Survivor of Socialism Has Warning for America

The South Dakota Family Policy Council sponsored a speech at First Assembly of God in Rapid City by Kitty Werthmann of Eagle Forum in South Dakota.

Werthmann is the head of the South Dakota chapter of Eagle Forum, and was born in Austria. Werthmann lived for seven years under the Nazi rule of Austria, eventually coming to the United States in 1950 to become a naturalized citizen in 1962. She said conditions in 1930’s Austria were very difficult. Unemployment was high, food was short, and many businesses were going bankrupt. Austrians were looking to Germany where they saw prosperity and law and order, while they had near anarchy in their own country.

With only a border between them, speaking the same language and having a similar culture, they believed the promise of prosperity from Adolf Hitler. Politically in their country, on one side was the National Socialist Party (Nazi) and the other was the Communist Party.

The communists were growing stronger as a party because of their promises, as well. When the country had to decide between Nazis and Communists, most of the people came to the realization they were a country with a Christian background and could not bring themselves to vote for the atheistic communists. Austria voted the Nazi Party in to power. Once the Nazis took control, the people no longer voted for government positions anymore; all positions down to the local level were filled by appointment. In the interest of a supposedly more efficient government, the Nazis decided to centralize all government between Germany and Austria. Hitler nationalized (socialized) the banks, health care, automobile production, education, and more.

Werthmann said they had prayer in school and religious instruction, but “this all stopped overnight” once the Nazis took over. Instead of praying, they started singing praise songs about the state. Children were instructed to report to state education on Sunday morning instead of church. If parents failed to comply with this political education on Sunday, they received a stern warning first, followed by a stiff fine for a second offense. Children were told to listen only to Hitler and not to listen to their parents. The children were allowed to play sports after political education and the boys could do things like ride motorcycles and learn to fly gliders. This resulted in the children enjoying this time, and if their parents didn’t like it, the children would argue with their parents because the state had told them they had many rights beyond what their parents allowed them. Werthmann said her mother eventually took her out of the public school system and enrolled her in a private school. She said at the time she almost hated her mother for doing this, but her mother told her that she hoped someday she would understand. Werthmann said now she thanked her mother 1,000 times over for doing this.

Austria had private health care prior to the Nazis, and the quality was good. But the government took over the health care system, and when health care became “free” the doctors quickly became overloaded by frivolous use of the system. Surgeries of a more important nature, however, had waiting lists of about 18 months because of all the “hypochondriacs” abusing the system. Werthmann said that if a doctor prescribed a medicine not on the government-approved list, the government would take the cost of the medicine out of the doctor’s salary.
Welfare became a “huge apparatus,” said Werthmann. Everyone had access to subsidized housing, food stamps, heating subsidies and many other benefits until everyone–regardless of salary–reached the prescribed standard of living.

Within about five years, Austria had gone from a free country to an absolute dictatorship.

“That’s called socialism,” she said. Werthmann cited the exchange between Joe the Plumber and then Presidential Candidate Obama about “spreading the wealth” as a sign of things to come - and now President Obama works toward those goals.

In examining the attacks from socialists that have come against America, Werthmann recalled an incident in1985 she was invited by President Ronald Reagan to attend the summit between himself and Soviet President Gorbachev in Switzerland. While there, she infiltrated the “peace movement,” which was there just to support Gorbachev. She marched with Bella Abzug, Barbara Boxer and Jesse Jackson while dressed “like a hippie.” She said Abzug greeted a woman who was in the German Parliament and told her there was a private meeting the next day with Gorbachev and she was invited.

Werthmann said she talked to a woman there who told her she and her fellow communists were working their way against the U.S. starting in Nicaragua, Honduras, and eventually with an eye to attack the U.S. through Mexico. The woman told her they would do this by getting massive numbers of illegals into the U.S. and pushing the sanctuary movement. Werthmann said when she saw illegal immigrant marches in California carrying the Mexican flag and trampling the American flag, she knew this was actually happening.

Werthmann said America is the greatest country in the world…if we can keep it.

Werthmann calls herself an optimist, believes that we are still a Christian nation, and knows that God is still on His throne. Werthmann ended her speech by saying:

" when the people fear the government, that’s tyranny, but when the government fears the people, that’s liberty."