Does anyone know where the name comes from. It seems unlikely to be a reference to the composer, but I have no idea where it comes from.
“Wagner” is the callsign of its cofounder, who supposedly took it in reference to the composer.
Why? I always assumed it was a reference to the composure, who is infamous for having antisemitic and racist viewpoints. Seems perfect for a group like this.
I thought the name might be related to the composer. It’s weird, given that Putin and his people talk so much about fighting supposed neo-Nazis in Ukraine, that Russians are so fond of Nazi or Nazi-adjacent symbols.
More to the point, IM(limited)E Russian and other Slavic nation’s soldiers seem to have “Flight of the Valkyries” playing in their heads non-stop. It’s like a personal theme song for each of them.
Mandatory photo of Dmitry in all his glory:
He looks… cuddly.
I know a member of the family that founded this company, quite a substantial concern locally:
They must be quite pissed off about now.
I remember reading of an American WWII soldier named “Hitler”. An interviewer asked him if he’d ever considered changing his name, and he said “Let that sonofabitch change his”.
So that’s what Flea is doing these days.
Schicklegrüber had a half brother in the British military too, iirc.
Wagner group also made excellent cast iron frying pans and cookware, they cast their net pretty wide!
Don’t forget their paint sprayers…
It’s not just a brutal, amoral paramilitary floor wax, it’s also a dessert topping.
I now wonder if the Russians pronounce “Wagner” more or less as an English speaker would, as a German speaker would, or on some other interesting way?
Heck, I suppose RP English and American Standard English would differ on a broad “a” or short “a” sound.
I don’t think so. Adolf Hitler had two adult half-siblings, Alois and Angela (from his father’s second marriage) and an adult sister Paula (from his father’s third marriage). (There were four other siblings who died in childhood.)
Alois was born in 1882. He was living in Germany in 1914 but he as far as I can find he didn’t serve in the war (he would have been 32 when the war started). Alois was not particularly close to Adolf and didn’t join the Nazi party or participate in politics. But he did make money off of his brother’s name. Alois died in 1956.
Alois had two sons, William (from his first marriage) and Heinrich “Heinz” (from his second marriage. William’s mother was Irish and William grew up in the UK. He later immigrated to America and served in the United States Navy during WWII. William died in 1987. Heinz grew up in Germany and served in the Wehrmacht during WWII. Heinz died during the war in 1942.
Adolf’s sister Paula never married and had no children. She died in 1960 (the last surviving sibling of Adolf Hitler).
Adolf’s half-sister Angela married and had three children; Leo, Angela “Geli”, and Elfriede “Friedl”. Angela died in 1949. Leo served in the Luftwaffe during WWII and died in 1977. Geli died in 1931. Friedl died in 1993 (the last surviving niece of Adolf Hitler).
As for Adolf Hitler’s grandnephews; Friedl has a son Heiner (born 1945), Leo had a son Peter (born 1931), and William had four sons, Alexander (born 1949), Louis (born 1951), Howard (born 1957), and Brian (born 1965). Howard died in 1989. The other five are, as far as I can tell, still alive and are therefore Adolf Hitler’s closest living relatives. None of them have had children.
I wonder if they have made a pact to have no offspring and let the family die out.
There’s a long-standing rumor to that effect but they have reportedly denied it’s true.
I would imagine as in German, as I don’t think there’s a “w” (as in English) sound in Russian.
Russians care nothing about the actual definition of Nazism. To them, “Nazi” means “anyone opposing us.” Many Russian soldiers & gangsters proudly wear Nazi tattoos, regalia, etc.