Meine Ehre heißt Treue: The New Motto of Serving in the Military or Federal Law Enforcement

My Honor is Called Loyalty: the Standard of the Nazi SS adapted to Trump

SS Belt Buckle with the motto Meine Ehre heißt Treue

Last night I wrote about Trump’s Friday night purge at the Pentagon. Sadly, there is more to come and Trump didn’t even try to make up some concoction of lies like Hitler did to depose men who were not considered to be absolutely loyal to him in 1938. Hitler had Hermann Goering and Heinrich Himmler arrange “scandals” in order to bring down his Defense Minister, General Werner von Blomberg and Chief of the Army Staff, Werner von Fritsch who he judged to not be sufficiently loyal. Trump and and his lackey toad Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth simply removed exceptionally qualified senior officers and began to replace them with loyalists, the first and most senior being a man who told Trump that he would “kill for him.”

Absolute loyalty is now the one criteria to served Dictator Donald. Experience, expertise, education, devotion to the Constitution and country no longer matter, only loyalty to Trump. Of course to anyone who has ever examined the life of Donald Trump this is not news, it is the story of his life. Only a fool would not have believed his words and actions over the past decade.

Meine Ehre heißt Treue, or My Honor is called Loyalty was the motto of Heinrich Himmler’s SS. All SS men beginning in 1925 swore this oath:

“I swear to you, Adolf Hitler, as Führer and Chancellor of the German Reich, that I will be loyal and brave. I pledge obedience unto death to you and those you appoint to lead. So help me God.”

After the death of President Hindenburg on 2 August, 1934 then Reichswehr Minister General Werner von Blomberg changed the wording of the military oath of allegiance, from the Constitution to a personal oath to Hitler. He also, without being ordered to by Hitler incorporated the Nazi Earle ans Swastika incorporated into the uniforms of the German military.

Reichswehr soldiers swearing the oath to Hitler in August 1934

The new oath, which German officers, even opponents of Hitler took kept most from even considering disobedience until far too late, even though members of the High Command planned a coup to remove Hitler should he try to invade Czechoslovakia. Sadly, Neville Chamberlain and French Prime Minister Poincaré sold out the Czechs at Munich. It read:

"I swear by God this holy oath
that I shall render unconditional obedience
to the Leader of the German Reich and people,
Adolf Hitler, supreme commander of the armed forces,
and that as a brave soldier I shall at all times be prepared
to give my life for this oath."

Civil servants took a similar oath:

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"I swear: I will be faithful and obedient
to the leader of the German Reich and people, Adolf Hitler,
to observe the law, and to conscientiously fulfil my official duties, so help me God!"

While all of Trump’s appointees, as well as all military personnel and civil servants still swear an oath to the Constitution, many have a higher loyalty to him that supersedes their oath, including Trump’s highest level appointees and the man he has nominated as the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They all consider their loyalty to Trump as their honor, but it is the ultimate dishonor for any American.

So who or what will other military officers, personnel, law enforcement officers and judges decide to swear their allegiance to today?

That is the question. As a retired officer I know beyond a doubt that my oath to the Constitution that I first swore some 44 years ago and it holds true now as it did then.

Until next time, please stay true to your oath or if you haven’t taken one to the Constitution and our laws. Likewise, watch your six.