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Every American needs to read this! If you think this can not ever happen in America think again... It is happening before our very eyes... AmericAwakeJT
Kitty
Werthmann, 77, of Pierre, is president of the South Dakota Eagle Forum.
She lobbies the state Legislature on family issues. She has lived in the
United States since 1950 and has been a U.S. citizen since 1962.
Kitty
Werthmann spoke at the Eagle Forum national conference a couple of
months back. She told a powerful story about what it was like growing
up under Hitler.
America Truly is the Greatest Country in the World. Don’t Let Freedom Slip Away
By: Kitty Werthmann
What I am about to tell you is something you've probably never heard or will ever read in history books.
I believe that I am an
eyewitness to history. I cannot tell you that Hitler took Austria by
tanks and guns; it would distort history. We elected him by a landslide
– 98% of the vote. I've never read that in any American publications.
Everyone thinks that Hitler just rolled in with his tanks and took
Austria by force.
In 1938, Austria was
in deep Depression. Nearly one-third of our workforce was unemployed.
We had 25% inflation and 25% bank loan interest rates.
Farmers and business
people were declaring bankruptcy daily. Young people were going from
house to house begging for food. Not that they didn’t want to work;
there simply weren't any jobs.. My mother was a Christian woman and
believed in helping people in need. Every day we cooked a big kettle of
soup and baked bread to feed those poor, hungry people – about 30
daily.
The Communist Party
and the National Socialist Party were fighting each other. Blocks and
blocks of cities like Vienna , Linz , and Graz were destroyed. The
people became desperate and petitioned the government to let them decide
what kind of government they wanted.
We looked to our
neighbor on the north, Germany , where Hitler had been in power since
1933. We had been told that they didn’t have unemployment or crime, and
they had a high standard of living. Nothing was ever said
about persecution of any group -- Jewish or otherwise.. We were led to
believe that everyone was happy. We wanted the same way of life in
Austria . We were promised that a vote for Hitler would mean the end of
unemployment and help for the family. Hitler also said that businesses
would be assisted, and farmers would get their farms back. Ninety-eight
percent of the population voted to annex Austria to Germany and have
Hitler for our ruler.
We were overjoyed, and
for three days we danced in the streets and had candlelight parades.
The new government opened up big field kitchens and everyone was fed.
After the election,
German officials were appointed, and like a miracle, we suddenly had law
and order. Three or four weeks later, everyone was employed. The
government made sure that a lot of work was created through the Public
Work Service.
Hitler decided we
should have equal rights for women. Before this, it was a custom that
married Austrian women did not work outside the home. An able-bodied
husband would be looked down on if he couldn't support his family. Many
women in the teaching profession were elated that they could retain the
jobs they previously had been required to give up for marriage.
Hitler Targets Education – Eliminates Religious Instruction for Children:
Our education was
nationalized. I attended a very good public school. The population was
predominantly Catholic, so we had religion in our schools. The day we
elected Hitler (March 13, 1938), I walked into my schoolroom to find the
crucifix replaced by Hitler’s picture hanging next to a Nazi flag. Our
teacher, a very devout woman, stood up and told the class we wouldn't
pray or have religion anymore. Instead, we sang “Deutschland,
Deutschland, Uber Alles,” and had physical education.
Sunday
became National Youth Day with compulsory attendance. Parents were not
pleased about the sudden change in curriculum. They were told that if
they did not send us, they would receive a stiff letter of warning the
first time. The second time they would be fined the equivalent of $300,
and the third time they would be subject to jail. The first two hours
consisted of political indoctrination. The rest of the day we had
sports. As time went along, we loved it. Oh, we had so much fun and
got our sports equipment free. We would go home and gleefully tell our
parents about the wonderful time we had.
My mother was very
unhappy. When the next term started, she took me out of public school
and put me in a convent. I told her she couldn't do that and she told
me that someday when I grew up, I would be grateful. There was a very
good curriculum, but hardly any fun – no sports, and no political
indoctrination. I hated it at first but felt I could tolerate it.
Every once in a while, on holidays, I went home. I would go back to my
old friends and ask what was going on and what they were doing. Their
loose lifestyle was very alarming to me. They lived without religion.
By that time unwed mothers were glorified for having a baby for Hitler.
It seemed strange to me that our society changed so suddenly. As time
went along, I realized what a great deed my mother did so that I wasn't
exposed to that kind of humanistic philosophy.
Equal Rights Hits Home:
In 1939, the war
started and a food bank was established. All food was rationed and
could only be purchased using food stamps. At the same time, a
full-employment law was passed which meant if you didn’t work, you
didn’t get a ration card, and if you didn’t have a card, you starved to
death. Women who stayed home to raise their families didn’t have any
marketable skills and often had to take jobs more suited for men.
Soon after this, the
draft was implemented. It was compulsory for young people, male and
female, to give one year to the labor corps. During the day, the girls
worked on the farms, and at night they returned to their barracks for
military training just like the boys.. They were trained to be
anti-aircraft gunners and participated in the signal corps. After the
labor corps, they were not discharged but were used in the front lines.
When I go back to Austria to visit my family and friends, most of these
women are emotional cripples because they just were not equipped to
handle the horrors of combat. Three months before I turned 18, I was
severely injured in an air raid attack. I nearly had a leg amputated,
so I was spared having to go into the labor corps and into military
service.
Hitler Restructured the Family Through Daycare:
When the mothers had
to go out into the work force, the government immediately established
child care centers. You could take your children ages 4 weeks to school
age and leave them there around-the-clock, 7 days a week, under the
total care of the government. The state raised a whole generation of
children. There were no motherly women to take care of the children,
just people highly trained in child psychology. By this time, no one
talked about equal rights. We knew we had been had.
Health Care and Small Business Suffer Under Government Controls:
Before Hitler, we had
very good medical care. Many American doctors trained at the University
of Vienna . After Hitler, health care was socialized, free for
everyone. Doctors were salaried by the government. The problem was,
since it was free, the people were going to the doctors for everything.
When the good doctor arrived at his office at 8 a.m.,
40 people were already waiting and, at the same time, the hospitals
were full. If you needed elective surgery, you had to wait a year or
two for your turn. There was no money for research as it was poured
into socialized medicine. Research at the medical schools literally
stopped, so the best doctors left Austria and emigrated to other
countries.
As for healthcare, our
tax rates went up to 80% of our income. Newlyweds immediately received
a $1,000 loan from the government to establish a household. We had big
programs for families. All day care and education were free. High
schools were taken over by the government and college tuition was
subsidized. Everyone was entitled to free handouts, such as food
stamps, clothing, and housing.
We had another agency
designed to monitor business. My brother-in-law owned a restaurant that
had square tables. Government officials told him he had to replace
them with round tables because people might bump themselves on the
corners. Then they said he had to have additional bathroom facilities..
It was just a small dairy business with a snack bar. He couldn't meet
all the demands. Soon, he went out of business. If the government
owned the large businesses and not many small ones existed, it could be
in control.
We had consumer
protection. We were told how to shop and what to buy. Free enterprise
was essentially abolished. We had a planning agency specially designed
for farmers. The agents would go to the farms, count the live-stock,
then tell the farmers what to produce, and how to produce it.
“Mercy Killing” Redefined:
In 1944, I was a
student teacher in a small village in the Alps .. The villagers were
surrounded by mountain passes which, in the winter, were closed off with
snow, causing people to be isolated. So people intermarried and
offspring were sometimes retarded. When I arrived, I was told there
were
15 mentally retarded adults, but they were all useful and did good manual work. I knew one, named Vincent, very well. He was a janitor of the school. One day I looked out the window and saw Vincent and others getting into a van. I asked my superior where they were going. She said to an institution where the State Health Department would teach them a trade, and to read and write. The families were required to sign papers with a little clause that they could not visit for 6 months. They were told visits would interfere with the program and might cause homesickness.
15 mentally retarded adults, but they were all useful and did good manual work. I knew one, named Vincent, very well. He was a janitor of the school. One day I looked out the window and saw Vincent and others getting into a van. I asked my superior where they were going. She said to an institution where the State Health Department would teach them a trade, and to read and write. The families were required to sign papers with a little clause that they could not visit for 6 months. They were told visits would interfere with the program and might cause homesickness.
As time passed,
letters started to dribble back saying these people died a natural,
merciful death. The villagers were not fooled. We suspected what was
happening. Those people left in excellent physical health and all died
within 6 months. We called this euthanasia..
The Final Steps - Gun Laws:
Next came gun
registration. People were getting injured by guns. Hitler said that
the real way to catch criminals (we still had a few) was by matching
serial numbers on guns. Most citizens were law abiding and dutifully
marched to the police station to register their firearms. Not long
after-wards, the police said that it was best for everyone to turn in
their guns. The authorities already knew who had them, so it was futile
not to comply voluntarily.
No more freedom of
speech. Anyone who said something against the government was taken
away. We knew many people who were arrested, not only Jews, but also
priests and ministers who spoke up.
Totalitarianism didn’t
come quickly, it took 5 years from 1938 until 1943, to realize full
dictatorship in Austria . Had it happened overnight, my countrymen
would have fought to the last breath. Instead, we had creeping
gradualism. Now, our only weapons were broom handles. The whole idea
sounds almost unbelievable that the state, little by little eroded our
freedom.
After World War II,
Russian troops occupied Austria . Women were raped, preteen to
elderly. The press never wrote about this either. When the Soviets
left in 1955, they took everything that they could, dismantling whole
factories in the process. They sawed down whole orchards of fruit, and
what they couldn't destroy, they burned. We called it The Burned Earth.
Most of the population barricaded themselves in their houses. Women
hid in their cellars for 6 weeks as the troops mobilized. Those who
couldn't, paid the price. There is a monument in Vienna today, dedicated
to those women who were massacred by the Russians.
This is an eye witness account.
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