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USA’s SA Troops
History is repeating itself
In these days of alternative facts, it is possible to find seemingly credible counter information on anything. Rather than try to dissect one website vs. another website, I look for patterns.
About six months ago, my Mastodon feed had a video of white men dressed in brown pants, blue shirts, white scarf, sunglasses, and brown baseball caps. I pegged this video as a possible replica of the Sturmabteilung (SA) of Nazi Germany. This group did all the dirty work to put fear into the general German population during the rise of the Nazi Party.
Going to the 1930s
Somewhere in Vienna, I encountered an art exhibit of that time. A young Austrian teenager sees a crowd on the street. She works her way into the front of the crowd. She sees her family doctor and other men scrubbing the street with toothbrushes. The SA troopers are barking orders at the men.
The doctor has taken care of her family’s medical needs for years. He was Jewish.
The scene drags on for a little longer. Then the SA troopers, the humiliated men, the crowd, and teenager disburse as if nothing ever happened. But something did happen.
This scene has haunted me for years. I’m not sure I could do the right thing. Especially now that I have a son to…
