History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes
In early December, my wife and I flew to Munich to begin a Danube River cruise. We hoped to visit historic European cities and take in some of the charming Christmas markets that are so much a part of the season. We planned to unwind, savor these magnificent places, and unplug from the news and screens that occupy so much of our consciousness when we are home.
Two days into our tour, we visited Linz, Austria, the city where Adolf Hitler spent much of his youth and claimed as his hometown. Here, Hitler gave one of his fieriest speeches from the balcony of the Linz town hall to an audience of 250,000 following the annexation of Austria in 1938, whipping up thousands to support his dream of a greater Germany free of the vermin polluting European society.
The town was charming, the Christmas market delightful, but the heaviness of the town square where thousands cheered a monster was soul-searing.
A few days later, my wife and I toured Cesky-Krumlov in the Czech Republic with our local guide, Carolina. Carolina is a bright and engaging middle-aged local whose parents lived through Hitler’s conquest of Czechoslovakia and much of the rest of Europe. After the liberation of her country by the Soviets, her family survived 40 years under Soviet domination and the oppression of eastern bloc countries. The Czech Republic, her free and democratic nation, was born in 1993 following the fall of the Soviet empire. After 20 years of independence, she, like many Europeans we spoke with, is concerned again today.
She reminded us of some European history that many Americans may have learned but have long since forgotten, especially with the passing of our American parents and grandparents who endured World War II.
In 1938, three years before the U.S. entered World War II, England, France, Italy and Germany signed the Munich Treaty, which gave a large swath of land in western Czechoslovakia to Hitler, which he called the Sudetenland. Hitler claimed he was liberating German-speaking residents of the Sudetenland from their Czechoslovakian oppressors; in fact, this area was a hub for heavy manufacturing that Hitler would use to supply his war machine.
In negotiating the treaty, the two most powerful European counterweights to Hilter’s ambitions, England and France, attempted to appease him in hopes of avoiding war and ending his ambitions. Instead of calming the beast, however, the allies fed it, strengthening Hitler and his quest for empire. Within a few short years, Hitler annexed and conquered much of Europe and unleashed the horrors of World War II. Much of Europe was left in ruins. Millions of soldiers and civilians died in Hitler’s war including the millions of Jews and others targeted for inhumane treatment and ghastly deaths in the concentration camps.
The United States tried to stay out of the conflict but eventually realized its own existence was at stake. Over 400,000 Americans died in that war.
Three days before Christmas my wife and I returned to Bakersfield. While we were away, Congress had done nothing to support Ukraine’s continuing fight against their Russian aggressors.
My thoughts returned to Carolina, our Czech guide.
Like Hitler and his justification for annexing the Sudetenland, Putin first justified his invasions of Crimea and later, the eastern regions of Ukraine, as the heroic liberation of Russian-speaking residents from their Ukrainian oppressors.
Putin has since spoken of the reunification of greater Russia, beginning with Ukraine.
Try as some may, Americans cannot unplug from the rest of the world. Ukraine is fighting for democracy in their country and is containing a tyrant. If Ukraine falls, there is no doubt others will face an emboldened Putin.
The United States has not been asked to fight in this war—only to give the Ukrainians a fighting chance and to show resolve when other supporters of democracy are beginning to falter.
Anyone who thinks the survival of Ukraine is not in our national interest has forgotten a painful history lesson less than 85 years old.
There is no appeasing Putin. Feeding the beast only allows it to grow, endangering our allies and, in time, our own sons and daughters.