Could you feel for a Nazi?

I would recommend two books for you, A Higher Call and Iron Coffins, which both show WWII from the German side, something which we seldom see.

A Higher Call is the story of two pilots, one a B-17 pilot saved by a Messerschmidt pilot ... a remember, the B-17 raids from 1943 on were killing tens of thousands of civilians each, so you didn't need to be a Nazi to feel a very patriotic duty to shoot down as many of the bastards as you could, just as the British felt about shooting down Heinkels during the Blitz. The German had lost both his fiancee and his parents to bombing raids. It follows the story of the two pilots beginning before the war, how they became pilots, how they felt about the war (both very positive, until late 1944 for the German). It was interesting that, until after the assassination attempt on Hitler in 1944, there were few Nazis in the military, except for the SS. The German wound up flying ME-262 jets in 1945, though too little and too late. And the Luftwaffe, after the war, were very unpopular with the German people because they believed they had not done enough to stop the bomber onslaught.

Iron Coffins is by Herbert Werner, one of the most successful surviving U-Boat skippers of WWII, an account of his duties in the war. This got a very good foreword by Capt Edwin L. Beach, a submarine commander in the Pacific (author of Run Silent, Run Deep) , who had high praise for the professionalism of the U-Boat crews: from 1944 on, 90% of the boats that deployed never came back ... and yet they went out anyway to defend their fatherland. One cannot give a better salute to a fellow sailor, though an enemy, than that. And ADM Chester Nimitz let it be known, after the war, that if ADM Doenitz, the German submarine force commander, were to be prosecuted for war crimes at Nuremberg, Nimitz would testify in his behalf: the U-Boats had done nothing in the Atlantic to their enemies, that the US submarines had not done in the Pacific to the Japanese. Doenitz was not prosecuted.

https://www.amazon.com/Higher-Call-Incredible-Chivalry-War-Torn/dp/0425255735/ref=asc_df_0425255735/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312134266711&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2087894121891889668&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9007652&hvtargid=pla-450666369481&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/Iron-Coffins-Personal-Account-Battles/dp/030681160X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=iron+coffins&qid=1571924501&s=books&sr=1-1

 

Since we are proposing stories, I'd add "Das Boot" and "The Pianist" to the discussion. Though, I have to say, I don't think in either of the movies the political and ideological backgrounds of the people are explained. The captain of the Uboot is just like any other captain trying to save his crew on his missions, and the viewer isn't really asking whether or not this guy is a Nazi. Similarly, the german officer in the Pianist is just a kind man who saves Szpilman, and everything else is secondary.

 

Hi there, I don't think it's a problem. There are a lot of nazis in the fiction world, some of them are very likable. Nazis are people too, like any of us, they have friends and family, and sometimes there wasn't much of a choice to become one. But the thing is, none of that really matters, if you put in enough work, even Hitler himself could resonate with readers. So I say don't worry, just write it and see how it goes.
As for recommendation, I think ''The Eagle Has Landed'' by Jack Higgins is fantastic, it's about an elite nazi team try to abduct Winston Churchill, it might give you some idea on how to portrait nazi as real people that they are.
Cheers.

 

Sorry. I do find this problematic

It's not impossible to pull it off, but you're probably going to have about one in ten people who, like myself, feel uneasy.

Yes, writers can take on any subject.

But please do tread carefully.

I've followed quite a few debates on related subjects, such as: should we use medical breakthroughs made by Nazi doctors.

It took decades of debate for those involved to reach a conclusion on that issue. Eventually, the Western world (the medical professions, Jewish leaders etc) decided that... Oh, a quick summary is difficult to give

Basically, it was felt that - as the millions of victims of the Holocaust had been silenced forever on the subject, one should always be aware of trying to speak on their behalf.

For instance, they might or might not object to having an SS officer used as a plot device in a work of entertainment.

But we will never know.

They can't give consent.

I'd strongly advise you to read 'Night' by Elie Wiesel, a very short memoir by a survivor. He devoted his whole life to this subject of how important it is to remember, and how to speak in a dignified way about those who were tortured and murdered.

I really believe it will change you as a person. It is that powerful.

So, perhaps in fictional terms, one way to go would be to have a victim as a character in the story, speaking and acting and reminding us of the unspeakable sadism acted out against them.

 

An artist's view on a similar subject ('Jumping on Dead Jews').

Warning. Strong imagery here.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/living/2658468/artist-shahak-shapira-cleverly-shames-crass-tourists-who-take-shallow-selfies-at-the-holocaust-memorial-in-berlin/

 

My last word on the subject! This is the man himself, Elie Wiesel.

 

All good suggestions, thanks everyone, I think this is the best thing as you've all suggested such different sources for either side - a couple I've heard of ("ordinary men", for example, was in the recommended reading last term at university) some I've read, and some I had no idea existed. Thanks for all your help.

 

As a society, we forgave the Nazis. It was the leadership who committed the atrocities, not the foot soldiers.

 

At the risk of turning this into a topic for the debate room, foot soldiers most certainly committed atrocities. The Stroop report illustrates that, as does the book Ordinary Men by Christopher Browning.

We forgave Germans and Germany, not the Nazis.

Anyway, that's all I'm going to say on the subject, otherwise this will turn into an argument.

 

The same can also be said for allied soldiers, and we don't really have a problem rooting for them.

 

Actually, you bring up a good point. Hugh Thomson, the helicopter pilot who saved people at My Lai would be a fantastic person to base a hero character on.

There's no reason why a Nazi character wouldn't do the same. I seem to remember that a German Wehrmacht major parked his unit on a road in front of an SS squad sent to liquidate Jews in Warsaw, preventing them from entering. I can't find a reference to that story though.

 

If written well.

I seem to recall a character in "The Man in the High Castle" Amazon series. Don't want to spoil anything, but the show humanizes him really well, in my opinion.

You could make me "feel" for Hitler. Stalin. Mao. Unit 731. Rapists, murderers, pedophiles.

How well you could make a Nazi sympathetic *without* immediately defaulting to him having a change of heart or whatever, is another matter entirely. But it's possible.

Do yourself a favor and read about Erwin Rommel.

 

Speaking with my friendly mod hat on, I'd like to thank all the members who have contributed good ideas and examples to help answer @The Piper's inquiry.

Furthermore, I'd like to thank everyone for keeping the thread very civil and friendly. However, a topic like this has a very high potential for going supercritical in the space of one or two posts, so we've decided that it's best to lock this thread. Again, thanks to all for their contributions to this difficult topic.