Across the millennia, nations have built walls to protect themselves from outsiders, from China (you can see the Great Wall from space!) to the 112-mile barrier in Cyprus.
Only one one nation ever built a wall to keep their people in — that was East Germany, on orders from their communist masters in the Soviet Union. The rest of the captive nations of Eastern Europe were trapped behind borders bristling with barbed wire, watch towers and military.
On Nov. 9, the Germans — East and West — along with the rest of the free world, will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the wall’s destruction and the beginning of the end for the Soviet Union. Pay attention to what will be written about this, kids.
I pause here to salute Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachov who smelled the coffee and permitted the disintegration of what Ronald Reagan correctly termed the Evil Empire. Gorbachov earned a Pulitzer Peace prize for his inspired actions and joins FDR and Winston Churchill on my list of the most significant leaders — for good — in the 20th Century. I have a separate list of bad leaders.
In a recent poll, 70% of millennials said they favored socialism, which is not so crazy — following the thinking of Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, whose patriotism I do not question. Sanity is another matter.
But what about that one-third who are open to communism? Where does that come from?
Ignorance, of course and that may be the fault of their parents and their schools. California (of course) is working on implementing a course in “ethnic studies.” It turns out the “ethnic” grievance buffet is both vague and not inclusive. It did not include anti-Semitism, as an example. With anti-Semitism on the rise and the Pittsburgh synagogue slaughter, it was kind of an odd oversight, don’t you think?
The idea of including minority studies is not an issue for me — ethnic meaning racial and nationalist and religious (or nonreligious) and gender and peanut allergies, I guess — but how about civics and history? Are they on the school lunch menu?
The previous passage was under the heading of ignorance. How do you cure ignorance? With information. That works — with some exceptions. Since the schools failed, you might want to share this with younger friends.
Capitalism has bad elements that promote profit (i.e., greed) as an end in itself, but it is a strong horse and it needs strong reins. It has raised the standard of living in the entire world.
With the exception of China — which adopted free market policies because its central economic planning did not work — there is not one thriving communist economy. Hello, Venezuela.
The “best” success story might be Cuba, which provides education and health care for all, but also provides a jail cell for opponents and a minimal standard of living for all. And even Cuba in recent years has been allowing some private enterprise. Why?
Because the profit motive, financial incentives, work.
Kids, I don’t want to burden you with, like words, rather than abbreviations and emoticons.
Nothing could be more clear than a side by side comparison of the two systems and we had that.
East Germany was a grim, poor, gray society — a Third World nation located in the First World — in which no one but Communist Party members thrived.
Next door in West Germany, the BMWs and Mercedes were flying out of factories, there was braust and beer and bras for everyone and consumer goods out the wazoo.
Communism claimed it presents equality, but that is a lie. Party members live well, while everyone else has the equality of misery.
Communism is atheist because it wants you to worship the state as the provider of everything. It rewrites history to destroy your heroes so you will accept current leaders as heroes. It brooks no opposition, kids.
If you go to a state school and don’t like the curriculum, you have a choice: do not attend. If you complain, you will be sent to a new school, in the Gulag.
We no longer have the contrast between East (slave) and West (free) Germany, but we can look at North (slave) and South (free) Korea.
Kids, here is an aerial view of North and South Korea (by the way, you won’t have digital gimmicks in the North.)
Scary, huh? A dark void, an empty hole. The North Koreans are on the verge of starvation, while South Korea is an economic power.
You think you want communism?
You think Hitler was bad, kids. At least I hope you do.
Soviet Leader Joseph Stalin and Chinese dictator Mao Zedong killed an estimated 70-100 million people under their control. Getting accurate figures in a closed society is problematic, but there is no question communism killed more people than the Nazis, estimated 20-40 million.
Do you still find it appealing, kids?
Stu,
I don’t think millennials relate Socialism to Communism, thanks to what they’re being taught. Most of us remember the cold war shielding ourselves under our desks (Haha).
My wife would not exist if not for her Dad coming to America in ’34, (his one sister already here), from Ukraine. Stalin’s famine hadn’t reached that side of the mountain. Unfortunately his brother was enlisted in the German military and never returned. And their father was beaten to death by KBG-likes around 1950 while still searching for his son.
I’ve read that FDR and Churchill new of Hitler’s holocaust about a year before D-Day. Have you?
Thanks for a refresher in twentieth century evil. Too late for AOC and others like her. American brainwashing!!
The Allies knew of the Holocaust by 1943 for certain, probably by 1942. D.C.’s Holocaust Museum delves into it. There was not much the Allies could do.
FDR could have bombed the rail lines leading to the death camps, but didn’t. I used to ask my FDR loving dad why he didn’t, and never got a response.
The answer was FDR was busy bombing the Wehrmacht’s factories and felt those targets would bring the war to a fast end. We couldn’t afford to send ANY B-17s?
It was a military choice made by a military leader. I dislike it, but accept it.
I believe today’s students are being taught (by left-wing teachers) that the Berlin Wall was built to keep West Germans and others OUT of the ‘workers’ paradise’ called East Germany.
NAILED IT ONCE AGAIN, AS USUAL. My childhood was filled with stories of the Berlin Wall, people being shot trying to escape East Germany, the Iron Curtain, and seeing ads for Radio Free Europe on the Broad St Subway.
How many remember knowing that if a product was made in (free) Germany, it said “made in Western Germany”, but if it was made in Communist East Germany, the Communists covered that fact by printing “Made in Germany” on the product. As a kid, I was curious and observed little things like that.
S.D.
amusingly, when the Japanese got into the steel business back in the ’70s , they were producing low grade, high carbon steel and exporting it to the good old USA . Made sense since NAFTRA closed most of our steel mills. The point here is this. We used to show,”made in the America”. The copy cat Japs showed,”made in usa”. WOOPSIE !
Guess who steel is holding the nuclear reactors, bridges and high rises together ?!?
T.C.
Thank you.
HAPPY SATURDAY !!!
Could it possibly help to try and educate the masses ? School aged children are not really taught history, or civics for that matter. The kids today learn from the internet. By the time that they are college age, they are really confused and filled with propaganda. So why not take a study hall and teach history? Why not place an article in the school paper or website explaining this day in history?
I am one of those that thought that the only way the Berlin Wall was coming down, was when we had our nuclear war and the the whole world would be blown to smithereens ! Something to be said for a little diplomacy between the two power brokers. (That would be the then USSR and the USA)
P. S. and F.Y.I. and etc
This Monday is Veterans Day. Thank a Vet!
Tony
Educating them is our responsibility. And I am thanking a vet — you!
Great column as always. I miss your being in the Inquirer.
Thank you. I think my word is better here, without an editor’s filter.
To quote writer and philosopher George Santayana, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Especially when it’s not taught in public schools and our (now) especially socialist-based colleges. It’s a reason we Jews constantly keep the Holocaust in front of the world. Not just for the 6 million that died then, but also the other 19 million non-Jews that perished along with them. And, of course, the Russian and Chinese purges of post WW2, which were worse, are never discussed by anyone – except maybe Stu and his ilk. Carry on, dude! Someone may actually listen, besides your faithful readers.
I count on my faithful readers to share with others.
FDR could have bombed the rail lines leading to the death camps, but didn’t. I used to ask my FDR loving dad why he didn’t, and never got a response.
My dad was a POW (nabbed at the Bulge in late 1944). His POW camps (he was moved from camp to camp as the Germans retreated back toward Berlin) were all located right next to major German rail installations. My understanding is the Allies were afraid to bomb the rails for fear of killing the POWs. I suspect the same thinking applied to the concentration camps. The major difference was that POWs were not being systematically murdered, while that was the entire purpose of the concentration camps. There is much shame and blame to go around for allowing the Holocaust. What we must — repeat MUST — do is be sure today’s young people are taught about the Holocaust as well as the true horror of communism.
First, let me honor Vince and his dad. I knew a few POWs from WW II. I know a few from the Korean war and lastly, I know POWs from the Viet Nam war. If you were given a choice, you would much prefer to vacation with the Germans. I say that sarcastically. They did recognize the Geneva and Red Cross agreements, while the rest of our then enemies ignored them.
Hind sight is 20-20. A co-worker of mine enjoyed reading about the Generals of WW II. He asked me why I never engaged in a conversation with him regarding the war. So I told him. There is great nest in everyone. It happens at the right time and the right place. I told him a little of what he’ll never read about and what actually happens in a war. He never brought up the subject again.
So here we are. Decades after the war to end all wars while we continue to fight yet another war. I believe that wars are still fought for the same reason as they were from the beginning of mankind. Some of those reasons are: Land,wealth and possessions. You can simplify even more by just saying money. For example, define George Soros. Then define Michael Blumburg and Donald Trump. Now add all of the -ISMs- that you want. I call it brain washing. We encourage brain washing here as well. It used to be called Patriotism way back when. Now, it’s called capitalism. Unfortunately, we stopped teaching all of these -isms- while we live the American dream. And that’s part of the problem. Our kids and grandkids were never really taught that there is greatness in everyone and that the greatest greatness comes from bringing people along with you as you successfully climb that ladder of success.
I thank Vets everyday for fighting those -ISMs-
Tony
Although many Republicans denounced Obama as a socialist out to demolish the free market, he left office with a 77% approval rating among millennials. If Obama was a socialist, as many youngsters believed, socialism can’t be that bad.
A 2017 survey revealed that 26% of baby boomers would prefer to live in a socialist country. Among young adults, the figure was 44%. What explains this generational divergence? Perhaps millennials take for granted the bounty that capitalism has yielded.
I think you are on to something, BUT there’s a lot of millennials that can’t get solid jobs, somthey deliver food on a bike. Might have something to do with their major…
As the wag told the college graduate with the double major (Italian Renaissance Poetry and Women’s Studies): “You’ll be the smartest waitress at the Olive Garden.”
Forgot to add to my earlier comment…
Just remember what Nazi stood for:
“National Socialist German Workers’ Party”.