When I was in Germany I had many friends. They are a very friendly people. During dinners in their homes there were many of them who stated how much they loved Hitler and how he saved their country. They still did not want to believe anything else and refused to consider it. Many thought it was all propaganda and it never happened. One gentleman was actually captured and stayed in a prisoner of war camp in California for the remainder of the war. He loved California and thought it was the easiest time of his life. He never had it so good. He heard the rumors of the concentration camps while in pow camp and couldn't believe it. To him Hitler was still a hero. They wanted to believe that even though they knew better.


>>> He understood the consequences of punishing Germany too severely and was pressing for a more just settlement.
>>
>>While I agree it was short sighted to punish Germany in a financial sense, I still disagree that the western allies are to blame for the rise of Germany. The rise of Germany in WWII had more to do with:
>>- Germany's sense of victimhood
>>- Germany's desire for a greater Geman state
>>- Germany's mistunderstanding of how WWI ended. They thought it was a stalemate, but it was a German defeat
>>- a charismatic, sociopathic, racist leader
>
>Evan;
>
>The Treaty of Versailles was not signed by the United States and as Tamar stated it was too harsh.
>
>The Germans fully understood the terms of the treaty. Hitler used the term, “Stabbed in the back”, due to the German government signing the Treaty of Versailles.
>
>An example of this was the finical reparations Germany had to pay. Along with that the French took much of the heavy machinery used for manufacturing from areas such as the Ruhr, and violated the treaty.
>
>http://economics.about.com/cs/econometrics/l/bltermpaper.htm
>
>The Saint Germaine-en-Laye Treaty divided German land amongst other countries.
>
>http://www.carpatho-rusyn.org/fame/pod.htm
>
>Unemployment was high in Germany, and money had little value. When a man cannot feed his family he may resort to desperate acts. The climate was ripe for Hitler to take control of Germany. Imagine an Austrian running Germany? My apologies to Mozart, whose 250th birthday is being celebrated today.
>
>My brother in law Karl, was born in Neuss, Germany, in 1930. He had many stories about growing up in Germany during this period. Older Germans I talked to all thought Hitler was a wonderful man and said nothing negative about him. The typical comments I would hear from Germans who went through the Hitler years stated the same thing, “He gave everyone a job”!
>
>Tom