Large collection of Nazi artifacts discovered in Argentina (2017)

It's all new accounts, a shame too, because the article is genuinely interesting.

It's far too late to de-politicise this forum.

Also, is there any English-language forum of this size anywhere in the world where one could discuss swastikas (be they Buddhist, Hindu or Nazi) without a flamewar?

I've seen civil discussions on the topic in Chinese forums, where the sensitive topics revolve around Imperial Japan and more recent political issues, but it's doubtful this topic is possible in the western world except in small communities.

Like George Carlin said, "Symbols are for the symbol-minded."

That's unlikely...

Those who fled probably did so for a reason, namely the fear of serious prosecution. They would have had a rather difficult time to continue exerting any influence after '45. It may have had an influence in reducing the number of trials and possibly resentment in the German population, but from what I gather there wasn't ever a risk of widespread open disagreement with the Nuremberg trials etc.

In a certain way, the most significant effect on reconstruction (and de-nazification) may have been their use as a reservoir for prosecutions in later years. The Eichmann trial, for example, had a lasting positive influence for German-Israeli relations, provided us with one of the most meticulously researched accounts of the bureaucrats' guilt, and an excellent treatise on responsibility. In Hannah Arendt's seminal work "The Banality of Evil" it changed the narrative from "Some Germans were evil" to today's "it happened once, so it can happen again".

The dark truth of de-nazification was that large parts of the German upper-middle class almost seamlessly continued their careers after the war. There were simply too many to prosecute them all, or even to shut them out of leadership positions. The rise of the cold war also changed the incentives for the western powers to quickly rebuild the country's economic and political strength. A few hundred or thousands in Argentina simply didn't matter in the grand scale of things.

It is indeed!

Thanks. Added.

Bold statement - its just an hour glass.

You know more were murdered under the guise of the chinese communist flag?

Although I don't believe this is worse than the injustices of generations past, it's certainly sad to witness politics in 2018 contain a plethora of virtue signalling, charades, and ineffectual action. We support the killings of innocents with our military industrial complex, and our media tells us its necessary because otherwise we will lose jobs[1]. Where is the investigation of 500 million missing dollars of charitable relief to Haiti[2]? Not to mention, where is the media coverage of the CLOUD act, and why did congress underhandedly sneak a law that harms Americans rights into a "must pass" omnibus spending bill without[3]? The war on drugs and prison state? Or any of the homeless crises? Unjust and corrupt healthcare and public health? Cities with murder rates higher than anywhere in Africa or the Middle East? Surging suicide rates[4]? And we are just scratching the surface here, and when you get to the bottom there are things you can't even talk about, like human rights for Palestinians[5]

Tyranny, injustice and oppression were not simply eliminated at the end of WWII. And living today to witness the convenient virtue signalling about a historical artifact of a long-defeated tyrant, juxtaposed with the willingness to tolerate current injustice, is really sad.

But isn't that what made Nazi Germany possible? Our willingness to tolerate injustice, so long as it doesn't happen to us? Our desire to follow authority--to serve in the court of despots? That is the irony here, which calls to light the real meaning of this kind of virtue signalling: If we lived under the reign of any of those other tyrants, in Imperial Japan, Nazi Germany, or wherever, would we all suddenly be among activists, not just mere virtue signallers championing the virtues of our leaders?

I don't mean to come down hard on you personally; I just personally wish to see the conversation move away from moral grandstanding to moral responsibility.

1 - https://theintercept.com/2016/09/09/wolf-blitzer-is-worried-...

2 - https://www.npr.org/2015/06/03/411524156/in-search-of-the-re...

3 - https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/03/responsibility-deflect...

4 - https://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/04/22/health/us-suicide-rate...

5 - https://theintercept.com/2018/04/02/israel-killing-palestine...