Subject: Fw: 1938 Austria. After America, There is No Place to Go
> > By: Kitty Werthmann
> > Kitty lives in South Dakota
> >
> > What I am about to tell you is something you've probably never heard
> > or will ever read in history books.
> >
> > 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.
> >
> > 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.
> >
> > Hitler Targets Education - Eliminates Religious Instruction for Children:
> >
> > 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.
> > 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. 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.
> >
> > Equal Rights Hits Home:
> >
> > 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.
> > 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.
> >
> > 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. 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.
> >
> > Health Care and Small Business Suffer Under Government Controls:
> >
> > 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% 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. 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.
> >
> > "Mercy Killing" Redefined:
> >
> > 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.
> >
> > The Final Steps - Gun Laws:
> >
> > 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 after-wards, 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.
> >
> > After World War II, Russian troops occupied Austria . Women were
> > raped, preteen to elderly. The press never wrote about this either.
> > When the Soviets left in 1955, they took everything that they could,
> > dismantling whole factories in the process. They sawed down whole
> > orchards of fruit, and what they couldn't destroy, they burned. We
> > called it The Burned Earth. Most of the population barricaded
> > themselves in their houses. Women hid in their cellars for 6 weeks as
> > the troops mobilized. Those who couldn't, paid the price. There is a
> > monument in Vienna today, dedicated to those women who were massacred
> > by the Russians. This is an eye witness account.
