The Politics of Fear and Resentment: From the Heart of Memory.
My understanding is that Donald Trump will be in North Dakota today. So will I, though our agendas are very different. I am traveling to complete some legacy work at the North Dakota Historical Society in Bismarck, completing the task of adding old family farm photos to the North Dakota archives. One of them is this one from a trip by a relative to our shared German homeland in 1954. This farm had survived WWII, but the horse says a lot about conditions, nine years after the catastrophic WWII to make Germany great again.
An American visits relatives on a farm in Germany, 1954. She, like I, 44 years later in 1998, was related to the family we visited.
For Germans, the promised 1,000 year Third Reich* had lasted a few, short, deadly years. Our U.S. can well be on the same deadly course. Hitler began his ascent when the Germans were in desperate poverty; Trump began when the U.S. was at its peak, ascendant in the world….
Recent events have upset our dear friend who has lived an hour from Trumps apparent destination for over 70 years. She’s nearing 92. Her first 20 years were in the initially hopeful, soon awful, years of Hitler and the Third Reich. Her life began in 1926; the deadly years began in 1936….
She wrote what follows on June 23. I’ll let her words speak for themselves. I send this with her permission.
1954, photo by the American visitor to the same farm
The same shrine, seen by Dick Bernard in 1998. The shrine was erected in thanks that four of the residents of the farm, draftees into the German Army, survived WWII.
Related previous post is here: “The Face of America”
This is a crucial time in our history. This is not a time to be hopeless…paralyzed into inaction.
My friend, SAK, “across the pond” in Europe responded to “The Face of America” as follows:
Thanks for that! It is indeed surprising how immigrants, even recent ones, have turned against immigration. The situation in Europe is quite different in that the local population cannot be considered an “immigrant” one unless one goes back many many hundreds of years & in some cases thousands. It is therefore more “understandable” to find resistance to immigration although the wheel is still in spin. In the US where there is no king it is surprising to find so many who are “plus royaliste que le roi”.
Perhaps you have come across Mark Lilla (latest book: The Once and Future Liberal: After Identity Politics).
The BBC interviewed him recently (here) (forward 25 minutes)
A bit from the programme blurb:
“The time for evangelism – of speaking truth to power is over, he says, now it’s all about seizing power to defend truth.”
He suggests working from the bottom up but the interviewer noted that it would take a long time to win the presidency & the president mainly determines foreign policy – I guess she was looking from a UK perspective & she is also worried about the havoc Trump is creating worldwide.
Your dad’s “a quitter never wins; a winner never quits” came to mind. The equivalent in chess is: “No game was ever won by resigning.” Still Lilla thinks it’s an uphill struggle to avoid resigning given that so many states are governed by republicans – state legislatures & governors.
*
Prayers of the Faithful, Basilica of St. Mary, Minneapolis June 17, 2018:
“For those elected to public office, for an unwavering commitment to the promotion of justice, peace, and dignity for all…For all the people who have made this country their home, and for all those who continue to move here, for respect and radical hospitality for all.”
About Tuesday’s Supreme Court opinion on Presidential authority, here.
- – Generally, the First Reich is considered to be the time of the Holy Roman Empire; the Second Reich began in about 1870 with Prussia.
COMMENTS
from George, who grew up in Central Europe: Thank you, Dick Fortunately, there are some deep differences:
Hitler was a consistent, persistent and well-organized bastard. Mr. Trump not so much!
from the author of this post, translation of a letter from a relative in Germany, age 27, and is a professional person:
from Carol: Yesterday while shopping I ran into my lady friend from Iran and her daughter. The conversation quickly turned to Trump – and the fact they don’t know if any of their relatives will now be able to visit again. The daughter said that her husband’s nephew was about to get his green card, and was on his way here from Iran to attend graduate school. When he went to the embassy (in another country, as there’s no U.S. embassy in Iran), he was sent back home because of Trump’s edit. She was in shock.
I copied the words of your 92 year friend’s recollection of growing up in Nazi Germany as well as her comparisons to the current state of our U.S. government, and send this to my sibs and teen grandkids. Like this woman said, we so easily forget even what has happened the day before.
I am reminded of the words of the Spanish philosopher Santayana: “Those who forget history (the lessons of history-mine) are doomed to repeat it”. For the sake of our children we need to do what we can to stand for Love….being faithful to hoe our own acre with that Love. Perhaps the empire must crumble before the Phoenix can rise from the ashes…my prayer is that Goodness/Truth/Love is what I see triumph before I take leave of this earth. I have faith that Love will prevail-