Nazism: Nazis based their elite schools on top British private schools - by Mark Brown

The historian Helen Roche has written the first comprehensive history of Nazi elite schools, known as Napolas. Drawing on research undertaken in 80 archives in six countries as well as testimonies from more than 100 former pupils, Roche discovered just how keen the Nazis were to learn from the “character-forming” example of the British system.

Between 1934 and 1939 there was a blizzard of reciprocal exchanges between British and German schools, with boys from Britain’s most prestigious private schools spending extended periods at the Napolas.

Roche, an associate professor at Durham University, said the Napola authorities wanted to learn from the British system, ultimately hoping to create a superior model for their own schools.

Read more at Nazis based their elite schools on top British private schools | Nazism | The Guardian

USA - "this can't be happening, but it is": What’s Behind the ‘Tender Age’ Shelters Opening for Young Migrants - by Caitlin Dickerson and Manny Fernandez

The shelters were intended for children under the age of 12, referred to as “tender age” detainees, who are entering the detention system in ever-larger numbers under the Trump administration’s practice of separating children from parents who enter the country illegally.

Many are toddlers and babies and require special care, and their numbers have been rising since last month, when the government enforced a “zero tolerance” policy on people crossing the border. Estimates suggest that more than 2,400 children under the age of 12 are now in federal custody, including many who have been separated from their parents.

But on Wednesday, faced with the intense criticism over the shelters and the separation of families, President Trump retreated, signing an executive order that would detain parents and children together. 

For now, it seems the separations will stop, but it remains unclear what will happen going forward. A Health and Human Services official said that children already separated will not be immediately reunited with their parents while the adults remain in custody during their immigration proceedings.

The executive order came just hours after reports that three centers in southern Texas — in Brownsville, Combes and Raymondville — were being outfitted to accommodate younger children.

A person inside a shelter in Brownsville, Tex., took a series of pictures and supplied them to The New York Times. The facility, which houses babies and toddlers, is operated by Southwest Key Programs, the same nonprofit group that operates a shelter at a former Walmart.

One image showed a toddler girl who is about 12 months old, playing on a colorful mat decorated with the letters of the alphabet and drawings of animals. The workers and others standing around the little girl wear blue hospital-style bootees to keep the wooden floor clean.

The girl was separated from her relatives for about a month as part of the family-separation policy, according to the person who took the photo, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to release an image.

A backlash against the “tender age” shelters erupted on Tuesday night after The Associated Press first reported news of their existence. The MSNBC late night host Rachel Maddow broke down crying on the air as she read the A.P. article.

Referrals of young children have risen “exponentially” since the “zero tolerance” policy was announced, according to Elizabeth Frankel, associate director of the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights. The center pairs migrant children with lawyers and social workers who advocate on their behalf until they are reunited with parents.

Read more at: What’s Behind the ‘Tender Age’ Shelters Opening for Young Migrants - The New York Times

Swedish far-right leader says Islamism is a bigger threat than Nazism - by Adam Taylor

The Swedish Democrats (SD) won 13 percent of the vote in September’s general election, becoming the third-most-popular political party in the country. Their success took many by surprise, but in many ways it was the result of a shift seen in other European far-right parties: SD, which has roots in Swedish fascism and white supremacy, had tempered its more extremist policies, and instead focused on social conservatism, immigration and Islam.

On Tuesday, acting party leader Mattias Karlsson hammered that point home by telling public broadcaster SVT that "the threat of Islamism is perhaps greater than it is from Nazism." The comments, which came on the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz, stoked controversy in a country grappling with a backlash against multiculturalism.

SVT had asked Karlsson, who has been leading the party for the past few months after Jimmie Åkesson was put on leave for exhaustion, about statements once made by new party Secretary Richard Jomshof. Jomshof, a former teacher and member of a synth-pop band, had been criticized for a blog post in 2012 titled "Muslims who want to take over Europe" in which he said that Islamism is now a bigger threat than National Socialism or Communism were.

"[Nazism] was quite a terrible threat, much worse in his time," Karlsson told SVT. "Today, I think that the threat of Islamism is perhaps greater than it is from Nazism. But one must of course take all ideologies seriously and fight them in every way."

Read more: Swedish far-right leader says Islamism is a bigger threat than Nazism - The Washington Post