- 'Nazi Terror: A Short Autobiography of
a Jewish National Socialist' is a myth-shattering account of what it was
really like for a Jew in Hitler's Germany. Heinz Weichardt's father was
Editor of the Berliner Morgenpost and his mother was a Jewess. His story,
which is rich in detail, is a gripping read and a real eye-opener. 54 pages,
£4.80 (approx $8), ISBN 1-901240-18-5, 2004.
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- A Typically Astonishing Excerpt from
'Nazi Terror' (pp. 13-16)
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- The next anti-Jewish measure was the
Arier paragraph, which eliminated non-Aryans from all government positions.
Everybody with one quarter or more Jewish background was considered non-Aryan.
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- Exempt from this law were all Jews who
had fought for Germany in the World War or had lost sons during that war
or who already held government positions before that war. Certain exemptions
for meritorious individuals could be granted.
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- All non-Aryans in government positions
had to be retired (not fired!) with their pensions forthcoming. Businesses,
large or small, were not affected; doctors could continue their practices
but were not compensated for treating patients insured under the government-run
health plan. Many, many - including high party officials - stayed with
their Jewish family doctors who had treated them for a long time.
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- The number of university students of
three-quarter or all-Jewish ancestry were limited to the percentage of
their numbers in the populace. Still pretty good, when compared with the
experience of deserving whites under Jewish-imposed affirmative action
in America. Students with one-half or less Jewish ancestry were under no
restrictions at all, and even had, at a later date, to join the nationalist
student organization. They were not permitted to join the SA or SS. Joining
a nationalist organization became, in effect, obligatory for all Aryan
students.
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- The immediate effect on the private lives
of most Jews was in the beginning only minimal. Some personal experiences
will show this.
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- Since my early teens I had been an avid
gun lover. In Austria, where we lived at the time, there were in effect
no restrictions on the possession of handguns or rifles. If there were,
they certainly were not enforced. At the age of fifteen, I could walk into
one of the finest gunshops in Vienna and purchase any weapon in the store,
as long as I had the necessary money.
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- Unfortunately I didn't, but after some
time I had scraped together a sufficient amount to start my modest collection
by acquiring three low-priced handguns. Shortly thereafter, in 1929, we
moved to Berlin.
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- In Germany, under the Weimar Republic,
one had to register each gun with the police. There were no restrictions
on possession except if you wanted to carry them. In this case you had
to have a hunting licence which required a lengthy course in gun handling,
marksmanship, game laws and the handling of bagged game.
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- The police had absolutely no say or power
to refuse you the ownership of your guns when you came to register. It
was a purely bureaucratic measure which enabled the police to trace a gun
involved in a criminal action.
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- My guns were registered in the name of
my (Jewish) mother, who had contributed the money for their original purchase,
because I was only fifteen years old and could not own firearms until I
reached maturity (21 years).
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- After Hitler came to power, nothing was
changed in the existing gun regulations; nobody had to turn in the registered
guns - period. My mother still had them on the day of her immigration to
the US (May 1941) and gave them to a friend of mine because importation
of firearms was prohibited under US law.
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- The laxness with which the firearm laws
were enforced was clearly demonstrated in the days after the Reichstag
fire, when most people feared an imminent Communist uprising. Suddenly,
untold numbers of veterans or members of patriotic organizations were seen
walking around, proudly displaying their wartime military Mausers or Parabellums
strapped to their sometimes paunchy bellies. After a while, after the communist
threat had been eliminated, they were politely reminded that carrying of
firearms in public was against the law and the guns were put back into
drawers at home. The sale of ammunition was never restricted.
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- Suddenly a long-time dream of mine promised
to come true: the ownership of a genuine Parabellum in good condition.
One of my friends had heard of a deal whereby members of the many existing
nationalist party organizations could purchase retired army pistols in
lots of one hundred at a price of fifteen marks per gun. The price of a
new Parabellum was one hundred and fifty marks in those days, which was
about the monthly income of a lowly worker, if he had a job.
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- My search for prospective customers was
frantic. By charging an extra mark for my services I had to sell only fifteen
guns to earn sufficient money for the purchase of a gun for myself!
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- Alas, my plan was of short duration.
Some envious or overzealous citizen felt obliged to inform the authorities
of my dreamy deal. It was followed by the famous knock on the door, and
on opening I faced three agents of the secret police (Gestapo). No hands
in the pockets groping for hidden arms, no shouted orders or threats, only
showing of identifications and the polite question if I had any firearms
at home and if they could see them.
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- I asked them in, got my guns and asked
my mother to show the registration receipts. The disappointment of the
rather mild-mannered gentlemen at the measly display was obvious and they
asked about the whereabouts of the one hundred Parabellums I was suspected
of harbouring. My heart sank and I told them about my, now surely aborted,
hoped-for big deal, which as yet had not been completed. They looked greatly
relieved and the man in charge said that a perfunctory search of our premises
was in order. No drawers were ripped out and emptied, nothing was displaced
or damaged - only a short look under beds, into armoires and storage cabinets.
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- When they were ready to leave the man
in charge spotted a letter on the table with a Jewish-sounding name of
the sender and being obviously informed about my mother's racial background
he very kindly admonished her that because of the new conditions prevalent
to be especially careful and not to break any of the existing laws. With
that they apologized for the inconvenience they had caused and left. My
loaded guns remained on the table.
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- In order fully to appreciate this story
you must remember that the Parabellum was at that time still the most powerful
and sophisticated military handgun on the European market. Today's equivalent
would be a fully automatic MP5 or Ingram. Just imagine somebody informing
the "democratic" American government that I was stocking one
hundred of those, possibly intending to sell them to some shady characters
harbouring racist or otherwise non-PC views.
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- Can't you just hear Janet Reno screaming
and ordering her trigger-happy minions into action? The roar of armoured
trucks loaded with SWAT teams in full battledress would be deafening and
reinforced by the clatter of helicopter-gunships hovering overhead, in
case any difficulties should develop. The headlines would shout: Gun Crazy
Rightist Has Arsenal Endangering His Neighbourhood! Governor Might Call
In National Guard!
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- Remember the recent actions of the American
government in the case of a man who sold a shotgun, allegedly one quarter
inch shorter than the law permits, to an undercover agent, which resulted
in the deaths of a mother holding a baby in her arms, one unarmed child,
the family dog and a marshal. (The Ruby Ridge tragedy - ed)
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- Or the one involving a religious nut
who could have been arrested any day by a single cop while the former attended
to his shopping in the local supermarket. Result: about eighty people,
mostly women and children, incinerated alive. I think my imagined scenario
above is an understatement.
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- My next run-in with the authorities of
the Third Reich happened about three years later and was a little more
ominous. I had just received the notification that my application for voluntary
service in the newly-recruited army had been definitely denied and I was
understandably very bitter because service in the armed forces was considered
an honour and privilege, not an onerous duty. Instead of swallowing my
badly injured pride I complained to everybody who would listen to me, ending
my complaints with the caustic question: "Why me, when even the top
general of the Luftwaffe, Erhard Milch, had a Jewish father?" Well
it didn't take very long for the knock at the door...
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- Comment
- From JB Campbell
- jb_campbell@yahoo.com
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- Jeff -
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- I'm so glad that someone sent you this
excerpt from my friend's memoirs.
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- In 1994, I urged my dear friend,
Heinz Weichardt of Pebble Beach, Calfiornia, to make his experiences in
Germany and America available to everyone. Heinz was half-Jewish
and had taught me the realities of that side of his heritage along with
the truth of National Socialist Germany. He was trained as a scientist
and became a manager at IBM's electron-optics division in this country.
He was also a college professor in later years.
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- He did write his memoirs in the form
of a letter to Louis Beam, a friend of mine and someone Heinz had always
wanted to meet. Louis came out to see me in Carmel and we went over
to Heinz' house. Louis agreed that he'd like to learn about Heinz'
life, so Heinz wrote the memoir and I edited it, putting it in more understandable
English than his German syntax allowed.
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- The memoir was entitled, "Under
Two Flags," and was first printed by George Dietz' Liberty Bell Magazine
in 1994. It comprised the whole magazine and became the most popular
issue of all. It had to be reprinted, so great was the demand for
it. Heinz died soon after the second printing, but he was very gratified
at the reception of his life story. In his first version, he'd neglected
to tell the story that you reprinted today and I said that Americans really
needed to know the truth about German gun control. Everyone is surprised
to learn that the Nazis did not disarm the people, as we are constantly
told ad nauseum, but in fact relaxed several gun laws that had been in
effect before they came to power. And that Jews owned guns, just
as everyone else did.
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- In 2000 a man in England called me and
said he wanted to publish Heinz's story over there. I helped him
with it and it was finally published under the sarcastic title, "Nazi
Terror," which is what your piece is called. I encourage everyone
to get this 80-page book and learn the truth about the worst thing
that ever happened to humanity - the Anglo-American Struggle to Save Communism
(World War II).
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- Bruce Campbell
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