MetaFilter posts tagged with wwii and nazis

Kodename: Wolfenstein

Artw — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:17:54 -0800

Wolfenstein 3D, the animated graphic novel.

Hero, scoundrel, or both?

Skeptic — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 12:35:41 -0800

Among the body of conspirators in the July 20th plot to assassinate Hitler and seize the German government, few were as ambivalent as Count Wolf Heinrich von Helldorf, head of the Berlin police. Although sympathetically (if briefly) portrayed in a recent film about the plot, von Helldorf was a definitely more enigmatic figure. A former member of the Freikorps and participant in the Kapp-Putsch to overthrow the nascent Weimar Republic. Von Helldorf was also an early-hour Nazi who had been arrested in 1931 for his part in anti-Semitic riots. He was acquitted after a spirited defence by Roland Freisler, a Nazi lawyer who would go on to become the infamous president of the "Volksgerichtshof" kangaroo court which sentenced dissidents to the regime, like the July 20th plotters, including von Helldorf himself. Von Helldorf also had a reputation for being a spendthrift and compulsive gambler. As such, he once had a considerable debt with none other than Erik Jan Hanussen, a notorious conman, medium and grand master of ceremonies of the decadent Berlin of the Roaring Twenties. Hanussen, despite being in fact Jewish, cultivated access to the Nazi top. He was nevertheless murdered shortly after accurately "predicting" the Reichstag fire, with von Helldorf a prime suspect both for the leak and the subsequent murder. As police chief first of Potsdam and then of Berlin, von Helldorf eagerly participated in the harassment of Jewish citizens. Still as greedy, he also took advantage of their plight to collect bribes in exchange of passports to leave Germany. However, some sources also suggest that he raged against his subordinates' passivity towards the rioters during the Kristallnacht. From 1938, apparently spooked by the Nazis' warmongering, he seems to have started approaching conservative dissident circles, a gradual movement which culminated in his part in the July 20th plot. Whether his involvement was due to a sudden case of principles, or rather to his well-proven opportunism, he was to pay dearly for it: of all the conspirators, none attracted as much hatred from Hitler and Himmler as the "traitor" von Helldorf, whose gambling debts they had personally taken care of in the past. For possibly the only decent act in his life, von Helldorf was tortured, publicly humiliated and sentenced to death by hanging with a piano wire. Hitler personally ordered that von Helldorf be executed the last of four, so that he would have to watch the long agony of the others.

So How Evil Were They?

beaucoupkevin — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 11:29:42 -0800

"Third Reich to Fortune 500: Five Popular Brands the Nazis Gave Us." There are pictures and videos of kittens to soften the blow.

WWII Interogators

homunculus — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 16:26:14 -0800

Fort Hunt's Quiet Men Break Silence on WWII. After 60 years of silence, the World War II veterans who interrogated Nazi prisoners of war at Fort Hunt are telling their story. [Via The Reality-Based Community.]

"We got more information out of a German general with a game of chess or Ping-Pong than they do today, with their torture," said Henry Kolm, 90, an MIT physicist who had been assigned to play chess in Germany with Hitler's deputy, Rudolf Hess. "During the many interrogations, I never laid hands on anyone," said George Frenkel, 87, of Kensington. "We extracted information in a battle of the wits. I'm proud to say I never compromised my humanity."

Concentration Camp Tarot Cards

jonson — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 08:01:42 -0800

Hand drawn Tarot Cards created by a Boris Kobe, a prisoner at Allach Concentration Camp, a sub-camp of Dachau. Each card depcits an aspect of life in the camp - click each image for high-res versions.

A Hitler Speaks.

Second Account For Making Jokey Comments — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 16:03:13 -0800

Paula Hitler: "He was still my brother."

Vrba told the world, but for some it didn't help

amberglow — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 20:50:55 -0800

Rudolf Vrba-RIP --he escaped from Auschwitz with another guy, Wetzler, in April 1944 and got to Slovakia and Hungary, telling the world of the atrocities in the Auschwitz Protocol. Some Hungarian community leaders, however (Hungary was the only country that hadn't had its Jewish population deported yet), were busy making deals with Eichmann for safe passage away. In any case, the result was that about 1,700 Hungarian Jewish leaders, with their families and friends, ended up in Switzerland, while almost half a million unsuspecting Hungarian Jews ended up dead in Auschwitz. Vrba's report first alerted the world (including the Vatican, Red Cross, and US and British authorities) to exactly what was going on, and helped prosecute some who were tried later. ...Knowing perfectly well that it was the secrecy surrounding their actions that allowed the Nazis to herd unsuspecting Jews and transport them like sheep to slaughter, Vrba and Wetzler — as soon as they got in touch with Jewish community representatives in their native Slovakia — compiled a detailed report. They wrote about Auschwitz and what awaited Hungarian Jews once they arrived: immediate death by gassing.

German Helmets

starscream — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 18:40:35 -0800

The Online Reference Guide to World War II German Helmets 1933-1945.

German Propaganda Archive

hama7 — Fri, 26 Mar 2004 14:02:03 -0800

German Propaganda Archive.

Search portal for Nazi-stolen art

liam — Mon, 08 Sep 2003 13:30:18 -0800

The Nazi-Era Provenance Internet Portal "...to provide a searchable registry of objects in U.S. museum collections that were created before 1946, and changed hands in Continental Europe during the Nazi era (1933-1945)." Families who had art confiscated by the Nazis can search US collections for it here.

stbalbach — Thu, 05 Jul 2001 06:46:16 -0800

Nazis planned Palestine subversion. British secret intelligence files have been released in London about a German wartime plan for subversion in Palestine. Nazi Gold, secret parachute drops and the Grand Mufti.

anildash — Sun, 11 Feb 2001 03:34:03 -0800

And you thought Microsoft was evil. There appears to be pretty significant evidence that IBM was involved in automating the persecution of Jews by the Nazis. Read more about it here, here and here.

And since we haven't even settled the question of when a nation has atoned for its sins, what exactly is the statute of limitations for a company's sins?