Chancellor Merkel warns against the elites

"The rise of National Socialism was possible because the elites and parts of German society particiapted, but above all, because most in Germany tolerated this rise," words spoken by Angela Merkel on Wednesday at the opening of a new exhibition, 'Berlin 1933 - Path to Dictatorship'.

The exhibition opening coincided with the 80 anniversary of the coming to power of Adolf Hitler.

Frau Merkel went on to say how it took the Nazis just six months after taking office to dismantle the Weimar Republic's democratic structures.

"Human rights and freedom don't defend themselves. A society with a human face needs people to have respect and responsibility for each other and who are ready to accept criticism," she said.

The German Chancellor mentioned the elites.

Krupp supplied the ammunition. Mercedes presented Hitler with a new car every year. The pharmaceutical companies Bayer, BASF and Hoechst are new post war names for IG Farben. IG Farben provided the gas for the concentration camps.

That Frau Merkel used the word 'elites' is significant.

How easilty we team people into winners and losers. For some absurd reason the 'winners' always get preferential treatment, the 'losers' dismissed and shunned.

It is worth noting that 70 years ago tomorrow, against all the odds, against the belief of Mercedes, IG Farben ( Bayer, Hoechst, BASF) the so-called losers accepted the unconditional surrender of Paulus' Sixth Army on the Volga.

The 'losers', Hitler's 'inferior beings', had routed Germany's 'elite' army.

Maybe the moral for all of us is always and ever to be on our guard against elites, whoever they are wherever they may appear. They can be so slick and cunning.

For far too long the West has underplayed the heroic victory of the Soviet Army in Stalingrad/Volgograd.

On February 3, 1943 under the genius of Marshal General Gerogii Zhukov world history was changed.

It took another two full years for the Germans to realise that the 'losers' were the 'winners'.