Ian Kershaw on the Last Days of the Third Reich: 'Hitler's Influence Was Fatal'

"SPIEGEL: You write that the German arms industry produced its largest volume of weapons in December 1944, despite the devastating bombing war.

Kershaw: Without Speer's ability to maintain arms production under the most adverse circumstances, the war would have ended much earlier. Until the Ardennes Offensive, he and his people performed veritable miracles when it came to producing ammunition. There is no other way of putting it."

In a SPIEGEL interview, the best-selling British historian Ian Kershaw talks about the last days of the Third Reich, why the Germans persevered when it was clear that all was lost and the devastating consequences of the failed July 20, 1944 attempt to assassinate Hitler.

SPIEGEL: Professor Kershaw, you have spent the last three years studying the collapse of Nazi Germany. In the end, are we left to shake our heads in amazement at the absurdity of the final phase, or do you, as a historian, also feel something akin to admiration for the perseverance of the Germans?

Kershaw: The head-shaking predominates, at any rate. I'm convinced that we English would have given up much earlier. It's certainly unusual for a country to continue fighting to the point of complete self-destruction. It's the sort of thing we usually see in civil wars, but not in conflicts in which hostile nations are at war with one another.

SPIEGEL: The question of why the Germans persevered for so long is the starting point of your new book. What would have been the obvious thing to do?

Kershaw: In any armed conflict, there is eventually a point at which one side realizes that it's over. If the people in power don't give up but instead continue to plunge the country into ruin, there is either a revolution from below, as was the case in Germany and Russia near the end of World War I, or there is a coup by the elites, who attempt to save what can still be saved. An example of that is the overthrow of Benito Mussolini in Italy in July 1943.
Read the whole piece :
Part 1: 'Hitler's Influence Was Fatal'

• Part 2: 'There Was Something Typically German about It'

French Jewish policians evicted ahead of election

The negotiations between the French Socialist party and the Greens for the appointment of candidates in Paris  for the upcoming elections resulted in the booting out of several Jewish politicians Serge Blisko, Tony Dreyfus, Danièle Hoffman Rispal and Daniel Goldberg.

The CRIF (French Jewish umbrella organisation) also points out that Yves Contassot who will be put forward as a candidate is a well known Israel-basher.  The whole left Socialist party and the Greens are anti-Israel, but Contassot is know for among one of the most virulent.

Elisabeth Guigou, a former minister who will replace, Daniel Goldberg also has a history of Israel-bashing and supports Israel boycott campaign.

European Parliament urges US to recognize Palestinian State

European Parliament calls on EU and US to address the Palestinians’ ‘legitimate demand’ for UN statehood recognition.

STRASBOURG (EJP, by Yossi Lempkowicz)---Ahead of the EU-US summit in Washington later this month, the European Parliament has called on both sides to address "Palestinians' legitimate demand" at the United Nations.

In a resolution passed in a show of hands Thursday in Strasbourg, France, where the assembly holds its monthly session, MEPs called on the EU and the US to support emerging democracies in North Africa, push for a resumption of direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, and "address the legitimate demand of the Palestinians to be represented as a state at the United Nations as a result of negotiations within the UN framework".
____________
At the European parliament, it's neither Shimon Peres nor Netanyahu who get standing ovations.  It's Mahmoud Abbas who gets a standing ovation.  On 4 Feb 2009, PA President Mahmoud Abbas in an address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg: "You must stop cooperating with Israel as it's placing itself above the law. Their actions have no legal basis and must be ended. Israeli leaders should also be charged with infringing international humanitarian law."   They love Mahmoud Abbas as they loved Arafat.

Meet the Belgian 'Checkpoint Singers'

Here they are

If you happen to be in Brussels on November 25, dont miss the CheckPoint singers. They will be performing and telling their trip to the "occupied territories" and explain once again that Israelis are monsters.  They will speak of "checkpoints, the wall, the theft of land by the colonialists, the struggle for water and land, detention, infrastructure apartheid. We brought our songs to Palestine. Now we are bearing witness in front of you in the hope for increased solidarity towards the Palestinian people."

The event also includes a visit to the "Cast Lead" - more Israel-bashing - exhibition/project.

The whole thing is supported by the Belgian government and obviously paid by the unsuspecting and reluctant tax-payer.

Is Belgium endorsing the 'Israel Apartheid State' concept?

"To attack Israel by using the word "apartheid" is therefore to deracialise a racist concept, and it runs the risk of inviting anyone who visits, or truly understands, Israel to say that if this is apartheid, apartheid must have been a perfectly reasonable system. Hendrik Verwoerd will laugh from the depths of hell. To be fair, some of the more cunning operators inside the Israeli-apartheid brigade are aware of this." (Robin Shepherd)

It looks as though Belgium endorsing the 'Israel Apartheid State' concept. A press conference is being held tomorrow to present the findings of the third session of Russell Tribunal for Palestine held in Cape Town.  See NGO Monitor report: HERE and more HERE. The findings: "The Tribunal finds that Israel subjects the Palestinian people to an institutionalised regime of domination amounting to apartheid as defined under international law. [...] the Tribunal concludes that Israel’s rule over the Palestinian people, wherever they reside, collectively amounts to a single integrated regime of apartheid."

The kangaroo court was created by a Belgian Pierre Galand.  The press conference will take place at the De Markten Theatre "the cultural centre in the heart of Brussels" - run by the Flemish authorities.  An anti-Israel and anti-US exhibition ("project") "Cast Lead #2" is alsoo being shown now at De Markten.

In a full two year period since this charade has been going on Jewish leaders have not raised a single protest and ignored it.  The South African Jewish community has to be commended for having ensured that the charade was a failure.  The cartoon below is by Carlos Latuff.

More 'warnings' and criticism from France to Israel

This is a little known fact. France has a Consulate in Gaza, thus recognizing the legitimacy of  Hamas terrorist government in the Gaza Strip.  And the site HERE.  It is very cleverly done.  America has a virtual e-consulate in Gaza, France has a physical very real consulate.

Source: Aroutz Sheva 7

France warned Israel on Tuesday not to endanger civilians after one of its diplomats and his family was wounded in a retaliatory strike carried out by the IAF.

French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said the French consul in Gaza, 'Franco-Palestinian' citizen Majdi Shakura, was injured in an airstrike on the Hamas-run enclave in the early hours of Monday morning.

According to Shakura, the blast blew out the windows of his house, resulting in the diplomat and his 13-year-old daughter being cut by flying glass and his 42-year-old wife to miscarry two months into her pregnancy.

The strike reportedly targeted the nearby home of a member of the Hamas terror organization, which controls Gaza. Local emergency services said a 20-year-old member of Hamas' 'naval security forces' was killed in the strike.

"France regrets this airstrike," Valero said. "While being committed to Israeli security, France notes the absolute necessity of avoiding all harm to civilians. The Israeli authorities have been reminded of this imperative."

Legal experts note – contrary to popular belief – there is no such requirement under international laws governing warfare.  Billeting combatants, storing munitions, and launching attacks from civilian areas as Hamas does is a violation of international law. Nor is Israel proscribed from launching counter-strikes on such areas if legitimate military targets are present.

Abravanel: Antisemitic ministers and Holocaust deniers enter the new Greek government

In other words a minister of the Greek government [Adonis Georgiadis] was called by a neonazi [Konstantin Plevris] to defend his book which advocated the extermination of the Greek Jewish Community.  (About Plevris see: - K. Plevris: "I am a Nazi and a fascist, I am racist, anti-democratic and I am an anti-Semite" and Kostas Plevris: Hitler could have rid Europe of the Jews but did not.)  And guess what?  Nicolas Sarkozy has sent his congratulations to the new Government. European politicians, the elites, the media and the European Commission have remained silent and focused their attention on Berlusconi's departure.  Thus avoiding unpleasant subjects.

“Let’s talk about the myth of Auschwitz and Dachau and talk about these ovens, to talk about these gas chambers, whether the gas chambers were insulated to hold gas inside or they were simple bricks” (George Karatzaferis). 

Source: Abravanel blog

A. What happened ?

Under international pressure over erroneous political decisions concerning the economic policy, the socialist government led by Yorgos Papandreou collapsed. A new government of national unity was formed led by former European Central Bank vice-president Lukas Papademos and supported by the majoritarian socialist party PASOK, the conservative Nea Dimokratia and the far-Right LàOS; the leftist SYRIZA and the Greek Communist Party have declined to participate. Although there is a long history of public antisemitism within all greek parties, it was usually kept under control by moderate leadership; these new developments mark the first time that the antisemitic far-Right gains institutional access and real power by entering in four ministries with one minister and three undersecretaries.

B. The recent history of the LàOS party

Until 2000 the greek Far-Right practically consisted of two major groups: the faction inside the greek conservative party of Nea Dimokratia and a small neonazi galaxy of groups in which the violent Chrisi Avgi, (Golden Dawn) was prominent. The domination of the two major parties, the conservative Nea Dimokratia and the socialist PASOK in which nationalistic and antisemitic sentiments were tolerated but also kept in check, gave grounds to the often cited but misleading assumption that a strong Far-Right does not exist in Greece.

All this changed when Yorgos Karatzaferis, a parliamentarian from Nea Dimokratia was expelled in 2000 when he accused the party leader of being surrounded by gays. Immediately after he created his new party called LàOS, (Popular Orthodox Rally), which managed 4 years later to enter the European Parliament and 3 years afterwards to enter the Greek Parliament.