And they seem to be from that bastion of Neo-Nazism and Holocaust denial, Life magazine.
In the photo of the Piedimont Hotel, who is in the third painted picture? (High Center. I recognise Der Leader and Mussolini.)
Stand Hitler next to Himmler or Goebbels, and he doesn’t look like such a dufus. Still, when an average looking dude seems to have been able to build up such a cult of personality, it must be through sheer willpower, and not movie quality good looks.
In hearing his speeches (I speak English only), I don’t get the impact his followers did at the time. (Of course, I always hear them in the context “here’s that evil Hitler dude giving a speech”, so I start with shields up.) Are there any German speakers here that can testify to his silver tongue?
http://www.fuckthemeat.com/foto2/worldwar/28.jpg
That one, from the link to the combat photos, makes me a little sad. I know what’s going on, and I can understand why they would do it, but it still makes me sad.
Add me to this as well. Seeing it in color does kind of make it a little more real.
King Vittorio Emanuele III, IIRC
From Wikipedia.
Edit: Sorry Tristan, misread your post.
I’m not a German speaker, but my understanding is that a lot of Hitler’s success was technique; he would start by making statements that were manifestly true and everyone agreed with- (“My friends, things are bad, and Germany is but a shadow of her former self!”), and generally get everyone agreeing with him. Then he’d throw in something that was less true but still agreeable to most people (“Someone is to blame for this!”), then it was something everyone could agree with again (“They must be punished!”) and then people were psychologically agreeing with whatever he said, so “Kill all the Jews and invade Russia in the Winter!” didn’t sound nearly as much of a Really Bad Idea as it does to us nowadays.
Having said that, I can’t testify to the accuracy of that summary; it’s just something I’ve heard from a few places that seems to make some sense.
Oh, and just for fun:
A Surprisingly Good Modern Take on Hitler’s Rants (It’s taken from the movie Der Untergang (Downfall), which is, IMHO, the best movie about Hitler ever made and is essential viewing for anyone with an interest in World War II).
Wow. I did not know that. I thought it was after the war and the Americans were delousing people or something.
http://www.fuckthemeat.com/foto2/naziincolor/6.jpg
This is the one where Hitler looks like he’s wearing Depends.
http://www.fuckthemeat.com/foto2/naziincolor/54.jpg
Now I know where Kim Il Sung got the idea for the Arirang Mass Games.
Back atcha ;). “After everything I did to the Jews and the world still thinks of me as a funny man!”
Never mind the above link, this one is better.
Actually, could we have a warning next time about size issues-my computer slowed to a crawl (I really, really need to get a new one)!
This guy needs to learn the word “thumbnail”. Yikes!
Ooooh!!! Mr. Hitler!!! I know it!!! Call on me-I know the answer!!!
I never realized being a Nazi required so much standing around. No wonder they were so pissy, they probably all had sore backs.
Yes, but even though there was a little activity in Thailand – or Siam as it was then – with some bombing and even Jim Thompson, the legendary American, parachuting in, in reality there was not much going on here for the duration. Most Thais today know next to nothing about the war.
(The Seri Thai were a bit like the French Underground; after the war, people who’d barely paid attention to it suddenly all claimed membership.)
BTW: Japanese HQ was the old Thai Chine Building on Sathon Road, which was the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, now refurbished as the Blue Elephant Restaurant. See the building here.
One thing I’ll give the Nazis: their command of propaganda was brilliant. The flag design, the ceremonies… I saw Triumph of the Will when I was at university, and it’s the scariest movie I’ve ever seen. Why? Because I started to believe…
I know different eras and different communications, but it always strikes me as odd that Hitler and Mussolini had so many cheering with their performances. It seems so odd in this era.
Then again there was Chamberlain… and whoever we had…
What, it’s odd that people cheer politicians’ speeches? Or that they were cheering those particular guys?
I read somewhere on these boards (I think) where a poster said they had a young-ish female German friend who had never been exposed to any recordings or films of Hitler at all, such stuff still being strictly verboten in her home country. So when she came to the US to study (or something like that) she got curious and went to the library to listen to a recording of one of Adolf’s speeches. Poster said that her friend emerged from the library shaken and almost crying, because she found while she was listening that she found herself (at first almost unconsciously) agreeing with so much of what he had to say.
Half-remembered hearsay so take it with a grain of salt, but I would be interested to hear from any German speakers on this question.
I am not talking of people cheering speeches. Rather it is the histrionics of those people and how they could excite such fervour.
I really thought I said “performances” rather than “speeches”.
A lot of Nazi imagery is pretty obviously ispired by that of the Roman Empire.
And of course, the feeling of being an unstoppable force was very much the point of the Romans’ approach.
I think people nowadays can be just as histrionic, it’s a persistent force or theme that’s just channeled in different directions.
For the second part, don’t know if that’s the snark, but I’ve always assumed a really good speech is mostly performance. Obama’s pretty good at it, for one.
You aren’t alone. If I’m honest with myself - and only look at my emotional reaction and not the intellectual one - those photos are inspirational. Then the intellectual “those are Nazis” kicks in and my next emotional reaction is disgust.
Of course, I spent a lot of time deconstructing Triumph of the Will as a film major to understand it as propaganda.
The Nazis did have a great marketing machine.