When I was younger, I had a friend online. She loved Hitler, so I asked “Why do you like Hitler?” Then she replied: “He’s the good guy, and Germans should have won the World Wars.”
Please Explain to me, why people like Hitler.
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Why do people think Hitler was the good guy?
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Apr 06, 2018 at 04:13AM EDT.
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Mar 06, 2018 at 09:32AM EST
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Dunno, I suppose some people seen him as a visionary. Man managed to get entire country out of Post-WWI crisis and made into a global power, probably capable of conquering entire world. You could compare him to Napoleon, some people consider him a tyrant, some people consider him a hero. Bizarrely enough both lost to Russian winter.
FREDDURST
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Well, first of all, there are no "good guys" in politics, there are strong leaders and weak leaders, there are winners and losers.
Who should have won the War is a matter of perspective. Obviously it would have been better for Germany and, debatably, for Western Europe as a whole. On the other hand, it would have been a complete disaster for most people of Eastern Europe. So while, say, and Englishman would probably prefer Germany's victory, a Pole would never agree.
The other aspect is the kind of state that Hitler had created in Germany during his short tenure. For many people it's a sort of an ideal society, even for people who were victims of German aggression during the War.
tl;dr Like everything related to history, it's just a matter of perspective.
FREDDURST
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Ozzzim wrote:
Dunno, I suppose some people seen him as a visionary. Man managed to get entire country out of Post-WWI crisis and made into a global power, probably capable of conquering entire world. You could compare him to Napoleon, some people consider him a tyrant, some people consider him a hero. Bizarrely enough both lost to Russian winter.
Just a friendly reminder that both Hitler and Napoleon invaded Russia in June. Claiming that they both "lost to winter" is some very bad history.
Hitler's speeches invoked extreme candor. I imagine all the imagery of a united German nation after the struggle of the post-war economic years tied with the events that followed was why people liked him so much. If you've seen his speeches, it's some deeply motivating and emotional stuff, despite the person.
In fact, many of his less desirable qualities only became apparent through the latter half of the war and through his book, but before that he was a WWI veteran and later a venerable politician. I believe that people think fondly for Hitler is instead for the image that he invoked for his people, a unified Germany, so they cared much less for the person on the account of anti-Semitic views when they can be an united people once again.
People could think Hitler was a good guy, maybe not a good person, but enough to be inspiring and a certainly 'good' figure.
However on the internet, you can definitely say anything, and people can like Hitler ironically.
FREDDURST wrote:
Just a friendly reminder that both Hitler and Napoleon invaded Russia in June. Claiming that they both "lost to winter" is some very bad history.
Yeah I made bit of a stretch. :P
Garumbo
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Because americans hate communists more than nazis, thanks years of propaganda. Also some probably find joy in holocaust.
FREDDURST wrote:
Well, first of all, there are no "good guys" in politics, there are strong leaders and weak leaders, there are winners and losers.
Who should have won the War is a matter of perspective. Obviously it would have been better for Germany and, debatably, for Western Europe as a whole. On the other hand, it would have been a complete disaster for most people of Eastern Europe. So while, say, and Englishman would probably prefer Germany's victory, a Pole would never agree.
The other aspect is the kind of state that Hitler had created in Germany during his short tenure. For many people it's a sort of an ideal society, even for people who were victims of German aggression during the War.
tl;dr Like everything related to history, it's just a matter of perspective.
Nobody in Western Europe wanted the nazis to win. In what way is soldiers marching the streets a better alternative to democracy? Nazi Germany was a dictatorship, which surely has everyone jolly and satisfied as we can see in NK and Syria.
My country was neutral, but they just bombed an entire city because we had a chill harbour; yea boi really loved how those nazis treated my country. My family on both sides hid Jews, Western European ones, who all loved nazi Germany so much they had to go into hiding.
The only ones who still prefer nazis are neo-nazis, and we all know how accepting those guys are.
Because "Good" and "Evil" are matters of perspective. From the perspective of the Allies, the Axis Powers were "Evil", from the Axis perspective, the Allies were "Evil". There are no set rules or definitions of what is "Good" or "Evil", only what is determined by one's own perspective.
So when it comes to those who believe Hitler was "Good", it's because his beliefs and actions aligned with what they saw as "Good". Despite what you or I may think, they are not technically wrong. Technically. By our standards, Hitler was indeed quite "Evil". But not everyone shares our standards and beliefs.
That's perspective for you. Anyone could be considered "Good" or "Evil", it all really depends on where you stand.
Cause he had a pretty dope hair and mustache combo and even sexy rock stars like Anthony Kiedis are looking to cop his style.
He was a good motivator at least. I can never actually think it's a good idea to wipe out a race, unless they were Nazis. The internet will never leave this man alone as long as there are flaming trolls that try to be edgy. And it works but so played out I can only barely recognize it as a side note. It's just beat to death… but what else is new.
Hitler Intentionally and Truthfully Let Every Russian Inmate Survive At Gross-rosen. And You Believed Only Your Lovey-dovey Men in the Allies Offer mercy…
I'm going to point this thread out next time someone claims that the forums are morally superior to the comments section.
As tvtropes put it, its the classic 'Draco in Leather Pants' shtick. With enough charisma and 'coolness' its not hard for even the most morally reprehensible people to accumulate a fan club.
"People aren't very bright, you know. They say they want freedom, but when they get the chance, they pass up Nietzsche and choose Hitler, because he would march into a room and music and lights would come on at strategic moments. It was rather like a rock 'n' roll concert."
-David Bowie
I'd say a large part of it is memes and /pol/ shitposting. Those who are actually serious likely are in the far right and wish for a utopian strong, racially centered authoritarian government that will protect its specific ethnic groups (who they are a member of). They, of course, fail to realize the utopia would never be possible and would implode much as Nazi Germany did.
メムチキ・メモシキ said:
Claiming that they both “lost to winter” is some very bad history.
Their hubris led to their defeat. Rather than prepare for the possibility that a trans-continental land invasion involving four million people might take longer than four months and get winter supplies ready, they assumed the Red Army's incompetence would make for easy pickings and a quick victory.
FREDDURST
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RandomMan wrote:
Nobody in Western Europe wanted the nazis to win. In what way is soldiers marching the streets a better alternative to democracy? Nazi Germany was a dictatorship, which surely has everyone jolly and satisfied as we can see in NK and Syria.
My country was neutral, but they just bombed an entire city because we had a chill harbour; yea boi really loved how those nazis treated my country. My family on both sides hid Jews, Western European ones, who all loved nazi Germany so much they had to go into hiding.
The only ones who still prefer nazis are neo-nazis, and we all know how accepting those guys are.
I keep forgetting that democracy is serious business to you guys, my bad.
The way Westerners treated Nazis in the 30's and the way they resisted them during the War made me think that it's like a girl who actually really wants to have sex with a hot guy, but has to resist his advances just to appear ladylike, and not to come off like a slut.
I was going to say something else, but it sounds stupid, so whatever.
FREDDURST wrote:
I keep forgetting that democracy is serious business to you guys, my bad.
The way Westerners treated Nazis in the 30's and the way they resisted them during the War made me think that it's like a girl who actually really wants to have sex with a hot guy, but has to resist his advances just to appear ladylike, and not to come off like a slut.
I was going to say something else, but it sounds stupid, so whatever.
>accuses others of bad history
>defines ww2 in terms of one of his harem animes
Hot Take:
>Germany should have won WW1
>Russia should not have even been involved.
>Brits are back stabbers.
never say a single man can't change the course of history forever.
Cuz Gavrilo Princip may want to have a word with you.
FREDDURST
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Particle Mare wrote:
>accuses others of bad history
>defines ww2 in terms of one of his harem animes
It's actually the other way around in harem animes. A retarded beta mc is surrounded by hot girls who all want him for some reason.
N-not that I know much about harem animes 😟
FREDDURST wrote:
I keep forgetting that democracy is serious business to you guys, my bad.
The way Westerners treated Nazis in the 30's and the way they resisted them during the War made me think that it's like a girl who actually really wants to have sex with a hot guy, but has to resist his advances just to appear ladylike, and not to come off like a slut.
I was going to say something else, but it sounds stupid, so whatever.
I know you're Eastern European, but out of curiousity I do have to ask where exactly and what form of government do you live in and accept?
Try harder if you want me to make advances, darling.
メムチキ・メモシキ wrote:
The way Westerners treated Nazis in the 30’s and the way they resisted them during the War made me think that it’s like a girl who actually really wants to have sex with a hot guy, but has to resist his advances just to appear ladylike, and not to come off like a slut.I was going to say something else, but it sounds stupid, so whatever.
If this was your "less stupid sounding" response, what was the one you thought did sound stupid?
Agreeing with xTSGx, most people who "praise" Hitler do so ironically, either for attention by being edgy, or for some form of humor (we should build a statute to the guy who killed Hitler). Granted the people who unironically like him are not always easily distinguishable from these people.
FREDDURST
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RandomMan wrote:
I know you're Eastern European, but out of curiousity I do have to ask where exactly and what form of government do you live in and accept?
Try harder if you want me to make advances, darling.
I'm from Latvia, and we're also blessed with a democratic government.
Try harder if you want me to make advances, darling.
My hair is golden like the Sun that shines on us from the sky. My magical, hypnotizing eyes are emerald green like the ancient forests that cover our fine land. My skin is white, clean and inviting like the virgin beaches that cover our coastline. My lips are red, plump, and delicious like the wild berries that grow in our forests. My body is lean like our pine trees that stretch towards the Sun. My attitude is salty like our mighty Baltic Sea.
What else could you possibly ask for??
Same reason people think pablo escobar, charles manson, osama bin laden ect are good people.
There are millions of people its just pure odds that some people are going to want to think differently.
The greater aerie
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Ozzzim wrote:
Dunno, I suppose some people seen him as a visionary. Man managed to get entire country out of Post-WWI crisis and made into a global power, probably capable of conquering entire world. You could compare him to Napoleon, some people consider him a tyrant, some people consider him a hero. Bizarrely enough both lost to Russian winter.
what i find confusing is those groups are often wrong. Napoleon was a bastard, and had he the technology that they had in the 1940s he'd have cut a bloody swath that would numbered him along with Hitler and Stalin. Particularly of note was the body could was much lower because simply the population was lower during this time. but let us not forget this man regularly killed those who offended him soldiers, civilians and otherwise, would kill those who had surrender to him his campaign in Edypt has some hard evidence of that.
he'd also betray his allies.
He should not have died a nicer way then he did in exile
Hitler is also propelled by the myth that his economy was actually fucking good, it was jank and his country was recovering by the time he seized power. One can see this in the issues of the Wehrmatch in war time, often it's mentioned that the German big cats failed because of mechanical failures, well this is true for quite a deal of german equipment
see the many variations of the krupp (panzer) mark 3s and 4s, some of them are greatly confused with parts that do not work for others. indeed having parts from vehicles of the same mark did not often indicate that it would function. likewise you have bizarre things such as inferior materials which would often cause issues. (if you've ever tried to play mid war panzer divisions in FoW you know what i mean)
I've heard it often said that Hitler's socialist polices produced a wartime economy in peace time (given his major goal was rearmament of the German state that's some what understandable) it's possible that he could have reformed his economy to be more successful outside of war but i don't think so.
The man was not a capable economist and was prone to creating errors that would ruin his war effort I've heard finland was able to pull it off but i'm not sure on that one.
socialism was a mistake
The greater aerie
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Stoffe wrote:
Hitler Intentionally and Truthfully Let Every Russian Inmate Survive At Gross-rosen. And You Believed Only Your Lovey-dovey Men in the Allies Offer mercy…
who ever believes that is an idiot.
for instance canada's first held tribunal on warcrimes against a Waffen SS major held i think 4 counts of murdering PoW, i think like 20-40 men who had surrendered. it was likewise dismissed on the last day because the canadian judging it deemed it hypocritical to kill a man for something that both sides partook in sporadically.
also dresdon
or given the propensity of communists to commit war-crimes it's a given. though pound for pound the british, American, polish, french commited less than the other factions in the war – maybe – America is negotiable with the atomic fuck yous
The greater aerie
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Chewybunny wrote:
Hot Take:
>Germany should have won WW1
>Russia should not have even been involved.
>Brits are back stabbers.
never say a single man can't change the course of history forever.
Cuz Gavrilo Princip may want to have a word with you.
>brits are back stabbers
and one of the greatest defenses against tyranny in the continent, be it Prussian sabre rattling or idiotic frogs.
メムチキ・メモシキ said:
The way Westerners treated Nazis in the 30’s…
You mean appeasement? That was from how completely fucked WW1 had made everything. No one wanted another grueling years long war--especially no politician--so they kept throwing Germany bones hoping it would be enough to stop the march toward another bloodbath. Chamberlain obviously misjudged how many bones Hitler wanted.
Kind of funny when you realize if the Nazis hadn't been complete imbeciles with the racial policies and stopped in 1938, they would have had the largest and strongest nation in Europe and it's very likely would have eventually become incredibly tight allies with the U.S. and Western Europe against the Soviet Union.
That thousand year empire might have still been going on today.
@Chewbunny
>Brits are back stabbers.
>not the Italians
Reminder they switched sides in both world wars and caused Barbarossa to be delayed to June because of their incompetent invasion of the Balkans, guaranteeing the dreaded winter fighting that crippled Germany. And they forced Germany to intervene in North Africa. And they opened a third front in '44 when they imploded.
Italy was our greatest ally in WW2.
Here are my thoughts:
Hitler singlehandedly brought Germany from the brink of collapse to a world superpower. Of course, this doesn't excuse the fact that he ordered the slaughter of 6 million people just because they were considered racially inferior. But being able build a powerful nation from the ashes of an old one is admirable in its own right.
With that said, I think most of the time the people who think Hitler was a good guy are either just being ironic about it, blind to history, just don't care about all the bad he did, or even support it. The latter 2 are most likely going to be people with far-right political views.
Also, I respect you Europeans a lot, but as an American, seeing you guys argue on the internet is pretty amusing.
@The greater aerie
Please don't double post and instead use blockquotes and breaklines if you wish to reply to more at once.
Also, I respect you Europeans a lot, but as an American, seeing you guys argue on the internet is pretty amusing.
How the tables have turned.
FREDDURST
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@RandomMan
Does asking for nudes qualify as making advances? And sorry, no liberal deserves to get a boipucci this good, not even someone as cute as you.
As for democracy I believe that it's ridiculous and obviously doesn't work (at least the way it's implemented right now) for many, many reasons. So since I see no value in democracy I don't really see what good came to Westerners out of "opposing" Nazis. You lost all of your colonies and relevance anyway. Since Hitler for some reason I cannot understand valued Western Europeans much higher than Eastern Europeans, chances are, had he won you would still at least have your countries to yourselves, and without mandatory degeneracy.
As for Westerners jerking off daddy Adolf, well, what exactly did you (I mean Western Europe collectively) do to protect muh precious democracy? You had years to prepare after Hitler started rearmament. In fact, at that point even you could probably still crush him. When Hitler attacked Poland you had a chance to open a second front immediately. After that, you had almost a year to coordinate, develop a common strategy, mobilize every single capable man, send women and children to produce armament like the Soviets did. Squeeze every last drop of blood to be completely prepared for the war, which, you know, was already declared and already ongoing.
You did nothing. Didn't even attempt to do anything. Surrendered instantly. Well Britain was protected by the water, otherwise it would've been gone just as fast. Poland has probably shown a more fierce resistance than the two "great powers" Britain and France combined. Lived comfy lives during the war. What conclusion am I supposed to make? Then again, you were never in any existential danger, so it's all understandable. Why risk anything where the worst thing that can happen to you is losing some territories and muh democracy.
Edit: well excuse my accusatory tone, I don't mean "you" specifically, and I didn't mean it to come out this way, I wanted it to be sort of humorous, damn. I should have written it as a very funny greentext, you know, like:
>be me
>a Westerner
>Just enjoying my democracy
>feelsgood.jpeg
>Adolf attacks
>MonkaS.jpeg
Edit2: please don't hate me, or at least don't hate me for this post specifically.
documentstemp
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@japanese characters dude, considering your take that western societies are degenerate and how things should be more traditional, I am not entirely surprised you think democracy is useless. Most of democracy's achievements were breaking from tradition to allow more freedom for its people. By allowing discourse on morals with the freedom of speech and press, and letting the majority opinion influence parties to campaign for it for power, numerous forms of legal stratification broke down. The earliest states to implement those changes were consistently more democratic than most states at the time.
That said, democracy isn't that great. it's just got a high tendency to be less shit than the other forms of government. State-sponsored famine, genocide, and massacre of the public are all pretty hard to do in a true democracy by definition, since all those people should have the right to vote in that situation. Very little barriers to doing that in a lot of other governments historically, and often it does happen. I think powerful non-democratic governments only avoid it now because of the global pressure to not behave that way.
Finally, on the topic of why germany wasn't stopped early on. The secret to that is that democracy wasn't valued as much at the time as peace. WWI hung like a specter in every talk with nazi germany, and for Neil Chamberlain, the key figure here, he wished to maintain peace as best he could. He was elected during that public sentiment of reducing arms and avoiding war. In addition, the belief was at the time that perhaps wars are caused by mistakes, as WWI's tangle of alliances leading to a massive conflict might have implied. That philosophy was not fit for dealing with a man like Hitler. Also, at the time fascism wasn't viewed badly by upper classes of Western societies, as it was viewed as a form of anti-communism, a more existential threat for said upper classes.
After WWII, public sentiment flipped a bit, and maintaining democracy and freedom became more level in how valued they are, with the Holocaust and the like showing the institutionalized cruelty a "peaceful" germany imposed, and what it could have imposed on the world. This is why the UN doesn't just try to keep the peace, but also tries to promote human rights and democracy. This lasted throughout the cold war in fact. However, public sentiment is actually flipping back on this subject, with the Iraq War being panned despite instituting a (very flawed) democracy and getting rid of a cruel dictatorship, because of the sheer loss of life and colonialist undertones.
I'd just like to point out that when ever Hitler is brought up in almost every conversation I've had online it always turns out with people arguing and outrageous hints of racial tension like this thread ;)
documentstemp
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@The Greater Aerie
I think you mean conquest, not tyranny. Napoleon wasn't particularly more tyrannical than any other monarch, arguably less so due to some commitment to French Revolution ideals. That view largely carries on from old propaganda against him during the Napoleonic Wars, and it's now much more debatable. Just a small nitpick, the point largely stands.
cool guy – needs to lose the mustache, charlie wore it better.
Vomkrieg
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Living in Latvia, you have no idea what democracy is. Because the model you are running is a joke. I wouldn't judge democracy by your experience of it within a weak state with no heritage of it.
20 different governments in 25 years is not typical of how democracy works in the west. You've already had more different governments in 25 years as my country has had in 150.
Perhaps you look fondly on the glorious years of Soviet directorship as an alternative, eh Comrade?
FREDDURST
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I'm obviously not judging democracy by the experience of our banana republic.
Zombie_Boy
Banned
America is not a Democracy.
It is a Republic, made up of 50 states.
Its different in Canada, using the parliament system and honoring the queen.
And why do people think Hitler's a good guy? Probably because they are anti-semites more then anything else. The connection is rather self-evolving.
Taryn
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There are many reasonable explanations for why fascism has gained popularity in the west. Its sudden "popularity" in the west stems from an ignorant understanding of fascism and its history, almost certainly originating from disenfranchised "fascist" youth, much like members in this very thread. The liberal value of free speech allows fascism to freely propagate and concentrate itself into fringe "revolutionary" groups, which have been aided even more by the accelerated use of the internet.
According to Marxist analysis, fascism (and often nationalism in general) arises historically as a means to protect capital, imperialism, and the bourgeois ruling class. Is Hitler apologia a symptom of this? Likely not -- as I hinted at before, this is the result of the ignorant youth, not actual fascist rhetoric.
メムチキ・メモシキ wrote:
As for democracy I believe that it’s ridiculous and obviously doesn’t work (at least the way it’s implemented right now) for many, many reasons. So since I see no value in democracy I don’t really see what good came to Westerners out of “opposing” Nazis. You lost all of your colonies and relevance anyway. Since Hitler for some reason I cannot understand valued Western Europeans much higher than Eastern Europeans, chances are, had he won you would still at least have your countries to yourselves, and without mandatory degeneracy.
What you believe of Democracy as a standalone form of government is all fair game and when looking at countries that live in it, including my own, I too can see flaws in the system that need some fixing. However, right now I believe that is a different topic for a different time, and one we might even find a middleground on.
What struck me as odd and why I replied was over how you approached the topic as if I'd need to believe that "Nazism > Democracy". Despite one's opinion on democracy, if you look at forms of government, a dictatorship pretty much hits rock bottom on your wishlist regardless of what you find of the other options.
My precise answer to the question "Why do people think Hitler was the good guy?" is the obvious, that everyone has a different answer and that you have to ask them personally.
Afterwards, the more general question of why most people say Hitler was good, is without a doubt be as mentioned, that they are trolling.
But what of the true believers? How can we trace how people could adulate "One of the Greatest Monsters of the 20th Century"?
I think we have to come up against when idealism meets history and what is recovered from the archeology of ideas when we try to meet world historical figures on their own terms.
Liberal Democracy won the World Wars and the Cold War, we reached "The End of History" but still it's well recognized across the political aisles that there is great global unrest. We are looking for narratives to contextualize these problems, whether it is the degeneration of Western morals and norms, or if it is of a great radicalization of our young people caused by an ignorance of how proper policy takes time and patience, maybe it is the so called "Late Capitalism" we are somehow "subjects" to. Whatever your view is, there is a push to reexamine the political ideas that undergirded the "War to End All Wars".
When you look past the trivialities of "what actually happened" and investigate the thoughts of Adolf Hitler the man you get a much more sympathetic portrait of a man who cared deeply about his country and how his fellow citizens were being treated by those in power. The Treaty of Versailles put a terrible strain on Hitler's beloved home of Germany. Put yourself in his shoes, wouldn't you be mad if a small group of people were abusing their powers against the country you were born in? Hitler understood the only way to get back at the powerful (dare I say 1%) of his day was through National Socialism.
Hitler understood that the global elites wanted to use Germany to their own greedy ends. He needed to re-affirm the nation of Germany. He thought that open borders were "A gimmick, not a solution" to Germany's immigration problem. He wanted to unseat those who ran the banks (who were, by tragic coincidence of history 100% Jewish) and instead break them up into smaller businesses, preventing "too big to fail" banks. Against his opponents, he advocated REAL family values, not about limiting a women's rights but instead to guarantee its workers some form of paid family leave, paid sick leave or paid vacation time. He was also thoroughly socialist, one of his most popular ideas was universal health care for Germans, which is about as Nationalist and as Socialist as it gets.
Now, knowing this, bring all the death and horror of the Third Reich back into focus. Hitler had big ideas, which sounded great if you were a German citizen, but someone had to pay for all these new programs and someone (Jewish people) did. Also, due to insufficient resources, they needed to invade other countries causing World War II to break out.
I really do advocate everyone to do their research on these historical figures and find out what made them so appealing, so we don't make the same mistakes.
Thank you.
Certain parts of the world weren't exposed to Hitler and the Nazi's atrocities, just look at India and southeast Asia. Then again, the British weren't exactly kind to the India and the rest of world either.
I wish they would just condemn both as gassing Jews is on same level as starving Indians to death.
Chewybunny wrote:
Hot Take:
>Germany should have won WW1
>Russia should not have even been involved.
>Brits are back stabbers.
never say a single man can't change the course of history forever.
Cuz Gavrilo Princip may want to have a word with you.
>Serbians shouldn't have assassinated Archduke Ferdinand.
I can't speak for anyone else, but all the sympathizers in my neck of the woods ("I hate Illinois nazis") just really hate Jews. It's that simple. If you honestly, earnestly believe that Jews are the cause of evil things in the world, then the Hitler idolizations just sort of follows after that.