how do germans percieve hitler now?
Answers
Short answer:
Pure evil, like a demon sprung out of hell.
Long answer:
The view Germans have about Hitler has changed dramatically over the last 70 years. This relatively short period (only 12 years) of German history has influenced our country more that anything else in history.
During the time of Nazi rule, most Germans thought him to be the best man in the world. On the peak of his popularity, there were people praying to Hitler (to, not for). Although there were also people who opposed Hitler and his beliefs, the majority of the German population did not.
After the war, when people were shown the cruelties done in their name by the Nazis, that changed.
First, you have to know that the popular saying "Wir haben von nicht gewusst" ("We knew nothing") was a lie. Newspapers wrote in the 30s that jews were to be extinct. In "Mein Kampf" Hitler wrote that he wanted to kill everybody in eastern Europe. And in some town people were even allowed to go to concentration camps and watch the prisoners through the fence.
But the mere brutality and inhumanity of these crimes shocked the people. In the documentary "100 years" by Guido Knopp, a woman says: "From this moment forward it was a shame to be German"
After 1949, the 2 German countries both found their way of dealing with the past, but did so very differently.
The GDR saw itself as arisen from the communistic rebellion, the partisanship against the Nazi regime. Therefore, they declared them to be the enemy, and declared themselves as the brave fighters against them.
This means, when they talked about the crimes like the holocaust, they always used the term "they did".
They also never used the term "Nazi", since they did not want to compare their own "socialist" country with the old "national socialist" one. They instead used the term "Fascist".
The FRG saw itself an legitimate offspring of the German Reich, with all the consequences arising from that. They not only paid (and still pay) reparation to people who were robbed by Nazis, they also portrayed the crimes as "we did" or "we are responsible".
The German public very much disliked this and therefore the discussion about this era almost flat lined in the 50s.
In the 60s, the youth became rebellious all over the world (also in Germany). This youth demanded answers from their parents. Answers to questions like "Why did you not do anything against this".
The peace movement established a culture of "never again". People stopped tolerating old Nazis in politics or Economy and started regarding racism, intolerance or nationalism as evil by themselves. This view is still very much present in today’s population.
Nowadays, the German view on Hitler is mostly influenced by the following:
Hitler was pure evil. He and his minions came straight out of hell.
My personal opinion:
I beg to differ on this one. Although their crimes were the most horrible things in history, they were still human, just like you and me. They had a conscience, they also knew the difference between right and wrong. A fact that makes what they did all the more frightening!
Joking about Hitler is hard.
My personal opinion:
I was born in 1988. To me, even the fall of the Berlin wall is a "thing of the past" and not part of my identity. I think it is just completely crazy when people are trying to get belongings back the Soviets took from them in the 50s. Get past it man!
All right, I hope this gives you an impression about the context Hitler is seen in in Germany. I know there can always be written more, but this should give you the general idea.
Answer:
As the generation that elected Adolf Hitler and fought his genocidal war dies away, most Germans today see World War II through the prism of guilt, responsibility and atonement. And almost all agree that the defeat of the Nazis was a good thing.
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