One in 2 Austrians believe Hitler's rule had some positive aspects.

MadYaker

What does AH think of this??

One in two Austrians believe Adolf Hitler’s rule had some positive aspects, according to a poll conducted by daily Der Standard ahead of the 75th anniversary of the Anschluss, or annexation of Austria into the German Third Reich on March 12.

http://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/news-brief/3519211-austrian-amnesia

I think its a bit worrying to be honest. There is a link to the Austrian newspaper website that published the survey in the quote above. That article basically states (in german) that half of the people surveyed reckon that Hitler's Nazi party would stand a decent chance if they were to stand in Austrian elections today. Some of the people surveyed are quoted as saying they want a "strong personality" to lead their country.

Three Seasons

MadYaker wrote: »

What does AH think of this??



http://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/news-brief/3519211-austrian-amnesia

I think its a bit worrying to be honest. There is a link to the Austrian newspaper website that published the survey in the quote above. That article basically states (in german) that half of the people surveyed reckon that Hitler's Nazi party would stand a decent chance if they were to stand in Austrian elections today. Some of the people surveyed are quoted as saying they want a "strong personality" to lead their country.

Of course there were positive aspects.

Infrastructure was greatly improved in Germany as a result of Hitler's rule.

Grayson

depends on how you view him. i think he did. But that doesn't mean I think he was a nice guy. hell even Ted Bundy had a nice smile and the judge said he was impressed by him. He also said he was locking him away forever.

You can say something positive about Hitler like he made the autobahns. But that doesn't mean that you support the holocaust. was he good? I'd say 98% nasty, but managed to do a couple of good things too (even if some were accidents).

Mr Benevolent

You do know that Austrians are notoriously bigoted, right?

Banjo String

Cavehill Red

He restored the German economy in an almost miraculous manner. There are plenty of things that could be learnt even today from how he achieved that, were people able to see past the horrors that he was later responsible for.

Matt_Trakker

Sure, you may as well be posting the results from a Daily Fail survey.

im invisible

Well, at least the trains ran on time...

Da Shins Kelly

Well, he was very charismatic and had a lot of great leadership qualities including being possibly one of the greatest public speakers of all time, and he pulled Germany back from the brink in spectacular fashion after the First World War. Of course, he was also a completely deluded psycho on top of all that, but he wouldn't have gotten into the position he did if he didn't have something that appealed to the masses.

Tugboats

He supported German mammies

Tombi!

Of course there were good things that he did.
It's not as if he said "you know... I want to ruin the country I'm leading because it'll be fun".

4zn76tysfajdxp

He was nice to dogs.

seamus

I think what's more bizarre is that one in two Austrians are telling themselves that Hitler's time in power had no positive aspects at all.

It's a collective "Don't mention the war" taboo that's spread across the world where if you say anything which could be remotely construed as positive about Hitler, then you're a dirty Nazi.

This collective denial is IMO very dangerous because it leads us towards remembering Hitler as a vicious boogeyman with a dodgy 'tache, rather than as a smooth-talking charismatic statesman, and a strong and decisive leader.

Thus when the next utter looney comes along, smooth-talking, charismatic, intelligent and strong, we compare him to the fictional mustachioed psychopath rather than to the actual Hitler, and we let him take over.

doolox

The reason why people may think there is some good in AH and the Nazi's is mainly because of high unemployment and its resultant plague on society, exclusion, poverty and underemployment.

Especially among the youth and undereducated many through no fault of their own a large portion of society in Western Europe and in many parts of the US etc are forced to compete for scarce jobs and scarce resources with people from the poorer nations of the Earth while being endlessly bombarded with advertisements extolling the values of aspiring to acquire more and more material goods at highly inflated prices breeding a large level of discontent and division in society.

Never before has the poorer elements of society been more aware of the lifestyles of the privilged elite and never before was there such a low level of security, certainty or predictability in the workplace.

Some people can handle this and thrive, others become angry and learn to hate. The more unscruplous exploit this hate and strive for power.

In my mind the worlds governments should work together to reduce unemployment to insignificant levels and allow everyone a slice of the economic pie.

Marshall aid was an example of this action across international boundaries after WW2. We probably need a similar rebalancing and redefining of world economic affairs at a radical level in order to survive.

MadYaker

There's no doubt that his rule did have some positive aspects like the revival of the German economy and turning them into a world super power and all that but in the end it was all negated by his insanity.

The poll states that half of Austrians reckon Hitlers Nazi party would stand a decent chance in elections. That's the worrying part, they seem to be looking for some sort of strong man type personality to lead their nation which to me shows a tendency towards authoritarian leadership.

Turtyturd

Crikey!

krudler

He fixed the roads

Imagine if there was a leader in Ireland like Hitler, minus the atrocities (and associated craziness). Under his rule the German economy improved amazingly well, the infrastructure, and everything else. If we had a ruler like that, then this country probably wouldn't be as backward as it is in many regards.

SEPT 23 1989

He knew how to work a crowd

ejmaztec

Cavehill Red wrote: »

He restored the German economy in an almost miraculous manner. There are plenty of things that could be learnt even today from how he achieved that, were people able to see past the horrors that he was later responsible for.

He restored the German economy by borrowing a sh1tload of money he never stood a hope of paying back. Of course, starting WW2 took the heat off that deficit problem for a while.

sbsquarepants

Of course his rule had some positive aspects - you probably couldn't go back through the entirety of world history and find a ruler whose reign didn't have SOME positive aspect to it. Doesn't mean it was positive over all. It's a "what did the romans ever do for us?" situation.

ejmaztec

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

He knew how to work a crowd

He did good Mass extermination

dollypet

Deleted User wrote: »

Imagine if there was a leader in Ireland like Hitler, minus the atrocities (and associated craziness). Under his rule the German economy improved amazingly well, the infrastructure, and everything else. If we had a ruler like that, then this country probably wouldn't be as backward as it is in many regards.

Without the craziness (which led to the atrocities) he wouldn’t have been able to falsely inflate the economy.

Heno97

It's a lot easier to rebuild an economy when you're not afraid to kill people,Hitler wouldn't take any of this Croke Park carry on.

Hammer Archer

Can't believe no one's mentioned the main positive aspect of his rule which was his aversion to the playing of jungle music at three in the morning.

crockholm

I would imagine that it is hard to get an honest opinion from an Austrian on these kind of topics,especially when thet have a Damoclean sword over their heads when it comes to expressing things related to WW2, waiver from the official line on the Holocaust, and the string breaks.

Jimminy Mc Fukhead

Say what you will about the tenets of national socialism at least it's an ethos.

topper75

krudler wrote: »

He fixed the roads

It was only that oily cheap tarmac that is slapped down by der Councilarbeiters with a shovel into the potholes. It all started to crumble away again after he became Chancellor.

The hardest thing about Hitler to process is that he was a human being like ourselves, not a cartoon monster.

doolox

Hitler took power in Germany in 1933 and immediately passed a series of laws granting him unaccountable power in many key areas of justice finance and education etc. He took money from the Jewish and other rich minorities to finance most of his "miraculous" projects. Many of the worlds international financial institutions lent Germany money for arms as a counter force to the much feared spread of communism to the western democracies. This was never paid back as Germany was destroyed after WW2 and in fact had to be bailed out and aided to effect a recovery in the late 1940's.

Only when Hitler moved on Czechoslavia over the disputed Sudetenland and forced political unity or Anchluss on Austria did the western democracies wake up to the dangers of Hitler and start to re arm for impending war.

Germany never had a true "economic recovery" or a true "restoration of order" as is often portrayed in popular accounts. The Autobahnen were built by mass cheap labour substituting dole payments for doing nothing to working on the roads for much the same payment. A lot of the Armed forces were paid in heavily taxed currency from which large amounts were taken for war bonds and such like forced "savings".

Most enemies of the state were imprisoned and had their money and wealth confiscated by the state. This also happened in the countries occupied by the Nazis, for example a lot of the transport resources seized by the Germans from the defeated French were used in the Invasion of Russia a year later.

Anyone not contributing to a war footing, such as the disabled, the old or the handicapped, were euthanised in secret once the Nazis seized control of the Health care system.

In a very similar way to the Japanese the German Ruling Elite knew their situation could not last and were therefore anxious to engage in a war of acquisition, conquest and elimination of enemy populations as soon as possible.

seamus

Jimminy Mc Fukhead wrote: »

Say what you will about the tenets of national socialism at least it's an ethos.

What's that mean?

Better to have a genocidal ethos than none at all?

Edit: nobody bother responding to this. I've been sufficiently foolished.

Rented Mule

im invisible wrote: »

Well, at least the trains ran on time...

I thought that was Mussolini.

corktina

He raised a fortune for Movember.

Dyr

krudler wrote: »

He fixed the roads

Least the nazis were classy enough not to run his daughter in a by election after he'd topped himself

There. I said it

Pilotdude5

Hitler wasn't so bad. After-all, he did kill Hitler.

Although he also killed the guy who killed Hitler.

Dyr

seamus wrote: »

What's that mean?

Better to have a genocidal ethos than none at all?

Just take it easy man.

dollypet

dollypet wrote: »

Without the craziness (which led to the atrocities) he wouldn’t have been able to falsely inflate the economy.

OK. Some craziness, but no atrocities.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

seamus wrote: »

What's that mean?

Better to have a genocidal ethos than none at all?

shame seamus
shame

Crackle

seamus wrote: »

What's that mean?

Better to have a genocidal ethos than none at all?

seamus

God fncking dammit.

Could never bring myself to watch the whole movie...though the bits I saw of it seemed pretty funny

Rastadoyle

similar in Italy also where they would love another Mussolini to come along

ejmaztec

Rastadoyle wrote: »

similar in Italy also where they would love another Mussolini to come along

There's always his granddaughter Alessandra, and she looks a lot better than baldy Benito did.

Dyr

seamus wrote: »

God fncking dammit.

Could never bring myself to watch the whole movie...though the bits I saw of it seemed pretty funny

Shut the fcuk up seamus.

Jimoslimos

One in two Austrians?

Needs bigger sample size.

Sergeant

Say what you like about the SS, but they did have very snazzy uniforms. The masculine cut of the uniforms and the high quality materials used in their manufacture remain a benchmark in how to properly dress a paramilitary force.

Stercus Accidit

If Hitler hadn't been born, the rise of hyper nationalism, eugenics and genocide in western Europe would have occurred during the nuclear age, not before it.
If anything we are lucky that Hitler's rise to power happened when it did, just before nuclear bombs existed, considering how close Germany and the Allies were to a bomb the timing was very lucky for all of Europe.
We now have a clear precedent for the dangers of fanatical right wing nationalism and the nazi ideals, and we don't live in an irradiated wasteland.
In general I imagine it is also why Europeans are more anti-war than say US citizens, they are one generation off from the death and absolute destruction that WWII wrought on their citizens and country.

Lollipops23

Bambi wrote: »

Least the nazis were classy enough not to run his daughter in a by election after he'd topped himself

There. I said it

Fúcking hell, that's a bit much now.


With regard to the 1/2 of Austrians thinking Hitler's time in power had some positives....well they're right. Obviously the negatives far outway the positives, but he restored the German economy when it was on its knees and gave them wonderful infrastructure (thus further securing the economy for the future).

I'd be more concerned that the other half of Austrians don't appear to be as informed as others. Either that, or they're in denial; which is understandable, given that many of them lost loved ones in the war.

Anyone

As a result of Hitlers actions, Germany was split in two, and if theres anything that Austrians love more than Germany, its two Germany's.

Also, Anne Frank's diary would have been pretty dull.

Sergeant

Bambi wrote: »

Least the nazis were classy enough not to run his daughter in a by election after he'd topped himself

There. I said it

You really shouldn't have said it. It's totally not relevant, and lacking in even the merest hint of tact or class.

ejmaztec

The Austrians have been a bit iffy since their empire went down the crapper.

TwoShedsJackson

Three Seasons wrote: »

Of course there were positive aspects.

Infrastructure was greatly improved in Germany as a result of Hitler's rule.

And then greatly disimproved by the war he started.

Paramite Pie

Cavehill Red wrote: »

He restored the German economy in an almost miraculous manner. There are plenty of things that could be learnt even today from how he achieved that, were people able to see past the horrors that he was later responsible for.

Taking jobs from all the German Jews and giving them to 'real' Germans was a big part of that. Killing disabled and crippled people who couldn't work (except for WWI veterans) brought the unemployment rate below 1%.

This is a false statistic however since all the people in the camps were not included in those stats and neither were women since in general they were not allowed to work. The ban on women working forced the need for slave labour during the war.

Also having an enormous military brought down unemployment too. And with so many German soldiers dying, there were always positions open for new recruits.