Opinion: Chants of ‘Blood and Soil’ at white nationalist rally are chilling echos of nazi Germany
535
views
The alt-right white separatists chanting “Blood and Soil” in Charlottesville, Va, are part of a terrorist movement that draws from nazi ideology and imagery.
Nazi Richard Walter Darre in 1937
loading...
The chaos and violence engulfing Charlottesville was initially sparked by the city’s decision to take down a statue of Robert E. Lee and spiraled into a terrifying display of brutality that left at least a 33-year old woman dead and dozens injured after a car plowed into a crowd. Two others were killed when a helicopter crashed nearby. Officials are trying to determine whether the crash was connected to the rally.
The white nationalists who descended on the University of Virginia screaming racial taunts such as “Jews will not replace us” and “Blood and Soil” were part of groups like the Ku Klux Klan, neo-nazis and alt-right movements under the leadership of leaders like David Duke and Richard Spencer. Mr. Duke, a former imperial wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, said on Saturday that the protesters were “going to fulfill the promises of Donald Trump” to “take our country back,” The New York Times reported.
The”Blood and Soil” movement has its roots in 19th century Germany that glorified racial purity and a romantic attachment to the land. Nazi ideologue Richard Walther Darre picked up on the expression to promote his racist ideology and wrote the book: Neuadel aus Blut und Boden (A New Nobility Based On Blood And Soil), in 1930 that and promoted a systemic eugenics program. He later served as Reich Minister of Food and Agriculture from 1933 to 1942 and was also a high ranking functionary in the SS.
President Trump’s tepid response to the rally has drawn extensive criticism. His statement failed to mention white nationalism or the alt-right movement and seemed to draw a moral equivalence between the white nationalists and those seeking to protest against them.
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides,” Trump said. “It has been going on for a long time in our country — not Donald Trump, not Barack Obama. It has been going on for a long, long time. It has no place in America.”
Opinion: Chants of ‘Blood and Soil’ at white nationalist rally are chilling echos of nazi Germany
Loading...