Hitler speaks from beyond the grave

by philg

Today’s New York Times notes that a new translation of Hitler’s sequel to Mein Kampf is available (story).  The West’s conflict with the Arab nations has made Nazi-era writings and history much more relevant.  For example, one reads in the newspaper that opinion polls are showing that many Arabs regard George W. Bush as the world’s leading war criminal.  A parallel can be found in Berlin, The Downfall 1945 (Antony Beevor).  On April 14, 1945, Adolf Hitler commented on the death of Roosevelt: “At the moment when Fate has removed the greatest war criminal of all time from this earth, the turn of events in this war will be decisive.”


Hitler’s spirit is alive in 2003 in the USA as well.  Pick up some marketing literature from Mercedes for example.  Hitler named his underground command bunkers at Zossen (20 km south of Berlin) “Maybach I” and “Maybach II”.  The latest luxury car from Mercedes is called the “Maybach” (see http://www.maybachusa.com/).  It costs around $360,000 (not a problem for former American Airlines CEO Don Carty; the board of directors finally had to fire him for nearly running the company into bankruptcy and for looting the last bits of cash for himself and a few other top execs but he can console himself with a $13.5 million “supplemental pension”).  Hitler probably would have loved this car.  Although the Fuhrer is best known for his work with Porsche to bring the Volkswagen Beetle to the German people, for himself he preferred the most luxurious Mercedes cars of the day.

11 thoughts on “Hitler speaks from beyond the grave”

  1. Did you know that :

    Ho Chi Mihn was a graduate of Harvard Law School ?

    Fidel Castro was a student at Harvard ?

    Ho Chi Mihn granted to all of Viet Nam , all the rights and privilidges of a direct copy of the US Constitution ?

    did you know that ?

    I Bet YOU didn’t .

    (thx, doc)

  2. p.s. did you know that Ireland fought on the side of Germany (Hitler)in WWII ?

    I bet you didn’t.

  3. I’m not entirely certain about this, but I believe that Hitler hated Roosevelt so passionately because he believed that the American people were basically going to agree with Nazism, and that Roosevelt thwarted this “natural” turn of events. I.e., Hitler thought Americans were basically d’accord with his ideas and would have supported his regime if Roosevelt hadn’t turned the tide. I don’t think that contemporary Arabs who consider Bush a war criminal nurse similar beliefs about the American people as being basically on the Arabs’ side. So the proposed parallel doesn’t hold, as far as I can see.

    I think you’re absolutely right that Hitler would have coveted a Maybach, though.

    PS: Who is the anonymous heckler with the innuendo in the previous comment? He’s like a personal stalker, and has commented before, no? — very icky!

  4. PBS FRONTLINE

    “Chas Lindbergh argued that America should side with Hitler in WW II .”

    For that , he was run out of America , and died in a foreign country – – Hiwaii .

  5. Ireland did not fight on the side of Germany (Hitler) in WWII. Ireland was officially neutral, but actually supported the allies with supplies, particularly food to the UK, and medical help when Belfast was bombed. The Irish Republic didn’t have much in the way of Armed Forces.

    Hell, it’s ridiculous – if Ireland fought for Germany, then the UK would have invaded & subjugated it within 12 hours. ojsbuddy has a tenuous grip on reality.

  6. Seems to me that the earliest Maybach cars predate Hitler’s bunkers 🙂 Check the History at the Maybachusa site.

  8. Phil. I always like reading your blog, but don’t let a good line get in the way of facts. According to CNN, “The first Maybach car, the W3, was unveiled at the Berlin Motor Show in 1921”. In that same year, Hitler founded the “Hitler Youth” and managed to become all-out leader of the Nazi party (which had 3000 dues-paying members at the time). It would be a long time before he would have a bunker to name.

    And as for Ireland being on Germany’s side in WWII, it would appear that the IRA certainly WAS on Germany’s side (in line with the old adage “England’s difficulty is Ireland’s opportunity”), but in fact Ireland was neutral and quite a few IRA members were locked up for the duration of the war (funnily enough, in the same prison camp which housed downed German airmen and the like).

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