We must never forget those who stood and stand in the way of any dictator and fearlessly speak about his crimes.

The story of one dictator and one independent newspaper

In the 1920s, journalists at the Münchner Post already saw the danger posed by Hitler. They wrote decisively and fearlessly about the threat of National Socialism. Hitler called this newspaper “the devil’s workshop” and threatened its employees with the help of his thugs. The organ of the Social Democrats, a newspaper published in Munich since 1988. Starting with a circulation of 8,000 copies, they peaked in the 1920s, printing 60,000.

It is notable for the fact that it led a ten-year campaign against the NSDAP and Hitler and was closed in 1933, after the latter came to power. The Münchener Post criticized the NSDAP and its ideology, their double standards in relation to homosexuals (the commander of stormtroopers Ernst Ram was seen in homosexual relationships), and discussed the suicide of Adolf Hitler’s niece, Geli Raubal.

In 1931, they found and published a Nazi document that referred to the “Final Solution” for Munich Jews. “But this does not mean at all that we are talking about murders,” the Nazis said, and the world believed them. It was easier to believe that these were just populist politicians, that Hitler was just a clown.

In 1942, the term “Final Solution” reappeared … In 1933, the authors and editors of the newspaper were arrested and imprisoned, the premises were searched and destroyed by SA stormtroopers. Editor Erhard Auer spent several months in prison and concentration camp and died in 1945.

 

Was there any point in all of this? Could they have stopped him? Probably they couldn’t. Probably, they could have survived the war, if they had not shouted to the last. But – for twelve years in a row there was someone who repeated: people, abnormal things are happening. A terrible thing is happening. You can not do it this way.

We must never forget those who stood and stand in the way of any dictator and fearlessly speak about his crimes.