Austria in the '30s: Mirror to America
Janet Porter
September 22, 2009
In the past weeks you've heard me talk about the How to Take Back America Conference being held in St. Louis this Friday, Sept. 25, and Saturday, Sept. 26, with speakers like: Gov. Mike Huckabee, "Joe the Plumber," U.S. Reps. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., Trent Franks, R-Ariz., Steve King, R-Iowa, Tom McClintock, R-Calif., Dr. Tom Price, R-Ga., and Three-Star Gen. Jerry Boykin. But someone who'll be there that you didn't hear about is Kitty Werthmann. Kitty was 12 years old when Adolf Hitler took over Austria.
She is 83 with a "vivid memory" of what happened in her homeland next. She witnessed the government take over the banks and the auto industry. Sound familiar? In the last nine months, Obama and the Democrats in Congress have successfully orchestrated the government takeover of Chrysler and General Motors along with countless banks.
She witnessed the "compulsory youth" service and indoctrination. That sounds a little like Obama's call for "mandatory volunteerism" for America's youth.
The government takeover of the schools immediately replaced crucifixes with pictures of Hitler and Nazi flags. "All religious instruction was replaced with physical education," said Werthmann. No prayer was allowed. That all happened here decades ago. It is interesting, however, that Obama's speech to the captive audience in the government schools – complete with the essay assignment about how students could help him achieve his political goals – was replaced once the American people got wind of it. And speaking of government control of education, if the Senate agrees, all student loans will be government issued, according to a bill that passed the House last week.
Werthmann saw what happened next when the government took over the health-care system. Her brother-in-law was a physician, and by the time he got to his office, 40 patients were already waiting in line. And if the medicine they needed wasn't on the "government-approved list," the cost came out of his own salary – "which dwindled down to almost nothing," Werthmann recalled. Sounds like H.R. 3200.
"All research stopped," and in the run-down medical facilities there was a "12-18 month wait for a hospital bed." That sounds like the warnings we've already gotten from Canada and elsewhere.
Are we headed for a Nazi-style totalitarian abyss? Find out in "Defeating the Totalitarian Lie: A Former Hitler Youth Warns America"
Werthman's husband saw what his brother faced and left Germany to practice medicine in the United States. Werthmann said, "He marveled at how modern our hospitals were, and how great our medical care is." That's the medical care Obama wants to replace with socialized medicine.
Kitty recalled the massive welfare system funded by 60-70 percent tax increases in an effort to "spread the wealth." Wow, there's an interesting phrase. Did I mention that "Joe the Plumber" will also be at the conference?
"The media was taken over by the government right away," Kitty recalls. "We got free radios and the radio stations were government-run. If you listened to a foreign radio station like the BBC, there was capital punishment," said Werthmann.
They had Joseph Goebbels; we have Mark Lloyd, the diversity czar, who is already poised to shut down private radio stations like his hero Hugo Chavez did – threatening licenses and waging outrageous fines on stations (up to $25 million dollars) who say things he doesn't like.
"We heard only what was on the radio," she said. "We couldn't get information from anywhere." Kind of like we'll be if the government takes over not only radio, but the Internet, as well. Senate bills 773 and 778, introduced by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., would do just that – handing over control of one of our last bastions of free speech to none other than Barack Obama.
But now, Obama is poised to "bail out the newspaper industry," ushering in an official "state-run media." Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., has already introduced S. 673, the so-called "Newspaper Revitalization Act," providing the means. While most in the media already tow the official state line, Obama doesn't like those unruly blogs. It's a lot easier when you can silence people like Rep. Joe Wilson for speaking out against you – and then outlawing accurate words like "lie" from being said on the House floor.
"Each person was allotted ration cards like a pound of sugar per month." Werthmann said. "If your grandma died, and you used her ration card to buy sugar, the grocery store would report you. Then, the Gestapo showed up, but rather than arrest you, they recruited you as informant of your neighbors, boss, friends and family. You couldn't trust anybody, not even the mailman," Werthmann added. Weekly reports were required or arrests were made.
Sounds a little like Obama's recruitment of government informants, i.e. the "snitch program," to turn in offenders for "fishy" speech. No arrests just yet, but the Department of Homeland Security has already tagged pro-family Americans as "the most dangerous domestic terrorism threat in the United States."
While Austria and Germany didn't have a "green movement," Werthmann said relatives living there under the European Union have experienced "a tripling of their energy bills." The House has also already initiated the government takeover of energy by passing the Cap-and-trade bill – which will tax us for heating our homes and driving to work. Obama, himself, said our bills would "skyrocket" as a result.
Werthmann said it took five years for Hitler to rise to a dictatorship, and is amazed at how fast history is repeating itself here. "It has to be done fast," she added, "so people won't catch on."
"Those of us who sailed past the Statute of Liberty came to a country of unbelievable freedom and opportunity." Werthmann concluded. "After America, there is no place to run."
Last night I watched a movie about Dietrich Bonhoeffer. After all, he was in a battle against National Socialists, too. It cost him his life. We need to rise up now to stop it before it comes to that.
See you in St. Louis.
