# Would you have survived in Nazi Germany? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 2, 2013, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-survived-in-nazi-germany/657342 "2013-05-02T19:26:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [May 2, 2013, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-survived-in-nazi-germany/657342/41 "2013-05-02T23:18:46Z")
White, blue eyes, brown hair. Once the Nazis were in power, I’d have kept my head down, stepped back into the closet, and done my best to survive. So long as no one looks into what I was doing before Hitler took power, I’d likely be okay, but I’d have been pretty vocally anti-fascist and pro-gay rights back when those positions weren’t death sentences, so I suspect it wouldn’t take much looking to find something to hang me for. The trick would be not giving anyone a reason to look. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-survived-in-nazi-germany/657342/42 "2013-05-02T23:23:52Z")
I’m of Irish and Scottish stock, red hair w/hazel eyes. I would probably be just fine if I kept my mouth shut. ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-survived-in-nazi-germany/657342/43 "2013-05-03T00:00:07Z")
Nope. I’m black. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-survived-in-nazi-germany/657342/44 "2013-05-03T00:09:45Z")
By myself I could probably keep my head down and get by. But I’m married to a left-wing Jewish university professor who’s very vocal about her politics. We’re going to the camps. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-survived-in-nazi-germany/657342/45 "2013-05-03T00:23:09Z")
Based on the apparent fact that every member of the European branch of paternal relatives failed to survive the Nazis I reluctantly have to conclude that I wouldn’t have survived, either, no matter how Aryan I may or may not have appeared to be. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-survived-in-nazi-germany/657342/46 "2013-05-03T01:15:32Z")
Nope, I’m epileptic with OCD – I’d be sterilized for sure. And the funny thing is, I kinda find the idea of the Nazis hating me to be a good thing. (Even though I’d rather NOT have epilepsy or OCD). ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-survived-in-nazi-germany/657342/47 "2013-05-03T01:18:03Z")
As a subject of the Empire of Japan, I’d have gotten along fine enough as an “honourary Aryan” studying history and literature as a student at Berlin or Heidelberg, provided I didn’t try to deflower any pure Aryan maidens. ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-survived-in-nazi-germany/657342/48 "2013-05-03T01:34:55Z")
I would likely be just fine. I’m about 60-70% ethnic German and the rest is some mishmash of British Isles Protestant. And I look it. The only Catholic in the family is an uncle who married in, no Jews whatsoever. I’m basically as WASPy as it gets. Not gay, no history of mental illness. And I’m timid and boring and would keep my head down. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-survived-in-nazi-germany/657342/49 "2013-05-03T01:40:03Z")
Other: I’d like to think I would have been part of the Resistance, in which case I would have had a life expectancy of about 5 minutes. I am ethnically German/Swiss, on my father’s side, and Scandinavian through my mother. Blue eyes and brunette. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-survived-in-nazi-germany/657342/50 "2013-05-03T01:49:30Z")
While I responded that I would have survived, my 18 year old self would have caved at any sign of a problem. My 68 year old self would have gone down swinging(I hope). ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-survived-in-nazi-germany/657342/51 "2013-05-03T01:50:32Z")
Toast: Disabled liberal. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-survived-in-nazi-germany/657342/52 "2013-05-03T01:51:35Z")
Hellz no. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-survived-in-nazi-germany/657342/53 "2013-05-03T01:54:22Z")
Just keep in mind that not everybody who considered himself a Communist, a socialist, or a liberal were sent to a KZ-there were millions of Germans who’d voted for or even been a member of one of those parties before Hitler took power and if the Nazis had persecuted or slaughtered all of them they couldn’t have had a functioning country. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-survived-in-nazi-germany/657342/54 "2013-05-03T01:58:10Z")
I have blonde hair and close-enough-to-blue eyes. I’d love to say that I’d be incarcerated immediately for protesting the HORROR and TYRANNY, but really, I’m pretty good at keeping my head down and not making waves if I really need to. Hell, I can even hide most of my mental issues (including a couple that nobody on the planet but me know about). If/when I was drafted I may get slammed for cowardice, though. I’m not a pacifist in that I think countries shouldn’t go to war, but I don’t think I’m really cut out for the military and no amount of training or boot camp will change that. I guess if I were assigned to guard a concentration camp there’s a good chance I’d be traumatized to the point of either suicide or death-by-insubordination, though. I’m kind of ashamed, but in practice I’m almost certain that as long as I didn’t have the misfortune to be tested in the military (and I’ll admit, that’s a long shot), I’d probably be just fine at shutting up and doing what I’m told, regardless of how much I go “thisiswrongthisiswrong” in my head while I’m doing it. ---
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-survived-in-nazi-germany/657342/55 "2013-05-03T02:07:49Z")
White, non-blond, brown eyes. My mouth would get me in trouble. I wouldn’t be standing on a street corner screaming or anything to call attention to my beliefs, but I’d privately say something to someone, the wrong someone. I have chronic foot-in-mouth disease and a strong case of book-smart/street-dumb. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-survived-in-nazi-germany/657342/56 "2013-05-03T02:21:56Z")
> [@Fair\_Rarity](#): > > White, non-blond, brown eyes. My mouth would get me in trouble. I wouldn’t be standing on a street corner screaming or anything to call attention to my beliefs, but I’d privately say something to someone, the wrong someone. I have chronic foot-in-mouth disease and a strong case of book-smart/street-dumb. Hmm… I am a bit too trusting. Even sans a silly 1984-esque O’Brien/Brotherhood sort of ploy, a lot of “friends” (and even family) were snitching on each other in Nazi Germany (and East Germany after it). I think that may be my undoing. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-survived-in-nazi-germany/657342/57 "2013-05-03T02:22:28Z")
Lefty college professor type, so they may have come after me on political grounds (especially in an era when being an unmarried professional woman was enough to make you conspicuous). But, on the other hand, I’m blonde and fair-skinned and reasonably good at keeping my mouth shut, so maybe not. ---
**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:** [May 3, 2013, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-survived-in-nazi-germany/657342/58 "2013-05-03T02:59:14Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > This is a very good point. There are many who are proud liberals on these boards, but if told by some government sanctioned jackbooted thug that if you don’t drop that attitude and fall in line we will end you and your family, how many would condemn themselves and their loved ones for their beliefs? Well, some of us proud liberals have already had to answer that sort of question… ---
**Author:** ![Beastly\_Rotter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@Beastly\_Rotter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beastly_Rotter)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-survived-in-nazi-germany/657342/59 "2013-05-03T03:14:12Z")
I’m a 6 foot blue-eyed blonde with German and Danish ancestry: they’d probably have put me in charge of something. ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-survived-in-nazi-germany/657342/60 "2013-05-03T03:18:07Z")
Except for the disability, I would have been fine. But, you know, it’s that one little detail… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-survived-in-nazi-germany/657342.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-survived-in-nazi-germany/657342.md?page=4)