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On the Front Lines of the Culture Wars

She survived Hitler and wants to warn America

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Rob Kerby, Senior Editor
Reporting from the front lines of today's cultural wars Posts by Rob Kerby, Senior Editor More

She survived Hitler and wants to warn America

posted by Rob Kerby, Senior Editor Kitty Werthmann survived Hitler. What I am about to tell you is something youve probably never heard or read in history books,she likes to tell audiences. Iamawitnesstohistory. I cannot tell you that Hitler took Austria by tanks and guns; it would distort history. We voted him in. If you remember the plot of the Sound of Music, the Von Trapp family escaped over the Alps rather than submit to the Nazis. Kitty wasnt so lucky. Her family Kitty Werthmann chose to stay in her native Austria. She was 10 years old, but bright and aware. And she was watching. We elected him by a landslide 98 percent of the vote,she recalls. She wasnt old enough to vote in 1938 approaching her 11th birthday. But she remembers. Everyone thinks that Hitler just rolled in with his tanks and took Austria by force. No so. In 1938, Austria was in deep Depression. Nearly onethird of our workforce was unemployed. Adolph Hitler

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We had 25 percent inflation and 25 percent bank loan interest rates. Farmers and business people Hitler is welcomed to Austria were declaring bankruptcy daily. Young people were going from house to house begging for food. Not that they didnt want to work; there simply werent any jobs.

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My mother was a Christian woman and believed in helping people in need. Every day we cooked a big kettle of soup and baked bread to feed those poor, hungry people about 30 daily. We looked to our neighbor on the north, Germany, where Hitler had been in power since 1933.she recalls. We had been told that they didnt have unemployment or crime, and they had a high standard of living. Nothing was ever said about persecution of any group Jewish or otherwise. We were led to believe that everyone in Germany was happy. We wanted the same way of life in Austria. We were promised that a vote for Hitler would mean the end of unemployment and help for the family. Hitler also said that businesses would be assisted, and farmers would get their farms back. Ninety-eight percent of the population voted to annex Austria to Germany and have Hitler for our ruler. We were overjoyed,remembers Kitty, and for three days we danced in the streets and had candlelight parades. The new government opened up big field kitchens and everyone was fed. After the election, German officials were appointed, and like a miracle, we suddenly had law and order. Three or four weeks later, everyone was employed. The government made sure that a lot of work was created through the Public Work Service. Hitler decided we should have equal rights for women. Before this, it was a custom that married Austrians saluting Austrian women did not work outside the home. An able-bodied husband would be looked down on if he couldnt support his family. Many women in the teaching profession were elated that they could retain the jobs they previously had been required to give up for marriage. Then we lost religious education for kids Our education was nationalized. I attended a very good public school.. The population was predominantly Catholic, so we had religion in our schools. The day we elected Hitler (March 13, 1938), I walked into my schoolroom to find the crucifix replaced by Hitlers picture hanging next to a Nazi flag. Our teacher, a very devout woman, stood up and told the class we wouldnt pray or have religion anymore. Instead, we sang Deutschland, Deutschland, Uber Alles,and had physical education. Austrian girls welcome Hitler
September 2011 June 2011 March 2011 August 2011 May 2011 July 2011 April 2011

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Sunday became National Youth Day with compulsory attendance. Parents were not pleased about the sudden change in curriculum. They were told that if they did not send us, they would receive a stiff letter of warning the first time. The second time they would be fined the equivalent of $300, and the third time they would be subject to jail. And then things got worse. The first two hours consisted of political indoctrination. The rest of the day we had sports. As time went along, we loved it. Oh, we had so much fun and got our sports equipment free. We would go home and gleefully tell our parents about the wonderful time we had. My mother was very unhappy,remembers Kitty. When the next term started, she took me out of public school and put me in a convent. I told her she couldnt do that and she told me that someday when I grew up, I would be grateful. There was a very good curriculum, but hardly any fun no sports, and no political indoctrination. I hated it at first but felt I could tolerate it. Every once in a while, on holidays, I went home. I would go back to my old friends and ask what was going on and what they were doing. Their loose lifestyle was very alarming to me. They lived without religion. By that time, unwed mothers were glorified for having a baby for Hitler. It seemed strange to me that our society changed so A pro-Hitler rally suddenly. As time went along, I realized what a great deed my mother did so that I wasnt exposed to that kind of humanistic philosophy. Then food rationing began In 1939, the war started and a food bank was established. All food was rationed and could only be purchased using food stamps. At the same time, a full-employment law was passed which meant if you didnt work, you didnt get a ration card, and if you didnt have a card, you starved to death. Women who stayed home to raise their families didnt have any marketable skills and often had to take jobs more suited for men. Soon after this, the draft was implemented. It was compulsory for young people, male and female, to give one year to the labor corps,remembers Kitty. During the day, the girls worked on the farms, and at night they returned to their barracks for military training just like the boys. They were trained to be anti-aircraft gunners and participated in the signal corps. After the labor corps, they were not discharged but were used in the front lines. When I go back to Austria to visit my family and friends, most of these women are emotional cripples because they just were not equipped to handle the horrors of combat. Three months before I turned 18, I was Poster promoting "Hitler Youth"

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severely injured in an air raid attack. I nearly had a leg amputated, so I was spared having to go into the labor corps and into military service. When the mothers had to go out into the work force, the government immediately established child care centers. You could take your children ages four weeks old to school age and leave them there around-theclock, seven days a week, under the total care of the government. The state raised a whole generation of children. There were no motherly women to take care of the children, just people highly trained in child psychology. By this time, no one talked about equal rights. We knew we had been had. Before Hitler, we had very good medical care. Many American doctors trained at the University of Vienna.. After Hitler, health care was socialized, free for everyone. Doctors were salaried by the government. The problem was, since it was free, the people were going to the doctors for everything. When the good doctor arrived at his office at 8 a.m., 40 people were already waiting and, at the same time, the hospitals were full. If you needed elective surgery, you had to wait a year or two for your turn. There was no money for research as it was poured into socialized medicine. Research at the medical schools literally stopped, so the best doctors left Austria and emigrated to other countries. As for healthcare, our tax rates went up to 80 percent of our income. Newlyweds immediately received a $1,000 loan from the government to establish a household. We had big programs for families. All day care and education were free. High schools were taken over by the government and college tuition was subsidized. Everyone was entitled to free handouts, such as food stamps, clothing, and housing. We had another agency designed to monitor business. My brother-in-law owned a restaurant that had square tables. Government officials told him he had to replace them with round tables because people might bump themselves on the corners. Then they said he had to have additional bathroom facilities. It was just a small dairy business with a snack bar. He couldnt meet all the demands. Soon, he went out of business. If the government owned the large businesses and not many small ones existed, it could be in control. We had consumer protection, too We were told how to shop and what to buy. Free enterprise was essentially abolished. We had a planning agency specially designed for farmers. The agents would go to the farms, count the live-stock, and then tell the farmers what to produce, and how to produce it. Austrian kids loyal to Hitler In 1944, I was a student teacher in a small village in the Alps. The villagers were surrounded by mountain passes which, in the winter, were closed off with snow, causing people to be isolated. Young Austrians

So people intermarried and offspring were sometimes retarded. When I arrived, I was told there were 15 mentally retarded adults, but they were all useful and did good manual work. I knew one, named Vincent, very well. He was a janitor of the school. One day I looked out the window and saw Vincent and others getting into a van. I asked my superior where they were going. She said to an institution where the State Health Department would teach them a trade, and to read and write. The families were required to sign papers with a little clause that they could not visit for 6 months. They were told visits would interfere with the program and might cause homesickness. As time passed, letters started to dribble back saying these people died a natural, merciful death. The villagers were not fooled. We suspected what was happening. Those people left in excellent physical health and all died within 6 months. We called this euthanasia. Then they took our guns Next came gun registration. People were getting injured by guns. Hitler said that the real way to catch criminals (we still had a few) was by matching serial numbers on guns. Most citizens were law abiding and dutifully marched to the police station to register their firearms. Not long afterwards, the police said that it was best for everyone to turn in their guns. The authorities already knew who had them, so it was futile not to comply voluntarily. No more freedom of speech. Anyone who said something against the government was taken away. We knew many people who were arrested, not only Jews, but also priests and ministers who spoke up. Totalitarianism didnt come quickly, it took 5 years from 1938 until 1943, to realize full dictatorship in Austria. Had it happened overnight, my countrymen would have fought to the last breath. Instead, we had creeping gradualism. Now, our only weapons were Kitty Werthmann broom handles. The whole idea sounds almost unbelievable that the state, little by little eroded our freedom. Thisismyeye-witness account. Its true. Those of us who sailed past the Statue of Liberty came to a country of unbelievable freedom and opportunity. America is truly is the greatest country in the world. Dont let freedom slip away. After America, there is no place to go.

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Rodger D
posted April 14, 2011 at 2:10 am

Thank you Kitty and you are Bless to be able to show us how great Our Country and God really is and I hope you spend your life enjoying every moment of your life for your knowlegde of what life with out freedom is really like God Bless you and comfort you always something I wont forget thank again. And help us to make it better by showing what we should look out for and stop it from happening ok! Love you little Lady.

Mordred08
posted April 15, 2011 at 7:29 pm

Are you familiar with something called Godwins Law?

gustave verdult
posted April 18, 2011 at 5:11 am

I watched the horrors of Nazi Germany overrun our country in Holland where my father was an underground leader. As a boy I was the lookout, and under dark cover I led Jewish families from our basement, through the woods into Belgium. As for America? The handwriting is already on the wall. People take freedom for granted because they know not what it is to loose freedom. In this fun-oriented society God has been replaced by pleasure-seeking atheism. Humility has been replaced by body-builders serving the ego. Most are unaware that everything here in this short life must rot and that you take nothing with you into your eternal life except the good you do by following the will of Christ. Love, gusverdult@yahoo.com

miguel pereda
posted April 18, 2011 at 6:46 am

unfortunatly not many pepole pay attention to history because what happende in austria is happening in our country slower but basicly the same thing the goverment is takeing more control of our lives littel by little and most people arent paying attion because they thing they are getting someting for nothing but what is happening is that the goverment has more control over our lives then we think so i pray to god that this story awakens more people to what is happening so we can stop the slow erosion of our freedoms

Tom Runfola
posted April 18, 2011 at 8:12 am

God Bless you, Kitty, for being a purveyor and lover of truth!

Rare Jewel of Christ

posted April 18, 2011 at 10:36 am

In response to Miguel- You are so right. People do not realize it but we are headed for martial law and new world order. The government is taking over our lives little by little and it is because people think that they are getting something for nothing. If they would realize it, one false move an their benefits will be relinquished in a split second. God is allowing this because people have turned a deaf ear to the truth and refuse to obey Gods word. They are letting the works of the flesh take over. They want what feels good instead of what is right. God made us and he knows that all of this other stuff will kill us. It is not my will that any should perish.He wants us well, whole, and to have nice things, but if we want to do it our way, he is going to let us get in trouble. Then what is the first thing we say- Oh Lord.Not O devil or oh flesh or the thing that got us into those situations. I am not perfect. This is why I repent daily and ask the Lord for his guidance so that when I do mess up-I recognize it-repent- and do not do it again. I am trying hard not to miss the rapture. From what I have read in Revelations, its not going to be a pretty picture during these last and evil days.

Dianne
posted April 18, 2011 at 10:43 am

Wake up! America

Patricia
posted April 18, 2011 at 11:21 am

WAKE UP AMERICA AND SEE THE LIGHT!!!

My Name
posted April 18, 2011 at 1:03 pm

so the Christian i.e. Catholic way is the only way? Hmmmm I sense a little arrogance here, as is usual with Catholics or Christians, or whatever they want to call themselves. Some will say, in defensive reaction, But I didnt say that! But thats not what I meant! Patricia Excuse me what light? The only light you have to see is your own. If you cannot see that, you cant see any other. Gus Verdult fun-oriented societyand pleasure-seeking atheism? My my, what a prejudiced and judgemental conclusion. Typisch Nederlands cynisisme, zou ik zeggen. And what presumptiousness to think that everyone thinks and lives this way. The good you do by following the Will of Christ? So those who dont do that are in hell, according to you, right? Sounds quite exclusive, dont you think? Well, folks, thanks to all of you for excluding me. I dont mind, and, actually, I prefer it that way. Ciao!

William
posted April 18, 2011 at 1:13 pm

In the fact right now Nazi methods are already rooted in America. For example the cochlear implant on early child kids and prohibt American Sign Lang.

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