So... the Nazis.

[EMFCRACKSHOT]

Von Paulus was promoted (commander of the German 6th army at Stalingrad) to Field Marshall before surrendering to the Russians under the expectation that he was to commit suicide instead.
He was promoted with the words "no German Field Marshall has ever been taken prisoner"
The failure of operation citadel ( the battle of kursk, a major turning point in the war- to quote chrchill "if stalingrad was the end of the beggining then kursk was the beggining of the end) was in large part due to Hitler's order to delay the operation until june. A decision that could be said to have cost germany the eastern front.

 

[Sexy Devil]

The Nazis were actually the first people to ban smoking in public places, such as hospitals.

They knew the health dangers of smoking.

I say we start allowing smoking in public places. We don't want to be like the Nazis now, do we?

That's not distancing ourselves enough from the Nazis, we need a law that requires you to smoke at least once per trip outside the house.

 

[renegade7]

Ha. Godwin's law was satisfied right from the start

Well I do know that Hitler was part Jewish, that he was a vegan, had some sort of health issues (he had a private doctor) and conspiracy theorists will tell you he was obsessed with the occult.

Additionally, there is a rather common story (urban legend?) that a soldier in World War 1 had a chance to shoot Hitler (he was a young German soldier at the time) but didn't take it because he had been wounded and the British (I think it was British, though it may have been American, I can't remember right now) soldier thought it wasn't necessary to kill someone who was already out of action.

 

[Wintermoot]

Hitler was a animal lover and vegan
Hitler was a tactical idiot (see campaign towards Stalingrad Hitler planned to have it before the start of summer and only sent soldiers with summer uniforms)
the Nazi party practiced occultism and Hitler was convinced that he would win with the Lance of Longinus (we all know how that turned out)
the Nazi party was busy with the development of UFO,s
Hitler commissioned the development of a car for the people resulting in the VW bug
the reason the US had a rocket project was thanks to German rocket scientists
whoops got this one horribly wrong
Germany was defeated by the Soviets not the USA (although the USA did liberate West Europe)
the liberation was started by the UK and later included Canada and the US, the US only joined the war after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

 

[Vegosiux]

you can talk about how they manipulated the democratic system in germany to legitmately be the ruling party, why is this interesting because alot of people think they just showed up and did a military coup or something along those lines.

They're mixing up with fascists, Italy had a coup. Well so did Germany, but Hitler ended up doing hard time for it instead of seizing power. So he went the democratic route next time.

@OP: As for the less-covered stuff? I'd try to sneak in something on Stauffenberg and the assassination attempt on Hitler. It's a good case to show there resistance against Hilter's regime in his own ranks.

Captcha: Adidas. Why yes, Adi Dassler equipped the Wehrmacht with boots. Maybe you can include that too.

 

[Amaror]

From what I have heard, if Hitler had not embarked on the campaign of genocide that he did, he would have been remembered as one of the greatest leaders in European History. I hear that Germany at that time was in a major economic downturn due to still feeling the scars of WWI, and Hitler was a driving force for revitalizing Germany. If this is true, it is a terrible shame he chose to do what he did.

Well but his hate against jews helped him to become the leader in the first place. The killing of the jews was not something the people wanted, but in the working class the jews were hated really bad.
After the first world war the country was pretty screwed and people needed support to get back on their feet. Thing is, in that time, when you wanted a loan, you didn't went to a bank, you went to "The jew" of the village who basically acted as a bank.
Problem was, as a bank they often took the property and the belongings of the people, when they couldn't pay the depths.
That's the reason why many people were so pissed of about the jews.

For the record, i am not defending anything here, i am just repeating what i heard.

 

[GonvilleBromhead]

Ha. Godwin's law was satisfied right from the start

Well I do know that Hitler was part Jewish, that he was a vegan, had some sort of health issues (he had a private doctor) and conspiracy theorists will tell you he was obsessed with the occult.

Additionally, there is a rather common story (urban legend?) that a soldier in World War 1 had a chance to shoot Hitler (he was a young German soldier at the time) but didn't take it because he had been wounded and the British (I think it was British, though it may have been American, I can't remember right now) soldier thought it wasn't necessary to kill someone who was already out of action.

He was a British soldier - and the myth was largely perpetuated by Hitler himself. The chaps name was Private Henry Tandey, VC - Hitler kept a portrait of him to remind of the fickleness of fate.

A couple of myths posted here need to be refuted: Hitler was not a vegetarian, and Hugo Boss did not design the SS uniform (during the war his company - at the time just a bog standard off the peg clothes manufacturer, did make uniforms for the Third Reich)

The Nazi government was ruthlessly inefficient, in large part due to Hitler's belief of apply social Darwinism to government departments in the hope that the better one would win out. This, in fact, meant that government departments with overlapping responsibilities were too busy competing with one another to be competent. Classic case in point would be in foreign intelligence, with the Abwehr (under command of the Wehrmacht, effectively the governments intelligence service) and the SD-Ausland (Sicherheitsdienst-Ausland - Overseas Security Service; part of the SS and thus the Nazi party's intelligence service), which were in competition and hurt (along with the Abwehr general anti-Nazi viewpoint, personified by it's head Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, who ended up being executed in the July 7th Plot. There were even Jews working for the Abwehr) the actual practice of intelligence gathering. For example, all spies the Germans had in the UK were captured almost immediately, or were actually controlled by British Intelligence. All of them. The SD eventually won out, but less due it's sterling intelligence but more because they were...well..nazis, and they told Hitler what he wanted to here rather than actual facts.

 

[astrav1]

I have my History GCSE exam on Tuesday, and it's on Germany from 1918-1945. I'd like to sneak in some interesting facts that we haven't been taught in class, just to be a smartass. So, has anyone got any interesting facts about the Nazis (as you may be able to guess, they feature rather prominently under that heading). In fact, anything interesting about the topic at all would do for me. I'll soon see how quirky I can make my essay...

I believe Hugo Boss designed their outfits, also they were one of the first governments to be anti-smoking.

 

[Eddie the head]

I can only think of two. I think it was British spys could have killed Hitler near the end of the war but they didn't because if you kill him you make him an icon. And German solders in the last days of the war would fight there way form Russian lines to American lines because Americans might not kill them out right. I'm not sure about that first one but the second one makes sense when you think about it.

 

[mysecondlife]

I think they invented night vision.

 

[Cbargs]

Hitler was friends with an openly gay Nazi officer. The officer, Ernst Rohm, was the only top Nazi that addressed Hitler with an informal 'du', and was also the only one to call him Adolf instead of 'mein Fuhrer.' Rohm was eventually killed during the Night of the Long Knives in 1934.

 

[Ironside]

Some interesting facts you say? Well the term "European Economic Community" was thought up by Goering i believe. Several Nazi officials also got together when it became apparent that Germany would lose the war militarily and came up with a plan where German dominance of europe would be able to continue through Economic means through an organisation very similar to that of the European Union. I found that interesting anyway - maybe someone should have told them to try that before their country was demolished by the rest of the world.

From what I have heard, if Hitler had not embarked on the campaign of genocide that he did, he would have been remembered as one of the greatest leaders in European History. I hear that Germany at that time was in a major economic downturn due to still feeling the scars of WWI, and Hitler was a driving force for revitalizing Germany. If this is true, it is a terrible shame he chose to do what he did.

It was more like the Wall Street crash that had caused the economic downturn rather than ww1. However I wouldn't say the Nazis did a good job of fixing the problems - sure they provided jobs and made sure it didn't cost a wheel barrow of money to buy a loaf of bread, but the industrial base and whatnot they created was very fragile and just appeared strong and robust from the outside.

I can only think of two. I think it was British spys could have killed Hitler near the end of the war but they didn't because if you kill him you make him an icon. And German solders in the last days of the war would fight there way form Russian lines to American lines because Americans might not kill them out right. I'm not sure about that first one but the second one makes sense when you think about it.

Its not that they would be killed outright by the Soviets - its that if they were captured they may be sent to one of the camps in Siberia. Only a handful of the Germans captured by the Soviets ever returned to their homes.

 

[beniki]

According to the Ancient Alien theorists, the Nazis had access to alien technology taken from a UFO that crashed on the borders of Germany, prompting Hitler to initiate all those weird and wonderful research programs, and apparently providing the creative spark for the V2 rockets, and then later on jet engines.

I'm not trolling, there are seriously people that believe this.

But from we actually know, the Nazis had the most advanced technology at the time, and remarkably held out against an alliance much, much bigger than it's own because of it. Something that people often forget is that Germany had the odds against it.

 

[bluegate]

Well I do know that Hitler was part Jewish,

Well, I see that you know something that the rest of the world doesn't...

The thing is, there was a law of purification ( not the real name ) in Germany where people had to prove that their four grandparents weren't Jewish, the thing with Hitler though, he didn't know who one of his grandfathers was. So there is the chance that he was partly Jewish, however claiming that he was is a far stretch.

The Nazi's invented and researched some pretty cool stuff ( also some pretty weird stuff ) in their time, you might want to research into this a little. Because of their atrocities people tend to forget about the good things they did. As already stated, America's missile program / NASA wouldn't be what it is today without the aid of German scientists.

 

[repeating integers]

The Nazi's had a system of Wünder weapons they were working on thigh ranged from the atomic bomb, V2 rockets, and even a plan to create zombies. Other interesting facts you should include are the 1932 Olympics and how the Jews were treated better and Hitler's hatred if a non Aryan won a a medal.
Edit: Iforgot to mention that under Hitler's plan to exterminate the mentally insane his own niece was one of the victims. Hitler was also so paranoid about assassination that his own personal train had two triple-A anti aircraft guns to defend against arial assault.

The Nazi wonder weapons, as a rule, were rubbish. Most of them could never work, and those that did tended to be less impressive than ordinary stuff. There were exceptions, like the Stg 44 assault rifle, though.

In regards to the Olympics, the US complained about German racism towards Jews, and the German reply tended to be along the lines of "We don't tell you how to treat your negroes, don't tell us how to treat our Jews".

I know the Nazis were horrifically evil dicks and all, but... burn.

Also, Hitler did not have one testicle. That is a myth.

 

[IamQ]

Look up Josef Mengele - he's a cool dude. I think they don't reach him in class.

Oh, we covered him a bit, but I did some extra research, the guy was a genius! Who else would have considered attaching eyes to the back of your head to see what's behind you? Brilliant!

If I remember correctly, the only real scientific find that he did was that he found out how long a newborn baby can survive without food until they die.

 

[Thaluikhain]

From what I have heard, if Hitler had not embarked on the campaign of genocide that he did, he would have been remembered as one of the greatest leaders in European History. I hear that Germany at that time was in a major economic downturn due to still feeling the scars of WWI, and Hitler was a driving force for revitalizing Germany. If this is true, it is a terrible shame he chose to do what he did.

As I understand it, all his successes were short-term, based on an immiment successful war and resources from Germany's neighbours.

The failure of operation citadel ( the battle of kursk, a major turning point in the war- to quote chrchill "if stalingrad was the end of the beggining then kursk was the beggining of the end) was in large part due to Hitler's order to delay the operation until june. A decision that could be said to have cost germany the eastern front.

Not quite, it might have hastened the defeat, but Germany couldn't defeat the USSR.

Hitler was a tactical idiot (see campaign towards Stalingrad Hitler planned to have it before the start of summer and only sent soldiers with summer uniforms)

I'm led to believe that's not actually true, that the Germans had cold weather equipment, but they couldn't get it to the troops on the frontline. The German war effort against the USSR was doomed because it was logistically impossible to get their resources where they needed them.

But from we actually know, the Nazis had the most advanced technology at the time, and remarkably held out against an alliance much, much bigger than it's own because of it. Something that people often forget is that Germany had the odds against it.

They had some advanced technology, yes, but in popular culture a lot of that is due to absurd ideas they looked into that would never have actually worked. Also, their ideology meant certain avenues of research couldn't be looked into...being sure you are the master race makes for problems with medical research.

They certainly had the odds against them, though. The German invasion of the UK couldn't actually ever happen (Operation Overlord was basically Sea Lion in reverse, and look what was needed for that), so they didn't try that. The German invasion of the USSR couldn't ever actually succeed, but they gave it a go. It didn't help that they continually underestimated the number of Soviet troops, the German commanders were certain that the next big battle would destroy the Soviets and that caused all sorts of problems for their planning.

 

[Little2Raph]

From what I've heard, Adolf Hitler was into painting. He wasn't very successful when he tried to make it into a career however.

That's actually true. Here's a video with some of his paintings:

 

[dragdev]

The Nazis generally promoted a Healthy lifestyle they promoted anti smoking and generally promoted looking after themselves. Another interesting fact Hitler did not snub Owens. He may have also had and a affair with his Neice Geli Raubal. The idea that the Nazis were organised was false Hitler was quite lazy and woke up late and spent most of his time watching films. Hitler also tried to promote Germanic Paganism members of the SS who were to be married took up this pagan ritual. Ernish Rohm one of his right hand men was a homosexual.

An important fact is the Hitler Myth

The Hitler myth was a personality cult (a personality cult is when an individual uses propaganda to create an idealized and heroic public image.) Goebbels claims that the Hitler myth was ?greatest achievement? as it made Hitler appear to be a demigod when in fact he was not. In 1934 the cult was so strong even Hitler began to believe in it.

Points on the The Hitler myth

Hitler Myth

-Hitler was tough uncompromising and ruthless in defeating internal and external threats to his nation.
-He worked continuously even through the night.
-He was a political genius who had thrown of the humiliating shackles of the Treaty Of Versailles and had pulled Germany out of the Great Depression.
-He was strong dynamic and forceful, in contrast to the weak Weimar years.
-Lived a simple life sacrificing personal happiness for the good of his planet.
-Was a guardian of morality and Justice.
-Was a man of peace and a states man and a man of true justice.

Hitler Reality

-Hitler was surrounded by officials who competed with each other to gain the Furhers attention. Hitler would then go to his ministers and officials to get the job done. Hitler spent little time in decision making and even more so in matters of administration.
-Far form working hard Hitler spent most of his time watching films until late and got up at mid-day to eat.
-Even though he was ruthless towards Socialism and Communism he was not decisive. Even when he ordered the night of the long knives he was hesitant and tried to get Rohm on his side even though he was against Nazi ideals.

Source: my notes on Nazi History Message me if you want more

Oh and Id recommend this if you want a light understanding of the rise of the Nazi regime
Hitler the Rise Of Evil an amusing tv series on the Nazis
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCECD0143AE68B326&feature=plcp

 

[Arakasi]

-Hitler was a vegitarian who would tell gruesome stories at parties, partially for fun, and partially to horrify people into stopping eating meat.
-He was anti-vivisectionist, which at least one Nazi doctor performed on unwilling participants.
-Himmler was the main orchistrator behind the Holocaust, with Hitler's role remaining subtle and vague, I assume that this was for some effort of plausable deniability on Hitler's part.

You also might want to look into the experiments performed by Milgram [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment] in understanding how so many seemingly ordinary people committed such heinous acts.