Life Under Hitler’s Rule: Don’t Let Freedom Slip Away

This article is written by Kitty Werthmann a woman who lived under Hitler’s rule:

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.  [read more]

Sounds like Hitler promised the Austrians everything they wanted. Most unscrupulous leaders do that—pretend they are Santa Clause. And the people were happy for awhile. 

“For awhile” is the key phrase here. She goes on:

• Hitler Eliminates Religious Instruction for Children.  The education was nationalized. Crucifix’s were replaced by Hitler’s picture hanging next to a Nazi flag. Hitler wasn’t a Christian. He only used God’s name to make the German people like him. If anything the Nazi’s were pagans—they worshiped the god’s of ancient Germany. Hitler, I read, thought Christianity was a weak religion and Germany would have been better served by a stronger religion like Islam. I kid you not. By having his picture replace the Crucifix Hitler is saying he is now God. Kitty goes on to say that Sunday became National Youth Day with compulsory attendance. If parents did not send their children to school they got a written warning. The second time they did not send their children a $300 fine, the third time the parents would go to jail. All the kids received political indoctrination at the school.
• The Full-employment Law.  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.
• The Labor Camps. 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.
• 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. She says the people who took care of the children were child psychologists.
• Health Care Suffer Under Government Controls. Kitty says before Hitler arrived Austria had very good health care then he socialized it. 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. She goes on to say tax rates went up 80% under Hitlercare (that’s my term not hers). What she is describing (except for doctors leaving part—they will just quit) will happen to America under Obamacare.
• Economic  Regulations.  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.

The oppression and evil continues. Mentally retarded people were murdered by the state. People had to register their guns at police stations (does that sound familiar?). Hitler said that was the real way to catch criminals. Not too soon after the state said it was best for everyone to turn in their guns. Since the guns were registered it was futile for people not to comply voluntarily.

Finally, freedom of speech was suppressed. Anyone, not only the Jews, who spoke against the state were taken away.

She writes:

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.

That’s exactly how socialism or any other oppressive system get installed in a country.