Thank you to Indie for allowing me to use this.
This will make you think and is worth more than a passing look. Food for thought on a Tuesday evening.
Written in 1927 by German Satirist Kurt Tucholsky posted originally at Kurt Tucholsky , a blog which contains a selection of works by satirist Kurt Tucholsky (1890 – 1935), a blog well worth a link in your sidebar , translated into English from the German by Indeterminacy .
They all take care of me: Church, State, Doctors and Judges. I should grow and thrive; I should slumber nine months long; I should not worry about a thing – they all wish me well. They protect me. They watch over me. God have mercy if my parents do something to me; then they will all be there. Whoever touches me will be punished; my mother lands in prison, my father right behind; the doctor who did it must cease to be a doctor, the midwife who helped is locked up — I’m a precious item. They all take care of me: Church, State, Doctors and Judges. Nine months long. But when the nine months are over, I have to see for myself what becomes of me. Tuberculosis? No doctor will help me. Nothing to eat? No Milk? – no State will help me. Torment and misery? The Church will comfort me, but that doesn’t fill my stomach. And if I have no bread to break or to bite and I steal: the Judge is right there to lock me up. Fifty years of my life no one will care about me, no one. I have to help myself. Nine months long they kill themselves, if someone wants to kill me. You tell me: isn’t that a strange way to look after the welfare of another?
The more things change.…the more they don’t.
translation copyright 2006
There is obviously no need for me to add anything so only a few brief notations. There are many links which can be added to this to make this point as well as some history which is worth noting ; however, this in and of itself deserved some digesting on it’s own so I won’t go to much further. You can check out a fairly inclusive bit of information here, in regard to the how, why and when ‚so you can relate it to the religious and political climate of the times. Wiki of course has their own bit with the help of a timeline. A note from more recent history is added as well in Gloria Steinem’s Views on ” The Nazi Connection”. In a quote from, If Hitler Were Alive, Whose Side Would He Be On?, in an abridged article from Speak Out Against the New Right edited by Herbert F. Vetter (Boston: Beacon Press, 1982)
A return to a strong family life, women’s primary identity as mothers, tax penalties for remaining single, loans for young married couples and subsidies for childbearing, prohibition of prostitution and homosexuality, contraception, and abortion: all these were issues that the Roman Catholic Church, the Catholic Center Party, and the Nazi Party could agree on. And once Hitler came to power, popularly elected in part by the patriarchal backlash against feminist successes, he delivered on his promise to restore male supremacy. In 1933, feminists were removed from teaching and other public posts by the same law that removed “non-Aryans” from such jobs. All women were banned from the Reichstag, from judgeships, and from other decision-making posts. Under Hitler, choosing abortion became sabotage; a crime punishable by hard labor for the woman and a possible death penalty for the abortionist. ” If the man’s world is said to be the State … her world is her husband, her family, her children and her home … Every child that a woman brings into the world is a battle, a battle waged for the existence of her people.… It is not true … that respect depends on the overlapping of the spheres of activity of the sexes; this respect demands that neither sex should try to do that which belongs to the sphere of the other.” — Hitler’s speech to the National Socialist Women’s Organization, September, 1934.”
It also seems if you look at the politcal situation , social climate of a nation at any given time, the more poverty and the less education available to the masses the more likley abortion would be looked on as a crime. All of this while at the same time catering to an upper class and ignoring the fact that indeed there were children that were not cared for, fed or educated.
Really interesting find cooper — and of course the questions of parallel between the early Nazi policies and the current aspirations of the American Right are worthy of thought. Check out firedoglake’s recent series on right wing online hate speech for more analysis of this sort (scroll to the bottom for the full list of posts on the topic).
The point raised vis a vis post-natal care and the sudden worthlessness of human life is always problematic for the right to address. Quite simply, for all the care some would allegedly have for a fetus during pregnancy, where is the comparable care for the quality, sanctity, and safety of human life after that? How is an infant any more able to protect itself than a fetus?
Cross commented at BIO
I commented at BIO as it seems a good forum for it. I found it
fascinating and thank you for pointing it out. As I said the the
comparisons are intersting and frightening at the same time. The ore we change the more we remain the same — you are right there. The question is when does the circle
end.
Nice piece and make me want to investigate this in more detail
at some point in time.
http://www.oldamericancentury.org/14pts.htm
I will link up your Darfur blog but don’t bother with the DJ.
Yup.
Just goes to show you that the human condition is truly that. The
human condition.
You’ve posted a lot in the last two days I can’t keep up.
Too Old.
If the human condition and the social climate that surrounds it does not change, or if it changes but only ends up at the same place is it worth all the trouble in the end?
We are right back where others have been before. I’m not sure that we are exactly in Nazi Germany that seems a bit n the harsh side although the similarities are — – not pleasant to take note of.
Alice! Thanks for doing all this excellent research and putting the text into historical (and modern) perspective. I found this highly informative. I read an older set of authors / books and am often astonished at how little times have changed. Very few of our issues are new. And one can get quite pessimistic about how so much has stayed the same.
Absolutely correct of course.
I just worry about the ramifications of invoking Hitler. You seem to have done allright thus far, anyways.
The Roman Catholic Church is full of bullshit. No two ways about it.
I don’t even understand where the idea of women being “inferior” came from. My mother is one of the strongest women I know, but its only since my dad has retired that she has been able to give up “traditional woman’s roles.” I have known far more (in number) intelligent women than I have intelligent men, but that may be because I disagree with aggressive ideas.
But then again, there are many things I don’t understand about life.
I had the same reaction to Indie’s translation of that piece. It could have been written yesterday, but for the poetry.
Philo: I checked them out good stuff. There is no balance.
jacob: It needs to end but when?
I guess never, circles never end.
john: thanks and it is an interesting thing to investigate but frustrating to see how little progress is made.
Weirsdo: yup again. I read your comment at the blog you mentioned Steinem and I remembered that piece by her from a class a couple years a go and went to look it up to use.
Indie: so much for progress. We have come so far technologically though.
Dan: Indeed.
Joe: we should be appalled at any similarity.
indie: but we’ve come so far technologically?
Wombat: If I need a body guard I will call you. I don’t care for invoking Hitler too many times a year but if the shoe fits it is only fair. Don’t even get me started on that Catholic Church.
Coyote: I imagine there are a lot of things most of us don’t know about life and sadly most people don’t care.
Doug: Yes it is a perfect frame which seems to fit all era’s.
I agree with your body guard Womabt. The mind candy that he is.
The Cathoic Church…egads. A mess.
You always are good at making me think girl. Thanks.
I find the human condition to be ever changing and ever the same. There are some who argue Nazism’s has a distinct affinity with the Democratic Party. Arguing the common ground between Nazism and Democrats spans eugenics (Democrats: abortion and euthanasia), class/race warfare (Dems: reverse racism, “soak the rich”), state control of business (Dems: if it moves, regulate it; if it doesn’t move, tax it), the suppression of opposing views ( Dems: campus speech codes, disruption of conservative speakers, efforts to muzzle the blogosphere).. I find these people uniformed or delusional. I did a lacrosse post. You are bound to live it. Carry on oh… “Broom to the Garbage of Society”.
Cowgirl Welcome. My Body Guard. Yes. Mind Candy?
Dane: Broom to the garbage of society — not quite .
Coop — Shayna’s will answer the mind candy part
Alice I think of you as our conscience, and I thank you for that
Aww, I wanted to guard your body. Mostly against Wombat
Cowgirl: I saw it and finally understood…voila…lol
pia: don’t know if I want to be a conscience anymore than I want to be a “broom to the garbage of society ” but beggars can’t be .….la di da.
Coyote: Wombat is harmless , plua I know all his secrets and could blackmail him so no worries there. Body guards…I think they would be annoying after a time.
this is why i’d rather stick to faith than religion. missed your thought-provoking posts. reading you is like coming home.
yup…I find this Tucholskytext especially astonishing when one sees what is going on ion South Dakota lately. Or not at all astonishing. I think Tucholsky gives the perfect summary of all the hypocrisy around this topic. sad.…
tran: I’ve missed you so.
antonia: indeed espcially astonishing but then again not in light of.….….…..