# What benign concepts can be said to have originated in Nazi Germany? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 27, 2015, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benign-concepts-can-be-said-to-have-originated-in-nazi-germany/741451 "2015-12-27T05:19:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benign-concepts-can-be-said-to-have-originated-in-nazi-germany/741451/1 "2015-12-27T05:19:21Z")
Hi, I’m aware that the Olympic torch relay in the prelude to an Olympic event is of Nazi origin. I also read somewhere that the Eurovision Song contest was Goebbels’s idea or at least has its origins in Nazi Germany(not sure about how true that is). Can anyone think of any other benign ideas/concepts originating in Nazi Germany? I look forward to your feedback. ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benign-concepts-can-be-said-to-have-originated-in-nazi-germany/741451/2 "2015-12-27T05:24:29Z")
I’m not sure whether the idea of criss-crossing a country with Autobahnen/highways to make remote areas accessible from any part of the country was necessarily an Nazi idea. The Romans presumably had the same idea. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benign-concepts-can-be-said-to-have-originated-in-nazi-germany/741451/3 "2015-12-27T05:44:03Z")
There is always the Volkswagen beetle. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benign-concepts-can-be-said-to-have-originated-in-nazi-germany/741451/4 "2015-12-27T07:49:31Z")
> [@davidmich](#): > > I’m not sure whether the idea of criss-crossing a country with Autobahnen/highways to make remote areas accessible from any part of the country was necessarily an Nazi idea. The Romans presumably had the same idea. The innovation there was in the design and engineering of the Autobahns. They enabled faster travel at safer speeds by reducing curves and grades, improving sight lines, including medians, etc. Hitler saw really good highways as very important to his Big Plans for Germany, and so they pioneered the modern highway. We based the design of our Interstates on the design of Hitler’s highways. So yep, I’d say the Nazis get a point for modern highways. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benign-concepts-can-be-said-to-have-originated-in-nazi-germany/741451/5 "2015-12-27T09:42:17Z")
The Nazis laid the groundwork for Germany’s labor law and the tenancy law which to this day is very favorable to workers and tenants respectively, i. e. the “common man”. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, one of the first measures by the newly appointed Minister of the Interior, Hermann Göring, was a decree that made eviction judgements temporarily unenforcible, thus saving many destitute families from homelessness. The juvenile criminal law was progressive even by modern standards by putting an emphasis on education and reform, rather than punishment and locking kids away (this is a development that started before the Nazis took over, though). ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benign-concepts-can-be-said-to-have-originated-in-nazi-germany/741451/6 "2015-12-27T09:53:31Z")
[State-run antismoking campaigns.](http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/07/the-nazis-forgotten-anti-smoking-campaign/373766/) ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benign-concepts-can-be-said-to-have-originated-in-nazi-germany/741451/7 "2015-12-27T11:01:21Z")
In 1941, old age pensioners in Germany were included in the health insurance system (almost a quarter-century before Medicare in the U. S.). Keep in mind, though, that these social goodies were also paid for with money stolen from Jews who had been driven out of the country or murdered. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benign-concepts-can-be-said-to-have-originated-in-nazi-germany/741451/8 "2015-12-27T13:10:02Z")
[Fanta](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanta#History) was invented in Nazi Germany due to the difficulty of importing Coke syrup. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benign-concepts-can-be-said-to-have-originated-in-nazi-germany/741451/9 "2015-12-27T17:58:21Z")
The idea didn’t _originate_ in Nazi Germany, but the Nazis had a notable early [antismoking campaign](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-tobacco_movement_in_Nazi_Germany) that paralleled the ones that came out in the English speaking world 50 years later. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benign-concepts-can-be-said-to-have-originated-in-nazi-germany/741451/10 "2015-12-27T18:04:30Z")
It is not really benign _per se_ because it is a weapon of war (though it is not racist or anything like that), but the modern [jet fighter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Me_262) was developed by the Nazis. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benign-concepts-can-be-said-to-have-originated-in-nazi-germany/741451/11 "2015-12-27T18:36:52Z")
The [Saturn V rocket?](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/16/S-IC_engines_and_Von_Braun.jpg/483px-S-IC_engines_and_Von_Braun.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benign-concepts-can-be-said-to-have-originated-in-nazi-germany/741451/12 "2015-12-27T22:58:24Z")
Fahrvergnugen. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benign-concepts-can-be-said-to-have-originated-in-nazi-germany/741451/13 "2015-12-27T23:15:14Z")
From the wiki > **[Nazi Germany](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_Germany#Health)** > > Nazi Germany,\[i\] officially known as the German Reich\[j\] and later the Greater German Reich,\[k\] was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictatorship. The Third Reich,\[l\] meaning "Third Realm" or "Third Empire", referred to the Nazi claim that Nazi Germany was the successor to the earlier Holy Roman Empire (800–1806) and German Empire (1871–1918). The Third Reich, which the Nazis referred to ... [Universal health insurance for workers](The Nazi regime promoted a liberal code of conduct regarding sexual matters, and was sympathetic to women who bore children out of wedlock) Non-judgmental about out of wedlock births and sexually liberal if you were heterosexual > [@](#): > > The Nazi regime promoted a liberal code of conduct regarding sexual matters, and was sympathetic to women who bore children out of wedlock Progressive public health programs Support for single mothers [Supported animal rights](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_welfare_in_Nazi_Germany) Big on environmentalism and nature preserves ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benign-concepts-can-be-said-to-have-originated-in-nazi-germany/741451/14 "2015-12-28T01:19:33Z")
[Leni Riefenstahl](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leni_Riefenstahl) brought an artist and dancer’s viewpoint to documentary filmmaking. Dismissed as a propagandist, she elevated the medium beyond the then-popular newsreels. ---
**Author:** ![svd678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@svd678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/svd678)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benign-concepts-can-be-said-to-have-originated-in-nazi-germany/741451/15 "2015-12-28T06:49:58Z")
Instant coffee - you may sneer at it, but I use a lot. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benign-concepts-can-be-said-to-have-originated-in-nazi-germany/741451/16 "2015-12-28T08:20:06Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > We based the design of our Interstates on the design of Hitler’s highways. > > So yep, I’d say the Nazis get a point for modern highways. But is it a positive or negative point? ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benign-concepts-can-be-said-to-have-originated-in-nazi-germany/741451/17 "2015-12-28T08:37:20Z")
Well this thread seems to have turned into just “stuff that was invented in Germany while the Nazi’s were in power” rather than stuff which was actual Nazi policy or a product of the government. So in that case heres the Z1 computer. The first freely programmable computer in the world which used Boolean logic and binary floating point numbers. > **[Z1 (computer)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z1_(computer))** > > The Z1 was a motor-driven mechanical computer designed by Konrad Zuse from 1936 to 1937, which he built in his parents' home from 1936 to 1938. It was a binary electrically driven mechanical calculator with limited programmability, reading instructions from punched celluloid film. > The “Z1” was the first freely programmable computer in the world which used Boolean logic and binary floating-point numbers, however it was unreliable in operation. It was completed in 1938 and financed completely... The later Z3 was the world’s first working programmable, fully automatic digital computer. > **[Z3 (computer)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z3_(computer))** > > The Z3 was a German electromechanical computer designed by Konrad Zuse in 1938, and completed in 1941. It was the world's first working programmable, fully automatic digital computer. The Z3 was built with 2,600 relays, implementing a 22-bit word length that operated at a clock frequency of about 5–10 Hz. Program code was stored on punched film. Initial values were entered manually.: 32–37  > The Z3 was completed in Berlin in 1941. It was not considered vital, so it was never put into everyday ... Not funded by the government or used in the war effort (they didn’t see the applications of it…). ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benign-concepts-can-be-said-to-have-originated-in-nazi-germany/741451/18 "2015-12-28T09:29:39Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > It is not really benign _per se_ because it is a weapon of war (though it is not racist or anything like that), but the modern [jet fighter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Me_262) was developed by the Nazis. The Englishman [Frank Whittle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Whittle) invented the jet engine. The Germans were the first to put a jet fighter into service, but [only by a few months](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloster_Meteor). ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benign-concepts-can-be-said-to-have-originated-in-nazi-germany/741451/20 "2015-12-28T13:21:06Z")
Kindergarten? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benign-concepts-can-be-said-to-have-originated-in-nazi-germany/741451/21 "2015-12-28T13:27:11Z")
> [@GreenElf](#): > > Kindergarten? The term kindergarten originated in 1837 and the concept of a pre-elementary school goes back even further. The first kindergartens in the US were established in the 1850s. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benign-concepts-can-be-said-to-have-originated-in-nazi-germany/741451.md?page=2)