experiment626

I am a bit of a history buff, particulary towards militay history. I have just finished reading the Rise and Fall of theThird Reich (by Shier), and an interesting thought occured. Can a person give credit or take pride in the acomplishments of the German Wehrmacht and SS units as a military fighting force...
While at the same time deploring the cruelty and horrors that were conducted by the regime and some military units?

I have a foundness for german tanks of the period, and I was recently asked the question," How can you speak of that monstrous empire in such admiring tones?" Do not misunderstand me, I do not praise their political system or any of the atrocities they commited, but for what an outnumbered and; during the early invasion of Poland and the Low Lands, a technologicaly inferior fighting group acomplished is pretty amazing.

An additional question, I understand that in today's Germany, you can not use the word NAZI or display any emblems of the time period in public. Is that true (our Euro friends out there..)? To me it seems a shame that they are forced to bury their history...no matter what happened, the war did occur and it is part of their history (people need to be able to learn from their mistakes). People still fly the confederate flag here in the United States and you can have open and public discussions about the Klu Klux Klan or any other hate group... Does Germany teach anything about that time period in their schools?

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leejo

Dude I call bait and switch on this topic. I had my credit card out and everything.

I know all my grandfathers had a lot of respect for the German soldier. I think it's very possible to respect them and their accomplishments while abhorring the atrocities they committed and other unpleasant aspects of the reich.

Pokerface

I deplore everything Hitler stood for, and every action he took to get there, but any man who can rally a nation behind him -- especially for the obviously evil purposes Hitler had -- has some massive charisma and public speaking ability.

So I have respect for his leadership qualities, but boy howdy did he abuse them.

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Trooper

Hitler was a leader, a damn good one. To be able to convince millions of Germans of his plans and he dint worry about hiding any of it from his people, that takes some skills. He brought Germany out of a horrible depression and with in 5 years they where Europes super-power. Dont get me wrong he was nuts/evil, but he got the job done. Im not saying he was a good man by any means, just think how Germany or the world would be now if he had used his ideas and skills for the betterment of man kind.

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that sounds like a good idea trooper.
-Vulcan

CingularDuality

Sun Tzu says you had better respect your enemy, regardless of who they are...

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