Clint Keller's reaction to what to others is laughable, would be typical of the people alive at the time of WWll.

Here in England Dachunds - yes those long, low and rather inoffensive dogs, were tortured and starved and drowned because they were German.

Quite a number of people were killed by armed civillians because they were deaf and did not hear their challenge or order to stop - often spoken by people who had gone to school with them and seen them walk or cycle along the road at that time every working day for years.   

When we removed the paneling from the staircase here we found that the rails on the landing had been kicked out - because they are in the shape of a swastika - we could tell by the fixings and the ones on the stairs, which are on a slant and therefore not the reviled shape.

Hitler and the rest were not truely evil - they were sinply terrorists - they wanted power - but isn't that what men want? They did all that they did in order to have power over the rest - it seems a simple and effective method and it requires great effort to overthrow the systems they create.

If you look at any terrorist stronghold, The Third Reich, Ireland, modern day dictatorships and post dictatorships, the pattern is always the same - it hardly takes much thought to recognise how they creation of 'Us' and 'Not Us', the rewards, the punishments, the teaching of the young people, so they did not just fear or hate they were maniacally opposed even to the existance of the 'Not Us'.

If you read the background to the song 'The Peat Bog Soldiers' you will see how Hitler began to change German society.

It seems fairly easy, with a certain ruthlessness, to convince some part of any population that they are being 'done down' by another group, that they are right to use any means to get rid of the menace, so the property of the enemy can be used to reward the activists, can be used to further the cause, pay bounties for information leading to the suppression of those moderates who speak out, the enforcing of the new system.

People who truely believe that they are creating a better world are not evil.

A person who works to destroy a group, race or culture whilst knowing they are doing wrong is tainted with evil - some propagandists felt it terribly, and had to use their intellect to justify the need, and their sense of self preservation, in order to obey orders as opposition to the war effort was more than frowned upon.

I have always felt that Hitler, being rather short dark and weedy was quite a clever chap to persuade strapping tall blondes that he should be in charge and at the same time get them to believe that they were the master race.

Anne