By Mr. Curmudgeon:Adolf Hitler's first official act as the new German Chancellor was to end the centuries-old tradition of independent local governments. In 1933, he sent armed SS thugs to arrest small town politicians and install handpicked National Socialist commissioners. And so began the Führer's remaking of German society. It was a simple first step on the road to convincing his people they were a super race of beings descended from the survivors of the lost continent of Atlantis - Aryans.When we think of World War II, we tend to think of it in political and military terms. Historians give...