What did the Nazis do for us?

[Duvniask]

I'd say they destroyed Europe, but in the context of German foreign affairs that is not at all unusual.

On the positive side, they gave us motorways, and that's probably one of the greatest inventions ever. Animal rights and environmental policies are also good, but since some morons take it too far perhaps there's an aura of regret they began the trend.

It was not their (the Nazis') invention/idea, which you seem to be tacitly saying here. They were also not responsible for first Autobahn or motorway, even in Germany itself. Arguably, that was done under Konrad Adenauer, then mayor of Cologne, between 1929 and 1932.

[Novus America]

Wow.

I really don't know how anyone can call a movie about genocide "fun" and "entertaining."

I've read a couple of Holocaust survivor memoirs and have watched a couple of movies. I Have Lived a Thousand Years and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas were good, but I was crying. And I couldn't even make it through Night.

I am not sure why anyone would call them fun or entertaining. Of course that is not the purpose of these films, they are supposed to be uncomfortable to watch.

The “Boy in the Striped Pajamas” annoys me however as it is so unrealistic and historically inaccurate.

The idea that an inmate could just walk up to a single unguarded fence and talk to someone on the other side is absurd.

In actuality there were two or more layered fences, with guard towers regularly spaced along them. The towers would be within visual range of each other.
Plus there would be patrols.
Inmates approaching the fence without authorization would generally be shot.

Also life in the camps was regimented, you would not be able to just walk off on your own either.

Also if you could easily just dig under the fence to get in you could easily escape.

Finally and more forgivably (as it is often done) is the conflation of death camps and labor camps.
In almost all cases (with the exception of Majdanek) the death camps were separated from the labor camps, even if they were part of the same complex.

Inmates taken into death camps would generally be killed within hours of arrival. So there was no need for long term inmate housing.
Labor camps did not have the large gas chambers for killing even though death by disease, starvation, overwork, guard brutality or simply being shot was very common.

The Nazis seperated those who were deemed fit to work from those not, and those not fit to work killed within a very short period of time.

They would not just keep a kid, doing minimal work for a while only to gas him later.
Children not choosen for medical experiments or other purposes would generally be quickly killed.

So even if it is supposed to be Majdanek (and the fence is completely wrong) it does not make sense they would keep the kid a while just wandering around unsupervised. Separation and gassing would generally be done shortly after arrival.
Also they would not just grab random people walking around unsupervised, the inmates would be clearly separated and constantly supervised, those selected for gassing taken directly to the killing process.

If they kept the kid for some reason (but why is he unsupervised) they would not just randomly grab him and kill him. If they decided to keep him a while and then decided he was no longer useful they would do it in a more controlled manner and usually at a separate site.

[Novus America]

I'd say they destroyed Europe, but in the context of German foreign affairs that is not at all unusual.

On the positive side, they gave us motorways, and that's probably one of the greatest inventions ever. Animal rights and environmental policies are also good, but since some morons take it too far perhaps there's an aura of regret they began the trend.

It was not their (the Nazis') invention/idea, which you seem to be tacitly saying here. They were also not responsible for first Autobahn or motorway, even in Germany itself. Arguably, that was done under Konrad Adenauer, then mayor of Cologne, between 1929 and 1932.

And several other motorways were built outside of Germany before the Nazis came to power. And the system was planned under the Weimar Republic, and as you point out started under it. And most of it was built after the war.

The Nazis certainly did advance the project significantly and built the first integrated fully controlled access highway network, but they did not invent the concept, it would have happened without them.

[Duvniask]

At least Soviet tanks actually worked

The German tanks were designed to fail and that's not necessarily a bad thing in a total war scenario where all resources are devoted to the war effort. It lets them pump out more tanks. (...)

I doubt they were "designed to fail" so much as they were not designed to last forever, which makes more sense, but perhaps that is also what you mean. This, however, becomes a real problem when you consider the over-reliance on, or rather, pursuit of quality as opposed to quantity that was the case in Germany at the time. German tanks were, despite the massive amount of man-hours that went into them, overly prone to mechanical failure.

Even if we take what you're saying here for granted, that's no excuse for tanks breaking down before they even enter combat, like early Panthers at Kursk, nor is it an excuse for poor designs like the Ferdinand that never worked very well. Soviet tanks were not meant to last long, but they were also cheap and viable to mass-produce, something German tanks were not to nearly the same extent. If you're gonna make tanks under the assumption that they won't last very long, you had better also have the means to replace your losses and go further. If you produce fewer tanks, which are also not that great, then you will lose. It is a bad thing in Germany's case, since German tanks were like black holes that sucked up time and resources. Saying they were "designed to fail" just makes them seem even more, well, shite.

In summary, I suppose the point, which you are trying to make, applies much more to the Soviets, who actually did it right. The German tanks were still overdone, even if what you're saying is true.

[Sovaal]

There where several parts of Schindler‘s list I could barely watch. Hell I threw up at least once

You just can't handle some movies. That is okay I suppose. We can't all gain access to our inner sociopathy.

Dude...

[Sovaal]

Give a basic template for many fascist groups all around the world

They essentially killed fascism as an ideology outside of a few puppet states.

[Mardla]

Heidegger was arguably the greatest philosopher of the 20th Century.

Much of Heidegger's work, at least the kernel of it, was already well-established before his entanglement with nazism. And even then, it could be argued that his work during the thirties and forties can, for the most part, be partitioned off from that aspect of his character...

Heidegger's Nazism was a logical move from his work, but so was his later criticism of it. Nazism, from Heidegger's perspective, became the embodiment of everything it was reacting against. The Holocaust, for example, was, to Heidegger, the ultimate manifestation of technology sucking humanity into a vortex of mechanism and dehumanization.

[La Sieja]

#nowthatswhaticalledgy

Nothing suspicious at all about a freshly created account praising Nazis.

Point 11 of their nation's constitution happens to be "Women are slaves".

[Novus America]

Give a basic template for many fascist groups all around the world

They essentially killed fascism as an ideology outside of a few puppet states.

Yes. Fascists praising the Nazis is stupid. Nazis did not create Fascism, they created an extreme off shoot of it that effectively killed all Fascism by association with Nazism.

[The Canadian Confederacy of Provinces]

What did the Nazis do for us?
Aside from providing us with a cautionary tale about how not to be "nationalist and/or socialist"; not much!

I guess you could point out how their horrific experiments on humans yielded results that are now used (by all nations) to provide data on the effects and tolerances of the human body & psyche to any number of deprivations, and exposures, and traumas.
Yet it must be said that the Soviets,and the Japanese government/military during WW2 also added to this dark data base of knowledge

[Sicaris]

I take that back. This is the real #nowthatswhaticalledgy.

EU hate.

*Well deserved EU hate

[Infected Mushroom]

I don't enjoy most concentration camp flicks. For instance, I find Schindler's List and the Pianist to be just okay movies.

However, I like the setup and ironic normalisation of oppression found in the Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas and the performances of the actors in that movie. Its not your typical concentration camp flick. There's something about the way the movie is set up that just brings a smile to my face.

It's easily a top 10 for me out of all movies...

You’re disgusting.

There where several parts of Schindler‘s list I could barely watch. Hell I threw up at least once

As I said, its not an amazing movie. The whole thing felt kind of manipulative to be honest.

I prefer the subtle imagery, dialogue, and acting of the Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas.

[Dahon]

The Nazis were fantastic for Germany, until 1941 that is. They only single handedly undid the Treaty of Versailles and conquered most of all of Europe for Germany. Truly a glorious time for them. This was when the German military was at its pinnacle of virtue and might.

Truly glorious, building your lollygagging Turd Retchhh out of eleven million bodies -- six million Jews -- LIVES FOR REICHSMARKS!!! -- LIVES FOR LIRAS!!! -- LIVES FOR PESETAS!!! -- LIVES FOR ESCUDOS!!! --

[Len Hyet]

You’re disgusting.

There where several parts of Schindler‘s list I could barely watch. Hell I threw up at least once

As I said, its not an amazing movie. The whole thing felt kind of manipulative to be honest.

I prefer the subtle imagery, dialogue, and acting of the Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas.

It's about as subtle as a sledgehammer.

[Valrifell]

They essentially killed fascism as an ideology outside of a few puppet states.

Yes. Fascists praising the Nazis is stupid. Nazis did not create Fascism, they created an extreme off shoot of it that effectively killed all Fascism by association with Nazism.

I heard somewhere that, in the early stages of their relationship, Mussolini viewed Hitler as his protégé.

Ironic that not only did Hitler overshadow Mussolini in importance in the Fascist ideology but also killed its potential adoption by other nations. Also started a war that ended with him being hanged.

[Dahon]

Boy in the Striped Pajamas isn't fun.

It’s such an entertaining movie though

And it’s only here because the Nazi regime inspired an author to write a novel

No Nazi = no Thewlis eating a sausage like a chill boss while the wife protests that the servant is being beaten

Just look at the excellent dialogue and acting throughout

No Nazis equals no pervertedly giddy Mushroom? Count me in -- I'd want millions to live on and die without knowing sHitler anyway.

[Infected Mushroom]

It’s such an entertaining movie though

And it’s only here because the Nazi regime inspired an author to write a novel

No Nazi = no Thewlis eating a sausage like a chill boss while the wife protests that the servant is being beaten

Just look at the excellent dialogue and acting throughout

No Nazis equals no pervertedly giddy Mushroom? Count me in -- I'd want millions to live on and die without knowing sHitler anyway.

What about Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts?

I'm not sure they would exist in the same form either or at all...

you underestimate the extent to which Nazis have influenced literature

[Len Hyet]

Yes. Fascists praising the Nazis is stupid. Nazis did not create Fascism, they created an extreme off shoot of it that effectively killed all Fascism by association with Nazism.

I heard somewhere that, in the early stages of their relationship, Mussolini viewed Hitler as his protégé.

Ironic that not only did Hitler overshadow Mussolini in importance in the Fascist ideology but also killed its potential adoption by other nations. Also started a war that ended with him being hanged.

I thought I'd read that upon their first meeting Hitler really liked Mussolini but Mussolini thought Hitler was a bore.

[Dahon]

Look, I'd rather have people alive than people dead. I don't give a shit if it means my conceptual horizons are the poorer for it -- I am not trading human lives for the dubious pleasure of a movie I've never come across before now.

[NeoOasis]

I don't know if I'd attribute computing to the Germans. Sure they created the enigma, but that was hardly a computer. More of a scrambler. I'd say the fathers of modern computing goes to the Poles for laying the foundations on which the British would later claim to have single handedly broken the code.

Brilliant stuff that helped the allies an immense amount, yet largely ignored by many.

As for jet engines. From what I understand, the allies were developing jet engines parallel to the Germans. Not entirely sure I'd attribute western jet aviation to the Nazis if the British were going to do it regardless plus minus a few weeks.

[Petrolheadia]

They built the Autobahn.

That was pretty cool.

No, Konrad Adenauer did. Bonn-Cologne in 1932.

Plus, most of the Autobahn system was build after the war.

[Petrolheadia]

I don't know if I'd attribute computing to the Germans. Sure they created the enigma, but that was hardly a computer. More of a scrambler. I'd say the fathers of modern computing goes to the Poles for laying the foundations on which the British would later claim to have single handedly broken the code.

Brilliant stuff that helped the allies an immense amount, yet largely ignored by many.

As for jet engines. From what I understand, the allies were developing jet engines parallel to the Germans. Not entirely sure I'd attribute western jet aviation to the Nazis if the British were going to do it regardless plus minus a few weeks.

Unscrambling a code also isn't really computing.

[NeoOasis]

I don't know if I'd attribute computing to the Germans. Sure they created the enigma, but that was hardly a computer. More of a scrambler. I'd say the fathers of modern computing goes to the Poles for laying the foundations on which the British would later claim to have single handedly broken the code.

Brilliant stuff that helped the allies an immense amount, yet largely ignored by many.

As for jet engines. From what I understand, the allies were developing jet engines parallel to the Germans. Not entirely sure I'd attribute western jet aviation to the Nazis if the British were going to do it regardless plus minus a few weeks.

Unscrambling a code also isn't really computing.

The creation of the bomba set the foundation for the British versions which evolved into what we could consider a computer.

Also unscrambling a code is computing. Plugging numbers and finding an outcome almost feels like the very definition of computing.

Eitherway. I wouldn't call the engima machine a computer.

[-Ocelot-]

Not sure if mentioned already, but Nazis showed how efficient a genocide can be in an industrial world. The Nazis were the first to conduct genocides in such an industrialized manner.

[Dahon]

Not sure if mentioned already, but Nazis showed how efficient a genocide can be in an industrial world. The Nazis were the first to conduct genocides in such an industrialized manner.

The first to systematically murder millions of a specific people in the bloody darkness of the first half of the twentieth century, with the eventual aim of total annihilation? Yes.

But efficient? No. Abysmally irrational (the sort Sai displays)? Absolutely.

And this goes for even Germans otherwise uninvolved with those Nazi dipshits -- the abyss of sheer sociopathy, madness born out of delusion... beyond words.