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Poll results were released with this to say about the attitude of Germans toward Nazi Germany:
Pollsters for the Forsa agency, commissioned by the weekly magazine Stern, asked whether National Socialism also had some "good sides (such as) the construction of the highway system, the elimination of unemployment, the low criminality rate (and) the encouragement of the family."Forsa said 25 percent responded "yes" ? but 70 percent said "no."
I think the article was meant to imply that the results are rather "scandalous". What say all of you? I may take the "scandalous" route as well by saying that yes, there were some "positive" aspects of Nazi Germany. I think that areas of progress that are viewed in and of themselves can be objectively regarded as "good". Building a better bridge is a "good" thing on its own, even if the same authorities killed thousands in a concentration camp down the road. Notice that this question is not the same as asking whether or not the good outweighs the bad.In the same regard, I think that opponents of my personal political views in the modern world have some "good" aspects, even if I also think that other things they advocate are quite bad or evil.
This is one of those areas that will get folks in deep doo-doo because others don't listen to the whole statement.Case in point; years ago, in my little corner of the orchard, a civics teachers told her class "Communism looks like a good form of government, until you compared it to anything else." In the conservative community she taught in this went home to the Birchite parents as "Communism looks like a good form of government."Barely kept her job!I think of this every time I tell the kids that Hitler was one of the greatest leaders in the history of humankind; a monster that lead his country to terrible things but still great at lgetting what he wanted done. So far so good.Wally
I was surprised to see a somewhat similar discussion on this board that I've discussed with my relatives in Germany! My problem with their answers has always been that they seem to focus on points of “good”, ex. the autobahn, etc. that in my opinion cannot possibly justify what occurred during the Holocaust. Maybe I'm too rigid in my thoughts to be able to see it from their angle but I just don't get it…
Only the fact that Hitler was pulling them out of the world-wide depression… hard to bite the hand that fed you. FDR in many ways was becoming ever bit as totalitarian as Hitler or Mussolini, but, he was our [potential] tyrant working what we saw as more acceptable ways.
You're correct and I always fail to remember that; I tend to focus on the Holocaust versus the economic problems that were causing the havoc world-wide.
I was surprised to see a somewhat similar discussion on this board that I've discussed with my relatives in Germany! My problem with their answers has always been that they seem to focus on points of "good", ex. the autobahn, etc. that in my opinion cannot possibly justify what occurred during the Holocaust. Maybe I'm too rigid in my thoughts to be able to see it from their angle but I just don't get it...
I agree....in retrospect we can see that any "good" achieved by Hitler was far outweighed by the havoc he spread on individuals and Europe and the rest of the world. I guess the fact that he is still admired by some in Germany goes to show that a person's negative attributes can be overlooked even in the most extreme set of circumstances. This is probably an important point about history (and modern politics) to remember for the future.
I think Germany's biggest mistake was making it illegal to display Nazi paraphanelia publically. No I don't think Hitler's regime should be glorified or eulagized, but by forbidding the display of Nazi items, I think it adds to the allure and mystery of the Nazis which only serve to create some tintillating fantasy to the younger Germans who would naturally become curious…and maybe even take their curiosity to the extreme of creating cults centered around what they “think” the Nazis were. Aryan Nation probably wouldn't have ever become a big deal if it wouldn't have been a symbol of defiance and rebellion against authority to create such a cult draped in Nazi imagery. Just my opinion.
Yep, definitely have to agree in that respect. (It's similar to telling your teenage daughter not to get that lovely nose piercing, no matter how small it is, while on spring break in Florida. Sorry for that outburst.)
(It's similar to telling your teenage daughter not to get that lovely nose piercing, no matter how small it is, while on spring break in Florida. Sorry for that outburst.)
LOL. I know the feeling.
Just as making Nazi symbols illegal, and thereby making them perhaps more coveted than they would otherwise be, it also sends a somewhat hypocritical message in terms of free speech. I have found it odd that in some places in Europe that kind of speech is prohibited even though it would be permissible in the United States.
True and it's shocking to me, at least, that I've considered it “free” until I started back to school.
besides the Autobahn and the Volkswagen, there can be little good said about Nazi Germany and it's socio-economic policies.That said, their weapons reseach and development was awsome. If they did not embrace anti-Semitism as an official govermental policy, I think Germany would have developed an atomic bomb before the US.And in airplanes, armor, and small arms, Germany would field designs whose influence would be felt well into the 70's.And, like it or not, Nazi Germany helped put a man on the moon.Sounds silly, but just think if all that talent was put to peaceful purposes....
besides the Autobahn and the Volkswagen, there can be little good said about Nazi Germany and it's socio-economic policies.That said, their weapons reseach and development was awsome. If they did not embrace anti-Semitism as an official govermental policy, I think Germany would have developed an atomic bomb before the US.And in airplanes, armor, and small arms, Germany would field designs whose influence would be felt well into the 70's.And, like it or not, Nazi Germany helped put a man on the moon.Sounds silly, but just think if all that talent was put to peaceful purposes....
Germany may have been advanced in weapons research but they could not gwet these advanced designs into production in high enough numbers to make a difference on the battlefield. It doesnt matter how cool your gadgets are if you cant make enough to use them.As to the free specch aspect, when I got married I shocked my wife. She is German and was amazed that I not only had a copy of Mein Kampf, but had read it as well. The book is way illegal in Germany, I think you can actually go to jail for posessing it, and to her it is amazing that we have the freedom to buy some of the seditious stuff you can find on the shelves over here. Needless to say, she has since read it and does not get why he was so popular. She trots out some very simplistic answers and cannot get beyond them. I tried to explain the historical time in which it was written but her attitudes towards the Nazis are an abject lesson in the power of the modern educational system to indoctrinate people. She is incapable of having a rational discussion of Nazism and its attraction for the Germans of the 1920's and 30's.
