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This is a topic I have been giving much thought to lately.

Many people blame all Germans for Hitler's terrifying reign. But I have to wonder, what about the simple families who found themselves under the rule of a horrific dictator? I'm sure there were Germans who weren't a bit interested in politics, they just wanted their families and friends to prosper and lead healthy lives. Then, Hitler came to power. A lot of German people were terrified to find themselves living under a dictator who killed people who went against him, and who killed people because of their ethnicity.

I remember reading a story about 2 young college students who passed out anti-Hitler leaflets at their university. They were caught by Hitler's henchmen, and taken to the town square where they were beheaded to show others what would happen to them if they dared to speak out against Hitler. People were scared for their lives and the lives of their children. It takes a very special, brave person to fight something like that.

I have tried to put myself in that position. Say I was a 35 year old mother when Hitler came to power. Say I was more interested in my family and gardening and such than in politics, which many people are. Are such people to be blamed? I don't think so. Such people were caught in the wrong country in the worst possible time period. Needless to say, it was the worst possible time for Jews, but they weren't alone in being persecuted. Many Germans, Jewish and Gentile, lived in absolute fear. The lucky people escaped from Germany in time.

Let's say Hillary becomes our president in 2004. Many of us would not have voted for her, but she would win. Suddenly, we could find ourselves in the same situation as the Germans in the 1930s. I wouldn't put it past that woman to put certain people away the same way Hitler did. It could easily become a reign of terror. Would we all be at fault for that? In 50 years or so, would the world call all Americans Hillaryites or whatever the new term for nazis would be? Would America suffer from a reputation as being an evil country full of evil people because of the evil actions of President Hillary? Would that be fair? I don't think so. It's like accusing all Iraqis of being evil because of Saddam. There were many Germans such as those college students who risked their lives opposing Hitler, many of them indeed being sent to the camps and/or executed.

We're so used to seeing shows on TV depicting scenes of huge rallies where German citizens came out to worship their hero Hitler. However, we rarely hear of those brave souls (and terrified housewifes!) who were extremely unhappy over what had happened to their country. Those good people need to be remembered too.

I think there is a lot of unnecessary hatred and feelings of wanting revenge towards Germans because of the way that history is presented to us, as if every single German Gentile was a big fan of Hitler. We need to remember that evil became unleashed on the earth during that time period, and many people lived under terrible stress and fear, and of course millions died. We need to remember the good souls who fought against this evil, many paying with their lives. Things are not so black and white the way they are presented on TV and in movies. Not all Germans liked Hitler, not by a long shot, just like not all of us are fans of Hillary.

People here in America who have any brains at all should by now realise that hillery is evil. If you were to vote for her you would be supportting evil itself.
By the way she has reported to treat aids and service people. By the way she flaunts laws and feels a sence of entitlement. By the way she has treated other peoples monies and property of the govt. (which she stole) as her own.The Germans and french deserve everyones scorn. They have supported bad causes and should pay a price. But if we were to support evil then we too should bear a burden.

It is of course, ludicrous to brand all germans "nazis", then and now!

Hitler's rise to power was a popular movement - he "spoke" to the common man and they fell for his lies. After he assumed power, he did many things publically which the common man wnated - secretly he built his "evil" reich. During the war, many still supported him for trying to "unite" the german people - it wasn't until the "evil" parts of the reich became readily apparent, that the common man began to "resist". This could happen "anywhere".

After the war - and especially amoung the young - the "collective guilt" syndrom became something which several generations have tried to throw off - rightly. It is morally wrong to continueally condemn an entire people for actions which occurred before the majority of said people were even born.

The author of the article though, has missed a crucial point - the german people, as a whole, are not pacifists; instead they have forgotten the REAL lesson of the 1930's - always question the motives of those in charge! Only when you are convinced that your leaders are following a moral path, should you support them.

Bruce Springsteen, in an anti-war song, made the statement "Blind faith in your leaders can get you killed!". This is still true today - in Germany, the USA, and just about everywhere else.

The Germans, based solely on on the words of thier leaders and in defiance of all objective evidence to the contrary, reject THIS war. In Kosovo, the situation was the same - but in this case they easily accepted the war - even the notoriously "pacifist" Greens party!

"Needless to say, it was the worst possible time for Jews, but they weren't alone in being persecuted. Many Germans, Jewish and Gentile, lived in absolute fear."

Yes, but only Jews in Germany and elsewhere were marked out for total annihilation in a pre-planned industrial slaughter. And it was this annihilation that lay at the very heart of Nazi philosophy. To suggest that there was some sort of equivalence between German Jews and German gentiles is a distortion that ranks alongside Holocaust denial in its perversity. But what can anyone really say about a person who compares Adolph Hitler with Hillary Clinton in trying to whitewash the wickedness of Germany except that he is both very cowardly and extremely bad?

And can anyone be so incredibly naive to believe that Hitler all by himself carried out the Holocaust? To suggest that a monster like Hitler could arise in America is one thing, but to suppose that there could be millions of people who would carry out his evil schemes is a vile insult to all citizens of that great nation.

"There were many Germans such as those college students who risked their lives opposing Hitler, many of them indeed being sent to the camps and/or executed."

This is an almost complete fabrication. What marked out the German resistance as so singular is that it hardly existed. Apart from the brief period of the tiny White Rose movement there was hardly any popular opposition; your story of the two college students is also very highly colored - the Scholls of the White Rose were not executed in any town square but secretly in a Gestapo prison cell.

And as personal observers of the time like William Shirer pointed out whatever complaints the German people had against the regime, and there were many, the one thing they were almost all agreed about was the treatment of the Jews. What little resistance came about had absolutely nothing to do with the fate of the Jewish people but a belief that the war would lead to the destruction of Germany.

Germany (and, of course, Austria) could not have murdered the great majority of the Jews in Europe without the almost complete co-operation of the occupied countries like Holland, France Ukraine, Poland and Belgium. But only in Germany was the Holocaust planned, and in such minute detail. Only Germany devoted enormous resources to carrying it out. It was only in Germany that millions of "ordinary" German civilians and troops, aside from a huge contigent of SS, Gestapo, and Nazi functionaries worked day and night to to exterminate all the Jews of Europe.

Anyone who knows Germany well today is fully cognisant of the fact that there is little genuine remorse for the terrible crimes of that time. No, what really angers them is that Germany was defeated.

In trying to diminish the genocide of the Jews by the Germans while at the same time attempting to expunge the guilt of that nation, it makes you, in essence, no different to the individuals who carried out those foul deeds in the first place.

We need to remember the good souls who fought against this evil, many paying with their lives.

Yes, we do. Those "good" people who remained silent were complicit because of their silence. When the circumstances in life require that you speak out against evil, silence=assent. If you're goning to die, better to die for something than for nothing.

I remember now. You are the poster who invariably informs the Jewish people that they should keep quiet about the Holocaust because it makes them look weak. I guess it's unsurprising when you put it together with your other vile ideas.

It takes a very special, brave person to fight something like that.

You are right, it does take someone special to fight evil. More important it takes that one special leader to recoginize evil, then rally his people to defeat that evil.

Chamberlin," peace in our time" was not that leader. Winston Churchill was. And he met the evil of Hitler headlong, not with compromise, or treaty but with war.

Does the women in the garden have the power of Churchill, or President Bush? She does if she wants to. All she has to do is stop digging in the garden long enough to realize that there is evil all around her, and she can stop it just by lifting her head out of the garden(sand)to realize it.

"I wouldn't put it past that woman to put certain people away the same way Hitler did. It could easily become a reign of terror."

I never quite thought of her being that evil. You may be right. She just may have the characteristics for another Hitler or Saddam. Let us pray she never is put in a position where she could use her evil ways. First Lady was too close for comfort.

I don't believe the Dutch were complicit in the extermination of the Jews.

You are correct that not all Dutch were complicit in the Shoah. In fact, many individuals (who happened to be Dutch) literally risked their lives to save Jews (one needs only to read "The Diary of Anne Frank" to know this). However, the Dutch were also the greatest source of SS members (per capita) in all of Europe, excepting only Germany itself and Austria. Like any other country or other large group of people, it had (and has) good and bad people. Just as the Germans were and are not uniformly evil, neither are the Dutch (or any other nation) uniformly good.

While I agree that not all of the people of a country can be held responsible for the actions of a few, Germany has a very interesting culture - interesting in a bad sense. I don't recall the film (I think it may have been "Schindler's List"), but there was (relatively recently) a film that was shown in Western Germany regarding the Shoah. One American was there and sat in silent horror as virtually the entire audience (including many learned and cultured people) cheered when Jews were murdered and expressed sorrow or anger when Nazis were killed. No, not all Germans are like this, but the fact that something like this could happen in view of that nation's sordid past is extremely disturbing.

I'd also like to relate a personal anecdote. I visited a buddie of mine who was in the Army and based near Munich in 1990. He was a bit late picking me up at the airport, and as I waited I saw literally dozens of people come into the terminal with their dogs to pick up friends or family. One day later, we were at a restaurant and a family walked in with its dog (which sat under the table and never uttered a peep or begged for food). I asked my friend about the health code and why this was allowed, and he said that the Germans are very attached to their dogs and that this is, as a result, considered normal. I thought to myself "OK, fine, its a bit strange to me, but that's their culture" - and I didn't give it another thought. Until, that is, my friend and I visited Dachau on the way back to the airport a couple of days later. After leaving there I remarked to him "Isn't it strange that this culture, which so cares for its dogs that it brings them everywhere, even where food is served, could have committed genocide as part of its official policy?" He had no answer, and neither do I. German culture is utterly alien to me - I just can't fathom such a dichotomy of values.

Oh, BTW, I do blame a large number of Germans for their country's present foreign policy - after all, Schroeder won re-election in November on an explicitly anti-American platform. I'm aware that many Germans voted against Schroeder and his party, but more voted for him.