# Germany's first Hitler exhibition opened in Berlin



## Alfred G (Apr 1, 2007)

The Guardian:

_A groundbreaking exhibition about Adolf Hitler opens in Berlin tomorrow, the first time since the war that a major museum has explored the relationship between the Führer and the German nation.










Hitler and the Germans: Nation and Crime, at Berlin's German Historical Museum, has been praised for smashing taboos and opening afresh the debate about how Hitler managed so successfully to seduce a nation. "Whether we like it or not he remains our strongest trademark," said Karl Schnorr, a 68-year-old retired engineer at the preview. "Maybe it's time we shook him off, but first we need to understand how we fell for him so utterly."










The opening coincides with a study published this week in which one in 10 Germans professed they would like a "Führer" figure to "govern Germany with a hard hand", while 35% said they considered the country to be "dangerously overrun" with foreigners._​
More here: Germany's first Hitler exhibition opens in nervous Berlin museum


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## JSpira (Oct 21, 2002)

Covered in the NY Times also
*Hitler Exhibit Explores a Wider Circle of Guilt*


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## pharding (Mar 14, 2004)

JSpira said:


> Covered in the NY Times also
> *Hitler Exhibit Explores a Wider Circle of Guilt*


When Hitler came to power Germany was facing an extended period of incredibly tough economic times which created an environment for the rise of right wing/extreme conservative populist politicians. In today's tough economic times here in the US, which are significantly less than what Germany faced in the 20's and 30's, one can see the rise of right wing/extreme conservative populist politicians, AKA some strains of Tea Party politicians. When people are hurting financially in a major way they are more likely to embrace extreme conservative populist views that would never gain traction in a normal financial environment. The more things change, the more things stay the same.


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## Patrick (Dec 23, 2001)

I wonder if a thread in the ED forum has ever been to down to PS...


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## pharding (Mar 14, 2004)

With the US national elections coming up in 3 weeks PS is everywhere in the the US media. It even appears on occasion here at Bimmerfest.


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## Patrick (Dec 23, 2001)

*The worst of the worst*

For some unknown reason, Bimmerfest has its own house of horrors to "_discuss_" such issues.

Be careful down there:

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=35


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## thumper_330 (Jan 3, 2009)

I personally think this is a fantastic thing. "Those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it."

Hitler was an extremely charismatic guy with a good idea of what the public wanted from its government. He gave the people exactly what they wanted, and as mentioned above rode the wave of populist opinion after he convinced the public that he had fixed Germany's money problems. Although he is an extreme example of the extreme right wing politician, someone like him was inevitable. 

It is theorized that in many ways his mission to save Germany (from the populist point of view) was so successful and compelling that he himself fell for it. He began to believe in his own omnipotence and that of the German people (and especially the military) which then began his drive to expand Germany's influence to the rest of the world. He was in some ways a victim of his own rhetoric; something we have also seen quite recently in the USA.

Now, this is a very one-dimensional portrait of the Fuhrer... he was far more complex than that. If anyone's going to ED soon I would heartily recommend a trip to this. I would go myself but don't know how long that's going to be. I did a lot of reading about Hitler and his politics when I was younger... it's quite fascinating.


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## rmorin49 (Jan 7, 2007)

I just watched the movie, "Valkyrie". It is supposed to be based on facts, I'm sure it was gussied up for the big screen but it does portray some senior officers as trying to put a stop to Hitler's madness late in the war. Does anyone know how COL von Stauffenberg is viewed in German history by Germans? Is he considered a "traitor" or a "hero"? Being a retired Army officer I am interested in understanding the psyche of those that served Hitler and how they could not realize what they were doing. The movie made it appear as if there were actually 2 separate factions of Hitler's military machine, the regular Army and the SS. The "Reserve Army" in the film was a new aspect that I was not aware of. Anyone know if this is a realistic portrayal?


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## JSpira (Oct 21, 2002)

rmorin49 said:


> I just watched the movie, "Valkyrie". It is supposed to be based on facts, I'm sure it was gussied up for the big screen but it does portray some senior officers as trying to put a stop to Hitler's madness late in the war. Does anyone know how COL von Stauffenberg is viewed in German history by Germans? Is he considered a "traitor" or a "hero"? Being a retired Army officer I am interested in understanding the psyche of those that served Hitler and how they could not realize what they were doing. The movie made it appear as if there were actually 2 separate factions of Hitler's military machine, the regular Army and the SS. The "Reserve Army" in the film was a new aspect that I was not aware of. Anyone know if this is a realistic portrayal?


There were many in the military who opposed Hitler and there were definitely 2 factions (if not more). The SS and the Army were entirely different organizations incidentally.

During the time of the NSDAP, the problem was that opposing Hitler outwardly was not good for one's health (think Russian Front or firing squad). So any opposition was done very secretly.

Incidentally, the of von Stauffenberg was told many times before the recent movie. His story even appears in a Hogan's Heroes episode in the 1960s and Col. Hogan is the person who supplies the briefcase that is to be left in the room to explode and kill Hitler.


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## Alfred G (Apr 1, 2007)

rmorin49 said:


> Does anyone know how COL von Stauffenberg is viewed in German history by Germans? Is he considered a "traitor" or a "hero"?


Definetely more as a hero than a traitor - whereas it took a long time after the war until the view onto the conspiracy of 20th July 1944 changed and the conpirators were consideres as heroes.

Stauffenberg was extremely courageos- but we must not forget that what he and the other conspirators of July 20th wanted, was not a democracy, but some kind of autocratic government - based on Christain and conservative values and possibly with a return of the Royal family.


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## Alfred G (Apr 1, 2007)

Here two more links for those interested in Nazi history

Obersalzberg Documentation 

Where Hitler spent his "free time"










Close to Kehlsteinhaus "eagle's nest" and JSpiras favorite hotel.



Dokumentationszentrum Reichsparteitagsgelände

in Nürnberg


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## rmorin49 (Jan 7, 2007)

Alfred G said:


> Definetely more as a hero than a traitor - whereas it took a long time after the war until the view onto the conspiracy of 20th July 1944 changed and the conpirators were consideres as heroes.
> 
> Stauffenberg was extremely courageos- but we must not forget that what he and the other conspirators of July 20th wanted, was not a democracy, but some kind of autocratic government - based on Christain and conservative values and possibly with a return of the Royal family.


Just read the Wikipedia version of Stauffenberg's life. It concludes with this:

"Ultimately was Claus a hero or a traitor? Today, there is a memorial of this event. In 1980, the German government established a memorial for the failed anti-Nazi resistance movement in a part of the Bendlerblock, the remainder of which currently houses the Berlin offices of the German Ministry of Defense (whose main offices remain in Bonn). The _Bendlerstrasse_ was renamed the _Stauffenbergstrasse_, and the Bendlerblock now houses the Memorial to the German Resistance, a permanent exhibition with more than 5,000 photographs and documents showing the various resistance organizations at work during the Hitler era. The courtyard where the officers were shot on 21 July 1944 is now a memorial site, with a plaque commemorating the events and a bronze figure of a young man with his hands symbolically bound which resembles Count von Stauffenberg."


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## DXK (Jun 1, 2007)

Why is there a picture of Hitler on the BMW ED forum? It can scare away potential new recruits, especially of the certain ethnic background?


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## DonnaBlackson (May 14, 2006)

Darn, why couldnt they open that a couple weeks earlier when i was in Berlin!

I did get to see the German resistance museum though and the memorial courtyard..


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## zoltrix (Mar 14, 2007)

I think most books on the Third Reich mention that at the VERY beginning, anti-semitism was on the lunatic fringes of the political spectrum. But with time, the demagogues became louder & louder and it became more & more difficult to ignore them.

*Without a doubt*, the same thing is happening in this country. People like Michelle Bachmann, Ann Coulter, etc. -- they simply must say things that are more & more outrageous, lest they the media ignore them & their lunacy.

Now, I don't think a totalitarian regime is in our future, however one does wonder where this will all end. Roman citizens also went from, "I'd rather have my right hand cut off than kneel to a king" to, "Hail Caesar!" in *one generation.*

Hmm..


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## b-y (Sep 14, 2004)

We took the tour at Memorial to the German Resistance as part of a visit to the Bendlerblock as few years ago (before the Tom Cruise movie). There were several other tours, mostly filled with people in uniform. If my translation was correct, we were told that all new officer candidates are taken on these tours and the focus is on the history of the resistance to Hitler among the military general staff.

As a note, I have experienced one other situation where military personnel were being taken on "historical" outings. The conscripts into the Israeli armed foces are taken on museum tours for essentially the same reason: there is a belief that many do not know the history of their own country. I have run into such groups at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.


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