World War II

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16. There was confusion in the minds of the rulers of the six once victorious nations. They were not able to see the early signs of things to come. No ruler of any nation wanted to see the indication of lunacy in the torture and murder of the Jews. For it was the persecution of the Jews that alone indicated lunacy. Neither the brutal repression of the opponents to his regime, of those who wanted to change things and remove the ruler of Germany and his henchmen, nor his hatred of those among his own people who felt sympathy for Russia were indications of a darkened mind. Those people hated him and mutual hatred can be explained by enmity. The brutality of enemies is common among men. The rulers of the nations did not want to see that the Jews were being tormented, imprisoned, robbed and beaten and this was not because they were the enemies of Germany, but groundlessly, only on account of the mental state of the man called Hitler.



17. People said: ‘There are many instances of people being persecuted’. They forgot that people only persecute their enemies. When a person persecutes someone who has done him or her no harm and who is powerless, it is a symptom. But in the eyes of all the rules, the bloodletting of the Jews was too unimportant to be significant as a symptom.



18. And so they had to learn that it was a symptom and to learn it in the most terrible manner. And because, in the eyes of all the rulers, the Jews were unimportant, the matter grew until it affected the whole of mankind.



19. It would not have been difficult for the rulers of the nations to depose the man called Hitler at that time, had they been able to see his bloody persecution of the Jews as the symptom that it was. A man with a deranged mind should not be allowed to be the ruler of a great nation. But the rulers closed their eyes for too long and so they did not depose him. They had made him too powerful and they had permitted him to equip a mighty army.



20. The ruler of Germany then asked the six nations that wanted him to wage war against Russia to give him lands as an advance payment for his services.



21. In order to test the six nations which had previously defeated Germany, he first sent his armies to the frontiers of France. The former victors had forbidden this. Now they allowed it to happen.



22. Then he waited three years and increased the size of his army. This, too, the former victors allowed because they believed that now he would attack Russia with his enhanced army.



23. Instead, the ruler of Germany invaded the land of Austria which borders on Germany to the South. It was once part of a greater country called Austria. This, too, the six nations allowed because they thought that Germany needed to be strengthened for its war against Russia.



24. When the ruler of Germany and his army occupied Austria, he immediately began to persecute the Jews who lived there. Very many Jews lived in Austria. From one day to the next, every horror perpetrated on the Jews by the dictator’s underlings in Germany now befell the Jews in Austria. They were hunted, tormented, humiliated, imprisoned; a number of them were killed; some killed themselves. All were targeted and all lived under the constant threat of death. Some Jews were able to escape, but many thousands stood day and night outside the embassies of the six nations and of other nations. They begged the ambassadors of these nations to allow them entry into their lands. Appeals by the thousands fell on deaf ears. The rulers of the six nations said no word about the plight of the Jews to the ruler of Germany. They did not wish to upset him and they thought that soon he would invade Russia.



25. The ruler of Germany waited six months. Then he asked for part of Czechoslovakia, which also bordered on Germany to the South, more to the East.



26. Then the rulers of the six nations began to feel alienated by the greed for power of the ruler of Germany. They senses that he might become more powerful than they were But they recalled how often he had sworn hatred against Russia. So then, the rulers of Britain, France and Italy met with him and agreed that he keep part of Czechoslovakia.



27. Once the ruler of Germany and his army had occupied part of Czechoslovakia, he immediately began to persecute the Jews who lived there, just as he had done in Germany and in Austria. The ruler of Germany also ordered Czechoslovakia to drive out the Jews who had sought refuge there within two days and also to drive them out from the part of the land that he had not occupied. And Czechoslovakia, powerless against Germany, then threatened to hand the Jews over to Germany if they did not leave the country within two days. The Jews did not know where they could escape to. And, once again, the rulers of the other nations said no word about the plight of the Jews. They had not thought to ask that the Jews be spared in exchange for their agreement to the occupation of part of the country by the ruler of Germany. The Jews were too unimportant in their eyes in comparison with Russia. 28. Again, the ruler of Germany waited six months. Then he invaded the whole of the land of the Czechs and the Slovaks. Now the rulers of the other nations felt shocked by the lust for power of the ruler of Germany. And they saw that they had allowed his power to wax too much. They themselves had not armed for war because they had believed hat he would wage war for them. And they began to fear that he might well direct his power against them.



28. When the armies and the henchmen of the ruler of Germany swarmed throughout the land of Czechoslovakia, the bloody persecution of Jews began there. Many Jews who had fled to Czechoslovakia had been driven out. But some still wandered about in the countryside and hid. German and Austrian murder gangs now fell on all Jews in Czechoslovakia. There were many Jews there, citizens of the country. These, too, were struck by the terror. Many fled, but many more were obliged to stay behind, helpless in the hands of their tormentors. Although, again, they asked the ambassadors of other nations to allow them in, entry was denied to them. Indeed, Czechs and Slovaks were also being oppressed, but those who showed no opposition to the rule of Germany were not persecuted. The nations saw no difference between the persecution of the Jews and the persecution of Czechs and Slovaks. They did not notice that, if Czechs and Slovaks submitted, they were able to live free, but that the Jews were never left free, even when they submitted.



29. The rulers of the other nations realized that the man called Hitler had an exceptional lust for power, but they thought that his lust for power was an ordinary one. They did not see that it was the lust for power of a darkened mind. They did not see this because they were confused and they closed their eyes to the symptoms in the man. Not just like some clever regent, aware of the structure of power, but as one bereft of his senses did the ruler of Germany rush to demand one land after another. Alienating the nations, the ruler of Germany staggered onto the world’s stage, shouting and threatening.



30. Then two of the six nations lost patience. Britain and France feared that the man called Hitler would invade yet more countries, but not Russia. And Britain and France allied themselves with the country that was now already being threatened by the ruler Germany. They made an alliance with Poland, which lay to the East of Germany. The ruler of Germany was already making threats to invade Poland on account of the town of Danzig on the coast. When Britain and France decided henceforth to stand firm against the ruler of Germany, the plight of the tormented and murdered Jews were not on their minds. The Allies promised the Poles protection against Germany because they feared the growing might of Germany. However, when war loomed, one twentieth of all the Jews trying to save themselves from the Germans were given entry by the people of America, France and Britain between them.