Holocaust and Aviation
The Development of German Nazi Aviation as a
Major Factor in the Annihilation of the European Jewish People
By:
Avinoam Amizan
The
connection between Aviation and the human existence
The dialectic between the visionary and practical
flight is blurry and destructive. The annihilation of the majority of the
Jewish nation in Europe is understood much more on the background of the Nazis'
efforts to become the rulers of the world by means of accelerated development
of Aviation.
Aviation is a revolution of transportation that
started in the beginning of the 20th century. As every revolution in
transportation that preceded it, like the wheel and the steamship, it gave to
the hands of its dominators the tool for occupation of the world. But in
contrast to the land and sea which are the cradles of human activity from Prehistory,
the air is an absolutely new field of action and sustenance. Mankind has not
developed the cultural background to Aviation in relation to the imaginary flight.
The imaginary flight has a central role in the development of the soul. It is
expressed in vast imagination, but not in relation to the activity of practical
Aviation.
There is a chronological direct connection between
developments in the field of Aviation and historic important events in the Modern
Era. The airplane is a transportation device that enables a physical movement
of people and merchandises from place to place with overcoming of physical
obstacles. The significance is absolute change of power relations among the
nations. It is not a surprise that the 20th century was characterized
by the most difficult wars in human history.
Aviation is not the single factor for the historical
changes that will be described here. It is one of them. But the spiritual flight
is a symbol of the human mind and freedom, and the Aviation is identified
naturally and organically with this vision. Thus Aviation is situated in the
center of the human interest and deeds, as a central symbol of the personal freedom.
It has the ability to serve as a yardstick, as a litmus paper, as a clear
expression for lines of phenomena and as such to enable a brave historical
explanation, short and blunt.
The first sign to the unstable political climate
that innovations in the field of Aviation created can be found in the end of
the 18th century, in the French revolution that happened ten years
after the invention of the first practical hot-air balloon. The first
impression of the illustrated huge balloon made by the Montgolfier brothers was
very strong. Every person, and even goat and lamb, could rise to the sky and observe
the world from above as deities. The sublime and the upper where not regarded any
more as the heritage of the aristocracy.
The nation rebelled against the corrupted authority,
with the results of desolation and social chaos, in the shape of the bloody
French revolution.
Napoleon, an ambitious artillery officer, who was
the first to use the balloon in the army, tried to bring order. The wars that
he managed caused a greater bloodshed and a political reactionism for a
century.
The First World War started ten years after the
flight of the first airplane by the Right brothers. To the war preceded rapid developments
of this empirical tool which included, among other things, crossing of the
English Channel in an airplane and demonstrations of its adaptability to the
needs of armies throughout Europe. Improvement of the airship at the same
period and its transformation to a threatening weapon, added to the picture.
The senior European empires guarded the old order, but the nations under their
authority rebelled. They wanted, in the spirit of 'the spring of nations' of the
middle 19th century, to have freedom and equality. The fermentation
of the different nations brought the system into trembling, and it collapsed as
a result of nationalism.
As a result of bombardments from airships on civilian
population in the course of this war, the modern 'total state' was created, where
every citizen is mobilized for the military effort.
In the course of the First World War the airplane
became a much more important weapon which drew great attention.
The Second World War began in the period where the
airplane became established as the only safe transportation in the air, because
airships did not prove themselves. The Nazis roused to rule on a platform of canceling
the Versailles Treaty, that one of its main sections was incapacitating Germany
from developing the air force that it was so proud of.
The political inspiration for the Nazis was provided
by a line of intellectuals who attached between the material and the spiritual
need, such as Nietzsche and his Superman theory. They processed the movement to
the sky as a method of action for modern Germany. They developed the German race
and 'living space' theories, of the dominator of the world from the air by force.
The militarization of Nazi Germany was done mainly
by means of accelerated development of Aviation. Goering, the second to Hitler
and the most popular figure in Germany, lead the course, developing the
Luftwaffe.
The Second World War occurred with air superiority dictating
its development. The Nazis were convinced until their defeat that they will
succeed in winning the war by means of 'fantastic aerial weapons', like the ballistic
missile and the jet airplane.
The program of the 'final solution' for the
annihilation of the Jews was carried out by Rinhard Heidrich, who developed an impressive
second career as a fighter pilot, in addition to his career as Himler's deputy
in the S-S.
The Wanza Conference in January 1942 took place
about a month after the offensive of the Japanese airplanes on Pearl Harbor.
The timing served as an excellent opportunity for Heidrich for the enforcement
of his authority and creating a course that otherwise could possibly be complicated
by bureaucratic obstacles.
After the Second World War occurred at least two
wars of regional importance where the air superiority had a prominent role:
The Vietnam War, in the 1960th, lasted
more and more, because the Americans presumed that it is in their ability to
win it by using combat helicopters.
The Yom- Kippur war in 1973, between Israel to Egypt
and Syria, began because the Arabs presumed that they have enough strength to
accumulate adequate air defense which will enable them a limited land attack.
The oversight and complacency of Israel resulted from the thought that the Arabs
will not try to open in a war as long as there is not air advantage in
airplanes in their hands.
The 1960th was typified by the race to the
Space, where United States prevailed lastly, after launching the first man to
the moon. Ten years later this superpower began to launch shuttles to the Space.
It converted the gap with USSR to such big, that the last collapsed.
United States became the only superpower in the
world by means of the 'Shuttle Diplomacy'. Within this framework it enforced
the universal peace by aircraft carriers fleet and leapings of her heads
between capitals of the world.
In the last years, with the clarified slowdown and
the relative failure of the American space program, the universal peace
disintegrates, as a result of fundamentalist terrorism. The terror attack by
airplanes on United States in September 2001 is a
clear expression of a new World Order. The order is parallel to the period of
the anarchy before the First World War.
Avinoam Amizan is the author of the
book: Holocaust and Aviation
http://www.holylandmap.net/avho/enavhocover.htm
His home website is: The Human
Shape of the Holy Land
http://www.holylandmap.net/