Homeless Hitler
There is a story told about a man who was far from blessed when it came to his build and measurements. He was disproportionate in every possible way. When he went to a tailor to have a suit made, the tailor agreed to make him a suit under one condition – that he never tell anyone who his tailor was. The Austrian Interior Ministry would have done itself a big favor had they studied and learned from the above story.
Recently, the Austrian Interior Ministry gave its approval to turn Adolph Hitler’s childhood home into a museum. It will be known as the “House of Responsibility”. Quite frankly I’m surprised that the house was not totally demolished after the war, so that no trace of it remains. Granted, Adolph’s parents sold that home soon after he was born, and in the ensuing years, it has served as a library, bank, school, home for the disabled and pub. To the best of my knowledge however, it was never known as Hitler’s Pub or Der Fuhrer’s School. To highlight the connection between Hitler and that House is an insult to the victory of freedom over Nazism!
If HaShem can curse the ground on account of Adam’s disregard for HaShem, Austria ought to certainly be able to curse that house on account of Adolph’s disregard for, as well as annihilation of, a significant number of mankind.
If Austria is insistent on turning this accursed structure into a museum, the Interior Ministry would do well to reconsider the name it gives to that museum.
Perhaps the House of Insult might be more appropriate. The infant brought into that home grew up to be an insult to humanity in the worst possible way. Not only did Hitler cleanse himself of every vestige of humanity, but he succeeded in cleansing every vestige of humanity from tens of thousands of others who were “just following orders.” One cannot help but wonder why HaShem, after witnessing the machinations of Hitler, did not renege on the promise made after the flood to never again destroy the world.
The Interior Ministry might wish to consider calling the structure the House of Destruction. In doing so, the Interior Minister may wish to qualify what it means by destruction, in that destruct-ion of the Jewish people is much too obvious. Hitler set out to destroy the very tenets upon which this world was created. Hitler handily dismissed the core belief that all men were created equal. As far as Hitler was concerned, the lot of the “master race” fell to the Aryans, while Jews, by the very nature of their existence, were subhuman. Politics and military aside, Hitler was bent on destroying what humanity represents.
When all is said and done, that structure is the House of Curse. If there are those who curse the womb of Klara Hitler for carrying the fetus which would grow into a diabolical megalomaniac, then there also ought to be those who curse the home that housed the infant that who would grow into a diabolical megalomaniac. Most would agree I would hope, that Adolph Hitler was a curse that was brought upon this world. Referring to his childhood home as anything less, is an affront to decency.
To turn Concentration Camps into Museums is an ugly necessity so that they bear witness to the revulsion done by Hitler and his war machine. To turn a childhood home of a despicable world leader into a museum, after that childhood home has already undergone a number of transformations rather than face immediate demolition after allied victory, is nothing short of reprehensible.