My partner read the book, “All the Light We Cannot See.” When I told her there was a new mini-series based on the book she was eager to see it. Over the past few days we watched it. I keep flashing to scenes from the show whenever I think of what Trump is doing to the country.
The book was published in 2014 and a NY Times best seller for 200 weeks. I hadn’t read it, but a few days ago we watched the riveting miniseries based on the book. You can read the Wikipedia page about the book here. (This is the page about the TV show.)
The movie flashes between Germany and a small seaside town in France.
This could be one of many fictional, or based on fact, account of the horrors of Hitler and the Nazi regime. It happens to be the one I most recently became immersed in.
I won’t go into the actual storyline. You can skim the Wikipedia page to see this and hopefully decide to read the book, watch the mini-series, or both if you haven’t already done so.
There are two parts to the storyline that I keep thinking about. One is how a German in his late teens, an orphan, who was a radio genius was recruited to be a member of a special army unit to be used as a radio specialist. Before he could be admitted to the training academy a Josef Mengele-like doctor had to determine whether of not he had any “Jewish blood” in him. Of course without modern DNA testing, doing this was decidedly unscientific, but suffice to say there would have been no story if it was determined that he was Jewish since a major portion of the plot was about him. Radio, the media of the day, played a big part in the story. (I shouldn’t have to point out how, in a different way, television and the internet play a huge role in Trump’s story.)
You can see how this made me think of Trump and his demonization of immigrants. They have become the Jews of today when it comes to living their lives in fear.
The other part of the story that jumped off the screen every time it happened were the depictions of the real and feigned worship of Hitler. The German officers ended every other sentence with Heil Hitler, sometimes with the Nazi salute and sometimes not. In their presence French citizens always had to pretend allegiance to the Führer by ending whatever they said to the Nazi with the words “heil Hitler.”
I’ve been thinking that if Trump’s name, his last name or even his first name, had the right sound to it, by now we’d be hearing a version of Heil Hitler. Obviously “heil Trump” wouldn’t be used since it isn’t English and would be an admission that Trump was Hitler incarnate. The word "Heil" in German means "hail" or "to salute."
I looked up synonyms for hail and salute and the only one that sounded like it could be used for Trump as heil was used for Hitler was “praise.” This doesn’t have the euphonious ring to it as “Heil Hitler.” It is, however, the best I could come up with. I don’t think we’ll actually hear “praise Trump” emanating from the mouths of Trump supporters or those who may at some point be faced with their wrath.
Trump doesn’t have anything like the arm raised salute but he does have a hat.
In a way it would be much simpler for those who want to curry favor with Trump to do so by uttering just two words everytime they are either in his presence or talking about him. Instead they have to try to outdo each other by lavishing praise on him.
ADDENDUM:
Trump and Hitler have personality similarities and differences. I haven’t seen reports that Hitler manifested the kind of personal narcissism and need to be worshipped when meeting with his aides which Trump does. I have’t read anything saying that he engaged in the braggadocio which we see with Trump. I assume Hitler got satisfaction when he spoke to cheering crowds of Germans, though perhaps not as much as Trump does.
There are many significant similarities between the two of them. A major one is a callous disregard for human suffering. Hitler may not have taken personal pleasure in knowing how much pain he was inflicting on his chosen enemies as Trump does. Trump can, in many ways, be considered a clinical sadist. My impression of Hitler is that he wouldn’t fit this defintion.
