Openly supporting Hitler..
I live in Europe, and nobody dares to do that here. Most fascist groups, love Hitler but support him in secret. I don't know if it's because war mostly took place here. But does it really happen in America?
shareBut does it really happen in America?
Not really all that much. Even those whose political inclinations might appear fascist, I don't really see that there's that much support for Hitler himself. When I've conversed with Europeans on this subject, I've sensed that they have a much greater antipathy towards Hitler which seems far more personal and emotional than what I've discerned from my fellow Americans, whose families were still somewhat geopolitically detached from the war, mainly due to America's previous isolationism and being rather geographically remote from the main theaters of war.
As you pointed out, the war was far closer to home for Europeans than it was for most Americans. Not that the war wasn't keenly felt in America, particularly with those who served and their families; but most Americans were still relatively cushioned from the devastation and atrocities which took place in both Europe and Asia during that war. (Plus, many Americans may have seen the Japanese as an equal or even greater threat than that of Germany, at least from an American point of view.) share
Thanks for the answer! I grew up learning about the war at school or from my grandmother's stories. My grandfather fought against Hitler and then had to walk 700,000 km to go home. I saw pictures of starving children, where you can see their bones during the German occupation, and read stories about individuals who gave their lives to fight the German troops. I know that also Germans are being taught at school how horrible the war was and that they should never repeat it. I have never seen hitler banners anywhere, and even the fascist party in my country does not dear to declare support to the 3rd reich, although there were caught hailing like the nazis.
The Americans didn't really experience the war the way we did, thus they can't grasp the true horror of it. Supporting a Nazi that once lived far away doesn't seem so bad to some of them. The swastiga tattoo would have got him killed in Europe I believe.
The Americans didn't really experience the war the way we did, thus they can't grasp the true horror of it.
This is true. It might analogous to how some Europeans view the Pacific Theater of WW2, since that was pretty far removed from Europe. The Japanese attacked and bombed US soil, but the Germans never touched American soil. The Japanese also perpetrated some rather nasty atrocities towards the Chinese and others who fell into their hands. But my sense is that Europeans don't feel as vehemently about Japan as they do about Hitler and Nazi Germany.
The last war fought on US soil was the Civil War, and there are still Americans who feel strongly about that, as well as many strong feelings about displays of the Confederate Battle Flag. There are some rather sharp divisions of opinion on that, too.
Supporting a Nazi that once lived far away doesn't seem so bad to some of them. The swastiga tattoo would have got him killed in Europe I believe.
Well, it's not that Americans aren't aware of what the Nazis did, but I think a lot of Americans also think of Hitler and the Nazis as a kind of joke, something to make fun of. I think of old TV shows like "Hogan's Heroes" as how Americans typically view that era, although there are those who think that kind of humor is offensive. (Although I've heard that "Hogan's Heroes" gained quite an audience in Germany.)
I don't know if a swastika tattoo would get anyone killed here. I wouldn't be surprised if it's happened, but I just can't remember offhand. I suppose it would really be a matter of what region, city, or neighborhood they might be going through. share
What you say about Japan is SO true! Literally nobody in Europe cares about what the Japanese did in ww2. For some reason, the only country blamed is Germany. Not Japan and not Italy. In our history books, Japan is mentioned briefly. They mostly focus on Germany. Italians where so cheerful and kind that they didn't get a bad name.
My grandma told me that when my country was occupied, the Italians would play with the children and give them chocolates. When the Germans came, they broke their hands.
Italians just wanted to go home. They were not like the Germans. So people forgot about it. And it is true, I have lived in Italy and I love Italians.
Germany is always this strong, organized, dangerous power that you have to keep an eye on. It is a country to be feared. So the connection to Hitler just can't go away.
On the other hand, US is also a country that committed (and is still committing) atrocities that were never recognized, or they are recognized as "victory", "war on terror" or "another day in the US". As for the millions of Native Americans that were murdered, there is Thanksgiving.
Germany is always this strong, organized, dangerous power that you have to keep an eye on. It is a country to be feared. So the connection to Hitler just can't go away.
This may be true to some extent, although I don't think Americans ever really feared them as much as some European countries might have. One reason for this might be the large number of Germans who immigrated to America and made their mark in industry, economy, culture, and politics.
Also, Germany was more of a land power, so those whose countries could be reached from Germany by land had greater reason to fear. America tended to fear the major sea powers, namely Britain and France, at least during the early days of our independence.
On the other hand, US is also a country that committed (and is still committing) atrocities that were never recognized, or they are recognized as "victory", "war on terror" or "another day in the US". As for the millions of Native Americans that were murdered, there is Thanksgiving.
That's not how Thanksgiving came about, although I'll admit that some of the tales and myths surrounding the "First Thanksgiving" were rather tainted. I think that most Americans have tried to come to terms with our past and have started to look at it differently than what many previous myths and legends have stated. We have recognized the atrocities of our past - and even back then, at least some people recognized them as such. It's just that fewer people actually cared. That has changed a lot during my lifetime.
Ironically, it may have been WW2 itself which may have encouraged and emboldened the more progressive thinkers and activists to double down and push four-square in favor of civil rights and correcting/reforming the many wrongs which had been going on for far too long. They needed blacks and other minority groups to serve in the military, work in factories - as they were starting to face manpower shortages. The fact that the Nazis were totally beyond the pale also indirectly placed a black mark on racism and imperialism practiced by the Western Allies.
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I've never been in the US but I have watched a lot of documentaries and read a lot of articles. I am under the impression that the majority of Americans don't realize what their government is and has been doing. I mean, they don't realize the horror of it. It seems to be the only country that can say proudly on national television that they just killed the leader of another country. Or to say (again on tv), that it was worth it killing half a million Iraqi children.
I live in a small country very close to all these wars. The last year 80.000 people have arrived here seeking safety. It is heartbreaking. I think Americans should pay a visit to Syria or Afghanistan and see where their tax money go and what "war on terror" really is.
I met a guy from Detroit and he was super smart. He came to help the refugees all the way from America. I wish there are lots of people like him in America, cause he was very informed and open minded.
I've never been in the US but I have watched a lot of documentaries and read a lot of articles. I am under the impression that the majority of Americans don't realize what their government is and has been doing. I mean, they don't realize the horror of it. It seems to be the only country that can say proudly on national television that they just killed the leader of another country. Or to say (again on tv), that it was worth it killing half a million Iraqi children.
I think Americans are aware of it, although it's probably true that most have never experienced the horrors of war firsthand (including myself). But what our military does is still widely reported, even including the deaths of civilians.
What's not really widely reported are the politics and behind-the-scenes intrigue that would reveal the actual root causes of these events and why our government is actively intervening in another country's civil war. And to be sure, it is rather complicated, when considering all the different factions and alignments in the Middle East.
Personally, I think our best bet would be to pull out of there entirely and let those who are living there fight it out amongst themselves. We don't need to get involved in their wars. A lot of Americans believe that we should not be the world's policeman with troops spread all over the world. I think Americans are very aware of that, since many of us have friends and loved ones in the military overseas.
But it could also be that Americans have grown somewhat numb to it all. Remember that the generation running America nowadays were part of the "hippie" generation back in the 1960s when the Vietnam War was going on. But there have been other military actions and world crises since that time which have tempered a lot of Americans' views. I think it still troubles a lot of people, especially if it involves the deaths of children and other civilians. But then, they might be faced with a question like "Would you rather leave these poor women and children to be tortured and slaughtered by these tyrants and despots of the Middle East?"
And that may also be related to Americans' views on WW2, since there is an underlying feeling that we entered the war too late. Some believe that if America had acted sooner at stopping the Nazi regime, many more lives could have been saved. It's this kind of idea that lingers with a lot of people and drives a lot of our foreign policy. This may not be strictly true in the historical or geopolitical sense, but it's something that underlies the foreign policy "conscience" of the country and is often used to justify any military action just about anywhere.
We also did a lot of bombing of Germany and Japan in WW2, including the use of atomic weapons on two Japanese cities. Again, it's not something that most Americans are proud of, but it was seen as a necessary evil for a greater good. share
"My grandfather fought against Hitler and then had to walk 700,000 km to go home."
Where the hell did he live? The moon is only 383,000 km away.