Why the Third Reich?

Short answer

"Why" is an excellent question, one I asked myself several times before launching this endeavor. The short answer is that after watching WWII movies and reading many non-fiction books about Hitler and the European Theater, I slowly gained an interest in the Third Reich, Hitler and his top people (the perpetrators of the largest mass murder in history), and Nazis. There, I said it: I'm interested in Nazis.

Also, I wanted to create a site about the Third Reich that contained a wealth of plainly stated information. I've viewed hundreds of sites, many of them very good, in addition to countless trips to the public library, to gain my present knowledge. Instead of adding these links to my bookmarks and thinking about what I had learned, why not include everything here?

Long answer

Q: Am I a Nazi sympathizer, a neo-Nazi, a Holocaust denier, or an anti-Semite?

A: Absolutely not.

Q: Do I want to learn everything I can about Nazi ideology, Hitler, and World War II?

A: Yes.

Q: Do I find it interesting that there is a big gap between the world's perception of Adolf Hitler and the actual man?

A: Yes.

Some questions I want answered

1. How could the German people follow Hitler? It seems an excellent question, considering he was largely a dictator by consent, as opposed to the likes of Saddam Hussein, who massacred all opposition on a single day, in a single setting, and then only maintained power through terror.

2. Did pre-war anti-Semitism in Europe (not just in Germany) play a role in Hitler's rise to power? If so, did these sentiments affect the appeasement policies of the Western Powers that allowed Hitler to gain so much economic and military strength? As a follow-on, was Hitler's anger at the Jews and communists in any way justified? I'm asking about his anger, not whether the Holocaust was justified, as it certainly was not. Hitler blamed Jews for the loss of WWI, and the resultant loss of German territory, economic capabilities, and even an overall downcast feeling throughout the country.

3. Why isn't all WWII documentation gathered in a central location?

4. Were the Nuremburg trials (IMT) fair?

5. Why didn't Hitler have his "superweapons" at his disposal earlier than 1944? These include, but are not limited to, ballistic missiles (V2, etc.), jet aircraft, atomics, all-electric and super-range subs.

6. Were there really 17 assassination plots against Hitler while he was in power, and if so, why were all but one abandoned?

7. What did the average German think of Hitler? I ask this because nearly everyone at the time either said nothing as they went about their daily lives, or they spoke in favor. As we have seen with other dictators, such as Saddam Hussein, a public position in favor of the dictator is often the opposite of the private feelings. Only fear causes the public statements of support.

8. How active was the German underground? See also No.'s 6 and 7.

9. Why did Britain and France allow Poland to be crushed under the Nazi hammer? Was it fear of the USSR, a supreme desire to keep themselves out of armed conflict, or was it something else, or perhaps a combination?

10. How successful were the "ratlines" that provided a means of escape to Nazi war criminals after Germany's surrender? How effective have Jewish groups been in bringing these creatures to justice (aside from the successful Adolf Eichmann case)?

11. Did Hitler really know about the extermination of the Jews, as well as gypsies and others? Prevalent thought is that he knew and ordered it, but there seems to be scant evidence backing up this view. Yet, how could he not have known?

12. Is there any basis to the opinion that if Hitler's plans for Germany hadn't included a racial element (Aryan supremacy and hatred of Jews) and an almost overpowering desire to blood the Wehrmacht, Nazism could have been good for Germany? This is not my view, but it is certainly floating around, and not just in skinhead circles.

13. How strong a lure is National Socialism today? I'm not talking about neo-Nazis and skinheads. These groups, in my opinion, are not to be taken seriously. They are mostly disaffected youth who are walking a very bad path. Rather, I mean, are any otherwise respected people, worldwide, secretly harboring a favorable opinion? There is some evidence for this, and I intend to gather together what I can.

Today if we ask anyone (or almost anyone) in Germany or Austria about Nazi ideology, there will be utterances of complete disgust. The anti-Nazi feelings are warranted, of course, but they are almost as automatic as the pro-Nazi feelings in Hitler's time. This is interesting and should be examined.

I got to know a German woman a few years ago, who was in the United States for a year on an internship. I asked her, matter of factly, what she thought about Germany's Nazi past. Her face darkened. "We don't talk about that," she said. "We are ashamed." I suggested that it happened so long ago that Germans should move forward, without forgetting the past, of course. She had a one-word reply: "No." I pressed one more time: "Was there anything good that came from that era?" She didn't think so. When I said that Rommel earned a certain amount of Western respect, she said: "No, it's all bad."

I got the distinct feeling that this is an automatic reaction. There must be more to it.

14. Who is the real Hitler? This may be the most interesting question for me. Hitler's public image, one that was carefully designed for public consumption, seems to be at odds with the private Hitler. Most people believe Hitler a lunatic, which is the version we see in Nazi propaganda films, but a wealth of information has been coming out for the last thirty years which suggests a very sane Hitler (with the understanding that one who commits mass murder and lusts for world domination is insane by any measure of the concept).

To be continued...