Memorial to the Politicians Who Opposed Hitler

German Reichstag monument

I’ve been thinking about a poignant memorial at the Reichstag in Berlin dedicated to the 96 members of the German congress who spoke out against Hitler, but failed to stop him as he thundered into power in 1933. These were the last people who could have stopped the fascist dictator…so they were imprisoned and then became his first victims. Each slate slab remembers one politician, with his name, political party, and the date and location of his death (generally in a concentration camp). They are honored in front of the building Germany’s capitol where they worked to defend democracy in their country.

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3 Replies to “Memorial to the Politicians Who Opposed Hitler”

  1. Hard to not have this on your mind with Donald Trump almost ready to take the republican nomination. Sounds familiar, I just hope that there is the last few people left out there to stop him. Although it doesn’t really look like it.

  2. The harsh treatment of protestors at the Trump rallies by ‘security’ is somewhat reminiscent of the actions of the ‘brown shirts’ at Nazi rallies in the early 1930s.

  3. Only a minor correction, Sir:

    The Memorial lists the names of the 96 members of the German parliament who were killed by the Nazis (excluding members of the Nazi party because the Nazis of course also killed some of their own). While many of those parliamentarians opposed the “Ermächtigungsgesetz” in 1933, not all of those were killed and those two groups are not completely identical.

    At the time of that vote on 24 March 1933, all 81 members of parliament for the Communist Party had already been arrested (except for the few who had managed to escape) and 26 parliamentarians of the Social-Democratic Party had been arrested or had already fled into exile.

    Some of those members of parliament who were later muredered had actually voted for the “Ermächtigungsgesetz”, although it should be mentioned that the SA and SS were in the parliamentary chamber, with arms, so it wasn’t really a free vote anymore.

    But I applaud your combination of writing about travels and politics, it’s what keeps me interested in your radio shows and your blog (and what I try to do similarly but less professionally on my own blog). Happy travels!

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