If the Jews Would Have Had Guns...

That Gun Argument Citing Nazi Germany doesn't stand up to history.  From Wikipedia:

Few German citizens owned, or were entitled to own firearms in Germany in the 1930s. The Weimar Republic had strict gun control laws. When the Third Reich gained power, some aspects of gun regulation were loosened, such as allowing firearm ownership for Nazi party members and the military. The laws were tightened in other ways. Nazi laws systematically disarmed "unreliable" persons , especially Jews, but relaxed restrictions for so-called "ordinary" German citizens. The policies were later expanded to include the confiscation of arms in occupied countries. (Link)

 In other words, the gun laws were actually loosened under the Nazis, except for enemies of the state, which included Jews.

It should also be noted that there were two very powerful things happening in Germany that worked against the Jews and other enemies of the state, and a third that would have happened.

1. Hitler and the Nazi regime were NOT unpopular. In fact, he was seen as a savior to the country by many. They followed him and said nothing when he did things that were clearly way outside the bounds of civil society. 
2.  As a result, by the time anyone really recognized the issues and what was happening, the power was so great and so consolidated, that his power was overpowering. He had already convinced even the official German church to support him and bless his vicious and horrific government actions! Only if the troops, en masse, turned against him could there have been a different outcome. That became impossible within only months of his legal appointment as Chancellor.
3. The instant, the very second the Jews would have started to defend themselves against the laws of Nazi Germany, at that moment they would have been the bad guys with the guns. From that single moment on, all those good guys with the guns would have been given the go ahead from Hitler and the government to kill them!

 The real lesson is to oppose bullies, scapegoating people who are different, taking away the rights of people we may not like, and believing the lies and rationalizations based on nationalism and race supremacy!

Reflections on Bonhoeffer

For the writing I have been doing on the Dietrich Bonhoeffer quotes for Lenten Sundays, I have been reading the biography of him by Eric Metaxas. I am learning stuff I never knew about the 1930s in Germany and re-learning things I had long ago forgotten. Three issues have struck me.

1. Size of Germany- and how quickly Hitler took over. Literally a few months and he already had his storm troopers (SA and SS) ready to take over for the regular army. He was elected on January 31. Less than a month later, February 27 the Reichstag (Parliament) was destroyed in a fire, most likely instigated by the Nazis, though blamed on the communists. Within months of his election Hitler had managed to intimidate, legislate, and coerce the end of democracy in Germany with little to no opposition. We forget that Germany is about the size of our states of Montana or New Mexico. Consolidation of power was easier than say it would be in a country as spread out and diverse as the United States. Fortunately!

2. Taking over the church was part of the plan. It was already a state church when Hitler came to power. He hated the church and religion and was determined to co-opt and destroy it. The Deutsche Kristens (German Christians) movement sought to make it a Reichskirche, a Nazi religion. The almost succeeded but the Nazis were too open about their "theology" and its Nazi ideology. Instead, the overall German Evangelical Church (Lutheran) continued as the state church and was marginalized.

3. The ineffectiveness of the church in being the church. As a Christian, former pastor, religious individual, this was one more bit of data to add to what I have often seen. In general, the church as we know it has very little effect against such powerful odds. One reason is that it is easy to co-opt the church. One does not have to live in Nazi Germany to see this. Church historian Martin Marty named it "Civil Religion" in the United States. We see it every time we say or believe that we as a nation have a special place in God's favor. It is a mixing of patriotism, nationalism, and Christianity. It easily divides Christians along political and ideological lines and shoehorns theology into whatever we want it to say.

People like Bonhoeffer and Martin Niemoeller worked at resistance and changing the way things were going. They did not succeed. They were steamrollered out of the way, co-opted by the Nazis and their supporters in the church. They became the "heretics" while those who were twisting Christian theology into Nazi propaganda were the official guardians of "correct theology." They were marginalized by laws making it illegal to be anything but a member of the official state church.

I am glad we have never had a state church in the United States. The general term "Christian" has often been seen unofficially as that. Evangelicals and Fundamentalists have acted that way. I hope we can manage to keep from allowing religion and state to become mixed up.

But there will be more thoughts on that in some of the upcoming Lenten Sunday posts. Back to my reading. I'll keep you informed.

A 70-Year Memory: The Last Days

April 20: Adolf Hitler's 56th and last birthday is a subdued celebration in his underground headquarters: The celebration in his underground headquarters, the Führerbunker, in the Reich Chancellery Park was very subdued. The Soviet Union Army was advancing toward Berlin, and Adolf Hitler knew that the end of his Third Reich was near. Later that day, Adolf Hitler left the bunker to decorate 20 Hitler Youth, most 12 to 15 years old, for bravery in combat. He then returned to the bunker in which he had lived since January 16, 1945. Protected by 16 feet of concrete and six feet of earth, Adolf Hitler's sanctuary protected him but did not mask the sounds of Soviet shells falling closer each day.

April 21: The Soviets reach Berlin with overwhelming military power and encircled the city: With 2.5 million men, the Soviets faced one million German troops, including about 45,000 male youth and elderly. The Germans were also greatly outnumbered in artillery, tanks, and planes. "The amount of equipment deployed for the Berlin operation," a Soviet Union soldier remarked, "was so huge I simply cannot describe it and I was there." Enormous firepower was brought to bear, but the Soviets discovered that many forward German positions had been abandoned before the bombardment. The German command pulled troops tightly around Berlin for a final, doomed defense of the city.
-Link