Nazi is a Political party, not a military force!

[k9870]

I heard a lot of the people who wanted hitler dead were military who thought his tactics were wreckless and wanted to win the war, not all were humanitarians who wanted to save lives or what not

[MoviePropMaster2008]

Originally Posted by k9870

I heard a lot of the people who wanted hitler dead were military who thought his tactics were wreckless and wanted to win the war, not all were humanitarians who wanted to save lives or what not

It's hard to say. The German military had many professional soldiers who still adhered to a 'code of conduct'. The entire idiocy that Hitler did was an anathema to many of them, but they dared not comment on it.

1) I was surprised (and gratified) to learn through research that in the early years of World War II, Soldiers of the Waffen SS were appalled at their orders to massacre civilians. In fact early on, many complained, and were promptly rotated to the Russian Front, whereas more compliant (i.e. brainwashed into the Aryan Superiority propaganda) young men were screened and sent to do the Waffen SS's dirty business of rounding up Jews, Slavs, Gypsies, etc as well as many other atrocities against civilians. American history never mentions this intriguing fact.

2) There are many instances of Germans who hated the Nazis and wanted Hitler out. Some were naive, non violent and got wiped out early, take the Members of the White Rose for example.

3) There were Seventeen Assassination attempts on Hitler's life, not just the Valkyrie one.

4) History of the 'losers of a war' is always written by the winners. I remember early history books which pretty much painted the WW2 Germans as barbarians as a whole, with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Reality, as we all know, is much more complex than that.

[S&Wshooter]

I'm suprised that no one has talked about how, given the chance, Rommel would have busted Hitler's dome wide open

[Excalibur]

Sure, there were MANY German soldiers and officers that did NOT like the way Hitler was running their country and many had tried to kill him and failed. It's the mythos that has developed after WWII that has made the Germans of WWII into an evil archetype that represents the whole of Germany at the time.

[Spartan198]

Originally Posted by MoviePropMaster2008

Reality, as we all know, is much more complex than that.

Yeah, it is. There are two sides to every coin, as the saying goes.

[funkychinaman]

I agree with not referring to Germans as Nazis, but I went out of my way to avoid referring to SS troops as soldiers when I capped "Schindler's List." The SS was declared a criminal organization after the war, their members were denied pensions (until they successfully sued the West German government) and former SS men are STILL being kicked out the US even today. Soldiers serve their country. These men served the Nazi party. Can we try to enforce that in across IMFDb?

[MoviePropMaster2008]

Originally Posted by funkychinaman

I agree with not referring to Germans as Nazis, but I went out of my way to avoid referring to SS troops as soldiers when I capped "Schindler's List." The SS was declared a criminal organization after the war, their members were denied pensions (until they successfully sued the West German government) and former SS men are STILL being kicked out the US even today. Soldiers serve their country. These men served the Nazi party. Can we try to enforce that in across IMFDb?

But that's just people exacting political revenge. Men serving in the Waffen SS fought just like soldiers on the Eastern Front and during D-Day. You're not being 100% accurate. They WERE soldiers, albeit, soldiers who were given odious tasks. Entire Waffen SS divisions were lost fighting in Russia. What are they? Busboys?

[Milkovich]

This reminds of what our history teacher in secondary school did. He always accurately referred to all parts of the German military branch before, during and after World War 2 by name. Luftwaffe was Luftwaffe, a Wehrmacht Soldier was a Wehrmacht Soldier.
What I mean to say is, if possible the writer of an article should be as accurate as possible. A great benefit of doing the necessary research is that anachronisms and other details like wrong equipment can be pointed out to the reader. It adds to the quality of a page and guarantees that no one will be offended. Watching Wehrmacht soldiers with FG-42 parachute into Alaska with Russian helmets and French camouflage uniforms probably isn't that obvious at first

[funkychinaman]

Originally Posted by MoviePropMaster2008

But that's just people exacting political revenge. Men serving in the Waffen SS fought just like soldiers on the Eastern Front and during D-Day. You're not being 100% accurate. They WERE soldiers, albeit, soldiers who were given odious tasks. Entire Waffen SS divisions were lost fighting in Russia. What are they? Busboys?

Okay, that's fair. And the US is just deporting former camp personnel. But in the context of Schindler's List, where they're pulling people out of their homes, shooting people on the street and in their hospital beds, I doubt you can call that soldiering.

[PersonOfInterest]

Originally Posted by funkychinaman

Okay, that's fair. And the US is just deporting former camp personnel. But in the context of Schindler's List, where they're pulling people out of their homes, shooting people on the street and in their hospital beds, I doubt you can call that soldiering.

For the first six thousand years of human history that was the definition of being a soldier, and in many countries it continues to be.