31 August—“Anschluss” is simply a German word meaning “union” or “connection.” But it took on sinister association and implication in March 1938 when Adolf Hitler sent German troops into Austria and annexed it to Germany.

Irrelevant though it may be, it’s worth noting that Hitler was Austrian by birth but fled his homeland to Germany (which, of course, he adopted enthusiastically) in order to evade the draft because his father couldn’t find a podiatrist to manufacture calcaneal bone spurs on demand.

It’s relevant, on the other hand, to note that Austria, although only about one sixth the area of Germany (some 32,377 to 181,742 square miles) and with about a tenth of its big nasty neighbor’s population (about 6.8 million to 68 million), held impressive gold and foreign currency reserves as well as vast natural resources, including a skilled labor force, vital for Hitler’s illegal war preparation.

For the record, the addition of Austria increased Nazi Germany’s land area by some 18 percent. And Austria divorced Germany on 27 April 1945, three days before Hitler offed himself.

It’s also relevant that before sending in his loyal Wehrmacht, which was offered no military resistance (because Austrian troops had been ordered to stand down), Hitler had essentially bullied Austria by all the usual means, including but not limited to severe military threats, and installed his own puppet, pro-Nazi government—which, among other things, sent Berlin a fabricated telegram requesting troops to restore order. Hitler’s annexation of Austria was approved in April 1938 in a retrospective plebiscite manipulated, as usual, through deception, disruption, and denial.

Hitler’s Austrian connection brings to mind Donald Trump’s Venezuelan connection—and without the least bit of straining to find similarities, as it happens. It is Trump and his hero and exemplar Hitler, after all. Cutting to the chase, then, we know about Trump’s typical self-dealing in Venezuelan oil.

But Venezuela also is exceptionally rich in iron ore, bauxite for aluminum, and coltan (columbite–tantalite, so-called “blue gold”) for electronics and batteries. And of course Trump has done deals—export and licensing agreements and who knows what else—for those vital and valuable commodities.

And lest we forget, there’s lots and lots of gold in them thar Venezuelan hills—estimated at well over 2,000 metric tons, in fact. And sure as shootin’ Trump’s faithful flunkies have fiddled deals that, among other things, allow “U.S. entities” to purchase, transport, and sell Venezuelan gold “under U.S. jurisdiction and oversight.”

Who needs Hitler? We have Trump . . .