Monday, August 22, 2005

Pictures of the Fuhrer

I grew up in parts of Bavaria, Germany, before moving to Arizona at age 10. The whole World War I and II thing has always been fascinating to me. I also grew up watching movies about those wars, which only enhanced this interest of mine. I grew to love the German people, but couldn't (and still can't) understand the atrocities they committed. How does something like that happen?

Though there is no excuse for the things that were done to Jews and other minorities, I think that most of the German people did not really understand what was happening. The average German was probably quite decent, if massively misled. Meanwhile, the worst that Germany could produce ended up in the SS. Bad combination. The average Hans over there did not take a stand when he could have. There are some examples of heroism and bravery among the common German, but too many people were willing to accept empty promises and let others do the thinking for them.

It is easy to criticize others, though. How would the United States act in a similar position? We may already be in a similar position. Misled or not, I think that any people should be willing to stand up when they see something going wrong with their government. We in the U.S. should stand up and complain until something changes, rather than sit complacently and watch TV, surf the web and go to football games because that's easier than thinking or taking action.

So, what makes a man like Hitler become a man like Hitler? We have had other tyrants in history, some quite recently, but he alone stands as a man apart in the imagination of most people. How does someone like him grab the attention of an entire nation, and ultimately, the worlds attention? I don't have an answer, but I found an article on an early interview with the man, including some early pictures. The particular article (http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,1076455,00.html) is about the backlash of a man reproducing the original article from and issue of Homes and Gardens in 1938, but has the actual pictures available. It is very interesting to read. I hope you enjoy.

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