# It's 1933. You're in a room, with Hitler . . . **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 6, 2016, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-1933-youre-in-a-room-with-hitler/745295 "2016-02-06T04:11:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-1933-youre-in-a-room-with-hitler/745295/41 "2016-02-08T09:25:52Z")
Disregard above, I was mistaken on that point. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-1933-youre-in-a-room-with-hitler/745295/42 "2016-02-08T10:42:28Z")
Is it too late to re-interest him in art? If not painting, maybe musical theatre? I know these fellows, Bialylock and Bloom who have a script that Adolf might really enjoy! ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-1933-youre-in-a-room-with-hitler/745295/43 "2016-02-08T11:17:14Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > He’s a decorated soldier who’s only 44 and probably high on meth. Better to try to communicate and attack from surprise. > > Also, thanks for destroying the timeline. I’m a former soldier myself, three years younger and quite a bit larger. Plus, he might hate me in general terms, but he won’t be quite as specifically motivated as I am. I think I can take him. And I won’t be destroying the timeline - I’ll be creating an alternate, equally legitimate timeline. Just like we all do every day. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-1933-youre-in-a-room-with-hitler/745295/44 "2016-02-08T11:55:57Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > 1933, remember? The SS didn’t exist yet. The SS was formed in the mid-20s with Himmler being made Reichsführer-SS in January, 1929. See [Wikipedia.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel) ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-1933-youre-in-a-room-with-hitler/745295/45 "2016-02-08T12:06:43Z")
I did, too late for editing, thus the “disregard”. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-1933-youre-in-a-room-with-hitler/745295/46 "2016-02-08T12:37:42Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Bash him in the head with a chair and throttle him to death. Great, only 19,999,999 Nazis to go. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-1933-youre-in-a-room-with-hitler/745295/47 "2016-02-08T12:47:59Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > I did, too late for editing, thus the “disregard”. 🙂 Sorry, missed that. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-1933-youre-in-a-room-with-hitler/745295/48 "2016-02-08T12:53:47Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Great, only 19,999,999 Nazis to go. I’m good at repetitive tasks. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-1933-youre-in-a-room-with-hitler/745295/49 "2016-02-08T12:58:46Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I’m a former soldier myself, three years younger and quite a bit larger. Plus, he might hate me in general terms, but he won’t be quite as specifically motivated as I am. I think I can take him. Possible, certainly. But it probably wouldn’t be as easy as strangling Cheney. > [@](#): > > And I won’t be destroying the timeline - I’ll be creating an alternate, equally legitimate timeline. Just like we all do every day. Yeah, but the timeline you’re creating will specifically not have you, or anyone you love in any recognizable form. More importantly, it will not incorporate _me_. Also, we might develop peacetime nukes and end up killing more people when another war eventually starts, without the lesson of Japan to rein us in. It’s a roll of the dice. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-1933-youre-in-a-room-with-hitler/745295/50 "2016-02-08T12:58:57Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I’m good at repetitive tasks. Go back and shoot Cleamanseu who gave a treaty which humiliated the Germans without successfully disarming them. More effective. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-1933-youre-in-a-room-with-hitler/745295/51 "2016-02-08T13:12:58Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > Sorry, missed that. No worries. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-1933-youre-in-a-room-with-hitler/745295/52 "2016-02-08T15:03:33Z")
My biggest concern about WWII not playing out as it did is this possibility: Rival countries (could be any combo of the US, Germany, Russia, Japan, etc.) build up nuclear arsenals without really understanding how effective and horrifying they would actually be. The US ended up using two bombs on Japan, and the world collectively said, “That’s to be avoided.” Without that lesson learned (and it was barely learned anyway), there could have been a nuclear war that did much worse damage than what WWII did. Hitler didn’t directly cause the war between the US and Japan, of course, but it’s a fair question to ask whether the Pacific War would have happened in an otherwise peaceful world. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-1933-youre-in-a-room-with-hitler/745295/53 "2016-02-08T15:40:18Z")
> [@Charlie\_Wayne](#): > > After studying WW2 very carefully, I would think that Hitler declaring war on the USA was the single largest factor involved in his losing the war. It was not a very good strategic move to make. Actually, it was a kind of dopey thing to do. I don’t think he was very clever. In your studies, did you come across that whole Russian affair? ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-1933-youre-in-a-room-with-hitler/745295/54 "2016-02-08T15:41:46Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I riddle him with bullets from the Uzi I always carry when I time travel. Who the heck doesn’t carry an Uzi when traveling time!? ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-1933-youre-in-a-room-with-hitler/745295/55 "2016-02-08T22:59:58Z")
Offer him an Arts Scholarship to a prestigous college. He’d be one of the sane, moderate students, and could finally realise his dream of changing the world through his artworks. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-1933-youre-in-a-room-with-hitler/745295/56 "2016-02-09T06:23:13Z")
I’d say, “Wow! This is one helluva paint job in here. Who did it? How long did it take? How many coats is this?” ---
**Author:** ![Kamakiri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f04885/32.png) [@Kamakiri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamakiri)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-1933-youre-in-a-room-with-hitler/745295/57 "2016-02-09T12:26:02Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > Its not going to end well. You didn’t say “alone” with Hitler. He is likely to be surrounded by military officers who will have their side arms. Hitler is likely to be carrying a pistol as well. > > Probably your only hope to survive is to surrender and hope you can somehow escape and then get some information to the Allies that will help the war effort. No, I specifically said "_ **just you** _, dressed in your normal street clothes with no weapons, _ **and Hitler** _, It was remarkably hard to express that you and he are alone—if you say “You are alone with Hitler,” do you mean YOU are alone, but Hitler has some people with him?" or do you say “You are both alone,” which is a contradiction, since you’re obviously with each other. But you knew what I _meant_. Obviously if he had the usual SS guards with him, you’d have been taken out back and shot. ---
**Author:** ![Kamakiri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f04885/32.png) [@Kamakiri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamakiri)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-1933-youre-in-a-room-with-hitler/745295/58 "2016-02-09T12:33:36Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Maybe it was a [typo](http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2016/01/31/blondie_s_chris_stein_photographed_new_york_city_in_the_70s_and_80s.html)? > > I’d try some psychology. Tell him that Stalin is hated by his army and his people. Only a couple divisions is all it would take to topple him. Maybe attack in one year, two year tops. > > And certain German officers are plotting to kill him: von Manstein, Rommel, Kesselring, Model, von Kluge, Guderian, etc. > > Oh, and his grandfather really was Jewish and the French, British, etc. all have absolute documented proof. And he would reply, “Wer zur Hölle bist du? Wie zum Teufel bist du hier? Wissen Sie, wer ich bin? Ich werde Sie durch den Hoden aufgehängt , Sie amerikanische stechen!” And you’d probably thank him very much and reply, “We’ll, I’m allergic to seafood, but I will have some of that nice schnapps, now that you mention it.” ---
**Author:** ![Kamakiri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f04885/32.png) [@Kamakiri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamakiri)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-1933-youre-in-a-room-with-hitler/745295/59 "2016-02-09T12:39:04Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > Hitler would be most unlikely to be in a room by himself. Even if it were night time Eva would be there ready to scream and alert the hulking SS bodyguards close at hand. Of course you’ve already signed your death warrant by your sudden intrusion anyway. Hitler did not like surprises, especially ones which left him feeling vulnerable. You’d be gently swinging on a meat-hook within the hour. It’s true that he would be unlikely to be by himself. But I’ve heard he was a lazy bastard and took naps all the time—do you think he would take a nap with someone in the room? And in 1933 I don’t think he knew Eva Prawn yet—he was bonking his underage niece, Geli Rabaul, or that strutting twat, Leni Riefenstahl. But I like the part about the meat hook (apparently he had the generals in the bomb plot filmed swinging from meat hooks and watched the films himself). ---
**Author:** ![Chihuahua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dec6dc/32.png) [@Chihuahua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chihuahua)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-1933-youre-in-a-room-with-hitler/745295/60 "2016-02-09T12:44:27Z")
> [@Charlie\_Wayne](#): > > Indeed, these kind of scenarios almost always end very badly because they just don’t make any sense. > > It would be real nice to feel like I saved the world from some great evil. > > However, I can’t help but get the feeling that if I did that, the world would have failed to learn a very important lesson that it needed to learn and that things could have worked out even worse than they did. > > It would be like throwing a big old monkey wrench into the works and when you do that, there is just no way of knowing just how things will work out. It’s like playing with fire - so to speak. This. As much as WW2 was terrible for all involved, there were a huge number of good things that came out of it. Setting aside things like technological advances, the rise of US power, and European unity, I agree that the WW2 experience made a fundamental impression on the global psyche that charted the course of the next 50 years. The problem is that it appears the lesson is starting to fade as each generation gets more removed from it. Also, there were many ways in which Hitler was just a nincompoop, and I would hate to see someone more competent replace him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-1933-youre-in-a-room-with-hitler/745295.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-1933-youre-in-a-room-with-hitler/745295.md?page=4)