From the Publisher's Desk
March 2008
"When they started demanding papers and arresting those that
didn't produce them, I knew trouble loomed on the horizon. We
departed soon after I was stopped the third time (1937.) I
begged my brother and his family to go with us. My brother
and his family stayed. They died in the camps ... we survived
thank God, and prospered."
- Holocaust survivor
Check Point Charlie USA?
The below letter was first published in our February 2000 newsletter,
i.e. eight years ago. Due to numerous requests for it over the years,
we spent a bit of time browsing old newsletter issues over the holidays
and finally located it.
We reprint it in hopes you learn well from this old man's lessons about
governments, and the fact that perhaps it's even more relevant today than it was when it was first published.
- PT Shamrock - March 2008
Horror Stories
"My grandparents fled Russia with my father during the
1917 revolution and because of the killing of Jews! Unfortunately
they fled to Germany! I remember clearly the stories my grandmother
told us as children about the old days. We learned our lessons well.
My mother and father saw the handwriting on the wall in Nazi Germany.
Fortunately my father had (illegally) stashed away enough money in a
numbered Swiss bank account, which enabled us to flee to South America
in the nick of time. He did this even though it was a death sentence
in Nazi Germany for ANYONE having a bank account outside Germany. I
recall vividly people having to take a wheelbarrow full of old German
marks to buy a loaf of bread. They didn't break any 'laws' at the
time, but they did end up penniless or dead with the inflation and
eventual collapse of the Mark and the country.
In particular I recall my father begging my aunt, uncle and upstairs
neighbour Mrs. Rothstein, to flee before it was too late. I recall
quite well what Mrs. Rothstein (our landlady) said in reply: 'Leave?
We can't leave. What am I going to do with my mother's rocking chair
and keepsakes? Our Synagogue and all our friends are here. I was
born and married in this house and my parents are buried down the
road. Our Rabbi says everything will be all right. Leave? How can
you suggest such things?'
All of our relatives and friends that
didn't pay attention to my father's warnings died in the holocaust.
They died as a result of not taking action after seeing clear signs that
something was very wrong.
After 15 years in South America we saw many similar government
policies taking hold and left for the United States. I got married
and we started a business and did very well for ourselves for more
than 40 years. We are grateful to America for the opportunity it gave
us. Our children and grandchildren were born in America and have had
a great education. Unfortunately we see the very same warning signs
my parents and grandparents saw before us, now taking hold in this
once great land. My wife and I are leaving for good. Our children
aren't, which we feel is a great mistake. Everyone is entitled to
live their own lives and make their own choices.
You asked what the straw was that broke the camels back in our
decision to leave? There wasn't any one thing, rather a series of
events over a long period of time. Being fined by OSHA for a dry
cleaning business we had just purchased under threat of being shut
down and losing our entire investment. Then sued by HUD for
discrimination! Can you imagine that, a Jew discriminating against
someone? Our insurance company paid the claim though we denied any
wrong doing and wanted to go to trial to defend ourselves. But the
insurance company decided (against our wishes) it was less of a risk
for them to pay, rather than face a possible larger judgment by a less
than friendly jury. Result? After the insurance company settled the
lawsuit they dumped us and we had to get insurance at 5 times the cost
that we previously paid annually!
Then there was the time my wife was denied boarding a flight to visit
our grandchildren because she didn't have any picture ID with her,
(she doesn't drive.) We eventually got there but missed our original
flight because of new 'safety' laws. We were never told prior to our
flight that this was a requirement even though we booked direct with
the airline. The airline staff told my wife to go to the motor
vehicle department and get a state issued ID card with her picture and
social security number on it for future flights!
Perhaps it is the fact that our neighbours 15 year-old daughter is
pregnant or that our 7 year-old grandson is checked for guns and other
weapons while going through a metal detector prior to being allowed
into school! And of course there is the inevitable run in with the
IRS. Anyone in America who is successful and makes money will 100%
for sure have a run in with the IRS. The IRS is the closest agency to
resemble the Gestapo yet! I know because I've dealt with and seen
what both can do first hand. I recall one particularly nasty audit
when the IRS agent asked me if I had a foreign bank account. I
replied no and the female IRS agent said, "That's good because if you
do and don't report it, that is a serious offence and all your assets
will be frozen."
At first my wife and I discussed these and other concerns but for a
long time we both were in denial. Then one day while I was looking
for a particular book, I found a letter my grandfather had written to
my father just before my grandfather died. He told my father:
'Never
forget that religious and personal freedoms aren't taken away all at
once. Rather it's done a little at a time so no one sees or realizes
what's happening. If people are lied to often enough, most begin to
believe the lie. All of a sudden you wake up and realize what you
thought was there, isn't any longer. When your leaders are liars and
cheats, it's time to leave!'
The freedom loving America that we came to and loved no longer exists.
The freedoms and privacy of 40 years ago are gone forever. People
don't seem to notice or care anymore. People say; America, love it or
leave it. Well, we love America but lost faith in the people running
it so we are leaving those people that run it.
If you feel this letter could benefit just one person, then you have
my permission to reprint it if you change our name and new country of
residence."
Re-printed with permission from Privacy World.
See you next issue
Shamrock
"The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion."
- Edmund Burke, 1784
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