Please be sure and listen to the interview I did with Dr. Vernon Katz about his memoir of growing up in Germany in the 1930s titled THE BLUE SALON AND OTHER FOLLIES.

Here's the link: http://kruufm.com/planet-erstwild-20080919-dr-vernon-katz

I have been listening to this program streaming the signal through the internet.

It was a good interview and I enjoyed listening to it.
The question "what lesson can be learned" came up a couple of times...I rather would ask:

How come, such a thing could happen?

How to understand what was going on during this time, I guess the film "The Wave" (an ABC Afterschool Special, Series from 1981) can very much discribe a few things. I am sure it can be found on a DVD somewhere for anyone who is interested in this subject.

Martin Niemöller (Jan 14th 1892- March 6th 1984)
Protestant pastor and social activist

First they came

First they came for the communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a communist;

Then they came for the social democrats
and I did not speak out
because I was not a socialist;

Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist;

Then they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew;

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

=================================================

Als die Nazis die Kommunisten holten,
habe ich geschwiegen;
ich war ja kein Kommunist.

Als sie die Sozialdemokraten einsperrten,
habe ich geschwiegen;
ich war ja kein Sozialdemokrat.

Als sie die Gewerkschafter holten,
habe ich geschwiegen;
ich war ja kein Gewerkschafter.

Als sie die Juden holten,
habe ich geschwiegen;
ich war ja kein Jude.

Als sie mich holten,
gab es keinen mehr, der protestieren konnte.

George Santayana

“The one who does not
remember history is bound to live
through it again.”

„Wer die Geschichte nicht erinnert,
ist dazu verurteilt, sie neu zu durchleben.“

Though Jews have been living in Germany for a long time and all of a sudden became enemies.... well, this was not just the case in Germany. During World War II in the USA, about 110,000 Japanese Americans were imprisoned during World War II. Two-thirds of whom were native-born American citizens. All of a sudden they were enemies too, just because they have been of a japanese descent. Fore more info see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manzanar

Sven
Berlin, Germany

Some more info:

Righteous among the Nations:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Righteous_Among_the_Nations

Yad Vashem:
http://www.yadvashem.org/