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From: kebarnes@cc.memphis.edu
Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns,alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Bogus .22 bullet/fuse story
Date: 5 Mar 97 01:10:40 -0500

This thread reminds me that I need to credit the folks over on alt.folklore.urban with helping me shoot down that bogus Hitler quote praising gun registration. For those a.f.u.'ers who don't remember (it_was_a couple of years ago), the story goes like this:

"This year* will go down in history! For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration! Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future!"
--falsely attributed to Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), "Abschied vom Hessenland!" ["Farewell to Hessia!"], ['Berlin Daily' (Loose English Translation)], April 15th, 1935, Page 3 Article 2, Einleitung Von Eberhard Beckmann [Introduction by Eberhard Beckmann]

<<This quotation, often seen without any date or citation at all, suffers from several credibility problems, the most significant of which is that the date given (*in alternate versions, the words "This year..." are replaced by "1935...") has no correlation with any legislative effort by the Nazis for gun registration, nor would there have been a need for the Nazis to pass such a law, since gun registration laws passed by the Weimar government (in part to address street violence between Nazis and Communists!) were already in effect. The Nazi Weapons Law (or_Waffengesetz_) which further restricted the possession of militarily useful weapons and forbade trade in weapons without a government-issued license was passed on March 18, 1938. The citation usually given for this quote is a jumbled mess, and has only three major clues from which to work. The first is the date, which does not correspond (even approximately) to a date on which Hitler made a public speech, and a check of the texts of Hitler's speeches does not reveal a quotation resembling this (which is easily understandable when you realize that "Hitler" is commenting on a non-existent law). The second clue is the newspaper reference, which if translated into German resembles the title of a newspaper called _Berliner Tageblatt,_ and a check of the issue for that date reveals that the page and column references given are to the arts and culture page! No Hitler speech appears in the pages of_Berliner Tageblatt_on that date, or dates close to it, because there was no such speech to report. Finally, the citation includes a proper name "Eberhard Beckmann," which is sometimes cited as "by Einleitung Von Eberhard Beckmann," which is an important clue itself, because it reveals that the citation was fabricated by someone who had so little knowledge of the German language that they were unaware that "Einleitung" isn't the fellow's first name! The only "Eberhard Beckmann" which has been uncovered thus far did indeed write introductions, but he was a journalist for a German broadcasting company after WWII, and he wrote several introductions to_photography books,_ one of which was photos of the German state of Hesse (or Hessia), which may be the source of the curious phrase "Abschied vom Hessenland!" which appears in the citation. This quotation, however effective it may be as propaganda, is a fraud.>>

This quote, and a few others, are scheduled to be included in a forthcoming FAQ appendix for t.p.g. having to do with what pro-gun author Clayton Cramer has termed "pious frauds", or bogus quotations ginned up for propaganda purposes by (perhaps) well-meaning gun control opponents. (Credit also should be given to Clayton Cramer for getting me interested in tracking down these quotes, which resulted in the enormous documentary history/quotes files at http://www.rkba.org/research )

Ken "Front Cite" Barnes
--
**x*dna Ken Barnes, LifeSci Bldg. The University Of Memphis *(==) * <ken@mmcs.memphis.edu> Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.A. * \' * NRA/JPFO/ASM/GOP/U-U [Caution! UNIX Student Driver] *(=)*** t.p.g.pro-gun FAQ: http://www.rkba.org/research/rkba.faq

"He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent which will reach to himself."

--Thomas Paine (1737-1809), conclusion, _Dissertation on First Principles of Government,_1795