A Jewish Story. Sheldon Cohen
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views. We have Byelorussian nationalists who want their independence from any foreign powers and we have Byelorussians that have no problem working and living under the Communist system. My family is not Communistic and if I could have my wish, I guess I would prefer that we could live under our own system, but realism takes over. That is not possible now. We do what we have to do to survive and raise our family. I’m not political and always have been that way. It is the safest course. So far, my position is secure and I am able to raise a family in peace. I am fortunate to have such good friends at work.
“I do worry though because I’m afraid that Hitler has ambitions far beyond his borders, and that is the greatest threat to us. As I said before, Litvinov, the foreign minister, insists that Hitler is a serious threat. While Molotov believes that Russia can contain him. I hope we never find out who’s right.”
Ben added, “As you can see by Hitler’s speech, he spends a lot of time discussing the Bolshevik menace, as he calls it, and contrasts Germany’s personal experience with it as opposed to Britain that has no experience with it and thinks of it only as a Russian phenomenon. In fact, Hitler thinks that his fight against Bolshevism is saving all of Europe and maybe the world.”
“You’re right,” added Leah. He says that Bolshevism is a terror no one can tolerate. What can that possibly mean for any German-Russian relationship in the future?”
“We can only hope it will not lead to war. Hitler would be crazy. It would unify the entire Soviet Union and spell doom for Hitler,” said Mikhail.
Leah added, “Well I don’t think we’ve solved the world’s problems here today, but I sure enjoyed our discussion. Thank you so much, Mikhail for sharing his speech with us.”
“It was my pleasure and thanks for your hospitality. We must get together soon. There is a gymnastics meet coming up next week and I hope we can all attend so we can go watch our two prospective Olympians: Val and David.”
They all laughed. “We’ll be there, you can be sure, Mikhail,” said Ben.
The gymnastics competition took place at the University where the gym was much larger and had the ability to accommodate thousands of spectators. There were representatives from a dozen teams who had made the finals. Val qualified as one of the top ten all-around, and David, one of the youngest competitors, placed within the top ten in the pommel horse, his favorite event. Ely, Leah and Emily felt great pride in their son and brother’s accomplishment at such a young age. The Olympics took place in Berlin in 1936 and Val was in the running to represent The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in the 1940 Olympics. However, the war to come would cancel it and have a devastating personal impact on the two families.
The Parliaments of Europe were all concerned about Hitler’s intentions. In France, in an effort to prevent German aggression, they constructed the Maginot Line. This “impregnable defense,” built in five years in the early thirties at a cost of seven billion Francs, and stretching between Luxembourg and Switzerland along France’s border with Germany, would prevent any attack along the border. Three fortified lines with anti-tank emplacements and pillboxes were considered impervious to tank warfare and impenetrable by the German army. Such thinking was to become folly and a monument to the idea that fixed emplacements could deter any would-be modern aggressor. When Hitler embarked upon his western offensive in 1940, he swept into France through the Ardennes, north of the Maginot Line. In one fell swoop, he destroyed the concept of fixed defensive emplacements and proved the French wrong when they found it unnecessary to include the Ardennes forests, because, as they maintained, ‘tanks would find it impenetrable.’ This bold sweep, led by Generals Heinz Guderian and Erwin Rommel, reached the Meuse River at Dinant and caused the French to abandon Paris. Warfare would never be the Same.
In late 1937, Italy joined the Anti-Commintern pact. This was the third nation, along with Germany and Japan, to join. There were now two factions competing for world control: the extreme right and left of the political spectrum.
In early 1938, the pressure on Austria to merge with Germany had reached its climax. For years there had been many Austrians, both Nazi and non-Nazi, who pursued a “Heim Ins Reich” (home in Germany) movement. German Nazis had provided support for the Austrian Nazi Party by lobbying for German-Austrian unification. The pressure on Austria’s Chancellor, Kurt Schuschnig was rising. Although he was committed to remaining independent, he tried to hold a referendum to ask the Austrian people what they preferred: independence or merge with Germany. His expectation was that the Austrians would vote to remain independent, but they cancelled the vote when the Austrian Nazis staged a coup d’etat on 11 March, 1938. With power transferred to Germany, German troops entered the country and took control. Austrian citizens had awakened to an Anschluss (union) with Germany.
The treaty of Versailles had prohibited the union of Germany and Austria, but there was no reaction of the World War I allies. Hitler was being progressively emboldened.
Under the Treaty of Versailles, Britain and France governed the Saar region for a period of 15 years, and its coalfields ceded to France. At the end of that time, a plebiscite was to determine the Saar's future status. The plebiscite took place and the great majority of the citizens of the Saar voted to return to Germany. This was the first peaceful result for Germany in regards to the Versailles Treaty. The next, of course, was Hitler’s success in remilitarizing the Rhineland, and now the take over of Austria. His Mein Kampf predictions played out one at a time, albeit in an increasing order of difficulty.
Ben arrived home from work one evening and Leah greeted him with a Russian newspaper that had written a full report on the Austrian situation. “They’re a full part of Germany now, and it all happened without Hitler firing a shot,” she said. He’s gobbling up Europe and what’s interesting is the reaction of England.”
“What do they say about it all?” asked Ben.
“Well, they start out by registering a strong protest against the Nazis for their…let me see…yes, ‘their use of coercion, backed by force, against an independent State in order to create a situation incompatible with its national independence.’”
“Wow, how tough can they get?” said Ben with biting sarcasm. “What else do they say?”
“Well, then they add that 200 years ago Scotland joined with England and that wasn’t much different than Germany and Austria now.”
“Now the appeasement starts,” said Ben.
“Chamberlain says that there was not much they can do unless they were prepared to use force, which they were not. But then he says that they will review their state of defense preparedness,” said Leah.
“Oh, that’ll make Hitler quake in his boots, won’t it.”
“We just have to pray that he will eat enough to give him a full belly.”
“Well, I hope he gets that full belly long before he decides to act on his lebensraum in the east. That is my worst nightmare,” said Ben.
Another Hitler target in 1938 was the Sudetenland. This area, along the Northern border of Czechoslovakia had been a part of Germany in the 1800’s, and after the First World War, it became part of Czechoslovakia. Hitler, with an eye to restoring the Greater German Reich, wanted the Sudetenland back in Germany even though most Sudetan Nazis had been content to remain part of Czechoslovakia.
When Leah heard the news, she said to Ben, “It looks like his belly hasn’t been filled yet.”
A Sudetan-German Nazi-like political party, formed in 1935 and financed by Nazi Germany, began to complain of discrimination by the Czechs. That was enough of a pretext for Hitler who wanted to invade Czechoslovakia, but his generals resisted pointing out that Czechoslovakia’s powerful army could offer formidable mountain defenses in the Sudetenland, and if Britain, France, or the Soviet Union came to Czechoslovakia’s defense, Germany would not prevail. One group of generals made plans to overthrow Hitler should he ignore their advice. The Czechoslovakian situation set in motion a four-nation great power conclave.
In a hoped for resolution of the Sudetenland question,