# So we've got this Adolf Hitler clone. What shall we do with it? (Him?) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 17, 2014, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-weve-got-this-adolf-hitler-clone-what-shall-we-do-with-it-him/686359 "2014-04-17T18:36:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-weve-got-this-adolf-hitler-clone-what-shall-we-do-with-it-him/686359/41 "2014-04-18T18:46:36Z")
I feel like I can’t answer this question without better understanding the memory-imprinting technology. There’s a huge difference between: (1) they save Hitler’s brain, they find innocent body, they remove that body’s brain and dispose of it, and they put in Hitler’s brain vs (2) they use magnets to put Hitler’s memories into a preexisting brain, but the original brain is still there, with some chance of recovery. In case (1), the poor guy whose body it was is dead, and that’s Hitler, just in a new body. Not sure what to do with him, but basically it’s Hitler. And one can imagine a “brainwashing” “memory implanting” technique that so fully overrides the original brain that it is in practice identical to this. In case (2), it’s much more the case that it’s a poor innocent victim who has been hypnotized or tricked or something. So it comes down to how theoretically-reversable the brainwashing is. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-weve-got-this-adolf-hitler-clone-what-shall-we-do-with-it-him/686359/42 "2014-04-18T19:35:57Z")
You know who looked/thought/talked/acted like Hitler? Hitler, that’s who! There. Godwinized in 42. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-weve-got-this-adolf-hitler-clone-what-shall-we-do-with-it-him/686359/43 "2014-04-18T19:50:43Z")
Hang him for war crimes. If he’s got an exact copy of Hitler’s brain riding around in his skull, then he _is_ Hitler, and is responsible for all of Hitler’s actions. The fact that he’s been transferred into a different meat-suit is irrelevant. I might feel different if there were an original intelligence that was displaced by the Hitler implant, but per the OP, this clone is two weeks old, and has never had any mind other than Hitler’s. There’s nothing to “reverse.” If you removed Hitler’s memories, you’d just have a vegetable left. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-weve-got-this-adolf-hitler-clone-what-shall-we-do-with-it-him/686359/44 "2014-04-18T20:16:43Z")
Just let him go if he has no resources. He’s going to get himself shot in short order. I thought at first this was a Boys From Brazil scenario and thought you all were being awfully harsh to some kid. Another similar question is 'what do you do if you discover the Anti-Christ at age 3? Myself I don’t a damn thing. I’m not killing a 3 year old. If he’s the anti-Christ, then he’s doing God’s will. I wouldn’t even go back in time and kill Hitler. Too much of a chance of coming back to a radioactive-slagged world. (Butterfly effect and all) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-weve-got-this-adolf-hitler-clone-what-shall-we-do-with-it-him/686359/45 "2014-04-19T03:02:04Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > You know who looked/thought/talked/acted like Hitler? Hitler, that’s who! > > There. Godwinized in 42. Where’ve you been? You’re late. ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-weve-got-this-adolf-hitler-clone-what-shall-we-do-with-it-him/686359/46 "2014-04-19T04:58:37Z")
If he is to all intents and purposes The Real Thing, then we certainly do have a big problem… and there is some recent precedent for this (OBL), at that. Poor sod, H2 is just a brainwashed twin of H, not H himself, and he doesn’t deserve what’s going to happen to him regardless. Whether he would ever have any chance to have any personal impact on world events, he’s too much of a symbol. By simply existing, he’ll inspire others to behave badly. Might as well let the Isreali government know soonest where he’s being kept; they’ll find out soon enough anyhow. If all goes well, the Israeli special forces will be in and out with minimal damage; H2 will be shot while resisting arrest, and they maybe won’t disrespect the corpse too badly - doubtless having consulted religious leaders - though there will be inevitable rumors that they took the skin for lampshade purposes. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-weve-got-this-adolf-hitler-clone-what-shall-we-do-with-it-him/686359/47 "2014-04-19T13:05:01Z")
It is an interesting dilemma, isn’t it? I’m of the opinion that the clone doesn’t have a separate existence from Hitler’s personality, so it doesn’t quite do to think of it as a “brainwashed twin”. I’m quite happy to treat it as though it were Hitler - I mean, here’s a perfect opportunity, really, to make Hitler be judged, and pay, for his crimes in a way he never did get to on Earth 1.0. So I’d turn him over to the ICC (on condition that the death penalty not be applied) for trial and punishment. It sucks for the invested parties Israel and the US, that they refuse to participate in the ICC, but them’s the breaks. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-weve-got-this-adolf-hitler-clone-what-shall-we-do-with-it-him/686359/48 "2014-04-19T14:13:38Z")
If it was merely a clone, with no transplanted memories…fine. Give him a new haircut, let him grow a beard, & set him up with phoney ID, & Bob’s your uncle. But, if he has reconstructed _memories_…he’s toast. Too much risk. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-weve-got-this-adolf-hitler-clone-what-shall-we-do-with-it-him/686359/49 "2014-04-19T15:20:48Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Looks like I’m in the only one who picked the first option, I guess I should explain why > > This reminds me of the Ship of Theseus paradox It’s supposed to. Remind me to teleport you the pastry of your choice. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-weve-got-this-adolf-hitler-clone-what-shall-we-do-with-it-him/686359/50 "2014-04-19T15:48:04Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > I distinctly remember seeing a crate labeled Mindwipe-o-matic when I was borrowing the stasis generator from RhE Warehouse XIII. > > I’m also pretty sure the Neuralyzer is still standard issue for the MIB. > > Is there a reason these weren’t listed as options other than the usual Skald machinations? The Mindwipe-o-matic and Neuralizer are both non-magical. The memory implantation process is technomagic; that is, it uses electronic elements in the control mechanism, but accomplishes what it does by magic. It’ll take another sorcerous element to undo it. I’m not saying it can’t be done; I’m saying that it won’t be simple and how long it will take to devise a non-lethal means of doing it is unpredictable. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-weve-got-this-adolf-hitler-clone-what-shall-we-do-with-it-him/686359/51 "2014-04-19T15:56:50Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > It is an interesting dilemma, isn’t it? I’m of the opinion that the clone doesn’t have a separate existence from Hitler’s personality, so it doesn’t quite do to think of it as a “brainwashed twin”. I’m quite happy to treat it as though it were Hitler - I mean, here’s a perfect opportunity, really, to make Hitler be judged, and pay, for his crimes in a way he never did get to on Earth 1.0. > > So I’d turn him over to the ICC (on condition that the death penalty not be applied) for trial and punishment. It sucks for the invested parties Israel and the US, that they refuse to participate in the ICC, but them’s the breaks. Israel I get, but why do you think the United States has more of an interest in Hitler than, say, France, Poland, Great Britain, Belgium, or Russia? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-weve-got-this-adolf-hitler-clone-what-shall-we-do-with-it-him/686359/52 "2014-04-20T08:24:03Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Israel I get, but why do you think the United States has more of an interest in Hitler than, say, France, Poland, Great Britain, Belgium, or Russia? Larger Jewish population AFAIK. Plus those other countries except Russia are ICC signatories. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-weve-got-this-adolf-hitler-clone-what-shall-we-do-with-it-him/686359/53 "2014-04-20T10:03:48Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Israel I get, but why do you think the United States has more of an interest in Hitler than, say, France, Poland, Great Britain, Belgium, or Russia? Well you guys did spend the last, oh, 70 years or so telling us the story all about how [del]your life got flipped turned upside down[/del]you won the war on your own. Seems only fair to let you have a go at covering him in petrol and setting him on fire in a ditch somewhere this time around, seeing as you did everything and saved everyone :p. ---
**Author:** ![Askthepizzaguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askthepizzaguy/32/9405_2.png) [@Askthepizzaguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askthepizzaguy)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-weve-got-this-adolf-hitler-clone-what-shall-we-do-with-it-him/686359/54 "2014-04-20T10:34:03Z")
What the clone would have in common with the original would be their genetic code. Far too much importance is placed on this. It actually reduces greatly in scope the heinousness of Hitler’s choices if we were to diminish the size and scale of his evil down to a simple excuse: his genes. It’s absurd, bearing little resemblance to reality. Ever have a family member do something so completely nuts that people looked at you strangely, like because you share their genes, you’re guilty by relation? Yeah… see, doesn’t hold up. Say Hitler had a biological son. Kid grew up never knowing anything about his father, because his identity had been changed to protect him. Hitler died while the kid was a baby. Okay, so Son of Hitler is therefore evil, right? Before he ever commits a crime, he’s just evil because he has evil Hitler genes, right? Don’t think so. And here’s the really ironic twist: Believing someone to be inferior because of their genetic material is kind of what Hitler believed in. To treat Hitler’s clone as you would treat Hitler is committing that very same prejudice. If there’s ever been an identical twin who committed a crime, do you throw their twin in jail, too? People are more than their genetic material. They are their life experiences and choices. And what a cruel thing to do to a person, to _intentionally manufacture_ him with the genetic material of a mass-murderer, to make it so that the entire world hates him before he learns how to walk. To grow up into a world where if given half a chance, mobs of people would literally rip you limb from limb without remorse or regard for a human life. That’s kind of stacking the deck against a person, isn’t it? I suppose it’s okay if you don’t consider this hypothetical person a person. After all, it’s a hypothetical person, not a real person. I liken clones to organ donor recipients. Criminal opts to be an organ donor, dies, and gives you the liver you needed to live. Now you have the liver of a criminal. Obviously because your liver came from a criminal, you are now a criminal, and a bad person, and we should incite mobs to rise up and bash your head in. I don’t think it follows. But it doesn’t matter what I think. I know human beings, and human beings enjoy having a socially acceptable reason to revert back into animals who will tear one another apart if it serves the perceived interest of society. Because it feels good to kill Hitler, even if it’s not Hitler. So that makes it okay. We’re the heroes. ---
**Author:** ![Askthepizzaguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askthepizzaguy/32/9405_2.png) [@Askthepizzaguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askthepizzaguy)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-weve-got-this-adolf-hitler-clone-what-shall-we-do-with-it-him/686359/55 "2014-04-20T10:43:55Z")
Now then, Hitler-with-_Hitler-memories,_ thinks he’s Hitler, wants to incinerate the inferior peoples, etc, cause for concern, bit different animal. At that point, he’s actually crazy and a probable threat to others, because now he’s been programmed to want to. So you try to deprogram him by whatever methods are considered humane. Reason why? Because a sentient being has not yet been given a choice to not be evil. Given a fair shot at things, might choose not to. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-weve-got-this-adolf-hitler-clone-what-shall-we-do-with-it-him/686359/56 "2014-04-20T11:56:29Z")
**Askthepizzaguy** , some people have a great sadistic appetite and _need_ someone to vivisect: firstly therefore they believe that it is justifiable to righteously torture someone who is in their minds so morally inferior to themselves that the person ‘deserves’ suffering and actually it is a moral good so to do; and secondly, that it is OK to construct a person solely made to be tortured rather than some vagrant off the streets. Many moderns regard Hitler in exactly the same way as a bunch of mediaeval peasants regard Satan, for the same reasons and the results would be similar if The Old Gentleman fell into the hands of those peasants. Brutality is repulsive, but the difference between brutality and sadism is that sadism has strong moral values. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-weve-got-this-adolf-hitler-clone-what-shall-we-do-with-it-him/686359/57 "2014-04-20T12:05:43Z")
> [@Askthepizzaguy](#): > > What the clone would have in common with the original would be their genetic code. > > Far too much importance is placed on this. It actually reduces greatly in scope the heinousness of Hitler’s choices if we were to diminish the size and scale of his evil down to a simple excuse: his genes. Who’s blaming his genes? If **Skald** had found a perfect clone of Greta Garbo, but with Hitler’s memories implanted in it, you should still hang him for warcrimes, because he’s still Hitler. It’s the mind that makes the person, not the body. Any body with Hitler’s memories in it is Hitler. Put his mind in a pekinese, and he can be the first war criminal put down by a veterinarian. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-weve-got-this-adolf-hitler-clone-what-shall-we-do-with-it-him/686359/58 "2014-04-20T12:39:00Z")
Give him a late night TV talk show slot. **Late Night with Hitler** would automatically get a guaranteed 10 share. Just imagine him interviewing Mel Gibson. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-weve-got-this-adolf-hitler-clone-what-shall-we-do-with-it-him/686359/59 "2014-04-20T12:46:35Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Well you guys did spend the last, oh, 70 years or so telling us the story all about how [del]your life got flipped turned upside down[/del]you won the war on your own. Seems only fair to let you have a go at covering him in petrol and setting him on fire in a ditch somewhere this time around, seeing as you did everything and saved everyone :p. Oh, fine, fine…so, while we and the Russians bicker about how we carve the clone from crotch to skull between us, how 'bout we let you shave his head? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-weve-got-this-adolf-hitler-clone-what-shall-we-do-with-it-him/686359/60 "2014-04-20T13:59:44Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > how 'bout we let you shave his head? 😉 Well, Hitler \*did \*sleep with a German. I’m just sayin’. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-weve-got-this-adolf-hitler-clone-what-shall-we-do-with-it-him/686359.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-weve-got-this-adolf-hitler-clone-what-shall-we-do-with-it-him/686359.md?page=4)