Linguistic Inflation Part II
What real fascism looks like through the eyes of a city, a gravesite and a museum
The terms ‘N+zi’, ‘Authoritarian’ and ‘Fascist’ are in abundance again with the latest news from Washington. It seemed to be an appropriate time to compare those terms and their continual use today with what people with those ideologies were really like when they were governing major countries in Europe.
About five years ago I went with my family on what we called a Freedom Tour. We landed in Warsaw (lovely city, despite it being relatively new due to a real fascist bombing it to smithereens) and spent three days there touring the beautiful - Łazienki Park and the other sites and areas around Warsaw. It was one of the first times I had seen a statue of an American leader overseas, Ronald Reagan, credited for lifting the Iron Curtain, on the 100th anniversary of his birth. For some reason I was shocked. But then I was so used to the US media having such disdain for him, I had automatically assumed it had spread to all of Europe. Upon further reflection, I came to believe the reason for this was simple. While Western Europe developed an ongoing, rabid dislike for anything that wasn’t socialism or communism-lite, Eastern Europe actually lived under that kind of oppression. As a result, they honor and value freedom; economic freedom, religious freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of the press. Poland, in particular, values not being run over by their neighbors. Imagine that? They are fiercely proud.
From there we went to Kraków. We learned while we were there that Hitler actually left Kraków alone (didn’t bomb it to rubble) because it was not only the site of the main university in Poland but it was also (and still is) architecturally stunning. Apparently, he had admiration for both.
From there we went to Auschwitz/Birkenau to which all that can be said of that visit is,“go”. Pay tribute and bear witness for this is what real authoritarianism is. It is all pervasive. It is savage and it is a team sport where one small part of the population completely turns on the other. There are no exceptions, there are no limits to brutality and there is zero humanity if you are on the wrong side of it.
Finally, we concluded our trip in Berlin. We did the standard, tourist things of going to Checkpoint Charlie, the parking lot that used to be a bunker where Mr. Moustache ended it all, looking at the Berlin Wall - what little of it remains - and understanding how and why it fell. But the place that made the biggest impression on me took me by surprise.
The Stasi Museum.
It’s a huge monolith of a place. The architecture alone speaks to the raw power of the purpose within. This building was last occupied in 1989, having originally begun in 1960 as the home of Erich Meilke, minister of state security, when the iron curtain fell down hard on Eastern Europe and Germany was divided.
On November 9th, 1989, the Stasi building ceased to become necessary and its officers, clerks, directors and managers in walking out of a building dedicated to the pursuit of oppressive surveillance, created a museum dedicated to the understanding of how complete population control works.
In addition to that is the fact that it looks like a perfect time capsule from the 1960’s. The same furniture remains, the same desks, the same chairs, everything has been left intact. You’re almost waiting for someone to appear over your shoulder and tell Helga that you need to be taken to block B for interrogation. The feeling of efficient control is hard to miss.
The exhibits tell the story of how this was possible. They have letters, orders, photographs, everything left over from all of the office files on people, organizations and affiliations they deemed inappropriate. They also describe the huge web of people that spied on, reported and controlled what everyone was saying and doing. There were photos of people from all walks of life. I vividly remember a photo of a German rockstar of the day and listing him as one of the many informants for the Stasi. A rockstar!? I immediately tried to imagine the rockstars of my generation doing something like that… spying for the Queen. Who would’ve been most likely? David Bowie? Mick Jagger? Or perhaps not a front man but a consistent, unremarkable presence…like, maybe, Charlie Watts? The idea that people who made their high-profile personas through thumbing their noses at authority would spy for an oppressive government told me all I needed to know. The state is everywhere. Trust no one. And if you’re a watcher, you will be safer than those whom you watch.
(And as an aside, if you tattled on your neighbor during Covid, I’ve got a museum dedicated to people like you.)
In looking back at actual facism, this, in no way, bears resemblance to anything we see in our country today. Conflating a basic wish for law and order to a regime so repressive that human beings were treated worse than animals is hyperbole at its most dangerous.
Using the term ‘fascism’ constantly to describe our current situation not only makes the term meaningless, it also makes those who claim it look completely ignorant of history.
Go see real fascism for yourself and then you decide.
I do hope this article goes viral as I agree language used today to describe ongoing events is so over blown it is almost comical if you have any perspective on history.
I have a gay Jewish friend in NYC. One day during the Plandemic summer we were picnicking in Central Park. He mentioned that people should rat out their neighbors for defying the various covid decrees. Because that served the gays and the Jews so well in Nazi Germany! Fascism is around every corner, waiting for its moment.