The Meaning of the Iron Cross

The Iron Cross

I have in my possession two versions of the Iron Cross. One is 1.7 inches wide and long, the other is 1.8 inches long and wide.

The first of these crosses, made of steel and painted black, exhibits a crown and the letters FW on the top and the year 1813 on the bottom.

This iron cross was awarded to German soldiers before and during the First World War (1914-1918) for extraordinary bravery before the enemy. It was first sponsored by the Prussian king, Frederick William III, in 1813, and given to Prussian soldiers who had distinguished themselves in the Napoleonic wars.

During the slaughter at the Western and Eastern fronts in the 1914-18 debacle the cross was earned honestly by those who deserved it. My father was one of these, as were other Jews who fought for the “fatherland” in that war because they were drafted, and despite the anti-Jewish discrimination then the “order of the day” in Germany.

In 1939, when the Second World War began because the Germans invaded Poland, the Nazi government re-issued the iron cross. It is somewhat larger and has a swastika (Hakenkreuz or hooked cross) in the middle. On the bottom the year 1939 is engraved. This cross was mailed to all holders of the first iron cross a few days after the invasion of Poland. Jews were included in this distribution because the German post office or the originators of the cross forgot or did not know who the Jewish winners had been. And so, the cross came to us a few days before we disappeared from our home forever.

Many years later, after the Second World War was concluded with the defeat of Germany and Japan, a former business associate of my father’s sent us a crate with some of our possessions which he had rescued from our home. On the bottom of the crate were the two iron crosses I now possess.

The difference between these crosses was however not only their size and their inscriptions. There was a much more important difference. While the first cross went only to those who indeed showed great courage under fire, the second cross with the swastika was issued to innumerable storm troopers and other non-soldiers because they killed Jews.

Two examples were Rudolf Lange and Friedrich Jaeckeln.  Lange murdered all the Jews in Estonia and Friedrich Jaeckeln organized the Babi-Jar massacre in the Ukraine.

Bialystok in Russia was declared “cleansed of Jews” after a gang of killer commandos slaughtered the entire Jewish population in 1941. The commander of these killers, Ernst Weis, was therefore rewarded with the iron cross although he never faced any firefight. Killing helpless Jews was elevated to heroism by the German army.

Odilo Globocnik, the commander of the German extermination squads who destroyed the Warsaw ghetto and killed the Jewish fighters who survived, was awarded the iron cross, together with Jürgen Stroop, who was directly responsible for the murder of 20,000 Jews. These crosses were delivered to the killers for their “heroic deeds” by Field Marshall Wilhelm Keitel, commander of the German eastern front.

This is important because Keitel and other army officers pretended after the war that all the murders had been committed by the SS and not by the army, which they claimed was an honorable fighting force. That is a lie. The army murdered Jews indiscriminately and worked together with the SS at all times. The abbreviation SS refers to “Sturm Staffel”, which means (approximately) “storm segment”. It was also called “Schutz Staffel”, meaning “Protective segment.”

In addition to the iron cross the German government also awarded a “Kriegsverdienstkreuz”. This means “war achievement cross”. This was handed to the commanders of the concentration and killing camps for excellent achievement in promoting “the final solution”  (Jimmy Carter, the 39^th President of the United States, was all in favor of the “final solution” when he said in a speech delivered in Geneva, Switzerland in November of 2003 that he would have instituted “the final solution” if he had been elected to a second term).

After the “Einsatzkommando D” (action commando) finished the murder of all Jews on the Crimean peninsula in January of 1942, General Field Marshall  Erich von Mannstein, the commander of the German southern front, honored the murderers with the “war achievement cross”.

After the Second World War, numerous German iron cross holders pretended to have gained these medals for their fighting prowess. In fact they were common mass murderers, honored by the military for their crimes.

These excesses among the Germans between 1933 and 1945 are often attributed to such ridiculous “causes” as “Hitler was crazy”, for which there is no evidence, Germans suffered from the depression – as did everyone in this country, or the German people were “duped” by “the Nazis”. All nonsense. Hitler was not at all “crazy”. He said and shouted and wrote what he honestly believed because it had been taught him in church, in school and at home. He succeeded because he pronounced what Germans already believed.

The whole German culture had been infested with hatred of Jews for centuries (see my book The Jew in Christian Theology) and Germans, then and now, are taught to obey orders by teachers, bosses, government officials, clergy, etc., etc. This is called the fascist tradition. It does not necessarily have to lead to a Nazi state. As in Spain and Italy, fascism can be a somewhat less murderous dictatorship. The word “fascist” is Latin. It means “a bundle”. The ancient Romans represented Rome with an ax surrounded by a bundle of sticks. This symbol may be found on both sides of the speaker's seat in the U.S. Senate.

The current Democratic aspirant for the U.S. presidency is in the fascist tradition. Like Hitler, he shouts slogans in an emotionally arousing manner. He elevates without saying anything. Many people vote for that kind of shouter because they become fascinated by the tone of voice and the apocalyptic style.

Of course, Obama, should he be elected, will never gain the total power of Hitler. However, Obama, like all fascists before him, speaks only in generalities without a specific remedy for what ails us. By shouting for “national unity”, Obama is again in the fascist tradition. All fascists always shout unity slogans. Democracy does not rest on unity. It rests on differences of opinion and the right to dissent. This is of course anathema to the so called “liberals” who support Obama. They cannot tolerate any opinion other than their own. In this country this is called “political correctness” and is enforced by burning newspapers and shouting down speakers with the “wrong” views.

Hitler was regarded by the German people as a warm and kindly fellow interested in their welfare. So is Obama.

Of course Obama is no Hitler and no Mussolini. He will never have their power. Nevertheless, his election will undoubtedly lead to a major reduction of what is left of our rights and freedoms. By using the power of the federal government to influence the economy, employment, social services, “entitlements” and, above all, law enforcement, the federal government can emasculate our liberties one by one.  Americans will soon learn the nature of the fascist tradition should a majority vote for the end of the Bill of Rights by electing Obama.

This fascist tradition will particularly land on the Jews stupid enough to vote for their own destruction. When Obama sells out Israel to Iran, what will the American Jew say or do? Will not all Jews be designated un-American for standing up for Israel against the wishes of the president? Who is more important? Our oil supply or a few Jews? Think and remember the German Jews. They are gone. Their killers wear the iron cross and the few survivors of that greatest crime the world has ever witnessed see their Jewish brethren of this generation throw it all away and campaign for their own destruction.

Let us therefore hope that our non-Jewish brethren have more sense than we have. They may yet rescue us from ourselves and another dose of the “iron cross” mentality.

Shalom u’vracha.

Dr. Gerhard Falk is the author of numerous publications, including Fraud (2007).

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