They are to blame for everything that happened in that war. First off Hitler was elected by Democratic means. Then the German people, a Democratic God fearing people, kept selling more and more of their souls to that despot and his cronies. Very few protested. A few brave souls tried to kill Hitler, "tho mostly to save Germany and not for Hitlers crimes". The Holocaust and treatment of other races by both Germany and Japan had to be the worst kept secrets of the war.
But no matter how you cut it nothing exuses the revisionist history of Japan and its failure to admit its guilt for WW2. Japan is more a "nation family" then just a "nation" and to this day are in denial as to what their citizens, soldiers, and govt., really did in that war. Germany I think has come to grips with WW2 and as a nation avoids revisionism.
You're messing up the chronology. Here's how it happened:
1918- the Great War is over. People the world over rejoice.
1918-1919- Paris Peace Conference. The bitter terms of the peace impoverishes Germany and fuels unrest.
1920s- The Weimar republic struggles to maintain itself as its economy collapses under the weight of reparations. Hitler takes the Nazi party from a fringe group to a major power.
1930s- First, Hitler is democratically elected by his political allies (not the German people). Then, he begins his massive reform programs.
Late 1930s- Brutal totalitarianism terrifies the people and makes dissent impossible for all but the mad (those few who tried to kill Hitler).
1940s- The war drags on, and gradually the will to fight wanes.
VE Day and Beyond- The war is over, and a new system of repair, not reparations, begins. The people of Germany and the world then find out, to their horror, what Hitler's government had really done to the Jews.
Your argument is anachronistic; the Germans only wanted to end the brutal reparations and resume their lives. They were also feeling downtrodden, and Hitler's speeches about a betrayal of Germany by Jews and Communists and white supremacy were just the right political move. I'm not justifying the choice, but you have to understand that the German people were duped: the Holocaust was kept a secret and the government had absolute power. Dissent had neither means nor moral highground.
The Japanese had it even worse. They lived under an absolute monarchy that had indoctrinated its subjects for generations, and the ultramilitarist movement quickly took hold as demand for natural resources grew. However, the Japanese people themselves had
no peaceful way to resist the war. Japan has offered its apologies for the war and its war crimes on many occaisions throughout the 20th century. Here's a list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_war_apology_statements_issued_by_Japan Each and every apology has its own citation, so this article wants not for accuracy.
-Penguin
