Читать книгу A THREE PART BOOK: Anti-Semitism:The Longest Hatred / World War II / WWII Partisan Fiction Tale - Sheldon Cohen - Страница 15

Albert and Samuel went to war as enthusiastic and patriotic young men hoping to “finish them off” in a few short months. They returned in four years, age 22, hardened and embittered, but lucky to be alive after what they had experienced in bloody French trenches...

Conditions in Germany, during a period of hyperinflation, were desperate with little hope for stability. Opposing forces fought for control of the country. The harsh treaty of Versailles further marginalized the country and increased unrest. “We were stabbed in the back,” defined by Hitler as the German left wing political and subversive forces: Socialists, Communists and Jews.

For Albert and Samuel, school would have to wait as they decided on their options. When they met again after the war, they greeted each other as long lost brothers. Each told of their wartime experiences and discussed their perception of Germany’s future. Sam’s desire to become a physician had strengthened after his experience in the medical corps. Albert still wanted to return to school, study finance and become a banker like his father. They could be possessed only of hope while awaiting adjustment to civilian life and the start of their further education and Germany’s long trek out of the ashes of defeat...

The first parliamentary cabinet forms in post-war Germany with Prince Max von Baden as its chancellor. He writes to President Woodrow Wilson requesting to receive conditions for an honorable peace based upon Wilson’s fourteen points.

In summary Wilson’s fourteen points are:

No secret agreements between countries

Freely navigable seas during peace and war

Free trade

World-wide armament reduction

Fair colonial claims between countries

German troops leave Russia who will now form its own government

German troops leave Belgium who will form its own country

France regains Alsace-Lorraine

Re-establishment of Italy’s borders to include all Italian citizens

Austria-Hungary continues as an independent country

Serbia, Montenegro and Romania become independent countries

Turkey will be an independent country with security for nationalities

Poland becomes an independent country

League of Nations to form and protect independence of all countries regardless of size

Other World War I allied powers believed Wilson to be too idealistic and Clemenceau of France wanted harsh reparation payments to be levied upon Germany. He fought for these and won.

The German Reichstag did amend the constitution of Germany and established a parliamentary regime which was anathema to Adolph Hitler, but there was little that this relatively unknown veteran could do at this point.

Interestingly, the German Admiralty refused to surrender to the British Navy without a last final and “honorable” battle against them. Sailors in Kiel and Wilhelmshaven refused this order and mutinied. This mind-set certainly reflected the dismal morale of the exhausted German military.

The first few months after the war ends sees the new German Weimar Government attempting to reform, but locked in a deadly struggle with the Communists for control of the country. The Weimar army (Freicorps) consisted of ex-soldiers and hired mercenaries whose main assignment was to neutralize the Communist effort to take control of Germany.

Anti-Semitism was not dead, but not having a blessing from the German Government, there was no force behind it. That force would come from Adolph Hitler, a man either Albert or Samuel had ever heard of this time in 1918 at the end of World War I.

In spite of this, the two returning 22 year old veterans, Albert and Samuel, started college in their respective disciplines: finance and pre-medicine…

The year was 1919. Dangerous political instability in Germany reigned supreme.