Lion Feuchtwanger. Opperman family (№ 449691)

Lies and violence went hand in hand. The "browns" abolished the principles that since the French Revolution have been the basis of the social life and culture of the peoples. They re-introduced slavery under the guise of "voluntary labor service." They imprisoned their opponents, kept them worse than animals, subjected them to torture and called it "physical training." They burned swastikas on their bodies, forced them to urinate on each other, plucked grass with their mouths, led them in buffoon processions through the streets and called it "education in the spirit of national identity." The commandment "Thou shalt not kill" was abolished. Political assassination was extolled as a heroic deed, the Fuehrer called the murderers - precisely because they were murderers - his brothers; memorial plaques were erected to the murderers, the dead were thrown out of the graves; one murderer - precisely because he was a murderer - was elevated to the rank of police president. During the first three months of fascist domination in the country, there were five hundred and ninety-three murders with impunity - more than in the entire previous decade. This figure includes only registered, documented murders. And the number of those executed in the first months of fascist domination was greater than in the previous fifteen years.