Time: Sat Jul 26 09:06:34 1997
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Date: Sat, 26 Jul 1997 08:57:23 -0700
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From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar]
Subject: SLS: Holocaust Survivor Denounces Anti-Gun Movement
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>
>HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR DENOUNCES ANTI-GUN OWNERSHIP MOVEMENT
>
>Unlike many interviews with Holocaust survivors, this one conducted by Aaron
>Zelman, founder, Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (2872 South
>Wentworth Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53207; 414-769-0760; membership $20) with
>Theodore Haas, a JPFO member and a former prisoner of the infamous Dachau
>concentration camp, is a clear warning to all freedom-loving peoples to keep
>our guard up against arrogant politicians who are hell bent to create
>governments that control our lives. In pre-Nazi Germany, the good,
>law-abiding citizens dozed while government passed laws (all purported to be
>for the public good) that paved the way for tyranny to flourish. Haas, who
>survived years of Nazi persecutors, is speaking out to Americans who are now
>dozing while our government, at the strong urging of leftists in the media
>and others in society they influence, passes laws (again supposedly for the
>public good) to ban and severely restrict firearms ownership. Theodore Haas
>believes gun control is a prelude to totalitarian rule - The editors.
>
>Q.) How did you end up at Dachau? How old were you?
>
>A.) November 9th, 1938 was Kristalnacht - The Night of Broken Glass - The
>night Synagogues were ransacked and burned, Jewish owned shops destroyed; I
>guess you could call it the night the fires of hell engulfed the soul of
>humanity.
>
>I was arrested November 10th, "for my own personal security." I was 21 years
>old. My parents were arrested and ultimately died in a concentration camp in
>France. I was released from Dachau in 1941, under the condition that I leave
>Germany immediately. This was common procedure before the "Final Solution."
>-----------------------
>Q.) What did you think when you were sent to Dachau? What did you know about
>Dachau beforehand?
>
>A.) My first thoughts were those many others: "The world has gone mad."
>I knew that the life expectancy at Dachau was relatively short. I knew
>beforehand that inmates were abused. The horror of Dachau was known
>throughout Germany. People (Germans) use to frighten their children, "If you
>do not behave, you will surely end up at Dachau." A famous German comedian,
>Weiss Ferdl, said "Regardless how many machine gun towers they have around
>K.Z. Dachau, if I want to get in, I shall get in." The Nazis obliged him; he
>died at Dachau.
>--------------------
>Q.) How did you accept the fears of Dachau?
>
>A.) Due to the constant hunger and extreme cold weather, one becomes too numb
>to even think of fear. A prisoner under these conditions becomes obsessed
>with survival; nothing else matters.
>---------------------
>Q.) What were the living conditions like in Dachau?
>
>A.) We were issued one-quarter of a loaf of bread. That was to last three
>days. In the morning, we picked up, at the kitchen, a cup of roasted barley
>drink. There was no lunch. At dinnertime, sometimes we got a watery soup
>with bits of tripe or some salt herring and a boiled potato.
>
>Our prison clothes were made from heavy, coarse denim. They would freeze when
>they got wet. We were not issued hats, gloves or underwear.
>The first night, about 500 prisoners were stuffed into a room designed to
>hold 50 (Believe me, it is possible). Later on, we were forced to sleep on
>straw. As time went on, the straw disintegrated and we became louse infested.
>The guards delighted in making weak and ill-clothed prisoners march or stand
>at attention in rain, snow, and ice for hours. As you can imagine, death
>came often due to the conditions.
>---------------------------
>Q.) Do you have residual fears? How do you feel about German re-unification?
>
>A.) I have nightmares constantly. I recently dreamed that a guard grabbed me.
>My wife's arm touched my face, and I unfortunately bit her severely.
>German re-unification, in my opinion, will be the basis for another war. The
>Germans, regardless of what their present leadership says, will want their
>lost territories back, East Prussia, Silesia, and Danzic (Gdansk). My family
>history goes back over 700 years in Germany. I understand all too well what
>the politicians do not want the people to be thinking about.
>--------------------------------
>Q.) You mentioned you were shot and stabbed several times. Were these
>experiments, punishment or torture?
>
>A.) They were punishment. I very often, in a fit of temper, acted "while the
>brain was not in gear." The sorry results were two 9 mm bullets in my knees.
>Fortunately, one of the prisoners had a fingernail file and was able to dig
>the slugs out. In another situation, I was stabbed in the washroom of room
>#1, Block 16. Twice in a struggle where I nearly lost my right thumb. A
>German prisoner Hans Wissing, who after the war became mayor of his home
>town, Leinsweiler, witnessed the whole situation. We stayed in touch until a
>few months ago, when he died.
>----------------------------
>Q.) Do you remember some of the steps taken by the Nazis to de-humanize
>people and to make them feel hopeless? How were people robbed of their
>dignity?
>
>A.) If you had treated an animal in Germany the way we were treated, you
>would have been jailed. For example, a guard or a group of them would single
>out a prisoner and beat him with canes or a club. Sometimes to further
>terrorize a prisoner, the guards would form a circle around a prisoner and
>beat him unconscious. There were cases of a prisoner being told to report to
>the Revier ("Hospital") and being forced to drink a quart of castor oil.
>Believe me, this is a lousy, painful, wretched way to die. You develop
>extreme diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, and severe dehydration. If the Nazis
>wanted you to live and suffer more, they would take measures to just postpone
>dehydration of the victim.
>--------------------------------
>Q.) What was the routine like at Dachau?
>
>A.) Three times a day, we were counted. We had to carry the dead to the
>square. Each time, we had to stand at attention in all kinds of weather. We
>stood wearing next to nothing, had weak bladders, while our tormentors had
>sheepskin coats and felt boots. The bastards really enjoyed watching us
>suffer. I remember how the guards had a good laugh when one of them
>"accidentally" let loose with a machine gun, killing about 30 prisoners.
>-----------------------------
>Q.) What did people do to try to adjust to Dachau? Keep their spirits up?
>
>A.) There were some actors, comedians, and musicians among us. Sometimes they
>would clandestinely perform. One of the musicians got hold of a violin and
>played for us. To this day, it remains a mystery how he got his hands on a
>violin.
>
>I still keep in touch with other prisoners. I am a member of the Dachau
>Prisoners Association. Each year I go back to Germany to visit.
>-------------------------------
>Q.) Did people ever successfully escape? Do you remember acts of bravery?
>
>A.) Nobody escaped, only in the movies does the "hero" escape. Guards
>received extra leave time for killing prisoners that got too close to the
>fence.
>
>I do, however, think all prisoners were heroes in their own way. Especially
>the German prisoners, for they would not acquiesce to the Nazis. They
>suffered greatly too.
>----------------------------------
>Q.) Did the camp inmates ever bring up the topic, "If only we were armed
>before, we would not be here now"?
>
>A.) Many, many times. Before Adolph Hitler came to power, there was a black
>market in firearms, but the German people had been so conditioned to be law
>abiding, that they would never consider buying an unregistered gun. The
>German people really believed that only hoodlums own such guns. What fools we
>were.
>
>It truly frightens me to see how the government, media, and some police
>groups in America are pushing for the same mindset. In my opinion, the
>people of America had better start asking and demanding answers to some hard
>questions about firearms ownership, especially if the government does not
>trust me to own firearms, why or how can the people be expected to trust the
>government?
>
>There is no doubt in my mind that millions of lives could have been saved if
>the people were not "brainwashed" about gun ownership and had been well
>armed.
>
>Hitler's thugs and goons were not very brave when confronted by a gun. Gun
>haters always want to forget the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, which is a perfect
>example of how a ragtag, half-starved group of Jews took up ten handguns and
>made as**s out of the Nazis.
>-----------------------------------
>Q.) Did you have any contacts with the White Rose Society (mostly German
>students against Hitler)? Did anyone try to hide you from the Nazis?
>
>A.) I did not, but my local friend, Richard Scholl, had two cousins or
>nephews who were members. Both were executed in Munich (I believe) for
>standing up for decency and freedom. Not enough people knew about the White
>Rose Society. There were many non-Jews who were not anti-Semitic and were
>very much opposed to Hitler.
>
>It was impossible to hide people from the Nazis in Germany - it is so densely
>populated and food was rationed. Another point that many people fail to
>understand is that in Germany, you had a situation where the children were
>reporting to their teachers if their parents listened to the BBC on the short
>wave radio, or what they were talking about at home. If a German was friendly
>to a Jew, he was warned once. If he failed to heed the warning, he would
>disappear and never be heard from again. This was known as "Operation Night
>and Fog."
>--------------------------------
>Q.) Do you think American society has enough stability that Jews and other
>minorities are safe from severe persecution?
>
>A.) No. I think there is more anti-Semitism in America (some of it caused by
>leftist Jewish politicians and organizations who promote gun control schemes)
>than there was in Germany. This may stun some people, but not all Germans
>hated Jews.
>
>My best and devoted friends in Germany were Christians. I perceive America
>as a very unstable society, due to social tinkering of the
>Kennedy/Metzenbaum-type politicians. When I first came to this wonderful
>country after World War II, America was vibrant, dynamic and promising
>society. There really was an American dream, attainable by those who wanted
>to work. Now, due to the curse of Liberalism, America is in a period of moral
>decline. Even worse, corrupt criminals hold high political office, and you
>have police officials who don't give a damn about the Bill of Rights. They
>just want to control people, not protect and serve. When you study history,
>you see that when a country becomes an immoral manure heap, as America is
>rapidly becoming, all minorities suffer, and ultimately, all the citizens.
>-----------------------------------
>Q.) What words of warning would you like to give to young people who will
>soon be eligible to vote?
>
>A.) Vote only for politicians who trust the people to own all types of
>firearms, and who have a strong pro-Second Amendment voting record.
>Anti-gun-ownership politicians are very dangerous to a free society. Liberty
>and freedom can only be preserved by an armed citizenry. I see creeping
>fascism in America, just as in Germany, a drip at a time; a law here, a law
>there, all supposedly passed to protect the public. Soon you have total
>enslavement. Too many Americans have forgotten that tyranny often masquerades
>as doing good. This is the technique the Liberal politicians/Liberal media
>alliance are using to enslave America.
>-------------------------------------
>Q.) What message do you have for ultra-Liberal organizations and individuals
>who want America disarmed?
>
>A.) Their ignorance is pitiful - their lives have been too easy. Had they
>experienced Dachau, they would have a better idea of how precious freedom is.
>These leftists should leave America. These Sarah Brady types must be educated
>to under-stand that because we have an armed citizenry, that a dictatorship
>has not yet happened in America. These anti-gun fools are more dangerous to
>Liberty than street criminals or foreign spies.
>----------------------------------
>Q.) Some concentration camp survivors are opposed to gun ownership. What
>message would you like to share with them?
>
>A.) I would like to say, "You cowards; you gun haters, you don't deserve to
>live in America. Go live in the Soviet Union, if you love gun control so d---
>much." It was the stupidity of these naive fools that aided and abetted
>Hitler's goons and thugs. Anti-gun-ownership Holocaust survivors insult the
>memories of all those that needlessly perished for lack of being able to
>adequately defend themselves.
>--------------------------------------
>Q.) It appears the Liberal left in America is tolerating, and sometimes
>espousing anti-Semitism. Why do you think so many Jews still support the
>leftist form of Liberalism?
>
>A.) It is for this very reason that I firmly believe that we harbor more
>stupid and naive people in our midst, than any other group of people. It
>amazes me how Liberal Jews have such short memories that today, they would be
>so supportive and involved in setting up the mechanics of gun control, so
>that a Holocaust can happen again. All they're doing is playing into the
>hands of the very clever communists who are masters at conning Americans.
>----------------------------------------
>Q.) Why did you join JPFO?
>
>A.) I feel every Jew should be armed to the teeth, as should every American.
>I joined JPFO because as a group, we can stand up to Liberal Jewish gun
>haters and also to Gestapo-minded anti-gun police who want total control of
>the people. I wish JPFO was in existence years ago. I believe the Jewish
>involvement in gun control would not be anywhere close to what it is today,
>but better now than never.
>-----------------------------------------
>
>Chris W. Stark
>Gun Owners of America - Texas Representative
>
>E-mail: gunowner@onramp.net
>
>Visit our Web Page at: http://rampages.onramp.net/~gunowner
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------
>"No class or group or party in Germany could escape its share of
>responsibility for the abandonment of the democratic Republic and the advent
>of Adolf Hitler. The cardinal error of the Germans who opposed Nazism was
>their failure to unite against it. .....the 63% of the German people who
>expressed their opposition to Hitler were much too divided and shortsighted
>to combine against a common danger which they must have known would overwhelm
>them unless they united, HOWEVER TEMPORARY, to stamp it out."
>=================================================
>· William L. Shirer, author of "The rise and fall of the Third Reich" p.259
>.....they who do not learn from History are DOOMED to repeat it !
>
>
>
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Paul Andrew Mitchell : Counselor at Law, federal witness
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