Helmuth James von Moltke Quotes

This quotation is important because there are some who believed that the professional German Soldiers did not respect Hitler and his murderous policies. This quotation shows that at least publicly Donitz had no problem extolling Hitler above all others. After the war Donitz was found guilty of Unrestricted Submarine Warfare and using thousands of slave laborers in his shipyards. He was sentenced to 10 years, one of the lightest sentences if the German War Crimes Trials.

His act, for which he and the other plotters paid with their lives, was indeed, one of the only acts of German resistance to the murderous, evil policies of the country with Hitler as leader. Germans of future generations and other people more than half a century later condemned an entire German generation because more Germans did not act as Tresckow did.

The non-violent resistance tactics of the White Rose were so threatening to the Nazi German regime that Sophia and other members were executed by guillotine beheading as a particularly harsh example. The graphic is a postage stamp that Germany has issued in her honor.

Although a fervent Nazi, he detested Hitler. When Hitler consolidated power, one of the first things he did in 1934 was to order his guards to murder Strasser, just as Strasser had feared.

She, like her husband and many of the America Firsters, believed that Hitler should be allowed to overrun Europe and Russia. See {613688}. The America First group was a pro-fascist organization who supported the axis powers until they declared war on the United States. Even then, there were some Nazi sympathizers who were anti-immigrant, racist and anti-Semitic in addition to being fascists. Both of the Lindberghs were America Firsters

The Professor was explaining the explanation of the so-called “Frankfurt School” of WWII policy advisors Franz Neumann, Herbert Marcuse, and Otto Kirchheimer.

Helms was then a young agent of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in Berlin.

She and most other German scientist fled from the Nazis—she to Sweden. Hahn, her former collaborator, remained in Germany and worked for the Nazis. The letter was written in the expectation that Moe Berg, an American OSS agent would have it delivered to Hahn in Germany. So far as anyone can tell, it was never delivered but was used by the OSS for analysis of German physics prowess.

“Lebensraum” was a German expansionist concept of the time which has no good English translation. Literally, it means “living room”. The Germans had this notion that the German race and nation had to have more land to accommodate the growth of the German people. And because the Germans were a superior race, they were entitled to the land surrounding Germany in which to have Germans grow and thrive. The “inferior” peoples who lived on the land could be exterminated so that Germany would have this expansion room. The “Death’s Head units” were special German elite troops who used the Death’s Head as a symbol on their uniforms. Some of the Generals were concerned that the rest of the world would condemn Germany and possibly interfere if they exterminated the Poles. Hitler pointed to the example of the Turks who had killed most of the Armenians in the Armenian Genocide in the early 20th century. They got away with it with no outside interference, and there were no international consequences for Turkey. Hitler, convinced that the Armenian genocide was the precedent, thought Germany could easily get away with murdering the Gypsies, seriously handicapped, homosexuals, Russians, Poles and Jews. For other quotations on the Armenian Genocide, see {51838}, {638251}, {620602}, {620603}, {620604}, {620605}, {620600}, and {620606}

He was shot in 1944 for his involvement in an attempt to kill Hitler

The historical record that is available shows that while the Pope did not, actively or aggressively oppose Hitler, and he did not discipline Catholic prelates who were Nazi supporters, there is no specific evidence that shows the Pope conspired with Hitler, about the extermination of Jews or anything else. However, most of the relevant documents of the era are in the Vatican and the records have been sealed and have not been visible to historians. Apologists for the Pope’s passivity point out that a large percentage of Germans were Catholic and he had a duty to not antagonize Hitler who would retaliate against German Catholics and the German Catholic clergy and church property. Further, Fascist Italy was under Hitler’s control, and the Vatican itself could have closed and its property seized. The historical record is still very vague.

It is amazing what explanations religious and biased fanatics can come up with to explain history.

The allies—mostly under American Pressure—only tried the highest ranking Nazi war criminals. Many wanted to try the rest, but they did not prevail. Lord Russell, the English prosecutor at Nuremburg resigned in protest as he had case files on over 100,000 Nazi war criminals who were never prosecuted. The main object was to use those officials to establish a strong anti-Communist government in post war Germany.

He was a viscious anti-Semite who attracted to his party extreme right wingers, Nazi Sympathers and apologists for the Vichey Franch government. The party was rejected by the majority of French voters, but when his daughter took over the party, she was not an anti Semite but foudn it hard to shake the party's image which was alaysa associated with her name even when she actually kicked her father out of the party.