TheSkudDestroyer

I don't believe in this fully, but I think this is important to note:

http://www.crimethinc.com/texts/days/nogods.php

Now I'm not saying hitler was a good man. I believe the opposite. He was a twisted man with a terrible vision. But history is written by the winners...

[EDIT: I'm not always a fan of crimethinc]

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ScratchMonkey

Had the death camps not been developed, what would history say of the Nazis? They pulled a country out of total economic collapse, and almost conquered the world. Had it not been for Hitler's monomania overruling sound military decisions, I suspect they would have succeeded. Without the horror of the death camps, I'll bet the Nazis would have been upheld as the same heroes as many American leaders. They upheld patriotism and duty to country.

LuckyStrike

Yeah. But the death camps trump all.

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Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

-Benjamin Franklin

TheSkudDestroyer

Even if he skipped the whole Holocaust idea...

We would label him as EVIL, TYRANT, MURDERER, etc.

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icky

I think you missed the chapter on how he inspired loyalty among even those who secretly wished him dead. Besides, when in history has anyone ever been impressed by someone who almost took over the world?

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Peace through fear... since 1947!

luna

Minus the death camps, Hitler contributed to numerous other atrocities that I think the world would judge as "evil", even if it never progressed to the death camps. There's the euthanasia program he developed for German citizens deemed "weak" or genetically flawed, for starters. There's the Nuremburg laws he put in place when he came to power that stripped Jews of citizenship and enacted hostile, dehumanizing policies towards them and many others before the death camps ever became a part of his repertoire.

There are many more examples, but the two above are worth considering.

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Resurgent's New Motivational Motto:
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Gambit7

Quick! Hide!! It's Looonaaa!

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luna

Hey, the semester is over. I need to get back into the swing of things by reading the sandbox and crafting pithy comments to share with all of you.

__________________
Resurgent's New Motivational Motto:
"Now train harder! Live inside your character! If it dies, YOU DIE! Focus!"

Jesus had a soulstone.

ScratchMonkey

So what made his death camps worse than everyone else's? Stalin doesn't seem to elicit the same hatred.

Also, the other Nazi atrocities (extermination of gypsies, homosexuals, and those with deformities) don't seem to get the same press as the Holocaust. Why not?

The Nazis did have the benefit of technological efficiency. But weren't leaders of 500 years and more ago equally brutal, just not as capable of meting out their cruelty on a grand scale?

gunjunkie

Lets not forget all that creepy Nazi occult stuff either. A key thing to factor in is that they were a cult, as well as a political party. You can't take Hitler without Himmler, Goebbels and the others. He was the figurehead, and his insanity (syphilis is one theory, parkinsons is another, more plausible one) really ended up screwing them over in the end.

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Do or do not, there is no try....
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Cowtipper

But funny enough it was the British who invented the death camps... Back in the 19th century in Africa!

Gambit7

People forget the Germans also slaughtered 100's of thousands of Sub-Saharan Africans (Namibians mostly) between WWI and WWII. Only reason I myself even know this fact (because it's not taught in history classes) is because I traced my heritage to the region and my last name has a German ring to it.

Like I said before, in all honesty, if Hitler wasnt so GREEDY and such a bad battlefield commander, we probably wouldnt even be thinking twice about the Holocaust (it's sick but true) because the Germans would be currently ruling Europe and/or Russia and wouldnt be as demonized (because they lost the war).

Perspective is everything here. Let's face it, the Holocaust is such a big deal right now (and always has been) because America is full of affluent Caucasian Jews. There is also an entire Middle-Eastern country devoted to preserving its memory (Israel). So dont count on the Holocaust being forgotten anytime soon.

As for the countless millions of Africans (which ironically enough is where the Jews actually come from) and other people who have been slaughtered throughout history... welp, they get left out of the history books and forgotten because the clout they brought was lacking (and because of the color of their skin).

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marstein

The german death camps were directed at narrowly defined groups of people blamed as 'people's vermin'. The biggest group they identified was people of Jewish religion. Picking a religious group that was persecuted for centuries (millenia?) rates as especially evil. And there are bonus points for going about it with german efficiency. Altogether this serves now as a traumatic experience, a warning for people not to get into this again.
But then - Just think what new technologies will achieve - no need for death camps any more. Robots and remote controlled weapons will do.

Hitler was a politician that achieved success by scratching all the right itches in people and abusing the power he got for evil purposes. His team came up with the idea of death camps, euthanasia, diabolical experiments, immense wars with millions killed, a death-strategy when things were already hopeless, etc etc. All these things had been there before and keep coming back (Abu Ghraib, propping up evil regimes, etc), but not in that scale.

Hitler was human, so I guess he liked his dog and his kids, but the thoughts and ideas he had made the world hell for a lot of people at the time.

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Gambit7

Hitler will look like the Dalai Llama compared to what the World is in for in the Future. There simply isnt enough land and resources for the burgeoning human population. A few million people here, a few million people there (killed from war, famine, etc.) is ironically the only thing currently saving us from annihlation.

Either that or birth restrictions. (which inevitably yields a Master Race anyways)

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Zephyr

Defending someone's freedom of religion isn't condoning their choice.

He's not a Scientologist. If he says he isn't, he isn't, its his personal choice.

How ridiculous to say that Will Smith called Hitler a good person, anyone who bothers to read articles beyond the headlines can see that wasn't his point at all.

What a stupid media we have. Then again, does it reflect our populace...or does our populace reflect it?

-Zephyr

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