Hitler mania: First postwar exhibition so popular it has been extended three weeks

[Ulysses31]

Everybody still fascinated by Hitler.

Hitler mania: First postwar exhibition so popular it has been extended three weeks


So many people have been flocking to Germany's first postwar exhibition devoted to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler that it has been extended by three weeks.

Over the past three months, 'Hitler and the Germans' has attracted more than 170,000 visitors.

The Berlin exhibition, which will now run until February 27, explores explores the links between German society and Hitler's rise to power in 1933, and how he managed not only to win power but to cling on to it it even as total defeat loomed.

It features a hoard of bizarre Nazi artefacts including propaganda posters, busts of Hitler, a card game helping players to learn the names of top Nazis, SS cufflinks, toy soldiers and a red swastika lampshade.

'Germany awake!': This Nazi flag is one of the displays at the Hitler And The Germans exhibition in Berlin

Despite widespread concern in German media that the exhibition could prove popular among neo-Nazis who idolise Hitler, no problems have been reported


'There has been great interest among Germans and also international tourists,' said German Historical Museum spokesman Rudolf Trabold. 'They have come from all over Europe.'

The museum was especially pleased with the numbers given that the exhibit probes Germany's legacy under the Nazis, including World War II and the Holocaust.

'Hitler, Nazis, war and their relationship with German society is not a nice Christmas theme,' Trabold added.

A cigar case, a Fuehrer pack of cards (left) and even a party decoration with a swastika. The exhibition shows how Nazi images filtered into every aspect of German society

Beer mugs with swastikas and SS cuff-links show the extent of how the party's influence reached in everyday life


The exhibition is housed in a modern annexe behind the museum on Unter den Linden - the boulevard that Hitler stripped of the linden trees that gave it its name - with no advertising, in deference to German law forbidding the display of Nazi symbols.

But inside the viewer is immersed in a world of propaganda ranging from cigarette packets with the swastika, complete with collectible uniform cards, to a handcart for selling the party paper, 'Voelkischer Beobachter'.

There had been widespread concern in German media that the exhibition could prove popular among neo-Nazis who idolise Hitler, but no problems have been reported.

Impact on German society: The curators of the exhibition are at pains to stress that their focus is on the society that created the dictator and not Hitler, the man


'In no way do I consider it a glorification,' Stephan Kramer, secretary general of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said.

'It's an important contribution, but it still doesn't ask the question of how could someone like Hitler come to power.'



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ion-popular-extended-weeks.html#ixzz1AIlOeoxj

 

[vodkazvictim]

Re: Hitler mania: First postwar exhibition so popular it has been extended three wee

I blame the Moslems for Hitler.

 

[PlasmaTwa2]

Re: Hitler mania: First postwar exhibition so popular it has been extended three wee

Took them long enough. He's not really a historical figure that you can sweep under the carpet and pretend he never existed.

 

[GregCentauro]

Re: Hitler mania: First postwar exhibition so popular it has been extended three wee

Took them long enough. He's not really a historical figure that you can sweep under the carpet and pretend he never existed.

That hasn't been the case. There has been a constant and lively public discourse in (West-) Germany over the Nazi years for more than 40 years. But only in recent years the demystification of Hitler as a person has begun.

Two factors play a key role here.
1) The generation who made Hitler possible, fought his war and committed "his" crimes has almost completely died out.
2) Germany's self esteem has significantly changed since reunification. The partition into two states is no longer the punishment for a lost war. Germany plays an important role on the international stage and doesn't have to constantly eat humble pie for its dire past. They can send fighting troops to Afghanistan like any other Western country and nobody is irritated when German football fans wave their flags and sing the anthem.

Germans today are better informed about Hitler than any generation before them. It is a good sign that a well-organized exhibition gets the attention it deserves.

 

[Ace Bandage]

Re: Hitler mania: First postwar exhibition so popular it has been extended three wee

I was going to make some stupid jackass remark about Hitler being just another conspiracy theory, but then I read Greg's post. Very insightful. Can't rep you again yet, but I did send you an air five.

 

[~~whimsy~~]

Re: Hitler mania: First postwar exhibition so popular it has been extended three wee

Obama and his family are on Air Force One right now heading there for another vacation.



Wait! This just in: Mrs. Obama will be taking a separate plane there two days from now.

 

[mrtrebus]

Re: Hitler mania: First postwar exhibition so popular it has been extended three wee

No surprise that The Daily Mail are reporting this. . .

 

[Kittymeow]

Re: Hitler mania: First postwar exhibition so popular it has been extended three wee

crazy