de-nazification: hang them all?

[Eddi]

So let's not be hypocritical.

I wasn't aware that I was burdened by the sins of people who just happened to belong to the same nation as me............

When I speak I speak only as an individual

And I'm pretty certain I have no plans for world domination

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

I wasn't aware that I was burdened by the sins of people who just happened to belong to the same nation as me............

When I speak I speak only as an individual

And I'm pretty certain I have no plans for world domination

You're not, or shouldn't be. Same for the Germans and everyone else. I'm American, by the way. I mentioned America the most.

 

[Eddi]

I'm not in the market for making out the folk of one country are fundamentally different from any other, it's pot luck what kind of political and economic climate one finds oneself in. Much of human history is the history of our appalling inhumanity.

Absolutely, I totally agree

But I think if you actually go out of your way to join the Nazi party then you are at the very least a little guilty for what the Nazis did and should most certainly be ashamed of yourself

 

[Little Dragon]

Should the victorious allies have condemned all the surviving Nazis to summary execution?

Tempting but no.

I would have to stand by my principle of no capital punishment, for any offence(s), no matter how grievous the crimes committed are.

I wont go into why I am opposed to capital punishment, lots of, I think, very good reasons why I am opposed to that particular sentence; since that is a separate debate, however all those reasons would apply to Nazis too. As much as I hate them, and I do, hate them.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Just for clarification: you ask if it "was right ... as it was in October 1945".

Are you asking ...

1. "was it right to ban it in 1945?" or
2. "was it right to ban it as in 1945?

and, if the latter, which nazi party, when, and where?

Sorry, my command of English obviously lapsed there

I meant the first

I was asking if banning it in October 1945 was right

No need to apologize. Thanks for the clarification.

As for your question: yes.

 

[Little Dragon]

But I think if you actually go out of your way to join the Nazi party then you are at the very least a little guilty for what the Nazis did and should most certainly be ashamed of yourself

Oh yes. You should be looking for ways to redeem yourself. That's for sure.

 

[Little Dragon]

And I'm pretty certain I have no plans for world domination

Tut tut...

 

[Twilight Hue]

Yes, maybe hang them first.....

But a great many Germans didn't become Nazis or vote for them

I think the social climbers who joined to advance themselves socially are amongst the most despicable type of Nazi party member

From my understanding, the Wehrmacht was givin reasonable quarter, but the Waffen SS was most certainly not , and many were shot on sight surrendering or not.

 

[Eddi]

From my understanding, the Wehrmacht was givin reasonable quarter, but the Waffen SS was most certainly not , and many were shot on sight surrendering or not.

Yes, and German tank crews in the Wehrmacht were often mistaken for SS men because they also wore black

 

[Bthoth]

In 1945 there were eight million members of the Nazi party

That's a lot of Nazis and a great many had been killed in the war

Here's my question:

Should the victorious allies have condemned all the surviving Nazis to summary execution?

They didn't, but could doing so have been justified?

Or would there have been good reasons for keeping some of them alive?

I ask because I have recently been reading up on the de-nazification of Germany after the war

The rise of the Nazis and the war are big subjects but de-nazification is a much smaller subject but is still interesting

Nazification:

Gleichschaltung is a compound word that comes from the German words gleich (same) and schaltung (circuit) and was derived from an electrical engineering term meaning that all switches are put on the same circuit so that all can be activated by throwing a single master switch.[2] Its first use is credited to Reich Justice Minister Franz Gürtner.[3] It has been variously translated as "coordination",[4][5][6] "Nazification of state and society",[7] "synchronization",[3] and "bringing into line".


There are many societies even today that are embracing '''Gleichschaltung is a compound word that comes from the German words gleich (same) and schaltung (circuit).''''

So because of the terminology and language the ambiguity is huge.

Make the definition be shown so that others can comprehend the 'de-nazification' as you are trying to work on.

Just this week, 3 days ago — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have aired deep differences over the war between Israel and Hamas ...

Such that erdogan is ticked at israel calling israel a 'terrorist state' and the scholz defended israel.

My point, the home that created the nazis is now pro israel so nazification has nothing to do with 'jews' or judaism in the modern world but god help you if you condemn Jews and have a hindu peace-sign tattoo.

So please address the terminology

 

[libre]

but the Waffen SS was most certainly not

Depends on the place.
Canada became a Nazi shelter, there was even a major PR crisis earlier this year when the PM Trudeau and Zelensky unknowingly applauded a former SS member.

Embarrassing to live in a country where our leader and parliament lack the basic historical understanding to realize that fighting against the Russians in WW2 meant you were with the Nazis. I cannot fathom why Zelensky clapped along, he's not an idiot and he knows Ukranian history.

 

[Stevicus]

In 1945 there were eight million members of the Nazi party

That's a lot of Nazis and a great many had been killed in the war

Here's my question:

Should the victorious allies have condemned all the surviving Nazis to summary execution?

They didn't, but could doing so have been justified?

Or would there have been good reasons for keeping some of them alive?

I ask because I have recently been reading up on the de-nazification of Germany after the war

The rise of the Nazis and the war are big subjects but de-nazification is a much smaller subject but is still interesting

Summary execution would have been going way too far, although the Allies found themselves at cross purposes in trying to figure out what to do with Germany after the war. Only the worst of the worst were hanged.

The Soviets wanted to use those they captured as labor to help rebuild the Soviet Union which was devastated by Germany during the war. Originally, they wanted to totally demilitarize and deindustrialize Germany and turn it into a giant goat pasture. The French were also on board with that idea, along with a few Americans, but the prevailing view was in favor of rebuilding West Germany and turning them into a stalwart ally against the Soviet Union, which the Soviets viewed as an unfriendly act and propelled them into taking actions which the West viewed as unfriendly at the time. It led us into a Cold War which would last more than 40 years (and never really ended, when you think about it).

The Soviets seemed to hold the view that Americans were too soft on the Germans. Patton, on the other hand, concluded after the war that "we fought the wrong enemy." He wanted to attack the Soviet Union - and so did MacArthur after the defeat of Japan, which was also rebuilt and turned into a stalwart ally against the Soviet Bloc. We allowed the Japanese Emperor to remain on the throne, although Tojo and some of the other war criminals were hanged. A few years later, MacArthur would get fired for being too critical of President Truman, who wanted to hold back against China after they entered the Korean War.

I think the U.S. wanted to "rehabilitate" anyone they believed could become an ally against the Communist Bloc. The German and Japanese elite classes were already staunchly anti-communist, so it wasn't all that difficult to get them to go against the USSR or Red China. We just needed to get them to love America.

 

[TagliatelliMonster]

In 1945 there were eight million members of the Nazi party

That's a lot of Nazis and a great many had been killed in the war

Here's my question:

Should the victorious allies have condemned all the surviving Nazis to summary execution?

They didn't, but could doing so have been justified?

Or would there have been good reasons for keeping some of them alive?

I ask because I have recently been reading up on the de-nazification of Germany after the war

The rise of the Nazis and the war are big subjects but de-nazification is a much smaller subject but is still interesting

I think a great many of them didn't even really know what they were signing up for and were just a "victim" of herd mentality and propaganda.
After the war, when they took ordinary germans to camps like Auswitch etc to show them what was happening there, they were quite shocked and ashamed. They had no clue.

I would imagine it to be quite similar to Russia today.
A great many ordinary Russians who support Putin's war are just a victim of Kremlin propaganda. The only information they recieve is the bullocks they spread on state media. They have no clue either.