Hitler

What I think is really creepy/weird/insane is that if he would have gotten accepted into art school, the Hollocaust would have never happened.
Seriously, fate, good job with that. Screw the world over.

Venomous.:

There are multiple totalitarian dictatorships all over the world - that still exist today. Only look at Robert Mugabe and all the terror he has inflicted in Zimbabwe.

The common people supported the Nazi regime because they were afraid of themselves or their loved ones being hurt or killed. That's an attitude that could easily lead to war - even in the modern world. People always seem to argue - "Oh! I would never be corrupted, I'd rather die. I'd never do those horrible things. Blah blah blah". But when you think about it, self-preservation is human nature. In all honestly, most people would sacrifice the life of a stranger they've never met in order to save their loved ones. Most people would carry out their orders if it meant they would survive.

There were numerous youth indoctrination practices that kept the population malleable to Hitlers wishes. This growing pressure to conform is what led to the regimes 'success'. Conform or die basically. If you're entire world existed of the ideologies of the Nazi movement, if everybody you knew conformed, you would too without a single doubt. Otherwise you'd be dead.

Basically, I think Hitler was very attuned to the 'dark side' of human nature and manipulated this knowledge into gaining power for himself. My theory. Tell me if any of this didn't make sense.

It was more than simple fear though, you have to remember that before he was elected to the chancallory, Hitler was just a politician. Although he had alot of power before he was elected and a small personal army, he was not an huge threat to the OVERALL german population. It took more than fear for hitler to gain power. It took the impoverishment of a people, and a feeling of being lost. Hitler would not have gained power if it had not been for the bad economy. It just would not have happened. People were attracted to him because they saw their situation as deseperate, they decided that there situation was so bad that the only way that they could fix things was to turn to a man they would have called a mad man and an agitator just a few years earlier. I gaurentee you that in a country with a decent, non-opressive government, and even a mediocre economy, totlitarinism will not occur. This type of government preys on fear, the type of fear that bad economy brings.

There is alot more to it than this, including a required mind set, which I may go into later, but I think that this is enough for now.

Faceless_time:

It was more than simple fear though, you have to remember that before he was elected to the chancellory, Hitler was just a politician. Although he had a lot of power before he was elected and a small personal army, he was not an huge threat to the OVERALL German population. It took more than fear for Hitler to gain power. It took the impoverishment of a people, and a feeling of being lost. Hitler would not have gained power if it had not been for the bad economy. It just would not have happened. People were attracted to him because they saw their situation as desperate, they decided that there situation was so bad that the only way that they could fix things was to turn to a man they would have called a mad man and an agitator just a few years earlier. I guarantee you that in a country with a decent, non-oppressive government, and even a mediocre economy, totalitarianism will not occur. This type of government preys on fear, the type of fear that bad economy brings.

There is a lot more to it than this, including a required mind set, which I may go into later, but I think that this is enough for now.

Obviously there were other contributing factors leading to Hitler's rise to power. For example a desire for the country once again be a great power, much in the same way Germany was before the first world war. I was just pointing out there are numerous psychological reasons behind the generalized German mentality.

America and many other nations including Australia suffered from a bad economy and poor growth during the Great Depression. Yes, these circumstances *can* lead to skepticism of the government and ultimately an election of some sort of dictatorship government but this isn't always the case. I know it was a factor that greatly played a part in Hitler's rise but it's not totally conclusive to all dictatorships.

I just think it's short-sighted to state: Bad Economy = Evil Man In Power. I understand your point though.

^ A lot of times that's how people see it, though. During the Great Depression, hobo villages were called Hoovervilles because they blamed the president for all the their loss of jobs, etc. I'm not saying that's why Hitler is perceived as bad, obviously, but Bad Economy = Evil Man In Power isn't so far off the mark.

I think Hitler was horrible, what he did to the Jews was extremely wrong!

I find it fascinating, the holocaust. I've just finished reading Maus, which is a comic book in which mice are Jewish people and cats are Nazis. It was one of the most interesting holocaust books I've read so far.

That being said, it was sick and disgusting what Hitler did. He was a sick man, and there's no reason why anyone should ever think something like that is okay.

Great...Another Hitler opinion topic...My opinion on whether he was good or not is leaning toward the bad side. Not only were millions killed through government sponsorship but he pretty much destroyed his own people by plunging them into to war. Worst of all he said he'd help them. Stupid man. His greed clouded his judgment he's just like every other person whose tried to conquer the world.

You know what freaks me out? Everyone remembers the Holocaust, we get assigned countless books about it in school, but Hitler didn't seem to think anyone would remember. Didn't he say, like, "Who now remembers the destruction of the Armenians?"

Because honestly, until like two months ago, I couldn't find Armenia on a map, and I didn't know snuff about the genocide. There was a short paragraph about it in my history book, but the only reason I REMEMBER is because I recently met a kid from Armenia. (And no, I didn't look like an uneducated moron in front of him, I did my research before I met him.)

Maybe I'm wrong, maybe it's just that my History class is no good, but this is something that really bothers me.

Eddis:

You know what freaks me out? Everyone remembers the Holocaust, we get assigned countless books about it in school, but Hitler didn't seem to think anyone would remember. Didn't he say, like, "Who now remembers the destruction of the Armenians?"

Because honestly, until like two months ago, I couldn't find Armenia on a map, and I didn't know snuff about the genocide. There was a short paragraph about it in my history book, but the only reason I REMEMBER is because I recently met a kid from Armenia. (And no, I didn't look like an uneducated moron in front of him, I did my research before I met him.)

Maybe I'm wrong, maybe it's just that my History class is no good, but this is something that really bothers me.

This. I did a report on the armenian genocide last year.
Those people deserve the recognition just as much as the Jews

I don't like what he did, but I don't think Hiltler was a horrible leader. He got a country to listen to him, he was a great public speaker. If he was a horrible leader he would never had been able to pull off what he did. He was telling the people what they wanted to hear - justifying what he was doing. If he didn't get the country to listen to him, The Holocaust wouldn't have happened. It's his actions and intentions that are horrible.

^^ I agree; he was a good strong leader but a horrible and evil man.

It should extent beyond religion and race too; anyone who was different so for example anyone with a disability and even twins were tortured or were subject to experimentation.

Sometimes I wish he were alive [and in prison obviously] just so I could know what goes on inside his head.

Imagine how much of a better world we would be living in if he had had good intentions and a good heart?

^^ Someone else would have taken his place.
There was still Stalen

varkatzas.:

Imagine how much of a better world we would be living in if he had had good intentions and a good heart?

Well, he thought he had good intentions.. That's the problem.

Recently borrowed a copy of Mein Kampf from my grandmother.

I've read the whole introduction/foreword etc., which delivers a fairly harsh critique (maybe understandably) on the book. It has certainly put me off reading through the whole thing.

The words were "it is lengthy, dull, and repetitive"....I have only read 2 or 3 pages of the autobiography, and I can already see what they mean....

my my my, he was more than likely one of te smartest people to EVER B IN POWER. if you look into it, he NEVER cold handedly killd someone. nordid he direct people to. but yt all of those peole got kill. no doubt the man was mad. but til he is smat.
he's the man, hell he's so fly we couldnt kill him, he has to kill himself.(;

^ I'm not exactly sure I understand what you mean. I agree that he was a highly charismatic leader and that he was intelligent, but... never cold-handedly killing anyone? And never directing people to do so? If anything, that's the exact opposite of what happened. Or am I missing something?

Our head boy was recently 'fired' at our school because he said in an assembly that Hitler was a good leader, which he was. If he wasn't, how did he manage to become chancellor of Germany and how did he manage to persuade people to kill the millions of people. Being a good leader does not make you a good man though, because he wasn't.
I don't think he was planning for the holocaust to happen, he just wanted Germany to be how he wanted it, the whole blonde hair, blue eyes thing.
But, if you ignore the holocaust, I believe Hitler was a great man. He built Germany into a strong nation, creating thousands of jobs and building peoples morals back up after the first WW. I think that if it wasn't for him, Germany would still be suffering.

I found the World Wars really interesting when I learned about them in seventh grade. But I found Hitler really fucked up in the head (sorry, excuse the cussing).

Once in seventh grade when we watched a video about him it said something about you would know that someone is Jewish by the size of their nose or something of that sort? That seems extremely psychotic, does it not?

Though, one thing I never got was why Hitler hated Jews so much. But I doubt anyone knows that. ... I think.

pravda.:

Hmm okay.

I wouldn't condone under any circumstance his actions - but firstly, I think he was a fascinating person, and would have been ... well, he must have been very intelligent, confident, charismatic - I refrain from using the word charming.

And secondly - although the holocaust and the second world war were horrifying ... the people who were directly affected by it have mostly left us; the ramifications of it, today, are mostly lessons we have learnt. I can't imagine so many of the things that happened in WW2 ever happening again - they shocked the world so much. So in that respect - I don't think I would say "I wish it had not happened" - which sounds horrible. I question myself, right now, saying it.
But on a fairly important level it's valid, I think.

I agree.