Replies

"Hitler was born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Is that so difficult to understand?"

You need to go back up and look at the context of this little "debate."
In post #99, our pal "Just mythoughts" responds to my factual statement that in 1941 the Germans invaded Russia. "Just mythoughts" responds:

"Hitler was an EVIL lunatic, but he was not German."

Of course he was born in Austria, but in what sense was he not a German who invaded Russia in 1941?
He was then the Fuhrer of ALL GERMANY, which then INCLUDED AUSTRIA.
Indeed, much of what Hitler said & did was all about improving the lot of Germans, in WHICHEVER country they happened to live -- just consider the Sudeten Germans of Czechoslovakia.
If everyone then considered those people Germans, how could Hitler himself NOT be German?

And what sense does a "not German" argument make anyway?
That Germans invaded Russia in 1941 is a simple fact of history, regardless of where Hitler was born.

Do you disagree?

History never happens in a vacuum. And since the French Revolution there have been all matter of reactions throughout Europe... including and involving that vast land mass called Russia.

I do find it a bit curious why the only focus appears to be upon the German people and ignoring what the rest of Europe, including Russia were doing as well. My response to you was regarding the getting what was deserved by Stalin's army of rapists....

I was born in Germany, my father was in the US military. There was a German gal that married a man in the US military and she talked about as a young girl hoping it would be the US military, that got to her before the Soviets because of the awareness of just what would be her lot in life.

I also remember Stephen Ambrose's book Citizen Soldier describing the different mentality of US military and Soviet style revenge of raping and destruction during WWII.

I cannot help but recall a certain Senator demanding that legislation of our US military to prevent them for torturing the enemy during war. So I am NOT about to dismiss the brutality of Soviet uncivilized barbarians in their march across Europe.

Would Pan-German work? I’m just trying to keep the historical facts straight. I don’t know if Hitler actually ever sought legal German citizenship or not. Seeing as he enlisted in the German Army, I’d assume either he did or they didn’t care.