Few things are as tiresome as hearing someone invoke Hitler or the Nazis when trying to make a point about American politics. Obama is bad – quite possibly the worst setback this country has faced in a long time – but he’s no Hitler. That said, it’s always worth hearing from people who were actually there when the Fuhrer took over Germany and nearly changed the world forever in his image. Kitty Werthmann, an 84-year-old Austrian immigrant to the United States, is telling anyone who will listen that the same warning signs present in Europe before World War II are beginning to rear their ugly head in the States.
As she expressed in a 2010 speech, Werthmann was not only there for Hitler’s rise to power but also for the Russian occupation that came soon after. Strengthening her point of view, she was also privy to decades of Austrian news reports after the war was over, forever changing the lens through which she viewed politics. After all – as she is quick to note – no one viewed Hitler as an unstoppable monster when he was an up and coming politician.
A Cloudy Reflection
Talking about those early days of Nazi occupation, Werthmann notes that Hitler was elected with an overwhelming majority of the popular vote. Once in power, he made it his business to dismantle Germany’s existing health care system, replacing it with a national system more in line with the socialist ideals he had developed. Gun control was high on Hitler’s list as well. Within a year of his election, German citizens were compelled to register their firearms under the guise of cutting crime. Soon after, registered gun owners were forced to turn in their weapons under threat of death.
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