The New Nazis

I first came to live in Germany in January 2005.  As a Soldier, before you leave, other Non-Comms who had spent time there, would reminisce to no end about the crazy parties and the streets of beer. I did not really believe it, although as a freshly separated bachelor, I had entertained the idea.  Right after I landed in Rhein Main, I was introduced to bottle of kristallweizen, and the bartender, a gentleman that seemed to have been a consolation prize to the US Army after the war,  gave me the "facts-of-life" speech on living in Germany.  He did corroborate the stories of women that flowed like the beer, but he also gave me sage advice to never go at it alone and to stick to the main streets.  Turks, like wild dogs, travel in packs and hunt the weak or unaware.  I was incredulous.  It seemed odd to me that anyone would hate me on the sole basis of being American.  Furthermore, I just came back from fighting a country that hated Turkey.  I had not even seen a Turk much less had any reason to fear or dislike one.  I did not understand the radicalized mind then.  I know better now.

In Kaiserslautern of 2005, we had a rash of stabbings.  Always Turks.  Always single G.I.'s that would go down an alleyway as a shortcut and come out with a punctured lung or worse.  Eventually, the Air Force Security Police and the Army Military Police patrolled enough to push the gangs away, but it was easy enough find a fight elsewhere.  They had a particular dislike of black Soldiers, but to this day I still do not know why.  They had an affection for gangsta rap and embraced the thug identity in response to assimilation.  Violence and the inherent insulation of Islam would be the response to a world shifting below their feet.  Not much has changed for the better in the 10 years since.

I personally did not have a bad encounter with the Turks, but I have the Russians and the Old Man to thank for that.  When I started dating my wife, she had moonlighted as a bartender in a small pub outside of Saarbrucken.  The night we met, being obviously smitten, asked her if I could meet her again.  She said she had to work the next weekend but I could tag along and get some free beer.  Having a hot German chick pour beers for me all night sounded better than fine, so I took the train and met her in Saarbrucken.  Later in the evening, a group of about six or so Russians came in the bar, obviously already pretty tanked, and started harassing the locals.  They saw me, a lone guy flirting with the bartender at the end of the bar, and sized me up.  Having been pretty new to Germany and could not speak much of any German at the time, I asked the girl to translate, "if I have to get off of this bar stool, you will have to drink applesauce through a straw the rest of your life" to the biggest one.  I winked at him, pointed to myself and said, "Americana", and went back to drinking.  Neither I nor the locals were bothered the remainder of the night. 

I discovered to be true what my Old Man said to me a long time before that.  When dealing with hostile groups, you look at the biggest one like you are going to remove their testicles with something dull and they will usually back down.  However, if not, be mentally prepared to inflict wholesale violence.  I had to repeat this same look to groups of Turks in the proceeding years and have not had anything get out of hand.  I have been fortunate when many others I know have not.

Later in 2005, I did hear a story which I did not understand the "why" of it as I do now after having spent more time in both Europe and the Middle East.  Mein Kampf had been a run-away hit in Istanbul, and it made some small notice in some online publications.   According to the Daily Sabah, the book was banned in 2007 but has resurfaced this year.  As the last vestiges of a secular Turkey were removed with the recent failed coup, Atatürk's Turkey is no more.  Fascism, repackaged as Islamic Fascism, has once again come into favor.  It is not just the antisemitism that attracts them, but the idea that they belong to a great master race whose duty is to subjugate and rule the lesser species.  What was old is made new again. 

The current peace between the Muslim and westernized communities, (which includes the African and Eastern European neighborhoods), in Europe are tenuous and it is a breath away from blowing up.  For the first time in its history, Europe will be at war with foreign forces it placed within its own borders.  Fascism, whether it is the home grown or of the Islamic variety, is incompatible with Western culture and one will inevitably try to choke out the other.  It is its natural state.  For too long have Germans in particular, and the West in general, not looked at the oppression around them and told them very plainly that they will meet harm with overwhelming violence.  Perhaps it is past time that they could have done so and had any meaningful impact to the forces that conspire against them now.  I am sick to think that the beautiful cobbled streets and vaulted cathedrals of Berlin, Paris, or Vienna would see this kind of war again.

 History may not repeat itself, but it does sometimes rhyme.

Translated: Ottoman Germany

"Wir übernehmen das ganze Land."

"We will take over this whole land"