| Pastor Niemoeller, a resistance fighter, observed an absence of protest, an uncanny silence, amongst ordinary Germans in the face of brutal and organised crimes committed against people in the Nazi empire. He wrote movingly about this silence: First they came for the Communists, Well, I was not a Communist So I said nothing. Then they came for the Social Democrats, Well, I was not a Social Democrat So I did nothing, Then they came for the trade unionists, But I was not a trade unionist. And then they came for the Jews, But I was not a Jew – so I did little. Then when they came for me, There was no one left who could stand up for me.’ |
On 3rd March 1933, the famous Enabling Act was passed. This Act established
dictatorship in Germany. It gave Hitler all powers to sideline Parliament and rule
by his order. All political parties and trade unions were banned except for the Nazi
Party and its affiliates. The state established complete control over the economy,
media, army and judiciary.
Special surveillance and security forces were created to control and order
society in ways that the Nazis wanted. Apart from the already existing regular
police in green uniform and the SA or the Storm Troopers, they also formed the
Gestapo (secret state police), the SS (the protection squads), criminal police and
the Security Service (SD). These extraconstitutional powers of these newly organised
forces gave the Nazi state its reputation as the most dreaded criminal state.
Gestapo had the authority to stop and detain people to torture chambers, round up
and send them to concentration camps. They could also deport anyone at will or
arrest people without any legal procedures. The police forces acquired complete
powers to rule. These powers were used to arrest and torture millions of political
activists, trade unionists and people of minority communities, especially the Jews.
They did all this to build a state of horror and fear.
Hitler assigned the responsibility of economic recovery to the economist Hjalmar
Schacht. Schacht aimed at full production and full employment through a state-funded
work-creation programme. This project produced the famous German superhighways and
the people’s car, the Volkswagen. There was an improvement of
| Nazi ideology depended on majoritarian principles. Jews were merely 0.75 percent of the population in Germany. Apart from Jews others who opposed Nazi’s were also punished. How does the pastor capture this in above peom? |