Original New Dealer Wisdom

[Kid Berwyn]

46. Hitler Pardoned His Goons Too

Trump’s Actions' Parallels with Germany 1935

by Harry Litman, Jan 23, 2025

Released from long sentences for seditious conspiracy by the mercy of Donald Trump, the leaders of the January 6 insurrection are flush with triumph and vengeful purpose. Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the Proud Boys whom Trump pardoned for his 22-year sentence, proclaimed, “The people who did this, they need to feel the heat. They need to be put behind bars, and they need to be prosecuted. Success is going to be retribution.” Oath Keeper founder Stewart Rhodes, sentenced to 18 years, lobbied for full pardons for the 14 offenders, including himself, who received only commutations. He left jail a free man and immediately sketched out his plan to investigate police witnesses and prosecutors “on up the chain.”

Tarrio added, with perhaps the most inappropriate words ever spoken by a pardoned convict: “Now it’s our turn.”

Snip...

But it took Hitler some time to completely displace the political system in Germany. Early in the Nazi regime, existing members of the judiciary and legal professionals still tried to uphold and enforce the law. Many turned a blind eye to the SA’s crimes, including a series of gruesome murders of Nazi opponents, even as they attempted to assert some of their traditional prosecutorial powers.

It was the abuses at Hohnstein Concentration Camp—an early detention center for communists and other political prisoners—that were too savage and notorious to ignore. In 1935, local prosecutors brought 23 SA guards at the camp to trial on charges of torture and brutal mistreatment, including widespread “suiciding” of prisoners. The SA defendants were all convicted and sentenced to prison.

Within a year, they were all out, released on Hitler’s orders. After the trial, senior Nazi officials demanded their release and acquittal. Then, in November 1935, Hitler pardoned every last one of the convicted men. It was a brutal demonstration of his domination of the judiciary and a key benchmark in his complete conquest of the rule of law in Germany—one that paved the way for his unchecked rule and thirst for world domination.

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https://harrylitman.substack.com/p/hitler-pardoned-his-goons-too