To the Editor,

On November 8, 1923, about 3000 people met in a beer hall in Munich, Germany, to organize an attempt by the Nazi Party to overthrow the state government of Bavaria, as a first stage in taking over the government of Germany. This event is known as the Beerhall Putsch. Leaders that day include some well-known names: Adolph Hitler, Hermann Goring, Rudolph Hess, and Heinrich Himmler. In the battle with the city police, 15 of the rioters were killed, as were 4 police officers. Hitler and other leaders of the putsch were arrested and imprisoned for a short time. Hitler and the Nazi party subsequently took over the German government in January 1933 by winning an election. They quickly controlled dissent by establishing the concentration camp at Dachau to “reeducate” critics. In 1935 two “Honor Temples” were constructed in Munich each with 8 bronze sarcophagi holding the bodies of the rioters killed in the Putsch. I have a photo of my father as a GI sitting on one of those in the spring of 1945.

Forgive me if I see a parallel between these “Honor Temples” celebrating the attempted Nazi takeover of the government of Germany and the January 20, 2025, pardon of the rioters and insurrectionists who attempted a coup in Washington DC, assaulting the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, to overturn the free and fair election of President Biden.

This assault resulted in the injury of many Capitol Police, and the eventual death of some. It occurred while a despicable person sat in his office and cheered them on.

The end result of the Nazi takeover of Germany was World War II with an estimated 15-20 million deaths in Europe including 292,000 US soldiers killed in action, and more than 12 million “others” exterminated lest they “corrupt the blood” of the German nation.

This total including more than 6 million Jews, and 5-6 million Poles, Slavs, Roma, homosexuals, and other minority groups.

As we go through the coming months and years, those of us who are Christians need to constantly keep in mind to whom Jesus brought the Good News, the poor and burdened (Luke 4:18), to his lesson of “Who is My Neighbor”, the Good Samaritan, basically an outsider (Luke 10:29-37), and to the acceptance, at the direction of an Angel of God, of the Ethiopian eunuch as part of the early Christian fellowship, a person who was a foreigner, black or brown, and not considered either male or female (Acts 8:26.39).

Tom Snyder

Salo Location