HumanRightsEssaysVII

Human Rights Essays VII

             World War II
A Conflict Between International Socialism
      And National Socialism

                       By Karl Hausner

If one asks the average American, college graduate or not, what he or she
knows about World War II, you will hear the following:

Hitler started World War II.

The Nazis created concentration camps wherein six million Jews were killed,
known as the Holocaust.

In order to save humanity, America, Britain and France had to enter into
the war so that the European nations could again live in peace, democracy
and harmony.

With such propagandistic knowledge, the outlook for peace in the next
century and millennium looks very, very bleak. As the post-war era, up to
the end of the Twentieth Century has shown, American troops were involved
in three major wars and another twenty smaller conflicts. More people died
between 1945, the end of the war, until 1950, mostly non-combatant
innocent people, than during the war years between 1939 and 1945.

I was ten years old when World War II started. At age 15, I had to serve for
a few months in the pre-military army. At age 16, I was interned in a Czech
slave labor camp, and in the summer of 1946 we were expelled, all of us, 3.5
million Sudeten Germans, to the bombed-out, occupied Germany.

I thank the Good Lord for having spared my life throughout the war and
the post-war era, so that I was able to start a new life. I also thank the
Founding Fathers of the United States for having provided an exile in which
I could use my Christian upbringing, my work ethics and my knowledge for
the benefit of myself, my wife, our company and farm, and hopefully, for
the benefit of many whose lives I have touched through our business
employment and other activities.

In the following I will attempt to shed light on what World War II was all
about, even though it is impossible to do justice to such a complex problem,
a problem which involved the human heart, greed and hatred.

Socialism

Although Karl Marx is credited with laying the foundation for socialism,
also known as Marxism, the roots, however, go much deeper. At least we
should start by looking at what caused the French Revolution;
anti-Christianity, anti-monarchy and destruction of an established order.
Napoleon, who came as a result of this Revolution,
waged war on all Europe and brought about, at least in Central Europe,
especially Austria and Germany, secularism, which means the
destruction of the influence of the Christian Church. After the defeat
of Napoleon, the spirit of the French Revolution was still very much
alive.

Thus, in 1820 the great powers of Austria, Germany and Russia
convened the Troppau Conference wherein they hoped to prevent the
spread of this ideology throughout Europe. A few years later, in 1848,
a revolution broke out in Central Europe, not just in Austria and
Germany, which was a mixture of anarchism, libertarianism, Marxism
and all of the other forms of anti-establishment. Although the
revolution was crushed by military force, the spirit prevailed and Karl
Marx published his Communist Manifest. He was active in Germany, and
finally left for London, England where he also died.

Karl M arx replaced the Christian faith and established a totally different
form of government. Private ownership was abolished and all of the people
were to benefit from the fruits of the land and labor. Even though this was
and is a utopia, it took hold in many people, especially those who might be
called have-nots and were jealous of those who had more. By equalizing the
resources, or as he called it, distribution of wealth, all people would be
happy and prosperous. His idea took hold in Germany, but when Bismarck
brought about the great social reforms and industrialization, and provided
income for millions, his philosophy, although alive, could not take over the
government.

In Russia, the situation was bleaker and more fruitful for Marx's ideology.
The land was mostly owned by large landowners, industry was very limited
and a few people owned those that existed. The slogan of socialism was, at
least in Germany, "Heil Moskow, heil Paris", which meant France the
cradle and Russia the future for world socialism.

The Industrial Revolution

The Nineteenth Century brought about great changes, not just in agriculture
but even more so in industrialization, especially in Central Europe,
Germany, Austria, France and Britain. Rapid advances were made in the
manufacture of
machines, such as the steam engine and, at
the end, the combustion engine, the automobile,
and even the airplane. Electricity was dis-
covered and opened many avenues of pro-
duction. Regrettably, this great accomplish-
ment, again based on the greed of mankind,
created two classes of people, the industria-
lists who were extremely wealthy and the
laborer who was actually poor.

Now one must say that there were great
exceptions and, again in Germany,
entrepreneurs such as Robert Bosch,
Siements, Benz, Daimler and Krupp had large extensive social programs so
socialism did not take hold and was not able to overtake the monarchy.
Again, in Russia this development was far behind, even though
industrialization did start, it came too late.

Colonialism

For three hundred years the European Nations had explored the globe and
dominated the nations that were either not advanced, or as it was with the
America, just recently discovered.
Spain, a major colonial power, had already started to
decay by the end of the Nineteenth Century, and the
United States' war against Span weakened it further.
Britain and France, however, and to a lesser extent
the smaller nations, such as Belgium, Holland and
Portugal, were still strong in developing or exploiting
the colonies.

Germany did not have colonies until the end of the
Nineteenth Century, because for centuries the
religious war between 1618 and 1648 had destroyed
the majority of the population. Then there was the
disintegration of the country until Bismarck reorganized at least part of
Germany under his
leadership in Prussia.

The Franco-Prussian War

After th 1848-49 Revolution, Bismarck reorganized Prussia and rapidly
expanded socially, culturally, industrially and militarily, but not to the
benefit of all concerned, as this is true with all great leaders. The Western
Provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, which Napoleon had incorporated into
his Empire, still remained outside Germany. Bismarck demanded these
provinces, which led to the 1870 War and only lasted two years.

What must be commended in credit to Bismarck is that Germany did not
take advantage of France. They did not occupy if for many years in
contrast to what the allies did after World War I and World War II.
However, the German Empire, which was created at that time, entered the
World Market and also established colonies in Africa.

The industrialization of Germany competed significantly with Great Britain.
For example, Britain tried to lay a Trans-Atlantic cable between Ireland
and New York and failed a few times. Siemens, a German firm, which used
a totally different approach, was successful in laying this cable.

When the telegraph was invented, Siemens got the contract to establish the
first telegraph line between St. Petersburg and the Island of Crimea all the
way to India. With these economic advances, jealousy and hostility were
born and cultivated by France, the neighbor of Germany, but also especially
by Great Britain.

The Balance of Power

Britain, although part of Europe, always felt outside of it, but was very
much interested in establishing and
maintaining the balance of power in
Europe. When France became too
big under Napoleon, they went to war
against France. When German got to
powerful, they tried to create what
was known as the balance of power
strengthening France and Russia. So
these three nations could never really
harmonize in friendship, but were
forced, more or less, to harmonize
with military might. This brought us
closer to World War I.

The United States

After the Civil War, the country was
seriously destroyed, but by the end
of the Nineteenth Century, it was
rebuilt and quickly entered the race in industrialization and even in global
politics. Although our Founding Fathers warned that the United States
should not get involved in global activities of power, as was known with
Britain and other colonial powers, President McKinley decided to stretch
this influence deep into the Atlantic and even deeper into the Pacific.

The Battleship explosion of the Main at Savannah Harbor was the
beginning of tyhe war against Spain, which was already a weakened power.
We drove the Spanish out of Cuba and other Atlantic Islands, such as
Puerto Rico. In the Pacific, Hawaii was cleverly incorporated into the
American influence. We first defeated the Spanish in the Philippines
helping the rebels, and later, we defeated the rebels and established a colony
in the Philippines.

Thus, as the new century started, the governing elite in New York wanted
more participation in world affairs, and as World War I broke out, an
excellent opportunity was researched to participate in order to advance our
technological development as wars always do.

The Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy

For three hundred years, twelve nations lived in relative harmony in that
empire, which reached from Lake Constance in Switzerland almost to the
Black Sea, from the Sudeten Mountains to the North all the way to
Northern Italy and the greater part of what later became part of Yugoslavia.
Nevertheless, when Bismarck staged war
against Austria in 1866, the nation was further
weakened.

The Czech Nationalists, the Hungarians, and even a
lot of people in Northern Italy were stimulated by
Britain and France. Emperor Franz Joseph, who
reigned 1848 and 1916, was too old and too detached
from the socialistic, nationalistic and anti-monarchy
forces.   Regrettably, the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy, if preserved, could
have bee the foundation for a United Europe, which we now try so painfully
and so costly to establish.

The Turkish Empire

This is rarely mentioned in connection with the developments, especially in
the Middle East.
Turkey, for hundreds of years, was a very powerful nation. Two hundred
years ago the Turks
dominated over Northeast Africa, which then became the Protectorate of
Britain after World
War I. Britain did not like Turkey at all because Britain's expansion was
threatened by the
Turkish in the Suez Canal, the Dardenelles and, of course, in the whole
region where oil was
discovered.

World War I

When the Crown Prince of Habsburg and his wife went to Sarajevo to visit,
they were assassinated by a Serbian terrorist. This terrorist fled to Serbia
and then Austria demanded extradition. Serbia refused because Russia
urged them not to do so. Russia was suffering from the Bolshevik takeover,
even though this was not yet happening.

Austria, by mistake, declared war on Serbia, and as soon as this happened,
Britain and France declared war on Austria. Why? That's a question for
you to answer.

Germany had entered with Austria into a
non-aggression, friendship agreement that
stipulated if one of these two countries was
attacked, the other would have to help. Thus,
Germany had to declare war on Great Britain
and France.

Many historians believe that France and
Britain had no real interest in Austria, other
than the fact that they wanted to stop the
ever-growing German economy. German
merchant ships were seen in all of the oceans.
Germany was booming economically. Even
though there was a nationalist, and even more
so, internationalist and socialistic movement,
it did not threaten the monarchy.

What started out as a six-week war, as the
Habsburg Government proclaimed, lasted
four years with a total destruction of three
empires, Austria-Hungary, Germany and
Turkey.

The Gold Standard

The warring nations and also the United States, at that time, were on the
Gold Standard. This means that the country had to have sufficient gold in
their vaults to cover the paper money that was in circulation. This
safeguard was to prevent governments from spending more money than was
available.

As the war dragged on, by 1917, all warring nations were financially
bankrupt, and a peace had to be negotiated out of the weaknesses of all the
countries involved. The Austrian troops were deep in Italy and the German
troops had occupied Belgium and part of France. However, the economy
was in shambles. The workers did not get paid and the labor unions
rebelled, went out on strike and forced these warring nations on their knees
until the United States stepped in.

What is interesting to note is that in 1913 in Germany, and a little later in
the United States, the prominent Jewish bankers, the Warburgs, established
the Federal Banking System. One brother opened a bank in Germany,
which became known as the Reichsbank, while the other brother, all in
secrecy with the New York Elite, established the Federal Reserve System.
The purpose of these banks was to eliminate the Gold Standard so that a
war could be continued, but for Europe it came too late.

The United States

After the Civil War, millions of Europeans came to the United States and
settled, cultivated and brought a new prosperity to the land. Most of these
immigrants left Europe because they wanted no part of the many wars that
were fought there. Thus, when President McKinley staged a war against
Spain, many of these immigrants from Germany and Ireland were against it.

As World War I broke out, eighty percent of the American populace was
absolutely against any involvement in the war.

Very prominent people like Henry Ford and Henry Cabot Lodge, even
President Wilson, promised that the "American boys will not be sacrificed".
Of course, this was a big lie by Wilson.

American passenger ships carried some passengers, but mostly huge
amounts of ammunition to Britain. America refused to sell grain to
Germany and Austria. It was very obvious that America was not neutral.
However. our politicians were very clever. They manipulated the second
ship incident, on which some passengers were aboard, along with a huge
amount of war material. A German submarine torpedoed and sunk it.
President Wilson and his elite were just waiting for that trap to close.
(Continued on Human Rights Essays VIII)