Can Waffen SS Be Called Valiant?

Elena

Here is a thought, if something you do requires hours upon hours of explanation, maybe don’t do it? 

Mr. Iott does not appear to be a bad person, I do not believe he is a Nazi wannabe.  However, his complete lack of sensitivity is astounding.  There is clearly a well established negative connotation of the SS and their complicity in the murder of babies, children, moms, dads,  and all the other innocents of the final solution.  As an American, I find it hard to understand WHY anyone would choose to openly admire ANY SS Nazi unless they had been a defector. 

Geez, even Eric Cantor and I agree on this one.   There is something about glorifying the “fight for freedom” from communism by the Nazi’s as a somewhat twisted reason to honor them.  Is it me?  Is communism actually that much worse than fascism?  Stalin was a mass murderer, but then again, so was Hitler.  Is what Hitlers Germany fought for a righteous fight?  Wasn’t Germany the aggressor and it’s ultimate goal total European domination? 

Here is a link to the wiking website.   Maybe I am being hyper sensitive, but there must be ways to re-enact the different sides of WWII without actually compliemnting them, aren’t there?

“European Volunteers,
Join to Fight Bolshevism!” Germany headed a stong movement in Europe to actively campaign (politically and through warfare) against the ideals of Bolshevist Communism. This culminated in 1941, when the German armed forces were pitted against the very home of Bolshevism, Soviet Russia. Nazi Germany had no problem in recruiting the multitudes of volunteers willing to lay down their lives to ensure a “New and Free Europe”, free of the threat of Communism. National Socialism was seen by many in Holland, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and other eastern European and Balkan countries as the protector of personal freedom and their very way of life, despite the true underlying totalitarian (and quite twisted, in most cases) nature of the movement. Regardless, thousands upon thousands of valiant men died defending their respective countries in the name of a better tomorrow. No matter how unsavory the Nazi government was, the front-line soldiers of the Waffen-SS (in particular the foreign volunteers) gave their lives for their loved ones and a basic desire to be free.
 

Here is a link to just one book that demonstrates the Waffen SS on the Eastern front were absolutely linked to atrocities and not just simply soldiers.

God in America– Nights 1 and 2

MoonHowler

PBS is running a great documentary series 6 hours long that investigates religion in the United states, from its very beginnings until, I assume, the present. So far the documentary, God in America,  is excellent. My favorite part so far has been religion during colonial times. The show also explain the split from the established church. I had no idea that Anglican Church was the official church of Colonial Virginia and that taxes supported it. Night one was full of information I had no idea about.  Much detail was given about Thomas Jefferson and the establishment clause. 

Night 2 part 1 mainly centered on Abraham Lincoln as a spiritual being. Ho hum. Night 2 part 2 was about Judaism in the United States. Fascinating. Lots of new material in that segment. There was a part 3, involving the Scopes Trial. I haven’t finished watching yet. More on that later. I need to think about that part. We haven’t even gotten close to finishing that debate that took place 85 years ago.

Tonight wraps up the series. In watching this show, I saw how we haven’t really evolved all that much as a nation. Religious ideas are still center stage in our political arena, much the way they have been throughout our history.

Who else is watching this series and do you find it worthwhile?