Shades of Hitler: The Third Reich Rises Again

In an address to members of the Christian Democratic Union Party (CDU) on October 17th, 2010, German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared that the German “experiment” in multiculturalism had “utterly failed.” She went on to state that non-Germans, particularly Arabs and Muslims, were incapable of “living side by side” with the German people.¹ This came only two months after the release of German central banker Thilo Sarrazin’s racist book Germany Abolishes Itself, in which Sarrazin argues that immigrants are lowering German IQs.²

That Merkel and Sarrazin would so openly parrot the views of the Nazi regime is indicative of a growing trend in Germany. A study released days before Merkel’s speech showed that 13% of Germans would welcome a “fuehrer” to run the country with a “firm hand.” Over a third felt the country is “overrun by foreigners”; 60% would “restrict the practice of Islam”; and 17% think Jews have too much influence.³ This anti-Semitism was repeated by Sarrazin who stated that all Jews share a unique genetic heritage and therefore represent a single “race” separate from European whites.⁴

The popular pseudo-leftist hipster philosopher Slavoj Zizek chalked up this open fascism in Germany to an “excess of anti-capitalism” in Europe, but his primitive analysis could not be further from the truth.⁵

When Germany was divided after the Second World War, the Nazi regime, at the will of the U.S. and Britain, retained firm control of West Germany (FDR) while a Soviet-style socialist bulwark against fascism was built in East Germany. The first West German President, Konrad Adenauer, had close associations with and was funded by Nazi war criminal Friedrich Flick. Shortly after being elected he granted amnesty to 792,176 Nazi war criminals.

Adenauer’s chief of staff was Hans Globke a top official in the Nazi Party who played a direct role in the Holocaust. The first chief of the FDR Foreign Office was Herbert Blankenhorn a former Nazi propagandist and member of the SS. Adolf Heusinger was chief of the Operations Division of the Nazi army and oversaw war planning for Hitler. Naturally he was made the top commander of the illegally-formed West German military in 1957.⁶

While prominent Nazis filled top positions the lower ranks were replete with Nazis who made up two thirds of the foreign services and military as well as much of the West German police infrastructure.

By contrast the East German government was made up of anti-fascist fighters and an entire state culture was built around the idea of anti-fascism. It should come as no surprise then that at the time of the FDR annexation of East Germany (1989-91) West Germans were four times as likely as East Germans to describe themselves as openly anti-Semitic.⁷

Since the annexation of East Germany that part of the country has been inundated with fascist literature while schools have adopted the pro-fascist revisionist history taught by such neo-Nazi West German intellectuals as Ernst Nolte. Earlier this year 6,400 neo-Nazis, primarily from West Germany, flooded the East German city of Dresden in an attempt to hold a pro-Nazi rally. Then 5,700 German police were brought in to assist the Nazis assault on the city. After a heroic effort by the 15,000 anti-racists, who formed a human barricade to block their entry, both the racist police and the Nazis they protected were forced to turn back.⁸ 

Fascism is an aspect of capitalism, whether in the form of jack-booted Nazi thugs or smiling politicians who sign the orders to militarize borders, indefinitely imprison Muslim and Arab men or slaughter innocent Afghans and Pakistanis. Racism, sexism, patriotism and nationalism are absolutely required by a system that is always looking to squeeze more and more profit from workers’ labor. Just as true is that communists have always and will always fight fascism in all of its forms. In short then, the problem is not an “excess of anti-capitalism” in Germany, but a severe shortage of communism.J

1. The Guardian, “Angela Merkel: German Multiculturalism has ‘Utterly Failed,’” 10/17/10.

2.Christian Science Monitor, “Why 13 percent of Germans Would Welcome a ‘Fuhrer,’” 10/15/10.

3. Ibid.

4. Washington Post, “German Politician Stirs Controversy with His Inflammatory Views on Muslims and Jews,” 8/30/10.

5. Democracy Now, “Slavoj Zizek: Far Right and Anti-Immigrant Politicians on the Rise in Europe,” 10/18/10.

6. See Norbert Frei, “Adenauer’s Germany and the Nazi Past: The Politics of Amnesty and Amnesia,” The New Republic, 3/10/03; Ronald Smelser and Edward Davies, The Myth of the Eastern Front: The Nazi-Soviet War in American Popular Culture; Glen Yeadon and John Hawkins, The Nazi Hydra in America;

7. Patty Lee Parmalee, “Learning to Live with Capitalism in East Berlin,” Z Magazine, Vol. 5 No. 7-8, July/August 1992.

8. Victor Grossman, ZNet, “Neo Nazis in Germany, or Deja Vu?” 9/4/07; Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review, “Thousands Prevent Neo-Nazi Rally in Dresden,” 2/14/10.