This article is from June 1933 and it’s a warning from history about how dictators begin their work. Putting to one side the suppression of the boy scouts into what became the Hitler Youth, there’s a story here about Hermann Lüdemann (1880-1959).
He was arrested in June 1933 and sent to Breslau (now Wrocław in Poland) concentration camp, but the process was designed to be humiliating because he was a socialist and so somehow an enemy of the people in Hitler’s eyes. Lüdemann was ‘greeted’ at the concentration camp by the new Nazi chief of police for Breslau, Edmund Heines, who had formerly spent time in prison for murder. Heines was a thug by any measure and his political career was brought to an end by Hitler, who had him arrested and assassinated in 1934.
Lüdemann was ultimately treated very badly during the war, although perhaps on balance he was fortunate to survive it at all. His bravery and strength was rewarded after the end of the Second World War by political promotion and in 1947 he became the Minister-President of Schleswig-Holstein.
But, it’s evidence that the actions of dictators shouldn’t be ignored early on. The marching through the city of men such as Lüdemann was part of a general policy of intimidation, attempting to intimidate the population and limit the opposition to the Government. He remained a stoic hero, many others sadly lost their lives. Perhaps the world should have done much more in 1933….