So... the Nazis.

[GonvilleBromhead]

Isn't there something about how most of what we know about the limitations of the human body, ie. what kind of temperatures, pressure, etc. it can withstand, was learned from the extermination camps?

Nope. There were experiments done, primarily by Mengele, but without any scientific method, rendering the whole thing useless as any sort of scientific tool. Much of his results (if they could be called that) were manipulated to ensure the outcome he was hoping for (i.e. white dudes are just great)

 

[Product Placement]

You can bring up the July 20 plot.

It was lead by Nazi officers who wanted to end the war and negotiate peace with the Allies.

They made several attempts to assassinate Hitler which all failed on account of dumb luck for Hitler. For example, they managed to install a bomb on a plane that carried the fuhrer but it failed to detonate.

The highpoint of their conspiracy was the July 20 plot, when they managed to smuggle a suitcase bomb into a bunker meeting and place it right next to Hitler's feet. The general, responsible for planting the bomb, then left the meeting to "answer a phone". Moments before the bomb went off, another general decided to move the suitcase, because it was in the way of his legs and he placed it behind a heavy wooden table leg that perfectly shielded Hitler from the blast. Mythbusters did a fun episode where they tried out various ways to blow up the conference room and see if Hitler would survive and I believe they came to the conclusion that the suitcase couldn't have been better placed to ensure that Hitler would survive it.

Some documentary stuff [http://www.youtube.com/embed/u5JgnSQyN90]

 

[imnot]

One of their plans was to make a sattalite, with a huge magnifying glass, and use it to burn places like ants.
As you can see they where pretty sane.

 

[RoonMian]

I don't know if it's been said already but I think it might be a good idea to read up a little on the german resistance as well.

Just the wikipedia entries to start you of:

The White Rose http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Rose

The Edelweiss Pirates http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edelweiss_Pirates (Awesome name for a resistance movement by the way. They were practically the resistance in my home city. Sadly their most prominent member died last Octobre. He was a local celebrity till his death, being the "castle ghost" of Severin's Gate Castle here in Cologne. He is one of the "Righteous among the Nations" honored in Yad Vashem and will always be remembered as someone to look up to.)

And of course the military resistance, the Kreisau Circle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kreisau_Circle


Edit: Yeah, don't use the wikipedia-entry on the Edelweiss Pirates though. I just read it myself and it's full of errors and outdated information. -_-

 

[RabbidKuriboh]

contrary to popular belief hitler actually had two testicles

 

[Thaluikhain]

Isn't there something about how most of what we know about the limitations of the human body, ie. what kind of temperatures, pressure, etc. it can withstand, was learned from the extermination camps?

Nope. There were experiments done, primarily by Mengele, but without any scientific method, rendering the whole thing useless as any sort of scientific tool. Much of his results (if they could be called that) were manipulated to ensure the outcome he was hoping for (i.e. white dudes are just great)

Er, the Nazi camps, yeah, the Japanese did a bit more research with their atrocities.

The Japanese Unit 731...ok, this is during WW2, plenty of war crimes going on, but fucking hell that was horrific even by those standards.

The people involved got immunity on the condition they gave their findings to the US.

 

[Westaway]

Hitler was insane, amd truly thought his dog was his actual son.
I believe he may have been a drug addict; this is the only fact I'm not 100% on.

The hoolocaust was a gradual process, culminating in the concentration camps. First, the was the... Something sounding like the eistengruppen. Ey rode around on moter cycles in western Europe mahine gunning all the underisirable in the village. That wasn't effiecient enough, so they made gas vans, portable gas chambers. Only after the invasion were the concentration camps start to be built.

The Nazis knew they would lose by 1941, they kept fighting in hopes they could make peace with the allies and fight together against Russia.

Hitler remained friends with Musilini, even after Italy betrayed Germany.

Hitler thought Japan would win against America after Pearl Habor, so he declared war against America. One of his fatal mistakes.
Only destroyers were... Destroyed, during the attack. Modern naval warafare was based on aircraft carryers.

Hitler arrived several hours late to all his speaches, so when he finally came people would naturally be happy to see him (because hey, now we can go home and sit down)

All of our marketing techiniques are based off of nazi propoganda. All of them. Goebbels was a genius, fusing propoganda with entertainememt, so people didn't know they were being brain washed.

Trying to think of more random facts...

I'm done for now.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Hitler had Parkinsons desease and was given cocaine eyedrops.

 

[CrazyJew]

Sneak in your opinion on how awesome the SS officer uniform is. Let's face it, the SS Officer uniforms were the sexiest uniforms in history. Shame they were worn by such dicks.

 

[Toaster Hunter]

Their uniforms were designed by Hugo Boss

They instituted the first national anti-smoking campaign

The didn't like Jews for some reason.

 

[AnarchistFish]

Why does everyone put "So" in their thread titles?

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.

Yeah but this isn't particularly unknown.

Hitler had only one testicle.

Pretty sure this and him being a vegetarian aren't even true

 

[RoonMian]

I've read several times now that Hugo Boss designed the SS uniform. That is NOT true.

Karl Diebitsch and Walter Heck designed the uniform.

Hugo Boss, as a member of the party, was just in charge of manufacturing the uniforms.

 

[Leftnt Sharpe]

Contrary to popular belief Hermann Goering was not addicted to taking painkillers, he was actually addicted to the physical action of taking pills. His personal physician would cut some sugar pills with a tiny amount of painkiller and Goering would chug them none the wiser.

Incidentally, I have something like five biographies of Goering.

 

[imnot]

Pretty sure this and him being a vegetarian aren't even true

He wasn't a vegitarian, but he very very rarley ate meat.

Hitler had Parkinsons desease and was given cocaine eyedrops.

Wait what? What made that sound like a good idea?!

 

[TheLizardKing]

There was an SS officer ( i forget his name ) that believed that Germans were direct descendants of Atlantis, but lost their powers through breeding with "inferior races".

Hitler could have defeated Britain if he had stuck to the original plan of bombing the airfields. But when the allies bombed Berlin, Hitler retaliated by bombing London instead of the airfields. This gave the RAF (Royal Air Force) the time they needed to recover.

Also, It was the RUSSIANS who defeated Germany at the Battle of Berlin, NOT AMERICANS. But the Americans liberated west Europe.

 

[Westaway]

Hitler remained friends with Musilini, even after Italy betrayed Germany.

That's because Mussolini didn't betray Hitler. The Italian people turned on Mussolini and forced him out. There was even a dramatic rescue where paratroops busted Mussolini out of the place they were holding him. Didn't help him in the end, he was strung with piano wire.

Yeah, that's why I said Italy, not Mussolini (fuck I'm stupid look at my spelling in the first post holy shit)