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George Jacobson, who was a medic in the U.S. Army from 1968 to 1970, lives in Orono.
History is not always pleasant, but it often provides invaluable lessons. Reflecting on the past, we find several compelling examples that highlight the importance of remembering and understanding these events.
A notable instance is the rise of the Gestapo, a faction within the SS, in Austria and Germany during the 1930s, eventually extending their reach across surrounding countries until the conclusion of World War II. Along with the “Brown Shirts,” a uniformed, non-governmental, paramilitary gang, these troops operated without restraint, moving freely through Germany, Austria, and occupied territories. They frequently arrested citizens without warning or warrants, invaded homes, destroyed property, and often confiscated art and other valuables belonging to those targeted. On Nov. 9-10, 1938, “Kristallnacht,” windows of Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues were shattered.
The people arrested during those times were often quickly moved to other parts of Europe. A great number of those individuals disappeared with no further word to their families or friends. We now know that many, a majority Jewish, were hauled in box cars to concentration camps that were in some cases designed for mass killings. These horrendous camps were eventually discovered after the Germans surrendered to U.S. and Allied forces in May of 1945.
Although some people now deny that any of this happened, history is clear that more than 6 million people were killed by the Germans, either in concentration camps or in mass executions elsewhere.
In the 80 years since the end of World War II, German citizens have, to their credit, continually expressed sincere regret and sorrow for what happened during the Nazi rule. In some cases, property and objects of art have been returned to the families of those arrested by the SS, and some former homes have been identified with memorial markers.
But the German atrocities are not the only historical events worth remembering these days. In our own country, members of the Ku Klux Klan behaved in ways that resembled the Gestapo/SS.
The white-supremacist KKK was formed in the South immediately after the Civil War. But from 1890 to 1945 members of the KKK carried out violent attacks on individuals of several backgrounds. We most often hear about the many lynchings of Black Americans, who were often dragged from their families and homes, and hung from nearby trees (the “Strange Fruit” of Billie Holiday’s famous 1939 song).
Well-documented historical estimates indicate that over 4,000 Black citizens and perhaps a thousand others, including Catholics, Jewish people, and recent immigrants from southern Europe, were lynched between 1890 and 1968. Most of the attacks were carried out by individuals who wore hoods, likely because they were too ashamed or too cowardly to be identified.
Here in Maine, the KKK became a political force that focused its attacks on individuals of several targeted groups, in this case, mostly Catholics and Jewish people. Many of the Catholics were French-Canadian immigrants who had come to work in the mills then operating across our state in places like Lewiston, Brunswick, and Saco. Others were eastern European Catholics who had immigrated to work in the mills in Millinocket and Rumford. A great deal more information about these historical events can easily be found by any interested reader.
We now must ask ourselves how Americans today compare to citizens here and abroad in the 1930s. With so much more information, are we not better equipped to prevent a repeat of atrocities of the past?