PhoenixSerenityMay 20, 2024

*This #racist #antisemite led #Canada for 21 yrs.*

#MackenzieKing’s “cheerleading” for #Hitler’s regime got a tremendous boost during his tour of landmarks of the #Nazi “miracle,” as Teigrob recounts in riveting detail. The photographs tell a very chilling story as well, especially one that shows King sitting proudly in Hitler’s seat at the All-German Sports Competitions while surrounded by Nazi bigwigs in full swastika-studded regalia.

https://www.canadashistory.ca/explore/books/four-days-in-hitler-s-germany

#CanadianHistory #Colonialism

Four Days in Hitler’s Germany: Mackenzie King’s Mission to Avert a Second World War - Canada's History

Robert Teigrob draws on the diaries of William Lyon MacKenzie King to paint a vivid picture of the period and the crisis in Europe. 

Show threadPhoenixSerenityMay 20, 2024
"We learn, for example, that King had an abiding fear of Americans, such as President Theodore Roosevelt, wanting to take over Canada; that he felt a kinship to Hitler because of the two leaders’ attachments to their mothers; and that he saw himself on a divine mission, fulfilling the destiny of his rebel grandfather and namesake, William Lyon Mackenzie, in trying to bring Britain and Germany together to avoid war"
Show threadPhoenixSerenityMay 20, 2024
The MacLaren book is particularly valuable for its examination of pro #fascist currents in #Canada, one example being the #RomanCatholic church in #Quebec’s support of Italian #dictator Benito #Mussolini because of his recognition of the #Vatican as an independent state & his fervent #AntiCommunism.
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*#MackenzieKing was #Canada’s longest running #PrimeMinister & he was a #racist #fascist jerk.*

Both works, Mackenzie King in the Age of the Dictators, by Roy MacLaren, and Four Days in Hitler’s Germany: Mackenzie King’s Mission to Avert a Second World War, by Robert Teigrob, rely heavily on the King diary. Indeed, without access to the prime minister’s private thoughts, neither book would be as insightful, as cringe-inducing, or, likely, even possible.

#Fascism #CanadianHistory #Coloniser

May 20, 2024 at 2:47pmWeb
Show threadPhoenixSerenityMay 20, 2024
And yes, both authors conclude that King was a bona fide #AntiSemite, neither of them granting a man of his education and experience a pass for being a product of his #xenophobic, intolerant times. Certainly the most infuriating and tragic aspect of King’s wilful denial of well-documented #Nazi evil is his attitude towards #Jews, which led to #Canada’s refusal to accept significant numbers of refugees from the mounting #Holocaust hell.
Show threadPhoenixSerenityMay 20, 2024
Another example is King’s loathing of the collective-security provisions of the #LeagueOfNations, which he thought might ensnare #Canada in a war in some distant land. King’s “muddling” played a critical role in that body’s failure to stand up to #Mussolini and #Hitler, thereby empowering the #fascist duo in their territorial ambitions.
Show threadPhoenixSerenityMay 20, 2024
.....#Nazi #henchmen he considered friends when he spent a day at the #WarCrimes trials in #Nuremberg in 1946. ...King, who never failed to inform his Nazi hosts that he was born and raised in the German settlement of Berlin, Ontario (Kitchener), paid a return visit to the old-country Berlin to view the devastation wrought on the capital of the #ThirdReich by #Hitler — the man, King had confided to his diary, whom he believed “might come to be thought of as one of the saviours of the world.”