In continuing from yesterday’s post, let me reassert my belief that we, as Christians in America today, are in the same place the Jews found themselves in 1935 in Nazi Germany. We now see vicious hatred for anything that speaks of Biblical truth and the rule of law in this country. Why? Because judicial integrity has been greatly compromised.
In essence, the Republic we’ve all come to love and respect and call home is no more.
“Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.”
Edmund Burke once said, “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.”
And Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel also said, almost prophetically, “The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.”
Let that not be said of the church today.
For the next couple of days I will post the timeline of events in Nazi Germany beginning in 1933 until the start of WWII. That’s just six short years. Look at how quickly the Nazis consolidated power and enacted laws that first marginalized, and then systematically tried to destroy the Jews. And see if you, like me, can find shocking parallels of the same agenda being carried out today against the church and Christianity in our own country.
Read these timelines and take heart. Learn from history. Glean wisdom and understanding from the mistakes and failures of those who have gone before.
And remember, “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.”
Let’s pray that cannot be said of the church.
Timeline of Events in Nazi Germany in 1934
January 1st – Jewish holidays were removed from the German calendar.
January 20th – A law was introduced “for the ordering of national labour.” Decisions made in the workplace were weighted in favour of the management and against the workers.
January 24th – Alfred Rosenberg was appointed ideological supervisor of the Nazi Party. Jews were banned from the German Labor Front.
January 26th – A German-Polish 10 year non-aggression pact was signed.
January 30th – The independence of the state government was abolished. The “Law for the Reconstruction of the Reich” was passed. Hitler publicly insisted that Germany will not be deterred from its program of rearmament.
March 21st – The “Battle for Work” started.
April 1st – Heinrich Himmler appointed head of the SS.
April 11th – Pact of the Deutschland: Hitler persuaded the top officials of the army and navy to back his bid to succeed Hindenburg as president, by promising to “diminish” the three-million-man plus SA and greatly expand the regular Army and Navy.
April 20th – Himmler was made Acting Chief of the Prussian Gestapo.
April 24th – A People’s Court was established to deal with treasonable offences. There is no trial by jury and no right to appeal.
April 25th – Germany passed law restricting college enrollment of Jews.
May 1st – Julius Streicher’s Nazi periodical, Der Stürmer, one of Germany’s most popular periodicals and a favorite of Hitler, reminded its readers that during the Middle Ages, the Jews were accused of committing ritual murder of Christian children and of using their blood for religious ritual purposes.
May 16th – German officer corps endorsed Hitler to succeed the ailing President Hindenburg.
May 17th – Jews were no longer allowed to participate in national health insurance.
June 17th – Von Papen, Vice-Chancellor, denounced what the Nazi Party had introduced into Germany.
June 20th – The SS was made independent from the SA and put in the hands of Himmler who was appointed Reichsfűhrer of the SS.
June 25th – Austrian Nazis murdered Austrian President Engelbert Dollfuss in the hope that the Austrian Nazi Party could take control of the country.
June 26th – Von Papen was appointed German envoy to Austria.
June 30th – The Night of the Long Knives. On pretext of suppressing an alleged SA putsch, much of the brownshirt leadership were arrested and executed. Schleicher and other political enemies were murdered. Papen briefly imprisoned; between 150 and 200 were killed. The SS, formerly part of the SA, now comes to the forefront.
July 4th – An Inspectorate of Concentration Camps was established, headed by Theodor Eicke.
July 13th – Defending the purge, Hitler declared that to defend Germany he has the right to act unilaterally as “supreme judge” without resort to courts.
July 22nd – Jews are prohibited from getting legal qualifications.
July 31st – In Germany, 30,000 are now interned.
August 2nd – President Hindenburg died. Hitler declared himself both Chancellor and President. The armed forces in response to the Night of the Long Knives swore an oath of loyalty to Hitler. Hjalmar Schacht was appointed Minister of Economics. Hitler now becomes Fuhrer.
August 19th – Hitler received a 90 percent “Yes” vote from German voters approving his new powers.
October 1st – Hitler secretly ordered expansion of the army, navy and the creation of the air force, breaking the Treaty of Versailles.
October 8th – A Winter Relief scheme was established.
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