Next we'll be hearing how most of the Nazis were moderates and peaceful types --- only a mere handful were actually involved in acts of terrorism.
If you want to watch a liberal squirm, refer to the nazi's as the "nationalist socialist workers party" and talk about Hitlers economic beliefs.
It leaves'em kind of unhinged and confused.
I don't look at it that way. WHat's wrong in stating the obvious, that Hitler was a man with all the complexities it implies ? Making Hitler some kind of semi-mythical monster is tempting, but counter-productive. It more or less implies that, as in a good sci-fi movie, the beast can de defeated once and for good, and after that we'll be happy foreever.
But that's not so simple : yes, he was just a man. That's the worst of it : he was one of us, and that means that there are other Hitlers in the making, in fact there already were some : Stalin, Pol Pot, Khomeiny, Saddam, Karadzic...
Hitler was not the monster from another dimension, the creature from outer space. He rose from our ranks - and his cronies and goons rose from our ranks too, there was nothing magical about it, and unless we stay alert, we could very well witness the rise of another one.