Eskandapolis wrote:South Norwega wrote:No it doesn't.
Mass killing was a large part of Hitler's plan. The final solution, the holocaust, these were presaged by events like the Kristallnacht or whatever it was. Mao Zedong contained his excesses to one country, whilst Hitler exported them.
Saying all that applies to Hitler is a statement ignorant of history.
However, only less than 8 million deads can be attributed to planned murders, the rest were part of the war, Hitler didnt have much of a political vision, and the country was ruled by Himmler, Goering and a few others. He had no idea WW2 would turn into that.
A couple of falsehoods that need addressing regarding your low numbers:
1. Commonly, the number of dead in the holocaust is considered to be around 11 million people, 6 million of them Jews.
2. Plenty of people died due to the Nazi policies of starving occupied populaces; in particular the Poles and other Eastern European Slavic peoples (Western Europeans got away much better). These are not usually listed under the holocaust, but most certainly are Hitler's and the Nazis' fault.
3. The war was Hitler's fault. There's nothing wrong with laying the blame for the war dead squarely at his feet. Especially reprisals against civilians for partisan attacks.
Falsehoods regarding Hitler and the Nazi elite:
1. Hitler had a political vision. It was written down in Mein Kampf. Much to everyone's surprise, he implemented it as best he could.
2. These implementations include the following: Attacking France to redress the Versailles Treaty and Attacking Russia/Soviet Union for the gaining of Lebensraum. Now, he didn't anticipate losing, so to that extent you can say that he had no idea WW2 would turn out that way.
3. Hitler was in charge. People swore loyalty to him directly. Göring and Himmler were "in charge" for very, very short times, at the end of the war when the Russians were shelling Berlin. And Hitler still had enough power to get Göring arrested.
4. Claiming that Himmler and Göring were in charge and planned the war is silly. Himmler might have done it, but Göring was strongly opposed to the war because it would threaten his lavish lifestyle and collections of stolen art.
