Chapter 64: Day of Potsdam

256     “auxiliary Stasi”  Alice Weidel on the General Debate on the 2024 Federal Budget of the 31st of January 2024, trans. Empire Caption Solutions.

256     the secret police of Communist East Germany To learn more about the Stasi, see Meggin Leigh Doody, “How Did East Germany’s Secret Police, the Stasi, Operate?” Deutsche Welle (DW), video, January 15, 2025, www.dw.com/en/how-did-east-germanys-secret-police-the-stasi-operate/video-71297431.

256     “with plenty of taxpayers’ money”. . . “incredible lies, defamation . . .”  Alice Weidel on the General Debate on the 2024 Federal Budget.

256     “tax-financed denunciation against a competing party”  Alice Weidel on the General Debate on the 2024 Federal Budget.

256     “a gloomy Saturday morning Marcus Bensmann et al., “Secret Plan Against Germany,” Correctiv, January 15, 2024, correctiv.org/en/latest-stories/2024/01/15/secret-plan-against-germany/.

256–257 “It may also be mere coincidence that . . . where the Wannsee Conference took place”  Bensmann et al., “Secret Plan Against Germany,” correctiv.org/en/latest-stories/2024/01/15/secret-plan-against-germany/.

257      discussed the remigration . . . of Jewish citizens . . . “Coordinating the Destruction of an Entire People: The Wannsee Conference,” National WWII Museum (New Orleans), January 19, 2021, www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/wannsee-conference-1942.

257      was Adolf Eichmann “Coordinating the Destruction of an Entire People: The Wannsee Conference,” www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/wannsee-conference-1942.

257      an SS officer who helped organize . . . and fled to Argentina  “Adolf Eichmann,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, United State Holocaust Memorial Museum, August 30, 2018, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/adolf-eichmann.

257      “Able-bodied Jews will be taken . . .”  Wannsee Protocol, January 20, 1942, German History in Documents and Images, German Historical Institute (Washington, DC), ghdi.ghi-dc.org/pdf/eng/English41.pdf, 5.

257      “in the course of which . . . eliminated by natural causes”  Wannsee Protocol, ghdi.ghi-dc.org/pdf/eng/English41.pdf, 5.

257      read the conference’s minutes, compiled and heavily revised by Eichmann “The protocol was compiled, and heavily edited, by Adolf Eichmann from notes taken during the meeting. It is not a word-for-word transcript of the conference, but instead the carefully revised minutes of the meeting.” When Eichmann was asked about his role in the conference while on trial in Jerusalem in 1961, “Eichmann admitted his role in the preparation of the conference and for maintaining the official record of the meeting. During the meeting, a secretary took stenographic notes of the proceedings, which Eichmann then revised, removing what he called ‘vulgarisms’ and changing the text to reflect more ‘official language.’” “Wannsee Protocol,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, September 21, 2020, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/wannsee-protocol.

257      “Europe will be cleaned up . . .”  Wannsee Protocol, ghdi.ghi-dc.org/pdf/eng/English41.pdf, 5.

257      organized . . . to marry . . . in the reign of Adolf Hitler  Peter Fritzsche, Hitler’s First Hundred Days: When Germans Embraced the Third Reich (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2021), 115. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1262797534.

257      visited the Potsdam gravesites of. . .  Fritzsche, Hitler’s First Hundred Days, 166–167. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1262797534.

257      On that very day . . . the first concentration camps for . . .  Fritzsche, Hitler’s First Hundred Days, 166–167. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1262797534.For an example of such a story, see “Communists to Be Interned in Dachau,” The Guardian, March 21, 1933, www.theguardian.com/theguardian/1933/mar/21/fromthearchive.

257      suspended the Weimar constitution Fritzsche, Hitler’s First Hundred Days, 197. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1262797534.

257      happened at the Garnisonkirche  Fritzsche, Hitler’s First Hundred Days, 196–197. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1262797534.

257      had been built in the 1920s  Bensmann et al., “Secret Plan Against Germany,” correctiv.org/en/latest-stories/2024/01/15/secret-plan-against-germany/.

257      is buried at  Fritzsche, Hitler’s First Hundred Days, 196. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1262797534.

257      idolized this monarch . . . expanded his kingdom  Reporter Tamara Jones writes, “Hitler so admired Frederick the Great and his father that he ordered their remains hidden in a salt mine when Allied bombs began falling near Potsdam. The Americans found the remains and moved them to what became West Germany, where they remained until” 1991. Tamara Jones, “Frederick the Great at Peace—Not Germany,” Los Angeles Times, August 18, 1991, www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-08-18-mn-1496-story.html. For more on Hitler’s admiration of Frederick II, see Allan Nevins, “Two ‘Greats’ Two Dictators Worship,” New York Times, February 4, 1940, nyti.ms/3D6Owr4, 103, 106, 108.

257      presented Hitler as Frederick’s heir  “In the years after 1933 one often saw on the wall of a village Krug or urban Kneipe a framed lithograph showing three heads in profile: those of Frederich the Great, Bismarck, and Adolf Hitler. The artist, who was commissioned by Josef Goebbels’s Propaganda Ministry, had obviously been set the task of demonstrating the legitimacy of the regime by means of a pictorial representation of historical continuity.” Gordon A. Craig, Germany, 1866–1945 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978), 543. Nazi propaganda also invoked Frederick II’s memory to respond to specific events. Hitler’s “image had to be refashioned by Goebbels to match the change which the Russian campaign had brought about. The première of his lavish new film, The Great King, in early 1942 allowed Goebbels to stylize Hitler by association as a latter-day Frederick the Great, isolated in his majesty, conducting a heroic struggle for his people against mighty enemies and ultimately overcoming crisis and calamity to emerge triumphant.” Ian Kershaw, Hitler: A Biography (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2008), 701–702. Visit search.worldcat.org/title/4098841 and search.worldcat.org/title/500873821to find the library copies of Germany, 1866–1945 and Hitler: A Biography, respectively.

258     invited . . . von Hindenburg  Fritzsche, Hitler’s First Hundred Days, 196. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1262797534.

258     led the German army during World War I . . . appointed Hitler . . .Anna von der Goltz, “Hindenburg, Paul von,” 1914–1918 Online: International Encyclopedia of the First World War, April 7, 2015, encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/hindenburg-paul-von/.
 
258     greeted von Hindenburg in front of the church  For a silent video of this greeting, see “Celebrating the Opening of the New Reichstag; Parades in Potsdam,” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, video, collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn1003817, 3:16–3:25.

258     “to seal the union of new and old Germany”  Fritzsche, Hitler’s First Hundred Days, 196. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1262797534.

258     for speeches, military songs, and church bells. It all . . .Fritzsche, Hitler’s First Hundred Days, 196–197. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1262797534.

258     “the disintegration of the German people” “Hitler's Speech at Potsdam,” New York Times, March 22, 1933, nyti.ms/4khtQNG, 8.

258     “You . . . by a magnanimous resolve entrusted” “Hitler’s Speech at Potsdam,” New York Times, nyti.ms/4khtQNG, 8.

258     “In a unique resurgence the people have . . .”  Hitler’s Speech at Potsdam,” New York Times, nyti.ms/4khtQNG, 8.

258     “grant us that courage and endurance” . . . “for our people’s freedom and greatness”  Hitler’s Speech at Potsdam,” New York Times, nyti.ms/4khtQNG, 8.

258     “development of singleness of mind in the German nation, cultivation of . . ."  Hitler’s Speech at Potsdam,” New York Times, nyti.ms/4khtQNG, 8.

258     “in the classical sense” Alexander Gauland quoted in “Germany Team ‘Isn’t German,’” DW, June 3, 2016, www.dw.com/en/afd-politician-says-germanys-football-team-isnt-german/a-19305613.

258     Europe “to immigration from other continents . . .”  AfD, We Decide Who Comes to Us, pamphlet, 2019, www.afd.de/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Flyer_EU_Migration_8-Seit_WmD.pdf, via Google Translate.

258     differentiates between “real Germans” and “passport Germans”  Sebastian Friedrich, “How the Alternative für Deutschland Radicalized the German Right,” trans. Loren Balhorn, Jacobin, April 23, 2023, jacobin.com/2023/04/alternative-fur-deutschland-german-far-right-strategy-radicalization-ethnonationalism; Michael Martens, “Germans and German Passport Holders,” commentary, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), July 29, 2018, www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/inland/warum-die-rede-von-passdeutschen-unangemessen-ist-15712646.html, via Google Translate; and Johannes Reichart, “How the AfD Courts Migrants—and Denigrates Them at the Same Time,” BR24, August 14, 2024, www.br.de/nachrichten/deutschland-welt/wie-die-afd-um-migranten-wirbt-und-sie-zugleich-verunglimpft, via Google Translate.

258–259 “warned of ‘Volkstod’ . . . through ‘population replacement’”  James Angelos, “Germany’s Far-Right ‘Firewall’ Cracks,” Politico, October 4, 2023, www.politico.eu/article/germany-firewall-afd-elections-thuringia/.

259     must keep Black Africans out . . . and would thereby soon replace them Journalist Alex Dziadosz reports, “In November 2015, [Hocke] appeared at an event hosted by a thinktank run by Götz Kubitschek, a prominent rightwing publisher and intellectual. In his speech, Höcke outlined what he called the different ‘reproductive strategies’ of Africans and Europeans. While Africans ‘aimed at achieving the highest possible growth rate’ and migrating to other regions, Europeans did pretty much the opposite, having fewer babies and making ‘optimal use’ of their environment. The collision of these two ‘strategies’ necessitated ‘a fundamental reassessment of the direction of Germany’s asylum and immigration policy.’” Alex Dziadosz, “The Trial of Björn Höcke, the ‘Real Boss’ of Germany’s Far Right,” The Guardian, August 29, 2024, www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/29/the-trial-of-bjorn-hocke-the-real-boss-of-germany-far-right.

259     “a monument of shame” Björn Höcke quoted in Madeline Chambers, “German AfD Rightist Triggers Fury with Holocaust Memorial Comments,” Reuters, January 18, 2017, www.reuters.com/article/world/german-afd-rightist-triggers-fury-with-holocaust-memorial-comments-idUSKBN1521HB/.

259     “a 180 degree turnaround” Höcke quoted in Chambers, “German AfD Rightist Triggers Fury with Holocaust Memorial Comments,” www.reuters.com/article/world/german-afd-rightist-triggers-fury-with-holocaust-memorial-comments-idUSKBN1521HB/.

259     is not thoroughly taught in most schools  In 2017, the Teaching Tolerance program of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) published the results of a survey of 1,000 high school seniors, which found “that only 8 percent” could “identify slavery as the cause of the Civil War.” Presented with a range of historical questions about slavery, student “responses as a whole were dismal, even on very easy items. In no case did more than 67 percent of students identify the correct answer to a given question.” Teaching Tolerance also “surveyed more than 1,700 social studies teachers across the country. A bare majority say they feel competent to teach about slavery.” “Almost all teachers (97 percent) agree that learning about slavery is essential to understanding American history,” but “The majority (58 percent) are dissatisfied with what textbooks offer, and a large number (39 percent) say their state offers little or no support for teaching about slavery.” In their review of twelve popular textbooks, Teaching Tolerance observed, “None of the textbooks that we reviewed make meaningful connections to the present day, either through showing the influence of African culture or by explicating the persistence of structural racism. None of the state standards documents we reviewed make these connections.” Teaching Tolerance, Teaching Hard History: American Slavery (SPLC, 2017), www.splcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/files/tt_hard_history_american_slavery.pdf, 22, 12–13, 24–25, 35, 18.

259     have been frequently banned  PEN America reports that among books banned during the 2023–2024 school year, “15% contained themes of activism and social movements; 13% depicted incarceration or negative interactions with police; 7% included immigration and refugee stories; 20% included LGBTQ+ themes or metaphors; and 20% covered race and racism.” Additionally, “Books addressing non-sexual violence comprised 60% of all 4,218 banned unique titles in the 23–24 school year. These titles spanned a wide array of topics, addressing difficult subjects such as war, gun violence, slavery and genocide, physical fighting, and more.” PEN America, “Cover to Cover: An Analysis of Titles banned in the 23-24 School Year,” February 27, 2025, accessed September 12, 2025, pen.org/report/cover-to-cover/. To read similar reports dating back to the 2021–2022 school year, visit pen.org/book-bans/book-ban-reports/.

259     “The ideology of multiculturalism . . .”  AfD, Manifesto for Germany: The Political Programme of the Alternative for Germany, April 2017, English version, www.afd.de/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/2017-04-12_afd-grundsatzprogramm-englisch_web.pdf, 46.

259     “take back our country and our Volk!”  Alexander Gauland quoted in Roger Cohen, “Opinion: Return of the German Volk,” New York Times, September 29, 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/09/29/opinion/german-election-afd.html.

259     “Take back Germany from whom? . . .”  Cohen, “Opinion: Return of the German Volk,” www.nytimes.com/2017/09/29/opinion/german-election-afd.html.

259     “white Finnish culture” Laura Huhtasaari, November 2018, quoted in “Factsheet: The Finns Party” Bridge Initiative, Georgetown University, September 10, 2020, accessed via Wayback Machine, January 17, 2021 capture, https://web.archive.org/web/20210117002224/https://bridge.georgetown.edu/research/factsheet-the-finns-party/.

259     “the Estonian people must be able to reproduce . . .” Conservative People’s Party of Estonia, “Conservative Programme,” 2015, quoted in Vassilis Petsinis and Louis Wierenga, Report on Radical Right Populism in Estonia and Latvia, Populist Rebellion Against Modernity (POPREBEL) Working Paper no. 7 (2022), populism-europe.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Working-Paper-7.pdf, 5.

259     the countless White Europeans . . .  Besides Europeans who belong to other faith traditions, research has shown that a growing number of Europeans are religiously unaffiliated, including people who were baptized and raised Christian but no longer identify as Christian. See Pew Research Center, “Being Christian in Western Europe,” May 29, 2018, www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/05/Being-Christian-in-Western-Europe-FOR-WEB1.pdf, 81–88.

259     “We must also return to our European Christian roots”  Branko Grims quoted in Álvaro Peñas, “‘Without Christian Roots Europe Cannot Exist’: An Interview with Branko Grims,” European Conservative, August 23, 2023, europeanconservative.com/articles/interviews/without-christian-roots-europe-cannot-exist-an-interview-with-branko-grims/.

259–260 “to prevent our children and our grandchildren . . . from being subdued”  Éric Zemmour quoted in Aurelien Breeden and Constant Méheut, “Éric Zemmour, Far-Right Pundit, Makes French Presidential Run Official,” New York Times, November 30, 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/11/30/world/europe/eric-zemmour-france-president.html.

260     “France is a country with Greco-Latin and Christian roots”  Marion Maréchal quoted in Julian Coman, “Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron Face Off for the Soul of France,” The Guardian, March 26, 2017, www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/26/marine-le-pen-emmanuel-macron-french-elections.

260     “in 2060 the historic native people could be . . .” Marion Maréchal quoted in Elisabeth Zerofsky, “France’s Far Right Turn,” New York Times, March 31, 2022, updated April 22, 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/03/31/magazine/new-french-right.html.

260     “core ideology” . . . “an ethnically homogeneous community”  Friedrich, “How the Alternative für Deutschland Radicalized the German Right,” jacobin.com/2023/04/alternative-fur-deutschland-german-far-right-strategy-radicalization-ethnonationalism.

260     “it no longer defines that homogeneity on the basis of . . .” Friedrich, “How the Alternative für Deutschland Radicalized the German Right,” jacobin.com/2023/04/alternative-fur-deutschland-german-far-right-strategy-radicalization-ethnonationalism.

260     “the German people as an ethnocultural unit”  Hans-Thomas Tillschneider quoted in Justus Bender, “AfD-Affiliated ‘Patriotic Platform’ Wants to Dissolve,” FAZ, September 21, 2018, www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/inland/afd-nahe-patriotische-plattform-will-sich-aufloesen-15799687.html, via Google Translate.

260     advancing what they term “ethnopluralism”  Friedrich, “How the Alternative für Deutschland Radicalized the German Right,” jacobin.com/2023/04/alternative-fur-deutschland-german-far-right-strategy-radicalization-ethnonationalism.

260     “I am convinced that Christian, Flemish and . . .” Tom Van Grieken quoted in “Tom Van Grieken: ‘Whiteness Must Be a Dominant Factor in Our Society,’” Nieuws365, May 29, 2021, www.nieuws365.be/politiek/tom-van-grieken-het-blanke-moet-een-dominante-factor-zijn-in-onze-samenleving, via Google Translate.