I just bought...

[Bahumat]

...
The BBC World War Two Collection 12 Disc Box Set DVD: Amazon.co.uk: World War II Collection: DVD

I have recently just finished;
Nazis A Warning From History which blew me away. It's so scary to see how low humanity stooped during this time. It's also scary to know this happened 70-80 years ago which for some is just 1 generation away. If you are interested in History, I cannot stress how much you should read this.

I have copied the review from Amazon as it 'sells' the book better than I can

Combining unseen archive footage and a wealth of interview material with "ordinary" people who witnessed or even participated in Hitler's reign, this eight part 1997 documentary brought fresh light to bear on the rise and fall of The Third Reich. Inevitably, the episode dealing with the Holocaust immobilises the viewer in its harrowing detail and a further blow against that rump of humanity who refuse to believe the genocide ever occurred. Yet of great interest also is the depiction of the nature of Hitler's dictatorship. He was, it seems, not a driven, workaholic ideologue but a lazy man who, having set his ideas in motion was content to let his subordinates do all the administrative work, fighting for his favour. The series also featured interviews with unrepentant Nazis. There's a telling moment in which an interviewer confronts an elderly woman with a letter of complaint to the Nazi authorities about a supposedly "subversive" neighbour, bearing her signature. The letter sent the hapless neighbour to her death. At first the woman denies knowledge of the incident, then, when faced with the evidence, glibly wonders why anyone should still bother about events that occurred so long ago. This series shows us exactly why. --David Stubbs

Amazon.co.uk Review
Arguably one of the most important documentary series ever made, 1997's The Nazis: A Warning from History sets out to show that, far from being a uniquely German aberration, Nazism fed upon and was fostered by the prejudices and lemming-like inclinations of ordinary people. Although culminating with the atrocities of the Holocaust, these programmes are equally good on the motives of otherwise perfectly normal people, who needed only the tacit encouragement of the regime to perpetrate horrors against their enemies, their neighbours, or their own family. When confronted with evidence of their Nazi past, elderly former party members are often unable to find any other justification for their actions than simply that they could get away with it. Far from being a monolithic dictatorship which compelled the citizenry to act in rigidly prescribed ways, the Nazi state just allowed people to give their worst inclinations free reign.
Hitler, it turns out, was a profoundly lazy man who rarely got out of bed before midday, and preferred to leave affairs of state to sort themselves out. He subscribed fervently to the doctrine of survival of the fittest as applied to all social and political matters, and actively encouraged in-fighting among his subordinates. The result was an organisational vacuum at the centre of state, which super-ambitious acolytes were only too eager to fill, often acting on nothing more than the Fuhrer's off-the-cuff remarks. One small example is revealing: after reading a letter from the father of a disabled child, Hitler agreed that it would be best for the boy to die. From this single statement arose a nationwide policy of euthanasia for all disabled children, carried out willingly and without compulsion by the doctors and "carers" themselves. It needed nothing more than the Fuhrer's nod. The message is clear and shocking: it happened in Germany, it could happen anywhere.

 

[MrHorus]

Nice one - I'm well interested in stuff like that.

 

[throdgrain]

Absolutely right. I find it a fascinating period of history. I have the World At War box set that I remember my Dad when I was little insisting me and my brother watched when it came out on telly every sunday night. I'm glad he did. That war effected everyone in this country, and we owe the people who went through it a great debt.

 

[DaGaffer]

I'm in WWII reading mode at the moment as well:
The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War: Amazon.co.uk: Andrew Roberts: Books

Didn't think I would discover anything new to be honest, but its got a lot of interesting detail for such a wide ranging topic.

 

[Wij]

It's weird that WW2 seems to have led directly to the Carolingian fetishism at the heart of the EU.

 

[Mabs]

oddly enough ive just re-read 2 of my favourite books about that era

anyone with a passing history in ww2 in general would be well advised to read one or the other or both.

Quartered Safe Out Here: Amazon.co.uk: George MacDonald Fraser: Books

the bloke who wrote all the Flashman books

Defeat Into Victory: Pan Military Classics Series: Amazon.co.uk: Sir William Slim: Books

still considered one of the best high ranking general books, and is about the start of "modern" warfare

both are very good, and about Burma, which is something you dont hear a lot about, being devoid on the most part of nazis, americans, and interesting films

 

[rynnor]

I have recently just finished;
Nazis A Warning From History which blew me away. It's so scary to see how low humanity stooped during this time. It's also scary to know this happened 70-80 years ago which for some is just 1 generation away. If you are interested in History, I cannot stress how much you should read this.

I'm not a big fan of the series - it has good footage but it seems to perpetuate the myth that the Nazis who did this were somehow different and evil and thus did these things.

I think the more disturbing reality is that normal human beings are capable of similar atrocities as is witnessed around the world time and again - its a part of our human nature.

 

[Ch3tan]

...

I have recently just finished;
Nazis A Warning From History which blew me away. It's so scary to see how low humanity stooped during this time. It's also scary to know this happened 70-80 years ago which for some is just 1 generation away.

Genocide has happened far more recently than 70-80 years ago. Yugoslavia in the 90's, the Kurds in Turkey in the 90's.

 

[throdgrain]

Rwanda in the '90s.

 

[Ch3tan]

Rwanda in the '90s.

Knew I had missed some, keep thinking there are more I should remember. The sad fact is, history has taught us nothing, and a lot goes on that simply gets a blind eye turned towards it.

 

[throdgrain]

Mind you, none of these had the ruthless scientific efficiency of the Germans. Rwanda was dreadful, I read a bit about it, but it was over in a relatively short period of time.

The Nazis would have carried on as long as they could have got away with it

 

[rynnor]

Mind you, none of these had the ruthless scientific efficiency of the Germans. Rwanda was dreadful, I read a bit about it, but it was over in a relatively short period of time.

I think if I had to choose between death by gas and death by being hacked up with machete's I'd go for the gas - un-scientific atrocities are no less horrible.

I think the real lesson is that humans have great potential for evil thus we must cling to the stabilising effects of society.

The push towards diversity was a terrible mistake - everyone needs to share our cultural morals to prevent those more vulnerable to evil slipping towards extremism.

 

[pez]

He was, it seems, not a driven, workaholic ideologue but a lazy man who, having set his ideas in motion was content to let his subordinates do all the administrative work, fighting for his favour.

I've not seen the series so I can't comment in full but that seems quite unlikely. Sounds like historical revisionism to me ie. ignore all of Hitler's good characteristics and make him 1 dimensionally bad.

 

[Bahumat]

I'm not a big fan of the series - it has good footage but it seems to perpetuate the myth that the Nazis who did this were somehow different and evil and thus did these things.

I think the more disturbing reality is that normal human beings are capable of similar atrocities as is witnessed around the world time and again - its a part of our human nature.

In regards to the book he wrote, you could not be any more wrong. For instance he talks about a guy and his journal. One page is about his lovely wife and their upcoming marriage, then it goes onto him trying to avoid the killing of the jews, then it goes to him loving the fact he is cleansing the country etc etc, he then goes back to being 'normal' in his entries.

But this is the book, so maybe the tv series never included parts like this.

 

[Bahumat]

Genocide has happened far more recently than 70-80 years ago. Yugoslavia in the 90's, the Kurds in Turkey in the 90's.

That's a very true point, Sri Lanka also have major problems which apparently go unannounced in the media...probably because they have no oil.

I watched some video's of what's been going on there at my old job. A colleague was from Sri Lanka so their foreign site was not blocked (kinda like youtube). It was shocking to see them stripping people of clothing (de-humanising etc) and then killing them one after the other

 

[Bahumat]

I've not seen the series so I can't comment in full but that seems quite unlikely. Sounds like historical revisionism to me ie. ignore all of Hitler's good characteristics and make him 1 dimensionally bad.

This 'lazy' part was true to an extent.
At one point a guy (lets say it's a group of bankers as I forget their actual role) says to Hitler. I used to be the Head of the bank before you got in. Now you've made a new Bank, can I still be the Head of it. Hitler says "if you want it, take it".
He was all for having multiple people doing the same job in different offices and leaving them to their own devices to battle it out for power amongst themselves. He did this so if things go wrong he could say "well, I was not informed".
He also had a thing for Darwinism 'survival of the fittest'. This I believe played a role in him letting his minions battle it out to get results.

It seems he liked to delegate

 

[Bahumat]

Just to say thanks to everyone who included links to what they are reading/watching. I will have to check them all out.

I think once I've finished the books and dvd's I'll move onto what Ch3tan and Throd mentioned. Try and get a bit more up to date on things.