Remembering the Road to Auschwitz and What Made it Possible

“Fascism is the open terrorist dictatorship of the most reactionary, most chauvinistic and most imperialist elements of finance capital.”
– George Dmitrov

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, by the Soviet army. Auschwitz was one of many extermination facilities in a large network set up by the Germans in the 1940s. There were also many smaller facilities and factories using slave labor. My parents were the children of immigrants. My mother’s extended family in Hungary were among the murdered, with only three surviving. One, a cousin I met who survived Auschwitz. The reality of this recent experience was never far from our consciousness.

I grew up personally experiencing vicious, often violent anti-Semitism and was warned by my parents that my non-Jewish friends could never be fully trusted. Red-lining and discrimination against minorities including Jews was still common during this time. I was a religious young man and my own experiences lead me to be virulently pro-Israel even supporting Rabbi Kahane’s ultra-nationalist “Jewish Defense League” whose motto was “Never Again.” Though this organization was banned in Israel, the sentiment remains understandably central. I’ve learned a great deal since then and have become a very different person but the foundation of my political consciousness is still anti-fascism.

That the memory of the Nazi holocaust has become an essential part of Jewish culture is understandable. It is important that Auschwitz remain a memorial with regular tours including the recent reunions of survivors. The horrors perpetrated on the victims of fascism, the Jews, Roma, Gays, unionists, dissidents and others should never be forgotten. Though we can recount in gruesome detail what took place there, what seems more important to me, and what is often overlooked, is how a civilized society could get to the point of committing and justifying such crimes. Examining the gradual lead up to this nightmarish state of affairs is vital in preventing it from happening again.

There have been other genocidal rampages or holocausts under many political systems. The genocide of Native Americans in our own history, the mass murder of Armenians in Turkey and the slaughter of Tutsis in Rwanda come to mind. I separate genocides from other examples of mass murder, like the killing fields of Cambodia, in that genocide is by definition a conscious attempt to eradicate a particular people based on ethnicity. The Nazi genocide is unique in its industrial organization, its reach, and especially in the support and participation of educated, seemingly civilized people. That this occurred under a particular socioeconomic system called Fascism is important.

Fascism is an extreme form of capitalism in which the state is run by and for corporate interests. Its founder, Benito Mussolini described it as such, stating that, “Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of state and corporate power.” Upon his election, he dissolved the Italian congress of regional representatives and replaced them with representatives of major industries. George Dmitrov, a Bulgarian who successfully defended himself in a Nazi court against accusation of arson in the famous Reichstag fire described fascism as “the open terrorist dictatorship of the most reactionary, most chauvinistic and most imperialist elements of finance capital.” In its heyday, many described its spread as a social psychosis marked by extreme nationalist fervor.

As with any disease process, there are symptoms, and it is important that they be recognized. Fascism was a reaction to and a rejection of the enlightenment ideals of humanism and rational inquiry, and especially of labor unions and of socialism with an emphasis on the latter. It emerged in a harsh economic depression when the moneyed elite felt threatened by rising desperation. While German fascism sold itself as “national socialism” what was being socialized were public institutions under the rule of corporate interests, the antithesis of actual socialism. Fascists from Goebbels to Pat Buchanan cynically use populist language to push agendas which are in reality hurtful to working people.

The acceptance and maintenance of tyranny requires enemies. Scapegoating of minorities is part of this, as is creation, identification and dehumanization of others identified as a threat to the nation. Important here is the steering and misdirection of legitimate anger by those in power away from themselves. Aside from scapegoating Jews, German fascists focused public animosity and fear on labor unions, the “liberal press,” the USSR, and on invented aggressions by Poland. They repeatedly identified non-Germans as sub-human and idealized racial purity. We see echoes of this today in the rhetoric of our own far-right, aimed at Hispanic immigrants, Gays, African-Americans, organized labor, “liberals” and the poor. We also see it in the creation and dehumanization of enemies in the Muslim world and in support of Israel’s increasingly brutal and ironically fascistic apartheid system. We see it in our own increasing polarization as well.

Nationalism and Militarism are are key symptoms. Fascism emphasizes strength as a virtue and weakness as something to be despised. The Nietzschian ideal of the heroic individual, or Übermensch taking what is his by virtue of his strength or the Will to Power is also central to fascism, as it is in Ayn Rand based "libertarianism," though individualism itself is made subservient to the state which, in theory, acts for all. In fascist countries, the military and police are idealized and empowered under an authoritarian state. Though our country is not nearly as tyrannically authoritarian as Nazi Germany or Chile under Pinochet, the worship of all things military, the heroization of soldiers and even of assassins, as in the new hit move American Sniper, and the visceral defense of police abuse are indicative of a fascist mentality here at home.

Control of information and repression of journalism are important aspects in the maintaining of authoritarian governments across the political spectrum. While we heard the strident support for press freedom after the recent murder of cartoonists in Paris, we have witnessed record repression against journalists and “whistle-blowers,” or those that report truths which make the powerful uncomfortable. Activist and journalist Barrett Brown is the latest example, sentenced to 5 years and ordered to pay nearly $900,000 in restitution and fines for coming across hacked information and passing on the link while doing research for an article. There are many others.

The importance of the press and of culture in shaping public attitudes cannot be understated. Every example of genocide, much less of mass murder and war, has been preceded by the coordinated repetition of exaggerations, racist imagery, fear-mongering and outright lies in major press and media. Religion comes into play as a powerful tool of emotional manipulation as well, especially when tied to nationalism. We see this among right-wing Evangelicals, Zionists, Islamists and nationalist Hindus.

Fascism doesn’t require fancy uniforms, or concentration camps. We see its most virulent expressions in those who defend corporate influence and who promote nationalism and militarism. We see it in those who are quick to stereotype minorities and cast hateful judgments at the poor. We see it in the rejection of science and rationality when they conflict with corporate profits. We see it in defense of the influence of wealth and absolute rule of money that defines and empowers corporations as “people.”

Just as German fascism developed in the hard times of the Great Depression, our own moneyed class finds similar ways to twist to their own advantage the righteous anger of those struggling economically due to unbridled corporate corruption. The Tea Party was a prime example as is the blaming of economic hardship on immigrants, unions and “big government” regulations on business today. This is made more effective by the well-funded influence of extreme-right propaganda via talk radio and FOX “news.”

What fascism means for us in practical terms is endless war, the neo-liberal economics of increased austerity, the cutting of safety-net programs and even of Social Security. It means increased racial injustice and animosity. It means the disposability and criminalization of the poor, ill and elderly and the continuing growth of an intrusive militarized national security police state. It means misrepresentation, criminalization and repression of citizen political action as we saw with the Occupy movement

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Identifying symptoms allows us to address the disease, preventing its worst outcome. The separation of money influence from politics is key. We need legislation which reverses corporate person-hood and re-instates limits on corporate charters. We need stronger laws against corruption and the kind of lobbying that amounts to bribery. We need to free politicians from dependence on big money donors through electoral reform, and we need to open up our electoral system beyond the monopoly of the two official corporate parties. We need to undo the “Patriot Act” and break up the CIA/NSA. Also vital is real Press freedom which means freeing it from the stifling limitations of large corporate ownership, CIA influence, and government suppression. We need protection of our rights and of democratic citizen advocacy, including organized labor. Most of all, we need to keep ourselves informed and to be aware of how power manipulates information. We need to understand our own shared interests and to be able to identify and criticize racism, lies, and corporate propaganda when we see it. To not do this opens us up to the danger of being misled, as most good Germans were in the 1930’s, accepting lies as true and mistaking blind nationalism for patriotism.

Returning to my early awareness of and reaction to fascism, what I’ve come to understand is that the antisemitism and genocide of German fascism was only part of the picture and was the result of the brutal dictatorship of arrogant, self-serving corporate power. That “Never Again” isn’t just about Jews, it is about all of us. Never Again for Anyone.