Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: wideawake
"In other words, everyone who fought on the wrong side in WWII is a Nazi."

Perhaps they weren't all Nazis but the very great majority, apart from a few Finns perhaps, joyfully and willingly collaborated in the Final Solution.

8 posted on 05/08/2003 12:01:42 PM PDT by Tarsk
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies ]


To: Tarsk
I would say that the very great majority turned a blind eye to what was going on, hoping that if they pretended it wasn't happening it would go away.

Moral cowards? Certainly.

An entire continent full of drooling, psychotic murderers? Less plausible.

As Burke said: "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."

Those who should have known better or been more courageous sat back and did nothing.

10 posted on 05/08/2003 12:06:47 PM PDT by wideawake (Support our troops and their Commander-in-Chief)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies ]

To: Tarsk
Perhaps they weren't all nazis but the very great majority, apart froma few Finns perhaps, joyfully and willingly collaborated in the Final Solution.

Sorry, but this is one of the grossest over-simplifications I've seen in a long time. People fight wars for an incredible variety of reasons, and never was that more true than in the Second World War. Nazi ideology was a big part of many Germans' motivation, but many others fought for reasons of nationalism, anti-Communism and mere personal survival. For Germany's allies, nationalism (particularly the case with a nascent Croatia) and anti-Communism were major motivations. The latter was especially important to the non-Germans who made up the majority of the Waffen-SS.

Whatever motivations people had do not lessen any of the crimes committed during the war, but to grossly mischaracterize one's enemies is to misunderstand them. Not every soldier in the Red Army fought to spread Marxism-Leninism. Not every American soldier fought to spread FDR's New Deal socialism to every corner of the globe.

Saying that everyone who fought for the Axis was a Nazi is like saying that everyone who fought for the Confederacy fought to preserve slavery. Anyone who knows anything about the Civil War knows that is not true. States rights, regionalism, Constitutional interpretation, etc. all kept the South fighting bravely for its cause.

15 posted on 05/08/2003 12:16:47 PM PDT by Seydlitz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson