TRUST
Proverbs [CEV] 3:5 With all your heart you must
trust the LORD and not your own judgment. (Trust: Pr.3:7; 22:19; Job 13:15;
Ps,37:3, Psa_37:5, 7, 62:8, 115:9-11, 125:1, 146:3-5; Isa.12:2, 26:3-4; Jer.17:7-8;
Eph.1:12)
Once upon a time
I completely trusted in in our American government and systems. I don’t know
when it happened but I no longer have absolute trust in American justice as I
see convenient politics apart from Biblical godliness more than ever before
dominating decision and action.
Though I still
believe that comparatively the USA is most just among nations, we are hanging
by a thread that continues to fray. Though I’m not a doomsayer, but an
optimistic-realist, I suspect we are fulfilling William Penn’s stating “If men
will not be governed by God, then they must be governed by tyrants.”
Let us pray for
repentance resulting in personal authenticity in “In God We Trust” and play our
part in not being swept away by the dark tide.
EBB4
+++
“I cannot tell you that Hitler took Austria by tanks and guns;
it would distort history.
If
you remember the plot of the Sound of Music, the Von Trapp family escaped over
the Alps rather than submit to the Nazis. Kitty wasn’t so lucky. Her family
chose to stay in her native Austria. She was 10 years old, but bright and
aware. And she was watching.
“We
elected him by a landslide – 98 percent of the vote,” she recalls.
She
wasn’t old enough to vote in 1938 – approaching her 11th birthday. But she
remembers.
“Everyone
thinks that Hitler just rolled in with his tanks and took Austria by force.”
No
so.
Hitler
is welcomed to Austria
“In
1938, Austria was in deep Depression. Nearly one-third of our workforce was
unemployed. We had 25 percent inflation and 25 percent 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.’
“We
looked to our neighbor on the north, Germany, where Hitler had been in power
since 1933.” she recalls. “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 in Germany 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,” remembers Kitty, “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.
“Then
we lost religious education for kids
“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.”
And
then things got worse.
“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,” remembers Kitty. “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.
“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,” remembers Kitty. “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.
“When
the mothers had to go out into the work force, the government immediately
established child care centers.
“You
could take your children ages four weeks old to school age and leave them there
around-the-clock, seven 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.
“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 percent 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, too
“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 livestock, and then tell the farmers what to produce, and
how to produce it.
“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.
“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 afterwards, 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.”
“This
is my eyewitness account.
“It’s
true. Those of us who sailed past the Statue of Liberty came to a country of
unbelievable freedom and opportunity.
“America
is truly is the greatest country in the world. “Don’t let freedom slip away.
“After
America, there is no place to go.”
Kitty
Werthmann
