I travel to Germany quite a bit with my job. I find it to be the most like America of anywhere in Europe, you'd feel kind of at home there, the people and culture are very similar to ours. Germany pre-world wars was a prosperous and educated country. It's scary to think that a slick con-artist like Hitler could take over and cause the chaos and destruction that he did. It should serve to a reminder to us that if it could happen to a first world country like Germany then, it can happen to us now. We'd like to think that we're smarter than that, but we're not and given the right set of circumstances here the same thing could happen.

People are people no matter where they're from. Most are okay folks, a few are real good, some are jackasses, and a few are complete psychopaths. Most Germans were not Nazis, they just fought for their country like any decent person would do. The bad decisions were made "above their pay grade" as they say.

See the guy in the picture below next to Kennedy? That's Wernher Von Braun, head of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and the man most responsible for building the rockets that took us to the moon. 25 years before that he was a Nazi SS Major and designed the V2 rocket that terrorized England. It's hard to reconcile the two but redemption takes many forms. He ended his life a great American.

[Linked Image]