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Essays on Liberty and Human Rights - I

Essays on Liberty and Human Rights

                          By Karl Hausner

Legend: Human Rights Essays I

             PART ONE

                   Introduction

This is a collection of essays, oral presentations, and in-depth
reviews of important historic events, such as World War I, World War
II, the origin of terrorism, information which is generally not found in
mainstream publications.

Libery as spelled out in the Declaration of Independence in 1776 with
its clear definition of human rights, was the main motivation to write
and/or collect these essays.

Essays on Liberty and Human Rights include such topics as "Was T.
G. Kasaryk the mastermind of Wilson's Fourteen Points, leading
America into World War I," "Concentration Camps, Myths and
Realities," "When World War II Was Over," "Hitler's Cross," "The
Silent Majority," "Patriotism, Nationalism, Totalitarianism and
Barbarianism" and many other topics of significant importance.

Although terrorism is not new, the attack using airliners on the World
Trade Center and Pentagon on September 11, 2001, started a new era
- "The War Against Terrorism", a war which has no end in sight.

If the US Government would have closely adhered to the word and
spirit of The Declaration of Independence and the succeeding
Consitution of the United States, we, most likely, would be spared
from this costly, never ending war against terrorism.

In 1907, the civilized world concluded a treaty, which clearly defined
war and terrorism. The Land War Order stated that no hostility
between countries must be initiated without due declaration of war.
Only uniformed men under oath must be sent into combat. These
soldiers have the responsibility to treat prisoners of war humanely
and protect non -combatants.

In 1914, a Serbian terrorist, trained in Russia, assassinated the Crown
Prince of Habsburg in Surajevo and since Serbia refused to extradite
the terrorist, Austria declared war on Serbia.

Britain, France and Russia declared war on the Habsburg Empire. In
turn, Germany, based on the Treaty with the Habsburgs, had to
declare war on Britain, France and Russia.

Benes, Masaryk and other "freedom fighters", or by our present
standards - terrorists, encouraged Czech and Slovak soldiers, who
were members of the Austro-Hungarian army, to desert and fight
against their own country, in the name of independence,

Finally, the Wilson Government was manipulated into World War I,
which decided the outcome. As a result, the four large empires ---
Austria-Hungary, Germany, Russia, and Turkey --- collapsed and
were ultimtely destroyed at te dictate of St. Germain, Trianon, and
Versailles. The Bolshevik Revolution succeeded and these
circumstances of significant oppression and injustice laid the
groundwork for the rise of Hitler and Mussolini and World War II.

During World War II, the Allies significantly supported the "freedom
fighters", who, even by the standards of the Hague Land War Order,
were nothing but terrorists. After the war, ethnic cleansing and
genocide were implemented in one of the largest scales in history.
Nationalistic countries were created, most of which became part of
the Soviet Bloc. The Cold War, the war in Korea, which became
known as the"Police Action", Vietnam war, and manym other
conflicts that were in violation of the 1907 Hague Treaty, continued
so that no clear line could be drawn between war, civil war, war
against terrorism and revolution.

In order to win the war against terrorism, we must start with the
individual, then the family, schools, communities, and then the
society as a whole, and relate to the philosophy of classical
liberalism or use the biblical blueprint.

Force creates counter-force, hate breeds hate, injustice breeds
injustice, but liberty and justice, based on human dignity and love,
are more powerful in the long run.

I hope this collection of essays will illuminate some of the problems
of the Ywentieth Century, so that the Twenty First Century may
finally be more peaceful.

Karl Hausner

Published and Copyright by:
Hausner Foundation
28 Concord Drive
Oak Brook, IL 60523-1767
ISBN 0-9726775-2-6

==============================================
Professor Dr. Johannes Hampel, Augsburg, Germany

"We inherited a great house - the house of the world in which we
have to live together - Blacks and whites; Occidentals and Orientals;
Jews and Non-Jews; Catholics and Protestants; Muslims and
Hindus... - the family of mankind which is divided in ideas, cultures
and interests, which must learn to live together in peace."

(Martin Luther King)

Ethnicity, a global problem

1. Experiences

1.1. Franz or Frantisek

Franz was the son of our neighbor Josef Schuster, who was a
roadworker at the "Reichsstrasse" (until 1918 the "Kaiserstrasse" -
the emperor's road) between Gross-Herrlitz and Seitendorf. After the
death of his first wife, Josef Schuster married Anna, the first Czech
woman to live in our village Klein-Herrlitz near Troppau.

The children of this "Mixed marriage" did in no way differ from the
childen of German families; they went to the same one-class village
school, played and quarreled with us as children usually do.

It was only during the elections in 1935 when the Sudetendeutsche
Partei outvoted all the other German political parties and the near-by
borders could no longer stop the pro-Hitler enthusism, that even in
our village, an anti-Czech tendency began to appear. Village
inhabitants started to call the son of our neighbor Frantisek, thereby,
informing him that he was not completely one of them.

The annexation (Anschluss) occurred in 1938, shortly afterwards the
November 9th Pogrom initiated the Holocaust and one year later
World War II broke out. Franz joined the German army and upon his
return to our village after the war, had to witness the expulsion of the
Germans. His family was allowed to say. The former German village
becam e Czech. Nationalistic village newcomers now called him
Franz and no longer Frantisek. Thus, showing him again that he - the
son of a German father an d a Czech mother - was a stranger among
them.

During the visit to Klein-Herrlitz in 1988, Franz and I visited te quarry,
the village pond, the farm grounds, places where we had spent our
childhood... Finally, we sat down on the top of a little hill, where we
could see the houses of the village nestling at its foot. When I asked
Franz whether he was happy now, he answered quietly: "No, I
should have left with the others." A few months later I had learned
that Franz had drowned in the village pond.

1.2. "There are neither Czechs nor Germans in the eyes of God..."

After some terrible months in the PW-camp of Kurim near Bruenn in
July of 1946, I was sent as a prisoner of war to work on the Lojda
farm (Vanuvek near Telc) during the harvesting period. It was on a
Sunday when the farmer asked me to join him for the holy mass.
Suddenly, in front of the church he stopped and removed the white
band marked with N (for Nemec/German) which I had to wear. "You
must not do that", I cried trying to stop him. "If the police shall
notice it is missing, I will be sent back to the camp!" - "Don't you
worry about it. In the Church God is "Pan". To Him there is no
difference between Germans and Czechs, Jews or Christians. He
knows you and he knows me, and that's all that counts."

1.3. Four religions in one village

Some years ago I visited a village near Bihac in western Bosnia with
students of the Paedagogic College of Augsburg. I asked an elderly
villager about the religions in his village, and he answered: "Imamo
tre viere (there are three religions): Turkish, Croatan and Serbian."
After a short reflection he said "and there are the Jews." When I
asked him how long it had been that way, he replied: "It was always
so."

The war in the former Yugoslavia now approaching its 19th month,
reminds us of the brutal reality of the words of Franz Grillparzer:
Humanity leads to vestiality via nationality." May the poor beasts
forgive him!

It seems as if all demons in the history of mankind are making every
effort to prevent the realization of a human world. Ethnocentrism is
just one of the new horrifying expressions.

"Germany for Germans!", "France for the French!", and "The Czech
lands for the Czech!"; in Moravia I even heard "Moravia for the
Moravians!" There seems to be no end to the series of murderous
slogans: "Jews out!" - "Germans out!" (Nemci ven!") - "Muslims
out!", "Turks out!" History seems to teach us that we are not
learning anything.

Finally one last experience which happened to me on a glorious day
in October. I had visited the Strahof Hill in Prague and was full of
praise about the beauties of this fascinating city, when my
interlocator interrupted me saying: "Prague is no longer what it
used to be: there are no Jews, there are no Germans." "Well, do
you want us to come back?" "Yes, why not, but the Jews should
come as well."

2.     Bosnia is but the tip of an iceberg

I would imagine that every one of the symposium participants has
had similar experiences. In Bosniaa we are presently witnessing the
insane practice of clearing territories of Muslims, Croats or Serbs.
None of the peace negotiating parties nor the churches are able to
prevent this from happening. Whereas, the governments of Western
European countries have decided the Maastricht Treaty to Unite
Europe, the threatening ethnic conflicts in Eastern and South-Eastern
Europe bear unforeseeable consequences for Europe and Asia.

Just to focus on some of the catastrophes: In Georgia Abkhazia,
Adzharia and Ossetia are fighting against the "centralistic state."

In the Baltic countries, national problems are created about the
status of the strong Russian ethnics, in Lithuania it is the problem of
the Poles.

Romania refuses cultural autonomy to the Magyar population. The
Constitution denies any "other" nation but the Romanian. In addition
ideas about "Romania Mare", the unified Bukovina and even the
Romanian Moldova and Dobrudja run wild. At a bargain price,
Germans have been sold to Germany under Ceaucescu...

Greeks and Macedonians dispute about the name of the Republic of
Macedonia and the rights of the Macedonians in Greece.

In Bulgaria the Turks were forced to adapt their names to Bulgarian.

In Slovakia the Government refuses the Magyars the right to speak
and teach their mother tongue in their schools.

In Germany, we are experiencing a wave of xenophobia, which is
supported and encouraged by a grotesque right of citizenship based
on the descendants principle. Thus, the naturalization of people born
and raised in Germany (not forgetting the hundreds of thousands of
young Turks) is extremely difficult. Furthermore, there is the
obsession that Germany is not an immigration country. Different
people and different races should not be mixed together
("durchmischt un durchrasst"). The opinion of an Israeli colleague
during the Congress "Education in multicultural societies" (June
6-10, 1993): "You will manage to create your own Intifada in
Germany; the paramilitary Neo-Nazis are already in action." An
economic giant -- a political dwarf -- an intellectual nothing! The
problems of the classical ethnics of the Danes and Sorbges seem, to
a large extent, to be settled. As the newspapers confirm - this can
by no means be said about the largest of the "new ethnics" - the
Turks. During the above-mentioned congress in Jerusalem,
Germany, Israel and South Africa were heavily criticized, because of
the unsolved problems concerning their ethnic groups.

Today, ethnicity has become a key word worldwide. The riots in Los
Angeles in 1992 alarmed the United States. The hope in John
Deweys' theory "Everything will be solved by adjustment and
education" had long been given up. The murders of Irish Catholics
and British Protestants in Northern Ireland make people doubt the
importance of Christian religion to overcome hate and war. There
are too many examples in our present history, which show, that not
only Muslims fight the "Holy War" (Jihad). The destruction of a
person, who speaks a different language or has different religous
beliefs, pleases God. "I have just shot a Serb. I am proud of it!" said
a Croatian sniper in front of an Austrian TV team. On a necklace he
wore a crucifix and medal of the Madonna of Medjugorje. Obviously,
this is his way of living the "Marianity" expected by very "pious"
Catholics.

3.   Attempts for solving inter-ethnic conflicts

3.1. "Ja jsem prece stary' Rakusan"

"Don't be afraid, I am an old Austrian", was the first word Josef Lojda
told me when I came to his farm as a prisoner of war in 1946.

In 1905, the Moravian Compromise between Czechs and Germans
was successfully completed, followed in 1910 by the Bukovina
(Ausgleich) Compromise. Both compromises were based on Article
19 of the Austrian Constitution of 1869: "All ethnics in this state have
equal rights and each ethnic group has the inviolable right to
preserve and practice its nationality and language. The state
recognizes the equal right of all languages in schools, offices and in
public life being spoken in this state."

It is well known that despite this Article, profound tensions could not
be avoided. The most spiteful aggressions against the compromise
were launched by the group of the All-Deutsche (nationalist
movement to unify all Germans in one state; the Gross-Deutsche
movement supported a constitutional monarchy). Their political
leader Georg Ritter von Schoenerer - Without Juda and without
Rome, we will build the German dome!" - was among those to
destroy peace among the nationalities and thus, the
"Donaumonarchie". Hitler referred to him several times in his book
"Mein Kampf".

The first main ambition of both successfully introduced Cimpromises
was to recognize all peoples inhabiting a Crown land living as
"groups with equal rights" within "one state". Franz Schnabel calls
this idea "the quadrature of the circle": clinging to origins and
language means a commitment to Herder and the romantic
movement, emphasizing "one state" is "French". The realization of
both terms - national state and civilized nation - needs more than just
common sense; it demands thought in historical dimensions and
wisdom.

A second and central ambition of both Compromises is the principle
of national self-government, which again is laid down in Article 19:
the recognition of all languages spoken in the country "in schools,
administration and public." The idea of personal autonomy - which is
most important when setting up national land registers and lists of
candidates - it is transferred to ethnic or religious groups which are
identified as persons and not territorially.

Thirdly, it was now possible for citizens to elect their own
representatives as members of their national Curiae. The number of
representatives elected to a Curia was in relation to the population
of the country. Thus, the national groups organized themselves into
personal associations.

By keeping up social Curiae, such as those of the land proprietors,
the high clergy and the chamber of trade and commerce, both
Compromises were far from radically realizing the
"One-man-one-vote" principle. Refusing the Jews their own Curia
was far more than just an imperfection. Nevertheless, both
Compromises added much to lessen the national tensions.

(Continued on Human Rights Essays II)