dubious distinction of being the first concentration camp opened by the Nazis. Its intended purpose was to hold political prisoners and carry out their re-education program, however soon train carriages full of people started to arrive from all over Europe. It was one of Hitler's lab for crimes against humanity, medical experiments like infecting inmates with malaria, live autopsies were a gruesome reality at this camp. 

"Barbed Fence" - The dark bronze sculpture was created by Nandor Glid, it shows emaciated prisoners extending their hands to form the wires of what is, the fence surrounding the camp. 

"Never Again"