This is a SCARY piece of HISTORY. Read & perhaps learn something new from HISTORY and "CHANGE".
America truly is the Greatest Country in the World.
By: Kitty Werthmann
[Kitty Werthmann is 85 years old]
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.
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, * 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.
"It's true..those of us who sailed past the Statue of Liberty came to a country of unbelievable freedom and opportunity.
America Truly is the Greatest Country in the World. Don't Let Freedom Slip Away
"After America , There is No Place to Go"
Please forward this message to other voters who may not have it.
After America , There is No Place to Go"
