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 net 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 insustrialization 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)