[CaptHawkeye]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Please, some of the indicated generalisations are - simply unjustified.

And these ones aren't. Based on the simple fact that, gasp, Hitler and the Nazis got into power in the first place.

Some germans were active, convinced Nazi supporters. Most were not - but were born in the wrong place and the wrong time - and this was true for most of the Wehrmacht soldiers.

Who had absolutely zero qualms about invading one foriegn country after another. Even holding onto them after it was clear the Allies weren't going to take it. Sure, they weren't supporting the Nazis. They were only following their orders.

That the officer corps was living by the old Prussian ideals of loyalty, serving, being precise and efficient, and not questioning orders, did not help, of course. But it is the same ideals that you see in all Western armies today, sold to the public in pictures and slogans like service in the army today it sold in recruiting videos of the US forces.

That's because the US has become very militaristic over the past 60 years to the point where the American public has a massive persecution complex over its soldiers and immiedietly starts foaming at the mouth whenever someone decides to criticize their holy army or something. Germany was a lot like that before it decided to go on a rampage.

Nobody blow up, please - but if you compare the style and picture language of such videos, and propaganda art by the Nazis, you will easily see striking similarities.

You will. Scary huh?

Many US boys today join the forces for comparable reasons why young Germans back then joined the Hitler youth or the army - and liked it. And their parents, having experienced WWI, probably were not as enthusiastic, in most cases.

This is a red herring.

Also, Hitler was said to have been able to be very charming with women, and very convincing and blending with high ranking generals, whom often visited him with critical news - and left him with conviction on their face, and lightened spirit again.

Because he was Germany's public face. No one was leaving his office with a happy look on their face post 1940.

And to see it from young people's perspective, and why children fell for the Nazis uncritically: http://www.amazon.com/Bridge-Die-Bru...9896609&sr=8-1

And why their parents did absolutely nothing to resist after it was apparent the Nazis were raping their children with racial nonsense.

Or take the brother of my grandfather - the reason why I take your offhanded comments a bit queer. Both of them were officers the Wehrmacht. My grandfather indicated that he was shot after having refused to participate in one of those "cleaning" operations behind the front usual special units of the SS carried out. they did not want to let it become known, he said, what was happening. Such units for the most were made up of loyal Nazi-soldiers, like were KZ-guards.

A nice anecdote. Too bad more Wehrmacht soldiers weren't like him. Otherwise the war might not have happened in the first place.

If you know so well how Hitler came to power, then you know that the opinion of the majority of the German people was not really a factor - most did not like the Nazis, but saw little strength and courage to stand up against them - and that would not be any different today, with any people in the world.

Nonsense. The Nazis started as a bar club. They only rose and won as many seats as they did because they got popular public support.

Hitler had sympathizers both in Austria and in Germany, but it can be doubted that they were a majority.

They were mostly unemployed workers aggravated by conditions brought on by the Depression.

Most people probably just thought about how to protect their families and not getting into conflict with the secret police. - Beyond that, it must be said that initially the Nazis created jobs after a long economic crisis that left many families in despair. It was temtping to tolerate the Nazis when suddenly you have bread and butter on your table again and somebody gives you a vision for a bright future after the years of the treaty of Versaille.

One of the great myths of history is that the Nazis helped Germany's infrastructure and improved its economic living standards. All of the improvements brought on by the Nazis were hollow and supported only by them inflating the Reichsmark. In other words, if it wasn't for the war, Germany would have been dead broke and bankrupt again by 1940. Too bad declaring war on the powers around it will only doom Germany into fighting a war it can't possibly win. Thus is the bane of the Depression, by trying to get out of it quickly and painlessly, Germany ended up enduring more pain and what's more, spread it to everyone around it. How lovely.