I have to agree with Oldman, and there's not much sense in reposting his well-developed arguments. I do get a kick out of the "defending the homeland" crowd. Yeah, they were bravely defending the homeland in Poland, the Low Countries, France, BOB, Greece, N. Africa and Russia...
The overwhelming support for Hitler and his general policies among the German people, party members and otherwise, is well documented. The documentation consists not only of secondary sources but by primary sources including town records, Gestapo records, film, audio and many Germans from the era who are alive today. This popular support may have waned somewhat by 1945, but it never collapsed. You can clearly look at countries where it did (Italy springs to mind) and draw a direct comparion.
Some, of many, interesting books to read on the rise of Nazism are: "The Nazi Seizure of Power - The Experience of a Single German Town 1930-1935" by William Sheridan Allen and "Himmler" by Peter Padfield. Now, these are not as interesting and filled with daring-do like "The First and the Last," for example, being filled with dry research and such, but they do tell what the Nazi's and the Greman people were all about. Try them sometime (and again, any number of others dealing with the rise of Nazi power). A former co-worker's father could also be a resource, I suppose, since he felt Hitler had the right idea until the day he died. I don't think he was a party member.
With the German military, well, they made a deal with Hitler that guaranteed his support of them by their support. The LW cannot be excluded, and while there may have been some differences between the level of Rudel's Hitler worship and Galland's Hitler worship, they supported a war of domination based on mythological racial theory and the greed for territority.
The senior officers hid/hide behind that "Oath of Honor" to explain why they couldn't do anything to stop Hitler. Canaris was a real hero, however, and showed that at least someone in high military/intelligence circles had a true sense of honor. The assassination conspirators eventually somewhat regained German military honor, though on train of though strongly suggests that it wouldn't have happened had Germany been doing better in the war under Hitler's leadership.
Were the German people too afraid of the evil Gestapo to stand up? The much maligned "Intellectual Elite" minority soon learned not to speak too loudly, though the members of The White Rose stood up for their principals and paid for it.
The White Rose. However, the vast, well-documented historical record suggests they were the minority and had more to fear from their neighbors than some boogey man in a leather jacket.
Gestapo records show that they functioned primarily as collectors, who acted mainly on leads sent in by the local citizens. Here's a link that covers it in greater detail:
Gestapo Records I saw a History Channel documentary (I believe produced by Germans) on this as well. They took one record, of an "odd" woman who looked a bit too masculine and had "unusual" friends that visited her regularly -- the implication being that she was a lesbian. After enough of these complaints came in (there were more than a few) they acted and she went to one of the camps, where she was exterminated. The German crew interviewed one of the people who filed a complaint. The sweet looking, elderly grandmother just couldn't understand why she was being persecuted by the film crew. She said something like, "Why are you bothering me? I didn't kill her!"
That kinda sums this revisionist attitude up for me. "Oh no, It wasn't me! What choice did I have! I just went along with the program!" Bull toejam.
To get back on topic, Finland was allied with Germany, but it had tough choices to make and faced a clear threat from the Soviet Union. The historical record suggests that Finland, while cooperating with the Nazis to fight the USSR, clearly worked to deflect the "Aryan" supremacy and Jewish deportation efforts that were encouraged by Germany (unlike some of the occupied counties, who participated willingly in some cases). They further managed to avoid becoming a full satellite communist nation after the war, which shows a real talent for threading a needle.
Charon
