Poll: Some Germans see good in Nazi rule

Poll: Some Germans see good in Nazi rule

By DAVID RISING, Associated Press Writer Wed Oct 17, 1:25 PM ET

BERLIN - A quarter of Germans believe there were some positive aspects to Nazi rule, according to a poll published Wednesday — a finding that comes after a popular talk show host was fired for praising Nazi Germany's attitude toward motherhood.

Pollsters for the Forsa agency, commissioned by the weekly magazine Stern, asked whether National Socialism also had some "good sides (such as) the construction of the highway system, the elimination of unemployment, the low criminality rate (and) the encouragement of the family."

Forsa said 25 percent responded "yes" — but 70 percent said "no."

Stern commissioned the survey, conducted Oct. 11-12, after Germany's NDR public broadcaster last month fired talk show host Eva Herman over comments she made about the Third Reich.

News reports quoted Herman as saying there was "much that was very bad — for example, Adolf Hitler," but there were good things under the Nazis, "for example, the high regard for the mother."

Herman, 48, who has written books urging a return to more traditional gender roles, has stood by her comments.

"What I wanted to express was that values which also existed before the Third Reich, such as family, children and motherhood, which were supported in the Third Reich, were subsequently done away with by the 68ers," she later said, referring to 1960s-era leftists.

Praising the 1933-45 Nazi dictatorship is taboo in Germany. The Nazis were responsible for the murder of some 6 million Jews and for starting World War II — a conflict in which at least 60 million people died, including more than 7 million Germans.

The poll, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, showed that people 60 or older had the highest regard for aspects of the era, with 37 percent answering "yes."

Those who grew up directly after the war, now aged 45 to 59, were the least enthusiastic about the Nazi era, with only 15 percent responding "yes."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071017/...rmany_nazi_era

Life was a lot better for the average person under hitler's rule that it had been for quite a while for germans. He idealized the housewife unlike most people, too.

Amusingly, the initial rule of the Nazi party instituted a lot of policies that ended with positive results (although the means was not always good).

They reformed the economy in a short period of time and made Germany into a powerhouse that dwarfed even America. They had some domestic policies that were good, including a strong anti-tobacco movement, an animal protection, and environment protection acts. They idealized the family and had a program similar to what we know as the Boy Scouts as well.

There was some good that came from Nazi rule, but their final goals were not acceptable.