A Bridge Too Far

by Kenneth Roberts

GEORGE LINCOLN Rockwell liked to tell the joke about the young man who
left the American Nazi Party.

Rockwell was puzzled by the sudden departure of the youth and he
queried him as to the reason for such a rash move.

“While you are certainly free to go and we wish you nothing but the
best we’d like to know why you are leaving us. Is an exit interview
possible?”

“Of course sir, my dedication to your overall cause remains
total.”

“Then why is it that you are going? Was it our teaching you objected
to?”

“Oh no, sir, your doctrine is sound. You helped me overcome many
mental hurdles and opened my eyes to the truth of what is happening to
our race.”

“Was it the organization itself then?”

“Oh no, sir, you were highly organized and I met nothing but the
best people, and your movement was professional through and
through.”

“Was it then perhaps the uniforms? Were they a little over the
top?”

“Oh no, sir, the uniforms were impeccable. Even in my days as a
‘normal’ I always considered National Socialist aesthetics to be top
flight.”

“Could it then have been our goose-stepping? Did you not like the
way we goose-stepped?”

“Oh no, sir, you goose-stepped well.”

“What was it then? I must admit to being at a loss here.”

“Well, sir, to be honest, it is what I learned from you about Adolf
Hitler.”

“And what was that? We’ve always taught that Adolf Hitler was a
great and good man who was unswerving in his dedication to our race
and who employed the only means possible to save it.”

“No, sir, it wasn’t that. I’ve always felt that you alone gave
Adolf Hitler what was due him as a great man. You said true things
about the greatness of Hitler that no one else dared utter.”

“What was it then?”

“Well, it was what you taught me about the ‘Holocaust.’”

“We have always said that it never happened! That can’t be it, can
it?”

“Oh no sir, it’s not that. I am very happy that you dispelled that
myth for me, it is what made the scales fall from my eyes. I see now
that the so-called Holocaust is nothing but a weapon used against our
people.”

“Well I am very happy for that. And as I say we wish you well but we
are just very sorry to see such a promising young man go. So in order to
avoid any other similar departures in the future you have to tell us.
What was it that made you want to separate from us and our
organization?”

“I am sorry to go too. But to tell you the truth the reason I am
leaving does have to do with Hitler and the Holocaust. It was not the
fact that Hitler didn’t kill six million Jews, that I could live
with that; that I could abide; that was not the problem at all.”

“What was it then?”

“Well once I found out the truth, I said to myself that I could
belong to the Nazi party knowing that Hitler didn’t kill the six
million Jews, that’s neither here nor there. But what I can’t
stomach, what I can’t stand, and what led me to this unfortunate
break is the fact that he didn’t even try.”

And that, said Rockwell, finishing the joke and beaming his charming
smile, radiating his inner goodness for all to see — that was a bridge too far.

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