Slashdot Mirror

My history knowledge isn't the best, but I think this was the ballot paper for the Crimean vote, right?

While I exaggerated slightly in one way, you go overboard in the other direction...

The stab in the back legend was coined by Ludendorff who blamed all sorts of things, including strikes at munition factories, but mostly the social democrat and communist parties(SPD/KPD). During the twenties this turned more and more in an anti-semitic direction, but that didn't prevent the assassination of many leaders of the Weimar republic by extreme rightwing forces (like Rathenau and Erzberger) based on a general sentiment that they were to blame for the loss of the war and the Versailles treaty. Ludendorff and others claimed this.

The nazis jumped on it and gave it their own twist. Adolf Hitler wrote about it in Mein Kampf, claiming the existence of an alliance between Bolsheviks, center-left Weimar politicians, and Jews in a conspiracy to defeat Germany from within. Strikes in munition factories were just a part of it - uprisings, large scale mutiny, Jewish and Bolshevik agitation were a part of it as well. And so was the press. The term "lügenpresse" comes from this era, meaning "lying press" and targeted the press specifically. This was a part of the whole conspiracy theory, although not the main part.

Sources (in German):
- https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
- https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapite...
The latter one is the site of the German History Museum.

http://www.dhm.de/lemo/objekte/pict/d2z02541/index.html. Fritz Thyssen was "a small businessman"? This is interesting a rundown of major supporters of the NSDAP from 1930-32. The large majority of money actually came from foreign businesses, only about 20 million RM from Germans.

http://www.dhm.de/lemo/objekte/pict/20011300/

EIN Volk, EIN Reich, EIN Führer.

The Austrian people even got to vote for or against the Anschluß, and officially over 99% voted pro; but when you take a look at the ballots (the big circle is labeled "yes"), and account for the presence of armed Nazis in the voting booths, the whole thing is reduced to a farce. From what my grandfather told me, only a few people in Austria were enthusiastic about "rejoining" Germany, but all in all, at this point there was little to no resistance against it.

As for the trolls in this thread who think that dropping time-delayed bombs on a city is noble or just... words fail me.

It turns out, you practically can't see them in Germany.

For example the 'Deutsches Historisches Museum" is showing several Riefenstahl movies in March - amongst them the two "Olympia" propaganda movies. You can also buy Riefenstahl movies at amazon.de . However, "Triumph of the Will", the movie about the Nazi ralleys in Nueremberg, apparently is not available on DVD in Germany. It's not forbidden, however it is only supposed to be shown accompanied with commentary before or after the show. Last year I wanted to go when it was shown here in Hamburg, but I missed the chance.

Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892-1984) U-Boat Commander in World War One. Resisted the Nazi takeover of the churches. Freed from Dachau by U.S. troops in 1945 after surviving eight years in the concentration camps. Martin Niemöller

I detest the trivialization of quotations from men of this stature. The broadcast flag sets limits on the recording and redistribution of high definition television broadcasts. Nothing more.

Did this kind of thing happen during other large conflicts?

Yeah. Thanks to Napoleon, every time I wear my favorite hat people point at me and laugh. ;\

Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fhrer
--- Adolf Hitler
One World, One Web, One Program
--- Microsoft Promotional Slogan

Ever see those shots of NASA, back in the Apollo program? Buzzcut, tie, cigarette, each and every one of them. And these were engineers! Sending people to the moon!

A few years ago, I would've praised anything that would be bad for nazis. Since then, I learned to appreciate the view of many US citizens: That Free Speech is more important than anything else.

I'm sure there will be posts cursing all limitaions on Free Speech and praising the American Way. The American Way also includes quite an amount of ignorance of anything beyond US borders.

This matter is of course not so simple. In Germany, where we again had very recently some attacks from nazis on foreigners, a very similar discussion is going on: What should happen with domains like 'www.heil-hitler.de'? Should nazi webpages be banned and how? Should the major organizational backbone be outlawed?
IANAL, but basis for this discussion are laws banning agitating against minorities, anti-constitutional organizations and display of their symbols (i.e. swastikas).
This in turn is based on the fact that the Grundgesetz (the constitution) is self-protecting: While you can change most parts, the very basic things (highest regard for Human Dignity and Human Rights, Democracy, Federalism, Constitutionality, Division of Powers and the Right to Resist) are immutable. Thus, nazis are proven wrong and can be prosecuted.
Arrogant? The Founding Fathers and Mothers (led by former Zentrum big shot and later Chancellor Konrad Adenauer) were just fed up with democracies crumbling under their very hands for no good reason. So no, they were not arrogant, only self-confident and ready to act against the possible will of the people for the probable good of the people.
We had an opportunity to make a major revision when Germany reunited; we passed. 'We' passed probably because the politicians were afraid to lose power (and thus didn't start to organize the process), but I'm happy as it is. The risk is too high, the gain too low.

Don't assume that nazis are a threatened species in Germany. In fact, certain small parts in the five new Länder are called 'National befreite Zonen' and seem to be very much in their power. Only when xenophobic attacks happen, everyone cries for steps to be taken. (Compare this to the events 1977, when far less threw the country in turmoil.)
Off-topic? Hardly. Of course, the French have their own laws, their very own constitution, certainly their own reasons to be paranoid about nazism, but both countries share some experiences. (In fact, while I mostly detest everything Adenauer stands for, the peace between Germany and France, not ten years after a century of vicious wars between them, is one of the most outstanding acts of statemanship I know about.)

Moral? Perhaps that it is a good thing to learn something from other peoples dirty past.