I wouldn't call Germans bunch of idiots. The Germans have made significant contribution to mankind; whether it be science, technology or arts. They have many respected lead scientists. I don't think they were simple minded folks. Again, brilliant does not equal kind. It does not equate to being nice, generous or fair. I have explained that concept throughly in my previous post. A lot of racist or prejudice folks that I have encountered in my short life have significant academic acomplishments and they are not your average trailer trash folks. Look at the guy who wrote the bell curve (Harvard psychologist Richard J. Herrnstein), he is not exactly a Hillbilly.
Mach Manson and Hitler are apple and oranges. Hitler was a leader of a developed nation. He was also in charge of one of the powerful military forces. The man was trying to systematically wipe out a race/religion from the face of the earth. He was also pushing to conquer the world.
German engineering during ww2 raised the bar during that time, and their engineering is still widely considered top of the line (or somewhere near it), till this day. The FW-190, Tiger Tank, and mg34/42 were second to none during the war, and their Messerschmitt-262 and other jet-fighters, set the tone for the next age of aviation and propulsion (russian MiGs and the US F-86 for example). Their StG assault rifle also laid the blueprint for modern infantry weapons. This has nothing to do with Hitler I know, but I just feel like backing up Mach's statement. German (and the region in general) scientists and engineers have had their hands in a lot of technologies, that we use today. Far from being 'idiots' with that respect. In other areas, well....
It seems like a lot of people have forgotten than Hitler's was Time Magazine's man of the year at one time. Adolf Hitler, Time Magazines's 1938 Man of the Year http://thirdreich.net/AH_Man_of_Year.html http://www.scrapbookpages.com/DachauMemorial/TimeCover.html What a strange world we live in...
He was Man of the Year, because he caused the last Great War. Even tho his ideology was shit, he still had enough power to do that. All that from invading a little country called Poland.
that movie is a classic and many germans felt the same way about the guy, which led to the dozens of assassination attempts. War is one thing. Heinous war crimes en-masse like that, are another. I remember growing up reading about Anne Frank and stuff like that, which also opens your eyes to the plight caused by his regime.
A film you guys have to see is Der Untergang/Downfall. The dude that played hitler should have gotten an oscar.