An obsession with Naziism?

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On UK TV recently, there seem to have been an inordinate number of documentaries about the Nazis, and/or the Second World War and it's causes. I was looking through the TV guide earlier today, and found that there are documentaries or films which attempt to explani the Nazi ideal every day this week, and I wondered why that should be so? Excepting my signature, which I confess I find amusing, I am unable to comprehend why there should be such an obsession on TV with a group of people who bred nothing more than hated and the murder of innocents?

Therefore I ask - why should we be so obsessed, even in voyeuristic fashion, with the exploits of a group of people who are so close to the epitome of human evil, as to be able to define it?

I don't understand. Any thoughts?

Because World War II is more recent, and many people's parents/grandparents fought in it or have stories about it. It's an event that is far easier for most people to relate to than, say, a documentary about Frederick the Great.

Also in the US there is a humonous amount of World War II worship, mainly due to Tom Brokaw, Steven Spielberg, and Tom Hanks.

It's also because the Jews have a sob lobby and a great deal of $$$, which, for example, the native Americans don't have. Stalin killed a lot more of Soviet citizens both in percentage and in millions than Hitler killed Jews, but that is rarely mentioned.

I think Stalin killed about 20 million Soviet citizens, and Hitler killed about 6 million Jews. While that seems like a big difference, I think the Soviets had a lot more people to spare.

Of course, I don't have any numbers, so if you could tell me if there is a place on the web that tells what percentage of the Russian population was killed versus what percentage of the Jewish population (worldwide or European, it doesn't matter) was killed, that would be great.

I think 20 million killed Soviet citizens is a correct number. And that is only the number of people he killed in peace time(!) I think there were 120-150 millions of citizens in the Soviet Union at that time, so he killed up to 17% of his own citizens. In some parts of the Soviet Union, like Ukraine, the percentage was over 25.

On the other hand I think the number 6 million killed Jews is overestimated. They were undoubtedly killed in a very large number, at least 1 million, but not as systematically as it has been stated from most historicians. But if Hitler actually did kill 6 million Jews after all, there were about 17 million Jews worldwide before the war, so if that's really the case, Hitler killed about 35% of all Jews.

I have no really trustworthy website for these facts or speculations, no.

In the US it seems like more and more of the programming on any channel is about death and gore. There are infinite murder/ law shows, and I think the obsession with Hitler is part of that. He gets good ratings when he is on TV.

I think people are also fascinated by his story, that someone could go from being a nobody to find himself conquering large portions of Europe. It defied reason at the time and is still an amazing and horrific story fom a historical perspective.

You should remember that Hitler didn't kill just Jews. Hitler also killed Slavs, Gypsies, Communists, Gays, Mentally handicapped peope (including autistics), not to mention people that opposed him on the grounds that they were 'genetically unfit'. When you take everybody else that he killed, the numbers of dead are significantly higher.

The number of 5 to 6 million Jews is what most historians agree upon. I've briely looked at the issue and the one thing that gives that number credibility is the fact that not all historians come to the EXACT figure. If most historians came to the same figure, I would be suspicious. The varience in the number reflects reallity that the whole process was messy and there is now way to know exactly how many Jews the Nazis killed.

For those who would say that the Jews are inflating the numbers, remember this fact. The Jews were paid reparations based on the number of SURVIVORS. It would'nt work in their favor to inflate the stats.

Evey time I hear the 1 million figure, it makes me think of the Holocaust denier movement. that's the number they come up with.

What are the figures of Jew in Eurpean nations before Nazism? You would assume that
data would be true(no one had a reason to lie)

Then what are the numbers after the war? Assume a few percent natural increase a year.

I know Immigration records would be usefull to count those that left Eurpean countries
that way.

I guess 1932 before hitler( or go back as far as you want) then goto say 1950 when
records were upto date and in democratic hands.

Is it mathmatically possible for 6 million Jews dieing during Nazism?

My guess it want be possible to do a complete calculation so one country with good
records like Germany could be used to figure out the data trends.

About 1% of Germany's population 1933 was Jewish. The Germans were about 64 millions, so the Jews in the German Empire itself 1933 was only about 640000. The percentage in countries like Poland, Czechoslovakia, Soviet Union etc was much higher. According to German Wikipedia, at least 165000 Jews from the German Empire within the borders of 1933 were killed. These are the numbers that the Germans themselves count with (minimum of killed Jews/occupied country):

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust

Almost 5 million killed in Poland and Soviet Union alone. But the numbers can only be apriximate. the whole process was a bit messy at times.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust[/quote]

Yeah the number killed in Poland is very large so thats where I would want to study to find out how true those number are.

Stalin killed mostly anyone who didn't see eye-to-eye with his ideology, rather than specific minorities. Not only that, but statistics would have been hard to come by from a Stalinist state.

That's correct. The numbers are very approximative, they have probably been figured out indirectly somehow.

I think another factor in the resurgence of interest in WW2 is that it was the last "just" war of our time. It was clear as to who the bad guys and good guys were (mostly), the stakes were clear, the threat was clear and the obvious response/solution was clear, even if the motivations weren't always clear-cut.
As we get mired down in an unpopular war of debatable legality and 'nobility', it makes sense to want to look back to a time when things were ostensibly more straightforward.

Yes and no, some of the numbers are taken directly from nazi records, and the nazis did keep accurate records of the holocaust. (that's what did them in, in the Nurenburg trials) But alot of killings were done in the street with no solid documentation. That's what I meant by "the whole process being sloppy" Both the killings and record keeping (or other forms of evidence) are spotty. Exact numbers will never be known, but the aproximate number of 5 to 6 million can be inferred from many different sources.