If one were to ask me who my favourite historical figure is, I would immediately say it would be Herr Adolf Hitler.
Ok hold on. Don't start judging me yet. I admire that man a lot but that does not mean I subscribe to his ideals. I found his "Lebensraum" ideology to be ridiculous, his Anti-Semitic views (which I feel are so misplaced and ironic in a way considering he himself was of Jewish origin),his belief that Aryans are the master race very wrong and so on....
I admire him but not blindly. I am very well aware that he was a pathetic painter (rejected from Vienna univ.).I know he had a penchant for surrounding himself with the worst possible type of cronies. I know he is the biggest case for Megalomania. I know he over-glorified himself as a World war I hero though he was but a corporal in it.
But there was something about him that caused the people of Germania to have complete faith in him and follow him in taking that great country to the pinnacle of technological success in those days. It took a special culmination of events and a very generous helping from lady luck to bring about a person like Hitler onto the top.
Whenever the third Reich or the word Nazi is mentioned the first thing that comes into the mind is the ultimate villain: Adolf Hitler. Yes there is absolutely no denying the fact that the orders he gave were horrible. Be it the infamous "Final Solution", or the shoot at sight orders for military and civilian deserters alike and many many more.....But one has to acknowledge the person, his sheer genius, his uncanny intuitive powers which brought about these chain of events in the first place.
He came into power when Germany was reeling from the body blows of the defeat in the first world war. Inflation was at an all time high (Some thousands of ReischMarks for one dollar being the exchange rate).The entire country was trapped in a political paranoia,unable to shake off the imperialistic holdings and reluctant to accept the new political ideologies. Poverty, starvation was a way of life and crime was rampant.The country was humiliated on many fronts. From such a poor state of affairs he brought about a dramatic turn-around for his adopted country. Just by means of his speech he inspired the country and instilled a self confidence beyond measure in the masses.
His careful selection of pagan symbols, brilliantly orchestrated rallies, perfectly timed speeches helped the people realize themselves and brought out the best in them. All of which finally helped in the elevation of the nation or the "fatherland" to a very high level. But having done that megalomania set in and took complete control of him and ruined the proceedings.
What I intend to hint by mentioning the above is whether a need for such a personality exists in today's times. The problems faced are the same (maybe worse) though in different packaging. Too many people are having too many varied opinions (political parties), corruption and crime is rampant, a desire for the betterment of the greater good is missing, the nation is being taken for granted and is being run by idiots barring a select few. Self confidence is lacking etc etc............
We have the potential. We have the capacity. We have the manpower. We have the brains. Do we need an A.H who can encourage the masses, fill them with a sense of national belonging minus the megalomania, the racial views, self-centered behavior to give the right direction ?
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11 comments:
Paranoia also means a tendency on the part of an individual or group toward excessive or irrational suspiciousness and distrustfulness of others
Hitler had excellent oratorial skills. He was a very godo communicator- outspoken, charming, enthusiastic and most of all, effective. Why else would an entire nation fail to reason beyond his discourses?
Well-presented.
volkswagen..'peoples car' was brought about by hitler...
also the autobahn...
the guy did some good things too!
Gandhi & Hitler have a lot in common than either would ever admit. OFcourse Gandhi doesn't want to be Hitler, Hitler doesn't want to be Gandhi! But they both had the power to influence the mind of an entire nation. So what if towards diferent causes....
There is no harm in having an idol, in admiring a person, I personally never do it because when you read or find out something about that guy that you don't like, it just leaves you feeling let-down....
ummm, when can I expect the next update? :)
hmmm....well and that era hasnt ended, has it? we now have a sai baba. people are most taken by the fact that he can vomit gold coins. though why tehy'd want him to vomit them when u can buy them in a normal gold store, i simply cannot imagine.
except wht hitler did to jews... for which i havent yet found an explanation...i believe he was a true hero... the reason he was so agressive was cuz the germany was repeaedly ditched even though treaties were signed... wot wrong did hitler do if he took 'revenge' (except the jew mass killings and megalomania facet)
Sure, you are entitled to your opinion. You have know few things about Hitler here and there but not the real details. You are missing a very important point........he brought Germany to almost complete destruction and almost destroyed its fabric. He put the country through Dresdan bombings, hell, and turned men against fellow men. Sure, he was a great demagogue. You know the
things they did not only to millions of jews but to other germans (gypsies, catholics).
Sure, Germany under him rose to spectular industralization but it was super-power to begin sans post WWI humilation. It had centuries of one of the greatest scientific and military infrastructure. I am not a big fan of commenting so I will leave you with three points to think: a) a lot of his success was due to centuries old german military and scientific aristocracy, b) his "grand" industralization was on credit, and therefore, he went to war to avoid bankruptcy, and c) he really never had the mandate of german people, they came to power as a minority coalition.
Ask any German with detailed knowledge of their country - they will fill you in about his brain-washing and march to madness of the whole nation.
Read "The Rise and Fall of Third Riech".
Little knowledge can be really misleading.
Thanks a lot for the comment Kush. But I have read The rise and the Fall of the Third Reisch - William Shirer and I am very well aware of the facts you have so rightly put forth.
Regarding me missing a very important point, I think I have mentioned it under a general heading of "Megalomania" . The term Megalomania covers all the points you mentioned, be it the Dresdan bombings or "CLAUSEWITZ" or the even more horrific "final Solution", the terrifying medical experiments carried out by Dr Sigmund Rascher or Joseph Mengele under direct supervision of Heinrich Himmler and many more. Ya sure I did not mention "Catholics, Gypsies and.....Protestants, Communists, Russian POW's, Serbs, Croats, Hungarians, Ruthenians etc just because I thought the ruthless, inhuman extermination of Jews is more synonymous with everyone (I maybe mistaken regarding this presumption).
Then about the 3 pointer you have left behind 1) No doubt the military history played a significant role in his success but it takes a huge amount of motivation and guts to make institutions like the armed forces to go down the war path. 2)He had already publicly denounced all the outstanding debts, loans etc imposed on Germany post WWI (starting with the aggresive takeover of Alsace and Lorraine and tearing apart the Treaty of Versailles) Now that takes sheer amount of guts, great tact 3) Yes he came to power as a minority coalition but it was his luck and sheer skill in handling the outgoing government and Hindenburg that brought about that turn of events.
Overall I think you seem to have missed a point reading the post.
I completely agree to one point you made in your post that AH had a damn lot of guts! I guess as much as the schizophrenic running on the road stark naked laughing aloud, talking to people who were there and not there... Madness gives you guts. It takes away all inhibitions of sensibility. Hitler himself was motivated immensly by his own madness.
And do we need an intense leadership that unites us all and fills us with potions of nationalism and patriotism so that we have one common goal of making our nation be at the top? I think everyone should learn and decide what they want for themselves. A revolution never has an impact beyond one generation.Things are bad here and there. People are improving. Gradually it will be fine if u r fine. We have to be patient and do our work as well as we can.
i remember having conversations with you about hitler and nazism. at that time ,i thought you were a supporter of nazism.
well about your question of whether the country needs an A.H ..i think ideally we do need someone to crush anti social rebels and reduce our national problems but such a thing will never happen. if anyone does occupy such a position then he will soon be consumed by greed .
you can never trust human nature because a person is neither bad nor good ,he is both. and in a country like ours dictatorship will not survive..
we will have to choose between a corrupt democracy or a ruthless dictatorship .we are fortunate to live in this country which does allow people to exercise their rights as compared to countries like north korea and iraq.
we were fortunate to have leaders like Pt Nehru and Gandhiji who thought ahead of their times.even rajiv gandhi was good but was inept during the sikh riots
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