No Room
In my scheme of the German state, there will be no room for the alien, no use for the wastrel, for the usurer or speculator, or anyone incapable of productive work.
— Adolf Hitler, Interview with George Sylvester Viereck, 1923
I came upon this quote yesterday. The words froze my mind. These are the forthright expression of intent of a young man who has yet to come to power. I passed on the quote with a simple “deja vu” comment, suggesting that history has patterns that repeat themselves.
I received one terse response from a friend wanting to know what I had in mind. Did I have in mind the thousands from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador who are walking through Mexico; Individuals and families hungry, fleeing for their lives with the intention to ask for asylum at our southern border? Well, yes I had that and many other things in mind.
My point is not what mental associations the quotation from the Nazi Fuehrer conjures up for me—but what connections are evoked for each one who reads those lines. What comes to mind, is an indication of what one cares about and of what one fears.
Self examination is always difficult, unpleasant. Each of us needs to ask, is this the road we really wish to take?
A majority of the German people did not ask themselves such questions during Hitlers rise to power. A few years later, many of them were dead in the blasted ruins of their cities.
