THE OMINOUS PARALLELS : NAZISM AND THE EU
It's often claimed - not least by our opponents - that Nazis and Fascists are nothing more than
extreme xenophobic nationalists, totally opposed to 'good' international bodies like the EU. In
the words of the song, "It Ain't Necessarily So.""
The EU War Baby
Back in 1942, a book called "The European Community" was published. Its principal author,
a Doctor of Economics, had argued in 1940 for a "Central European Union" and "European
Economic Area" and for fixed exchange rates - EMU in all but name. In this book, he wrote
that "No nation in Europe can achieve on its own the highest level of economic freedom which
is compatible with all social requirements...The formation of very large economic areas follows
a natural law of development....interstate agreements in Europe will control [economic forces
generally]...There must be a readiness to subordinate one's own interests in certain cases
to those of [the EC]."
One of his co-authors wrote that the "classic national economy..is dead...community of fate
which is the European economy...fate and extent of European co-operation depends on a new
unity economic plan". Another observed that "We have a real European Community task before
us...I am convinced that this Community effort will last beyond the end of the war."
The last three words explain things. The principal author was Nazi Economics Minister and
war criminal Walther Funk. The other two were respectively Nazi academic Heinrich Hunke
and official Gustav Koenig. Nor were they just eccentrics. Goering's orders in 1940 were
followed by a project for the "large-scale economic unification of Europe" Goebbels, in the same
year, compared Germany's road to unification in the nineteenth century with Europe's in the
twentieth, believing that "in fifty years' time [people] no longer think in terms of countries."
The Same Old "New Europe"?
Ribbentrop, in 1943, endorsed plans for a European confederation. Seyss-Inquart, Gauleiter
of Holland, spoke of "The new Europe of solidarity and co-operation among all its people...
will find...rapidly increasing prosperity once national economic boundaries are removed."
Their collaborators felt the same way. Quisling himself stated that there was no opposition
between European economic co-operation and National Socialism, Vichy French Minister
Jacques Benoist-Mechin that France had to "abandon nationalism...take place in European
Community with honour."
In the words of Rodney Atkinson, "The European Community was therefore intended by the Nazis.... as a common cause against British...economic systems of trade and free exchange." Mr. Atkinson goes on (in his book "Europe's Full Circle") to kindly provide us (pages 92-93) with a list of parallels between "Hitler's Europe" and
"Today's Europe."
A few further quotes may be of interest -"The Germans alone can really organise Europe...
The future will belong to the Germans when we build the House of Europe...The Anglo-Saxon
economic system, the classic national economy, is dead...It is important to establish a
European Single Currency core in order to stand firm against Anglo-Saxon values."
European Economic Community
European Exchange Rate Mechanism
European Central Bank (Frankfurt)
Committee of the Regions
Social Chapter
Single Market
I just quoted, respectively, Goebbels, Kohl, Hunke, and (in 1996) Belgian Finance Minister
Philippe Maystadt. No, I'm not just indulging in cheap jibes or insinuating that all Europhiles
are closet Nazis. Obviously they don't share Hitler's racial paranoia. No doubt they see them
selves as good liberal-minded democrats. However, all totalitarian regimes stand for concentrating power in central hands. They're all prone to meddle in people's private lives and pursuits
and to issue directives without properly consulting a free Parliament first. In short - the Eurocrats
may not be totalitarians but they are totalitarian-minded in their behaviour.
For further details, I recommend "Europe's Full Circle" by Rodney Atkinson, "The Tainted
Source" by John Laughland and "Britain Held Hostage" by Lindsay Jenkins. Click for stockist details
A final thought: The Nazis used referenda to seduce power out of the hands of the people's representatives and concentrate it in the hands of a few. With the prospect of a UK referendum
on the single currency and the dangers of concentrating economic powers in the hands of a virtually unaccountable European Central Bank - remember: NEVER AGAIN!
- About the author: Mark Taha is a freelance researcher into British and European history and politics. A National Committee member of CIB, he is writing in a personal capacity.