I'm obsessed with WWII and Nazi documentaries. Does that make me an...

[SmileyBoy]

...overt racist??

I just find that history fascinating to no extent. Today I watched "Nazi America: A Secret History" on the History Channel, and my eyes were glued to the set. I just don't want people to think I'm racist, or a Nazi, or anything. It's that the rise of Nazism in Germany and the atrocities committed were unlike anything else seen in the annals of humanity in its history, and I find that just fascinating. I don't think something like this (Nazism and its atrocities) would even cross the mind of the most ruthless, heartless 13th Century medieval king. It's just so intriguing.

That doesn't make me racist, does it??

[RPM]

1. no - just means you need better options on your cable / dish

time to get some other channels ;)

[Zuni]

2. I am fascinated by Nazi germany

I've read hundreds of books about everything from Hitler's personal life to the Wehrmacht to the Holocaust

It has nothing to do with racism. In fact I would be considered subhuman in Nazi germany because I am of Russian descent. Hitler loathed Russians---felt they were the dregs of humanity. He felt Jews were intelligent and evil, but Russians were just brain dead thugs

[skygazer]

3. I hope not because I am intrigued as well

I have been reading books and watching docus on this stuff for many, many years. My reasons for doing so are because I desperately want to understand how people can reach the point that they are capable of committing such atrocities. I also want to put myself, as much as I possibly can, in the shoes of the victims, to try to imagine the fear, confusion and hopelessness of their situation, not because I'm some kind of masochist but because I think it's important to see them not as this vast mass of victims but as individuals, with families and dreams and possibilities.

It's horribly uncomfortable stuff and it should be. But I really think it's terribly important to look at it head on and not say, "oh, that's too depressing" or "it was a long time ago" or whatever. Because, as they say, those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it. That's a past that doesn't bear repeating (though I'm aware genocide occurs regularly, the industrial scale of the Third Reich's genocide has thankfully not been matched).

[WCGreen]

4. There is not enough on WWI on the cable channels

I like the history behind that war, how all the nations kind of just fell in on the war.......

[skygazer]

5. I agree with you there

WWII rather overshadows it. It was a horrible war, too. I'm not sure of the exact numbers but there are an incredible amount of men listed as "missing" from that war because the fixed nature of the lines on the eastern front and the amount of shelling that was done meant that many men were simply blown to pieces. There was literally nothing left of them.

It was a combination of modern war and old fashioned - the first war to use tanks and planes and yet there were many horses still being used, by cavalry and artillery as well as pulling supply wagons, etc. The 1918 flu pandemic wiped out millions worldwide, including many, many soldiers - it actually affected the situation on the front.

Very interesting war - I too wish there were more films devoted to it. Books, too.

[WCGreen]

8. The 1930's version of All Quit on the Western Front

is stunning......

My grandfather was a dentist in WWI. I have his foot pump drill he had on the front in my garage waiting to be refurbished.....

[Shoeempress]

6. Not in my book. I too am fascinated by their rise to power. Hubby gets

sent to germany every couple of years for business and I won't set foot in Germany. Only would go to the death camps and leave. Kinda gets tricky cuz Hubby has german co-workers come to the US on business and we frequently have them to dinner to break up their stay, and yes I am very polite. They always tell me to come over when Hubby goes, but I just can't.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

7. My grandmother's family left Germany due to the pending war

I've always been into studying what they were living through before they arrived here in the US.

[Lilyhoney]

9. You Can't Do Business With Hitler.

Is a really good book written in 1941 by Douglas Miller.
I read it maybe 2 years ago and it made me just about crazy. In the sense that I was reading this book and watching what is going on now in our country and the similarities are frightening.

I thank you for you interest in history. Keep learning and sharing!

[bliss_eternal]

10. No more than watching crime shows on courtv makes

me a serial killer.

Certain aspects of history are fascinating for certain people. It doesn't make you abnormal or a racist...

Unless of course you dance around your living room doing Nazi marches, or heil hitler as you see them do it on tv.

:think:

Is there anything you aren't telling us?

;)

[LeftyDarthBrodie]

11. It might be a cliche but

if we don't learn about history we are bound to repeat, or something like that.

I too am fascinated by history, especially WWI to the present. I don't watch a lot of the History Channel but I watch quite a few documentaries and read.

[bliss_eternal]

12. Not a cliche--that's truth.

That's whats part of what is so alarming about this current administration. People don't see them playing out some of the greatest atrocities against human and civil rights.

Wake up, everyone!!!

[Kathleen04]

13. I have a friend

who wants to pursue a doctorate in History w/ the Holocaust/WWII as her emphasis..

It's important to learn about and history is fascinating.

[Left_Winger]

14. I have a doctorate in this field

Why? I was hoping that I could learn more about what happened so maybe I could make a contribution to keep it from happening again by educating others.

Give your friend my best wishes in finding employment in this field as it is very difficult; I've been trying for six years and have not had any luck. BTW, one of my professors was the one who exposed Kurt Waldheim in 1986 (former Secretary General of the UN) as a former SS officer and is considered a top professional in the field of Holocaust studies and fascism.
Even with top professors providing letters of recommendations, several publications, various academic presentations (to include the American Historical Association), fluency in German, Polish and Yiddisch, I have not had much luck. I was able to land a part-time (adjunct) position for one year at an out-of-the-way university for a salary of $1600 per class per semester. To top things off, the faculty at this school had Ph.D.s from Duke, Tulane and Columbia who had been there for quite some time. With credentials such as these, one would think that gaining employment with a better university would be easier. They told me that this was evidence of how crowded the market for history Ph.D.s actually is.

One last point: throughout grad school we were constantly told by our faculty that there were so many history Ph.D.s out there that there are literally hundreds of applicants for every position. I have found this to be true.

Once again, I wish your friend all the best in her endeavors with this.

[Kathleen04]

15. Thanks for

the advice and wishes, I will do my best to pass them along.

I think that one day she would like teach as a University professor but she also has some aspirations of getting a law degree and would use her B.A. in history as her part of her "pre-law" program.

I'm not sure if she actually wants to practice law, but I know that she's going for the degree. She has alot of interesting career aspirations, so hopefully it'll all come together for her as she pursues the advanced degree.

Thanks again. :)

[Kathy in Cambridge]

19. I stopped short of pursuing a Ph.D for precisely the reasons you state

no jobs, unless you have an in-demand specialty.

[SoCalDem]

16. Are you my husband??

He told me he didn't know how to even turn the computer on.:)

Our kids always used to tease him..They would walk through the living room while he was watching History or A&E or whatever WWII show of the day,,

Them: "Hey Dad, We WON...It was even on the news "
Dad: "Getouttahere..clean your rooms.."

[DemGirl7]

17. I like to watch documentaries and read books about them too

I don't know why, It used to scare my mom, she thought there was something wrong with me because I find the Nazis to be interesting, in a evil sort of way. I mean, they were a bunch crazies, that came pretty close to ruling the whole world. I have this book, called the "Historical Atlas Of The Third Reich" which is just fascinating, because it not only has the basic info on the Rise, and fall of the Nazis, it has info about how spread out around the world the party was,with connections on serveral different continents. And they have a great detail of the paramilitary groups, the Nazis had, like the SS, and the SA, and shows where their Headquaters where and stuff. It is very informative book, I got it for my birthday from my Sister and her husband one year.

[nytemare]

18. I read books and watch documentaries as well

The thing that amazes me the most is that Hitler did not do all that he did alone, a country had to go along with it.

I am finding our current situation too much like Germany in 1935.

[NMMNG]

20. I don't think so

I knew a woman who had an intense fascination with the Nazi regime and Hitler and she wasn't a racist. She was a complete bibliophile and read ceaselessly, but Hitler/Nazis were of particular interest to her. I have several books on the topic myself but I haven't gotten around to reading them yet.

[leftofthedial]

21. Don't worry. No one thinks you're a Nazi.

We all think you're a dork.


;) :hi: ;) :hi: ;) :hi:

[AlienGirl]

22. It makes you an amateur historian!

I study that stuff too, as does almost everybody I know. It is a good way to get perspective on what's happening now...

Tucker

P.S. I believe in reincarnation, and believe a lot of people alive today died during WWII and the Holocaust, and that accounts for many people's interest in that era.

[6th Borough]

23. No, so is my dad. And I've got an (agnostic) Jewish mom.

Nazis are the ultimate bad guys.

Now, if you take the Protocols of the Elders of Zion to heart, you got yourself a problem.

Good, old fashioned Nazis though, make for an intersting example of an "ultimate bad guy" in history.

...as far as a 13th century king, are you refering to Richard III of England, who expelled the Jews of Brittany?

Eh, either way, the Germans were usually the baddest. Napoleon was actually quite tolerant of French Jewery. If he wasn't such an Imperialist, he would have probably been the most tolerant..well, shit, "emperor" in history.

Poiland-Lituania was a rather enlightened empire in the 1600's, though...don't wan't to diss them.

Damn Astro-Russ-Sweds-Hapsberg-Danes-Ottomans.