NAZI AMERICA - A SECRET HISTORY [History Channel Program]

History Channel/A&E ^

[Chancellor Palpatine]

It started with the arrival of German immigrants in the 1930s. Originally, it was fairly benign, giving the newcomers structure and a sense of kinship with the land they had left. But after World War II exposed the horrors of the Nazi regime, Nazism in America became a voice of hate and exclusion.

NAZI AMERICA is a feature-length profile of a fringe party that exploits the very freedoms they would abolish in order to get their racist, hate-filled message out. See how vitriolic leaders embraced Hitler's doctrine of Aryan superiority and the elimination of Jewry to rally the disenfranchised. Trace the history of the American Nazi Party and the many Neo-Nazi parties active today. Members speak of why they embrace a cause universally reviled, while law enforcement officers reveal how they fight the spread of the Nazi influence in America.

Filled with shocking footage and unflinching commentary, NAZI AMERICA: A SECRET HISTORY pulls the wraps off decades of hate and discrimination in our midst.

[Catspaw]

I liked seeing all of these bottle blondes at the Aryan Nations rally, all trying to be good Aryan women. I just has this vision of them standing in the Hair Care section of Walmart, looking at Clairol, chanting, "I must go blonde for Pastor Butler....I must go blonde for Pastor Butler...."

[Sans-Culotte]

How about a secret history of the kennedy's drug running, murdere, lobotomies, etc. And maybe a littel blurb on ho there beliefs lead to the death of a nation. Or maybe something on the secret life of communinism and the beliefs that led to the dead of a 100 million plus, naw can't have that kenndey's and communists are good guys. Lets talk about the nasty germans not the nasty irish or the nasty slavers in africa. History channel, more like anti history channel.

I'm thinking you do not really watch the History Channel very much. They have shown some very fine programs depicting the evils of Communism.

A couple of years ago, they showed War of the Century, which showed how the Commies were killing damned near as many of their own people during WWII as the Nazis were.
Also, History Channel International has been showing an excellent 4-part series on Stalin that pulls no punches in depicting his murderous reign. I have never seen them air programs depicting the Commies as "good guys".

BTW, are you suggesting that the Nazi movement was not evil? How would you have depicted a program on hte subject?

[Skooz]

I saw an good documentary of the whole Randy Weaver affair about 6 months ago on the Bravo or Trio channel (I think). The program stated pretty much the same thing as your post. Weaver was a loner who was a little nutty, but hardly a threat to anyone. He attended a meeting or two of some White Supremecists, but didn't care for their message.

[DoughtyOne]

Exactly. These KKK and NAZI "close-ups" are nothing but fodder for those who seek to paint our society as an evil white driven racist society. It's difficult to decide which is worse, the KKK/NAZI perps or those who successfully use them as prominent icons to advance their own racist agenda.

[gcruse]

Substituting NAACP for Nazis and whites for Jews gives an interesting article, too.

[r9etb]

The whole Weaver case was one of those in power using their positions to murder those who they did not like.

That's going too far. The situation was atrociously mishandled, and quickly escalated; however, I seriously doubt that any of the LEO went into the situation with an eye toward killing anybody.

[metesky]

Interestingly, the ties of Randy and Vicki Weaver to white supremacist organizations was addressed, something I did not know.

I heard that Weaver was a Seperatist, still sucks, but different from a Supremacist.

[discostu]

It was blood thirsty tyrant day on the History Channel (Caligula, Pol Pot, Hitler, Stalin, Bin Laden, KKK, neonazis), pretty cool. I love Sunday's on the History Channel because they usually have a theme and you can spend all day pretending to learn about something interesting.

[wimpycat]

I saw the previews for it, but I had no interest in watching it.

[Pharmboy]

I didn't see it, but I sure hope they spoke of the fact that the GREAT MAJORITY OF GERMAN AMERICANS had NOTHING to do with the Bund; as a matter of fact, the Nazis tried to get the Steuben Society to back Hitler, but they refused. That's why they formed the Bund.

And that's why--as an American Jew--I always attended the Steuben Day Parades in NYC and cheered them on.

[seamus]

Some things I know about the Randy Weaver case (the reporter for The Washington Times who covered this story extensively filled me in just the other day over a lunch discussion about how screwed up the FBI is):

1. Weaver was a nut, but hardly a dangerous criminal.

2. He was guilty of purchasing a single sawed-off shotgun. The fed who sold it to him in a sting operation sawed it 1/4 of an inch too short so that Randy Weaver would violate the law if he bought it. At the time of purchase, Randy Weaver said he thought the gun was a bit too short, but the fed in the sting convinced him it was OK.

3. The feds wanted to get Weaver on a weapons charge so they could cut a deal in which he'd infiltrate a local white supremacist group for them. He said "screw off," and mentioned that the group they wanted him to infiltrate was too weird, even for him.

4. The Feds staked out his home for weeks, and said it was "booby-trapped," which was not true. They said he had lots and lots of illegal guns, which was not true.

5. Everytime the feds prowling in the woods got close to his house, the dog would bark at them. So, one day, the feds lured the dog down as he was traveling with Randy Weaver's son and his son's friend. A fed rose out of the bushes in full camoflauge and shot the dog dead in front of Weaver's son. Weaver's son responded by raising his rifle, but his father yelled for him to drop it and run. He did. Weaver's son was shot in the back as he ran. In response (again, not knowing these were special agents dressed like "ninjas" in camo) the friend of Weaver's 14-year-old son shot the agent with his rifle, killing him.

6. Randy Weaver was attempting to collect the body of his son when sharp-shooters were dispatched to the scene. They took shots at Weaver and his son's friend as they were carrying the body away. They dropped the body and ran toward the back of the house. An agent sharp-shooter, trying to time a shot to go through the windows of the house and hit the fleeing friend fired off a teriffic shot. It went through the front window through the back window and struck the friend in the shoulder. Unfortunately, it went through Vicki Weaver's head first, killing her as she was holding her infant son.

7. Oh, and the sharp-shooters were given "fire at any armed male" as the rules of engagement based on entirely trumped up "facts" that were sent from the agents on the scene to FBI HQ in Washington. There were no booby traps. Weaver had not shot at agents unprovoked. There was no huge cache of weapons that would have facilitated a Waco-like seige.

8. A jury decided that Weaver was wronged and awarded $3 million, paid by the federal government, for the deadly incompetence of the FBI that day.

Sorry that's so long, but that about wraps up the important stuff, as far as I know.

[DoughtyOne]

Once the initial agent was shot, that's exactly what they went into this thing looking to do.

Weaver was cleared of all charges. His wife is still dead.

No agents received any reprimand or demotion. I believe they even received commendations at one point.

[Spiff]

It then went to the reprehensible speeches and actions of George Lincoln Rockwell, as he manipulated societal openness to his advantage

I absolutely loathe Rockwell and the racist crap that he spewed. However, I want to point out something that the show did not address. In America, we have the freedom of speech. Unpopular speech is supposed to be protected as well as politically correct speech. Rockwell was assassinated in cold blood in the middle of the street because someone hated his speech so much.

Then that puke that lead the Skokie thing. Did you see how calm and collected his guys were? Quietly carrying signs, occasionally doing the "sieg heil" thing. Yet it was the people who hated them that were the most violent - screaming at the top of their lungs, one woman was near maniacal with her hate towards that group, pelting them with eggs, threatening them. Did you see the raw hate coming from them? Then the Jewish Veterans of Foreign Wars and other Jewish groups were planning a confrontation with them. Again, I completely disagree with the racist, nazi crap that those nazi's were all about, and I'm just pointing out a few things not trying to defend their racist crap.

I didn't know the history of the Turner Diaries or its author Pierce that the show went into. I'm glad I never purchased or read that crap.

I have to agree that it was a very illuminating program. Actually, it was quite fairminded, in my opinion.

[Catspaw]

I didn't see it, but I sure hope they spoke of the fact that the GREAT MAJORITY OF GERMAN AMERICANS had NOTHING to do with the Bund

They did--and made the distinction between German Americans who had immigrated to the US long before this (and were loyal Americans) and some (very few) German newcomers who had ties to the Hitler regime.

[george wythe]

Thank you for the summary about Weaver. It is worse than I suspected.

[dts32041]

Didn't suggest that the nazi regime wasn't evil reember the only difference between the current national democrat party and the nazis is the word socialist. I pretty much limit my history channel watching to mail call and conquest, after I started seeing an intestesting bias in history this week, or a few of their own produced programs.

[biblewonk]

The hate some of them were spewing was rather shocking to me.

I heard some shocking hate at a concert the other day, from a person with a swastica tattoo on his chest. He was like a trained dog with no thought as to why he was suppose to attack the little rabbit, it was just the right thing to do.

[yarddog]

Actually two of the FBI agents in charge did receive official reprimands. I can't remember their names (Potts was one) but the reprimands were simply window dressing.

A reprimand in your personnel file is basically a career killer. Most would simply resign after getting one. In this case they were both promoted weeks after getting the reprimands.

[Alberta's Child]

This might sound extreme, but after reading all of the facts associated with Ruby Ridge I started rooting against the Feds in every single confrontation in which they were involved. Regardless of whether the perp was "right" or not.

[Little Ray]

I didn't get to see the show; not much a tv watcher. Did it mention Dudley Pelley and the Silver Shirts? Rockwell's Nazis are pretty late-comers to the Fascist scene in America.
Pelley led an American Fascist movement, started in 1933. The Silver Shirts were his SA. He didn't like Jews or blacks. FDR tossed him jail pretty much as soon as WWII started for sedition and insurrection; He got out again in 1952, having apparently learned his lesson. At least he didn't make much trouble thereafter. However his movement survived in some pretty weird places; this is an interestin' link:
http://www.mille.org/publications/winter2000/lobb.PDF


Anybody who knows more, I be interested in reading suggestions.