I am listening to a book by William Shirer called The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. Very interesting, lots of information. The book is over 1200 pages, so there should be. The author had access to tons of information on Germany that was captured when Hitler fell. This book was published in 1960 according to what I found on Wikipedia, and the author says he lived and worked in Germany during the time Hitler was building his political power.

"No doubt my own prejudices, which inevitably spring from my experience and makeup, creep through the pages of this book from time to time.... Nevertheless, in this book I have tried to be severely objective, letting the facts speak for themselves, and noting the source for each. No incidents, scenes or quotations stem from the imagination. All are based on documents, the testimony of eyewitnesses, or my own personal observation. In the half dozen or so occasions in which there is some speculation, where the facts are missing, this is plainly labeled as such."

Why do I bring this up? I have heard that Nietzsche is much to blame for Hitler, the ideas and beliefs that drove Hitler to his activities. I have read Nietzsche, a couple of short works, and could make neither heads nor tails of most his words. It is simply too rambling for my easily distracted attention span. I may try more, because Shirer holds him to blame at least in part for inspiring Hitler. Hegel too gets the ax. It is not that I disagree, because I don't know enough about it, and I was hoping that this book might shed some light on that in view of the opening statements about the objective aims of the author. Trivial, but interesting. Anyway, he makes excuses in the same forward...

"My interpretations, I have no doubt, will be disputed by many. That is inevitable, since no man's opinions are infallible."

Excuses for what? When he does talk about Hegel and others, there is no real connection made. He expounds extensively on the views of Hegel in particular, quoting him and giving details of his theories including the 'hero' concept. Then says this after talking about Nietzsche...

"Such teachings, carried to their extremities by Nietzsche and applauded by a host of lesser Germans, seemed to have exerted a strong appeal on Hitler." Then he goes on to describe, not for the first time, the crimes of Hitler. 'Seemed to appeal' is the closest he comes to connecting them. They held similar views, to be sure, but gives no evidence that Hitler's ideas originated with these thinkers. Not that I am defending Nietzsche and Hegel, just questioning the insinuation that much of their thinking influenced Hitler. Apparently there were a LOT of Germans that felt this way, which brings me to my next point.

Hitler led the country into an unjust conflict, and along the way killed many, many innocent people. There are two points in this irrefutable statement. That he killed many people, and that he led the country to unjust conflicts. The first overwhelms the second so much that second point is generally overlooked. But it is the more important point in my opinion. Dictators don't spread their evil on their own, it takes LOTS of support. Hitler came to power by subterfuge and an ability to convince the masses they were superior. He believed what he spouted, and the general population wanted to believe it as well.

This has nothing to do with my point of the bias of the author, but it distresses me because I see MANY Americans that would like to believe the same thing, that the white population is better than the rest of the world. With the wrong leader this mass hysteria could be focused on the wrong aims. This I believe, is what many Americans worry about when they see how the expedients of the present administration delude the masses in this country.

Something else I found interesting from the introduction.....

"The Third Reich. the last of the empires which set out on the path taken earlier by France, Rome and Macedonia." His reasoning for this is nuclear weapons, ostensibly because the next madman will have the means to scorch the planet."