When people hear Germany they think of hitler and WW2 and how bad the nazis were. But the question is in their point of view were they bad people? Sure they killed jews. But when your country calls you have to go. their was rebellions, but none succeful. Try to flee the country instead of serving you would be shot. Most were excited and glad of what hitler said. He was gifted in the art of speech. Jews were also thought of as the enemy of Germany, and bringing their country down. What do you think of nazis?
Basically, Nazi's are like the Democratic party, they are annoying, stupid, ignorant, and ugly, but they are not going away any time soon so you just have to learn to live with them unless you get the permission to carpet bomb neighborhoods that they live in.
I am saying this in present tense for the reason that Naz's still exist.
There have been several famouse psychology tests sone on the idea that the Germans as a race of people are more obediant than others, therefore making someone folowing Nazism in Germany at that time just a blind follower. The Milgram test is one of the most well known and tested people on how many electric shocks they would give to a "learner" of increasing voltage. It and other studies showed many variables took part in obedience. One of these being the situation. In Germany in the 1930's people had survived through the Depression and hyperinflation and felt that the Nazi party were the best option to improve the state of the country. in contrast to other parties the Nazi's had nice uniforms and held impressive rallies and so appeared to be strong and looked succesful. The Nazi's did many dood things for Germany (autobahns and instilling national pride etc.) Obviously these, quite rightly, have been overshadowed by the terrible crimes they commited. Eichmann (the architect of the Holocaust) said he at his trial he was just "following orders". Was the whole of Germany? How much did individuals actually know? Looking at Nazism throught he eyes of a German citizen they may have seen more of the successes of Hitlers reign especially since the media was so well censored.
The punishments you mentioned Somers were rather more harsh than what in reality happened. Members of the police and armmy used in the concentration camps were asked if they would like to join, and nothing bad would happen to them if they didnt.
There are 3 main viewpoints. Intentionalists belive that Hitler planned the holocaust from the beginning and without him it never could have happened, thus absolving the German people from blame. Structuralists belive that Hitler didnt really know what he was doing and the holocaust fell into place with the help of the German people. The synthesist view is for me the most realistic as it combines the two theories, as when you look at Hitler's policy there is some which shows him to have a plan and some that shows him to be relatively aimless in his anti semitic policy.
Whatever you belive it doesnt absolve the Nazis. In Italy the people simply said no to the anti semitism and so Hitler stopped and the same happened in Norway and other Scandanavian countries.
There was also quite a bit of opposition to the Nazis, but the fear created by the Gestapo and the concentration camps prevented much of the resistance from taking off. There were of course the assassination attempts, but the German masses never really opposed Hitler.
The economic success of the Nazis was debateable. Despie the national projects like building the autobahns, wages were still relatively low and there was still a lot of unemployment.
Talking to many Germans who have relatives who lived through the war, it seems it would have been impossible not to know what was going on. As for placing blame on the German people, I do not think it is wholly just to do so, but I am not in favour of total clemency either.
now in the US people have neo nazis that only go for the arian race. most dont come from germany, but its still scary to see that gangs going around targeting minorities. in my neighborhood, tensions have started already since obama was elected and ive heard that some whites are getting mad and are forming something like Nazi bussinus
Nazis dont always have to be German like in america. i dont like em at all.... but that doesnt mean i hate all of the arian race or anything like that. its sad tho when people think that they are the dominant race tho, dont apreciate life enough...
I think, that being a true blooded German, that WWII was neccesary, to prove to the World that the Father Germany was not going to sit by idle, and watch the world go by. I personally think that Adolf had the right idea trying to wipe out the Jews, and other groups that were racially inferior, I know that sounds harsh, but America did that to the Indians that were already settled in America. They just came in, killing and taking land that was already claimed by the Indians.
Also, Nazis brought prosperity to Germany, not many realize this, but it's true, and it created jobs for people. My grandfather fought in WWII, and he lived through it, and he told me many stories about the Nazis, and I've always liked them. Judge me or not, but the Nazis and Adolf Hitler shaped the world into a better place.
I personally think that Adolf had the right idea trying to wipe out the Jews, and other groups that were racially inferior,
so im just asking, since im not part of the arian race or a different, would u see me as a bad person. im not saying that u would want to kill me(i hope u dont) but even if u met someone whos not white or any thing like that, u wouldnt like em?
alright well unlike everyone else who decides they love to copy and paste other ppls thoughts unto there own comment because they can't think of there own things to say... ill do the exact opposite...
Adolf Hitler was an amazing man, he was smart, and he knew strategy, he knew how to brain wash ppl (again being smart), and most of all he did wat he wanted to do, not wat others told him to. While Britain, France, Russia and a few other nations were taking supplies from Germany from WW1, Hitler was making his stand. He wanted to fight back and keep Germanies resources for themselves... So blaming WW2 on France and Britain and all those countries who were taking resources from Germany is fully logical, as they were taking resources from the end of WW1 to the start of WW2. As well the biggest reason that Hitler started his campaign was because he hated what these countries had done, and wanted Germany to rise economically. Hitler during the war had some major flaws... one big example was the extermination of the Jews, and another was how he exterminated them... We did advance hugely in medically and technologically after we found Hitlers blueprints and his scientists notes. We got over half way to finding the cure from cancer from wat his scientists had found out... imagine wat would have happened if we had let them keep going... Many lives would've been lost, but as well we may have found the cure for cancer. Now someone said anout how we screwed the indians over..ya its true we did. But no where near as bad as what hitler did to the Jews. We didn't put them in gas chambers and do torturous things to them... We just took land from them and gave them food for it and stuff... It was called trade, back in the time. Anyways wat im trying to get at here is we weren't exterminating anyone, whereas hitler clearly was... To say wat we did had any comparison to hitler is ignorant, and fairly idiotic.
Is Hitler really a bad man? The Bible told him to kill the Jews, so he did. He truly, strongly believed that he was helping the world by wiping them out. He was a man on a mission from God. He managed to inspire others with his holy quest, and now people are saying that he is evil because he interpreted the Bible differently.
As Silver333 said.. There isn't any clear definition of good and evil. People's perceptions of good and evil come from their opinions. You say murder is evil. I say I want to murder a person who would otherwise murder millions of people. See? There isn't any direct definition of good and bad that isn't swayed by opinions. As Samy would have corrected me, though, the Bible tells us the one, true set of morals. But people interpret it differently.
If someone kills people and you agree with them, you call them a hero or a patriot. If you don't agree, you call them a murderer or evil. In the last example, "cold-blooded murderer" became "savior of the <insert oppressed ethnic group here>".
Please don't go "NAZI OH MAH GAWD!" on me. I like Jews.
