Originally Posted by Doppleganger

I think touches a nerve in many, many people. It's the fact that the Nazis could casually deem other humans as sub-human and because of this deny them basic human rights and treat them as animals. Of course, Nazi Germany was not the first regime to adopt this attitude....In a 'positive' light Hitler is often seen as a great conqueror on the scale of a Caesar or Napoleon, which is a favourable comparision. For example when talking about Russia it is often stated that it was this vast, desolate wasteland that laid ruin to the great armies of Napoleon and Hitler. For this reason he's admired by many people. If it's any comfort Hitler will be remembered as one of the most iconic figures in human history. It's a heck of a lot better than 99.9999..% of us will ever achieve, even if much of it is for the wrong reasons.

A personal thought...I gotta stop writing stuff that is going to get me in trouble. I gotta stop mixing Friday pints and writing on this forum. I apologize for my weird and poorly stated points of view.

sorry...doubled.

Hitler was bad, but he had a purpose. I believe Stalin was a far worse person.

Besides, without Hitler, who would we use to compare people we hate to?

well...im shure that there were some great things about him...like how he ordered experiments never done before....like peeling the flesh off of a human to see how long it would take for infection to kill him...o, and my personal favorite, taking newborn chilren and droping them out the window of the builing to watch the mothers reation to the bby's death, and to see how long it would take her to break...yeah...great guy

really...you want us to tell you the bad things he did...there are too many to list...he was satans

Originally Posted by Ollie Garchy

The people of the future, blonde and blue eyed, will truly laugh.

Being brown haired and brown eyes, and coming from a long history of brunettes and brown eyed relative, I can confidently say "Not on my watch." assuming your "blonde and blue eyed" is some sort of reference to Hitler's "superior race" of which he wasn't even a member.

I have never noticed this thread before, but I have to comment. I was very blue-eyed and fair, and the German girls just after WW11 thought I was just great. My mother in law, brought up in Germany, said I was typical Hitler youth material.

Let me say this - any praise of Hitler reveals a disgusting mind-set and anyone who says that there were others worse than Hitler are talking vile and ridiculous gibberish.

The whole package has never been surpassed for undiluted maniacal evil.

My opinion, formed over a great many years of observation and experience, and my last word on the subject, regardless of brainless, rose -coloured -spectacle -users' efforts to redeem his legacy.

Anybody these days, who lives in Germany, has to be careful about expressing an honest opinion about Adolph Hitler. As by the Nuremberg trials, evidence which might be brought in defence of those in power between 1933 - 1945, is not allowed or wanted.
In my opinion this is wrong, because too many questions have not been answered correctly about this man and his followers. It is however not surprising, because the Social Democrats and trade unions in the Germany of today have a great deal of power. The current chancellor Mrs Merkel, also enjoyed an education in the GDR which normally was only given to those fully faithful to the Communist Party line. All the above organisations suffered under Hitler and are fully opposed to any kind of rehabilitation.
During the years which I have spent in this country however, I have come to the conclusion that many of the legends spread are based on War- and Post-war propaganda rather than reality. For younger people, who were not alive at the time, I can recommend John Toland's Hitler Biography as a basis to work on. Here can be found, that the Hitler family itself was not free of Jewish blood, which might explain the fact, that bodily he was everything else rather than an example of German blond-haired and blue eyed excellence.
The laws passed between 1933 and 1940 discriminating against Jews, are in themselves proof of a warped mind. They are however not an indication that he intended to commit genocide. For many years, he was also convinced, that he would be able to have his demands fulfilled without firing a shot.
His first great mistake in international politics, was to send troops into the remaining Czech state, after being successful in taking the Sudetenlands. This action cost him the admiration he had received from politicians all over Europe. The second and much more dangerous mistake, was to allow himself to be provoked into starting a war with Poland. This was exactly what a group of people who had been paying Churchill's private debts, had been waiting for.
After the war Churchill said "We have slaughtered the wrong pig," a short sentence, but significant. It meant in fact, that some of those with whom Britain had fought alongside, against Germany, were even more dangerous than the Nazis themselves.
The Holocaust is also a horrible capital which has not been clarified. Of the millions who died, many lost their lives while working in factories bombed by allied planes, although the governments concerned knew forced labour was being used at the time. Here just to put the blame on to one country, is to say the least, more than dishonest. By the way, Hitler's crazed mind was probably a result of being gassed in WW1. He won an award for bravery on the front line, but lost his sight for many weeks.

In John Toland's book "Adolph Hitler", he alludes to the fact that young Adolph was "different" pretty much right from his childhood. A rather odd child that always seemed to have dreams of greatness.

I have read the book several times and find it quite fascinating, probably the best book I have found on the subject.

I think that it is time that some of these repressive laws were removed as they are not achieving anything of importance any longer. I don't think Hitler was a genius, by any stretch of the imagination, however he did achieve some great things in his efforts to return Germany to what he thought was it's rightful place in Europe, from there on in it all went pear shaped. Like many people who make a few well timed decisions, he started to think that he was infallible in all things.

Originally Posted by Grimlin

well...im shure that there were some great things about him...like how he ordered experiments never done before....like peeling the flesh off of a human to see how long it would take for infection to kill him...o, and my personal favorite, taking newborn chilren and droping them out the window of the builing to watch the mothers reation to the bby's death, and to see how long it would take her to break...yeah...great guy

really...you want us to tell you the bad things he did...there are too many to list...he was satans

While I am certainly not going to condone such actions I do think it worth pointing out that the allies didn't seem to mind a whole lot when they started using the same research after the war nor did it seem to be a great issue when they were recruiting German scientists, doctors and engineers after the war.
Just look at the case of Wernher von Braun most people seem to have forgotten his past at Mittelbau-Dora out of preference to post war exploits.

Just look at the case of Wernher von Braun most people seem to have forgotten his past at Mittelbau-Dora out of preference to post war exploits.

Monty, can you find any evidence he was directly responsible for the treatment of forced labour there, or whether he just accepted it since there was nothing he could do? I think there was an occassion were he picked slave labour and regularily attended the factory at Mittelwerk, but he never visited the camp itself