Op-ed article from Kuro5hin last year.

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Adolph Hitler is the face of evil for most Americans, so much so that what we think of when we say "Hitler" is a caricature of the real man. The real man was just a man. Hitler did not invent anti-Semitism in Germany. Hitler did not invent militarism in Germany. Hitler did not invent concentration camps. Hitler did not invent pre-emptive war. He was just a man, a small and insecure man who gave voice to what his fellow Germans and Austrians would have said if they had dared voice their opinions but did not dare say because it was not politically correct.

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On this day, Hitler's birthday, let us reflect upon evil and recognize it for what it is: something that lives in the souls of nations, not in the souls of politicians. For politicians are nothing more than mirrors reflecting what the people desire in their heart of hearts. All Hitler did was voice the darkness in the soul of the German nation -- he did not invent it. Hitler never personally killed a Jew. Hitler never personally marched across a border to invade another nation. Without the willing participation of the German people in the evil that was the Third Reich, Hitler would have been just another failed artist in Vienna muttering slurs against Jews over a brewski at the local beer hall. But the German people basked in the reflected glow of hate and prejudice, their own hate and prejudice reflecting back from the mirror that was Hitler, and gleefully participated in the destruction of millions. If Hitler the man had never existed, they would have found another man in his place, another demagogue willing to give voice to the darkness in their souls.