When History Repeats Itself: Gun Control Means Losing Control

On the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht 1938, when thousands of Jews were kidnapped and thrown into concentration camps, synagogues were burned, Jewish homes and businesses were destroyed, and Jewish property was seized, author Stephen Halbrook explained in his frightening Washington Times article “What made the Nazi Holocaust possible? Gun Control” that the simplest answer was the correct one: Jewish-owned guns were registered “and thus easily confiscated.”

The Al Katz Center will host a series of lectures throughout September on the lessons of gun control for the Jews in Nazi controlled nations, as a German child’s eyewitness account describes:

The doorbell rang, and they came in demanding, “We are looking for weapons.” My father answered that we didn’t have any weapons.  They shouted back, “Get out….”  We went outside in the yard  – other[s] … stood around, just looked at us never saying a word … The mob finally left and we went inside ….

They had wrecked the furniture. Dishes, glass, and ornaments were broken …. I remembered the smell for years.

Another eyewitness of Kristallnacht lost her beloved father that night:

“At our house, the men searched my dad for weapons or something and then took him away.  We learned later that all Jewish men between 18 and 60 had been arrested,” including Louis Katz, father of Al Katz, for whom the Al Katz Center is named.

The schedule of lectures is:

September 11 – The 1931 Nazi takeover plot to deny food to Jews and to execute persons refusing to surrender their guns leading to German registration of all firearms and confiscation thereof

September 13 – Use of gun registration records to identify, disarm, and attack Jews and political opponents of the Nazis accompanied by mass seizures of guns and revocations of gun licenses; Gestapo ban of gun clubs, arrests of their leaders, opponents placed in concentration camps, and prohibition of firearm permits to Jews

September 20 – The new Nazi Weapons Law of November 11, 1938, two days after Kristallnacht, prohibiting all Jews from acquiring, possessing, and carrying firearms, ammunition, and stabbing weapons, under penalty of imprisonment for up to five years

September 27 – Jewish armed resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto, Sobibor concentration camp, and other sites, saving many thousands of lives, despite the fact that weapons were very scarce.

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EDITORS NOTE: Stephen Halbrook is an author and lawyer known for his litigation on behalf of the National Rifle Association. He has written extensively about the original meanings of the Second Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment.

The cost of each of the events is $7 per adult; $3 per student; healthy kosher refreshments with vegan options and discussion materials included

To order autographed copies books by Stephen Halbrook, famed Nazi gun control author, will be taken. RSVP – Beverly Newman at 941-313-9239 or visit our website www.alkatzcenter.org to register.

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