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. Hitler: An Officer And A Gentleman?History's warning regarding a compliant media. by Henk Ruyssenaars08/11/03: Foreign Press Foundation -The Netherlands - Aug. 11th-2003 - Until the Russian bullet hit officer Schultz, during the battle at Stalingrad, he really was totally convinced that Adolf Hitler was 'an Officer and a Gentleman', like himself. And he explained why, while we sat at a small round table in the wine cellar of his cozy forest hotel, where he taught us how to drink vodka like the Russians. One side of his face was paralyzed by the bullet, so he had to pull his lips ajar to get the vodka glass in between. "It was the propaganda" he said, "because in the Army - like in the rest of the Third Reich - no other information than Reichs-propaganda was allowed". Officer Schultz survived the long march back home, to a destroyed Germany, and started a small family hotel at the Hariksee, just across the border from Holland where my family lived. Ex-officer Schultz was trying to cope with the harsh life he for such a long time had known so little about; a reality very different from the army-propaganda in the newspapers. The first time I met him, at age 13, on a family holiday in his hotel, was in 1955. The Second World-War just ended ten years ago, and Hitler's bloody horror had been on the front pages all over the world, for just as long. And I still remember his explanation : " Why do you think nobody - in the by German troops occupied countries - was allowed to have a radio ? The German Supreme Command didn't want any other information than the German newspapers and broadcasting to reach the people. It was their - and their information alone - which counted. And when I learned upon returning, in what way the facts had been forged by Goebbels* , I understood Hitler's Third Reich was a fake." "Wir haben es nicht gewusst" Mr. Schultz was not using the usual "Wir haben es nicht gewusst"-excuse, about 'not knowing it all', but carefully pointed out, that lack of facts and information creates disasters. "You can brainwash many people for a very long time" he said, "but you can only fool them, if you control all the information outlets; rewriting history." And for the past decades- working abroad as a foreign correspondent - I've seen the same development in the States, but in my own country the Netherlands too. Which was a very open and progressive society before, but where also most journalism now has fallen victim to commerce and politics, and different points of view are not allowed any more. Like the United States, the Netherlands is mainly run by the military-industrial complex (SHELL-Philips-Unilever-Amro-ING-Akzo-Nobel etc.etc.), having absorbed the politicians and media already earlier. The effect is dishonest and disastrous. In a poll just published, it is indicated that in Holland, with it's 16 million - badly informed - inhabitants - a whopping fifty-six percent of the people is supporting the US/UK-wars ? Since it's the journalists which write, read and show the selected information - they form the opinion. There is absolutely no question about it : all those lies, the fakes and the nonexistent evidence of this or that, is put in our ears and eyes by my 'colleagues'; trying to brainwash us. This is not a matter of 'shooting the messengers'; it's just telling them that many of them are traitors, collaborators and liars. They are selling our profession and honor, forgetting they are working for the people, and not the shareholders. Holland, still a friend of the United States people In Holland, still a friend of the United States people, nowadays only the people at present holding the reigns, support the Bush/Wolfowitz-junta. Afghanistan and Iraq takes its toll on Dutch-U.S. ties, because the population has a feeling of being constantly misled. Like officer Schultz. And like in the US, England or the Third Reich, the collaborating journalists are to blame. Their 'effect' is for instance clearly shown in a poll in Germany where journalists and Government are mostly anti-war, and thus do not slide as much 'Newspeak' on the plates of the people they are working for, as is done by the collaborating media in Holland: "Poll shows : George W. Bush; another big reason Americans not very popular in Germany right now". By Elisabeth Noelle - Allensbach Institute of Public
Opinion Research. The Dutch author worked for many decades for international A/V media
as foreign correspondent, of which 10 years - also during Gulf War I -
in the Arab World and the Middle East. Seeing that every bullet and
every bomb breeds more terrorism !
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