Berliners Risk Imprisonment By Shouting “Sieg Heil” at Obama Rally

BERLIN - Buoyed by the deafening cheers of a rapturous crowd estimated at more than 200,000, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama declared to this formerly divided city: “People of Berlin, people of the world, this is our time.” 

Many in the jubilant crowd were so carried away by Obama’s soaring rhetoric that they risked arrest by shouting “Sieg Heil,” a Nazi victory salute that is now outlawed in this nation.

Oskar Hanfstangl, 82, said that he “couldn’t help but” shout the phrase.  “I haven’t seen such charisma since . . . .”  He cut himself off, fearful of uttering the name “Adolf Hitler” in public.  “I meant to say, since the war,” Hanfstangle corrected himself.  “I have no idea what [Obama] stands for, in fact none of us do, but what does that matter?  We just can’t help but stand up and shout for him,” Hanfstangl said.  “Just like we used to do for you-know-who.”

Obama seemed to lapse into a trance-like state as he neared the end of his historic speech.  He reached a fever pitch when he started giving the crowd the Nazi salute while repeatedly shouting ”Sieg” into the microphone, urging his delirious fans to answer “Heil” to each shout.

German officials were visibly alarmed by Obama’s usage of discredited Nazi phrases and gestures as well as the crowd’s reaction to the speech.  At the conclusion of the speech, officials surrounded Obama and urged him not to mingle with his ecstatic supporters.  “We wanted to put him on a plane and send him the hell away,” said an official who asked not to be named. 

But Obama was clearly pleased.  “Now I understand how it must have felt at Nuremberg,” Obama proudly told an aide, referring to the Nazi propaganda rallies held in the 1930s. 

Before arriving in Berlin, Obama asked German officials if Leni Riefenstahl, the German filmmaker best known for her Nazi propaganda films, would be available to videotape the rally for him.  He was disappointed to learn that she died five years ago, so he asked U.S. film director Oliver Stone to “fill in” for her.

Jul 25

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