GardevoirTheknight
150260
3219
178
Not mine, send gardevoir
Jan 18, 2017 4:25 PM
GardevoirTheknight
150260
3219
178
Not mine, send gardevoir
Xdeddc
No. All fascists were scum. They are intrinsically founded on a us vs. them paradigm.
AndPromisTomorrow
He didn't take part in the July 20th plot to kill Hitler. He simply knew about it and didn't mention it
Galhaar
He didn't care for supply lines though, pushed irrationally far ahead.
Burghguy
Rommel, you magnificent bastard, I read your book!!
RoyalewithCHeeSes
HereticsAllOfYou
Rommel wasn't so loved by the Italians. He was a patriot, but not a saint.
IGetBannedALot994
Rommel was bad ass
olhotdogfingers
can you nazi the logic?
ChefBoyarDeezNuts
all nazis are shit
thedissident
The comments are testament to why you shouldn't believe everything on the internet and to do your own research.
xthetenth
A good starting point for those who do: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/4tuviz/is_it_true_that_erwin_rommel_was_kind_to_his/
froghurt
1. Wasn't a part of the plot against Hitler. Just kept quiet.
froghurt
2. Was in charge of building the atlantikwall to protect concentration camps. Did so with slave labour.
froghurt
3. Made Egyptian jews clear the minefields by walking there. Cleared the way for einsatzgruppen. Definitely killed jews.
froghurt
4. You're only left with "didn't kill PoW's and civilians". He was less of a scumbag than other nazis, still a scumbag.
RexGraecorum
He wasn't a member of the Nazi Party, and he didn't participate in the plot, he just knew of it and didn't snitch on the plotters.
Selerox
Unfortunately for him, in the eyes of the Nazi Party that was effectively just as bad.
LLCoolBeans
If you all want an ACTUAL anti-nazi hero to look up to (Rommel was not anti-nazi or even anti-Hitler), look up Admiral Carnaeris
lobosrul
Only senior officer to protest at Hitler's genocidal plans for USSR. It's a silly meme that most of the Heer weren't Nazis, or sympathetic .
SoyDelBerrinche
Dessert Fox.?
GardevoirTheknight
Yup
Cyclopentadien
No, you're thinking of Göring.
SoyDelBerrinche
Got It. Thanks
Cyclopentadien
I suspect that whoever downvoted us didn't get the joke...
Moveoutofthedesert
Er, Rommel was responsible for the deaths of thousands of American and British soldiers. He accepted hitlers politics. He is guilty.
dietderpsy
That was combat, even the vets who served on the British side liked Rommel.
whaleblood
Then he met America in the open field of war. Boom roasted.
ElliotStryker
Nazi sympathizers be like:
Maballanes
Good guy ≠ Nazi
onlyhalfghost
He wasn't a Nazi, just a German general who continued doing his job despite Nazis being a thing.
WeylandAve
Dude. He was in charge of the entire German war effort. Yes he was a Nazi.
onlyhalfghost
Surprisingly, no, he was not. Mostly in charge of the war in Northern Africa and then Italy, until late 1944.
WeylandAve
Even still. Why would you want to admire or excuse a Nazi general?
onlyhalfghost
For being a damn good general. Next you'll tell me Werner von Braun shouldn't be honored for his science work, either.
Maballanes
He was indeed a Nazi, and contrary to popular belief he didn't take part in the complot against Hitler, even though he was forced
Maballanes
To commit suicide. But he was a declared Nazi
WeylandAve
Of course he was a Nazi. Where the hell are these Rommel excusers coming from? It's depressing read this nonsense.
WeylandAve
We're admiring Nazi's on imgur now?
Kalabatos
Just a good nazi. If it's even correct to call this man a nazi
WeylandAve
He was a General for Nazi Germany in charge of the war effort to conquer all of Europe and Africa, Yeah I think its ok to call Rommel a Nazi
Kalabatos
Porsche also complied with the regime. Never agreed with the ideology but worked for them. Of course didn't had the importance that Rommel
Kalabatos
Had. When a dictatorship wants you to help out, you don't really have much of a choice but to do has you're told
WeylandAve
Yeah but don't have to celebrate them.
WeylandAve
And what the fuck is a good Nazi?! What the fuck.
Kalabatos
This man
WeylandAve
Are you a Nazi? Not a joke I'm actually curious.
Kalabatos
I just said they were monsters so l'm clearly a nazi
charliegrs
Hasn't it been disproven that Rommel was the "good Nazi"? I think it's called the Rommel myth or something
canIchooseausernamethislongorwhat
there's literally a wikipedia article on the rommel myth and the "clean wehrmacht" myth
DavidBrooker
Historians like to say: "if you think it's hard to predict the future, you should try the past". At the least, views on him are diverse.
froghurt
He was a "good" nazi, in the sense that he only used jews to clear minefields and only used slave labour to defend the concentration camps.
bigbillyga
He actually wasn't part of the plot. They just wanted him. His "crime" was not telling superiors of the plot. Still an amazing Field Marshal
BigJaseNZ
He was an amazing Divisional commander. He was a decidedly average Field Marshal.
bigbillyga
Fair enough
ghostfox69
Officer of the Whermacht (combined forces) Heer (regular army) never joined the Nazi party, kept 'forgetting'
GardevoirTheknight
Thank you mister
xthetenth
But he also worked w/einsatzgruppe https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/4tuviz/is_it_true_that_erwin_rommel_was_kind_to_his/
liliantbn
Thanks for such a thorough post
LeadByBadExample
Wher(e)macht? Theremacht!
lknight428
Is that so? Even more awesome now
ghostfox69
Yeah, he loved his people and his home. Did his best for his country. sometimes you're just fucked.
madstadd
There was actually legislation past that kept military separate from politics. So most soldiers sailors and airmen weren't party members. 1/
ghostfox69
Didn't know that. Good to know. I do know that he was pressured to join.
madstadd
Oh god - passed**
cmererightmeow
You are forgiven, my son.
MichaelJCabooseLeaderOfTheBlueArmy
It's too late now, make peace with your gods
Farecoalio
Yeah, what? There were a ton of Nazi members in the Wehrmacht.
madstadd
Like I said; there were party members that joined before enlisting. The rule I'm talking about was enacted in 1939 I believe, and may 1/
madstadd
Not have always been enforced. I know it was moreso in the Luftwaffe
madstadd
/2 Though they were free to join the party prior to enlisting and retain membership. The Luftwaffe were suspicious of pilots that were nazis
Swiftninja
Why?
madstadd
The party embedded political spies into the Luftwaffe to root out dissension. Most of the Luftwaffe acted by a code of conduct that the 1/
madstadd
Nazis didn't agree with. There was also a subversion act passed where you could be executed for saying shit like "this war is lost"
scrim4
Slightly less notable than literally speaking being the head of Hitler's bodyguard though. Awks!
ghostfox69
? Please say again in another way. I don't understand.
liliantbn
There should be more history writings telling us about those and other brave people who risked life or died refusing to follow evil orders
genericusername540321009876
It would have been cool to see Richtoffen in charge of the Luftwaffe instead of Goering if he had lived
genericusername540321009876
And yes, this man was epic
todd4a2211
Was from WWI
todd4a2211
Manfred & Lothar. The Richthofen brothers. Both pilots Snoopy fought
genericusername540321009876
The greatest rivalry in the history of rivalries, on a side note it was snoopy that got me interested in the richtofens and the world wars
TygrF
Those 2 commanding at the same time would have made it a LOT harder for the good guys to win the war.
nov227
Somehow I doubt that would have fixed Germany's terrible economy and procurement problems!
genericusername540321009876
That's for sure, but maybe one of those assassination attempts might have worked...idk
SayUntoThee123
Cool? Sure, woulda been cool if hitler was never born for the millions he killed
VyvyanBestard
Rommel was not a part of the plot of assassinate Hitler.
prepbatman
"...Rommel was implicated in plot to assassinate Hitler." loose evidence to say exact involvement, but he supported the assassins.
prepbatman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erwin_Rommel#Plot_against_Hitler
Gurablashta
Thank you for this.
squip
There were multiple plots, and he was tacitly in support of at least one of them.
prepbatman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erwin_Rommel#Plot_against_Hitler
SidneyHarbor
"The" plot? There was a history channel show that highlighted something like 30 attempts.
connorcat
Iirc it was even more than that.
ZombieZooZombieZoo
Maybe not directly, but it's pretty apparent that he wouldn't have missed Hitler https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20_July_plot
prepbatman
he supported it, and would've brought his divisions in to support such.
LLCoolBeans
He was barely even aware of it, if he knew about it at all, and there is no evidence whatsoever to back up your claim.
prepbatman
there were confessions from conspirators that admitted Rommel's part. Likewise the whole "Hitler having him killed" thing.
LLCoolBeans
Hitler had a lot of people killed, he was a paranoid man. Hofacker is the only one who implicated Rommel. Goerdeler said they never told him
LLCoolBeans
The only other implication was a postwar account of Karl Strölin, which may or may not be fully truthful as well. At best it's divisive.
VarlosZ
He basically was. Not a central figure, and wanted Hitler arrested not killed, but knew the conspirators and agreed to support them.
VyvyanBestard
IIRC he was against the idea of assassinating him as that would make Hitler a martyr, but he did know those who were the would be assassins.
jbrandon
The myths of "good guy Rommel" and "the clean Wehrmacht" have been rejected by nearly all historians. Please stop perpetuating them.
cleverbeans
All sources I can find agree so I'm not sure what historians you're thinking of but they don't have much internet presence.
jbrandon
Dude...both topics have their own well cited Wikipedia pages...
Calaros
Alas, nobody in the general public seems to want to hear this.
MoTheCentaur
He wasn't a nazi
pyrrhlis
Just a good German
genesteeler
so a dead one ? jk lol
froghurt
Well he did build the atlantikwall to repel allied forces and defend the concentation camps with slave labour so yeah he was a nazi.
willywheat
Are you retarded? Look at the swastika and eagle on his right chest.
CongratsYouAreHereNow
i've never killed any jews or POWs. can everyone get on my dick too?
FuzzyBwalls
Maybe if you didnt ask
liliantbn
You were never in a situation where you would be killed or suffer greatly if you didn't do it. Theoretically would like to know which way u
SoPhoKingWong
But supported Hitler and his nazi regime. Under his orders thousands of allied forces died.
andyonetime
No one is saying he didn't command forces in a war that killed good guys. Just that he was about as good of a bad guy as one could be.
MoTheCentaur
Except he openly defied many of Hitler's orders, sparing many allied forces such as British Commandos who were to be killed not captured.
ArchibaldFooster
xtraa
So did Wernherr von Braun, who shot Apollo to the moon. And stuff.
harleyquinn30
You should read "Moonglow." I think you'd like it.
VyvyanBestard
Except he didn't support Hitler, nor the Nazi regime.
LLCoolBeans
He supported Hitler and even started out as a member of his bodyguard. He just didn't support the warcrimes.
Camelspotting
Yeah he did. He was a general under the Nazi government and fought at their command. He may not of liked or done some of it but he took part
SoPhoKingWong
Sauce?
RussianMoofinsStoleMyName
Literally anything about rommel
LLCoolBeans
Except for all the parts that say otherwise
[deleted]
[deleted]
RhealityBytes
He was a soldier he killed lots of people, he objected to the atrocities and din't participate in mnay of them.
GigaBoom2
Not many Jews in the Maghreb
Sakkura
Not the only place he was in command. Poland and France had Jews.
Maybeofftopic365
That's not even close to true.
TrueLegateDamar
There were some, he just didn't have any time for that shit plus half his army were Italians who had no taste for it either.
LeadByBadExample
Eh, Italy had internment camps for Jews, too.
xthetenth
Really? Then how'd the pogrom in Beghazi happen? How'd the Einsatzgruppe North Africa kill 2.5k jews in Tunisia?
xthetenth
For citation: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/4tuviz/is_it_true_that_erwin_rommel_was_kind_to_his/
Maybeofftopic365
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maghrebi_Jews there had been Jews living in the maghreb since Roman times
penultimatewarrior
Pretty sure this is all unproven and highly speculative - the historian who started this stuff was David Irving ffs
GetSchwifty
Yeah I was saying "You guys are celebrating a nazi. He was a pretty shit guy."
SoPhoKingWong
Yes but when some words are next to a historic picture it must be truw
PlantainSuperNova
Rommel killed a lot of pows.
penultimatewarrior
But yeah by all means let's start venerating nazis, it seems the time for it
lunncal
Um... He literally wasn't a Nazi though. I don't actually know whether he was a decent guy or whatever, but he didn't join the Nazi party.
xthetenth
He led Hitler's bodyguard and proposed militarizing the hitlerjugend to a degree that its head was uncomfortable with.
lunncal
Also he has been venerated basically since the war ended, at least here in England. It's hardly a new thing, "time for it" or not.
penultimatewarrior
Well neither was Eva Braun, would you say she wasn't a nazi? I mean the ideology is there, if not the membership card.
lunncal
Is the ideology there though in Rommel? I haven't looked into it much, but I was always given the impression it wasn't. Didn't he refuse to-
lunncal
-kill Jewish prisoners despite being ordered to?
TheAngryEngineer
As part of the Wermacht high command, he at least tacitly supported the Nazi takeover. He took the oath. Not a hero.
skelitor120
I only hate those who perpetuated the Holocaust. Being a German-American makes it hard to see this man as a bad guy.
TheEightfoldPath
The takeover in and of itself wasn't a problem. Revolutions happen all the time. I think many germans couldn't back out when the 1/2
TheAngryEngineer
Really? The Nazi takeover of Germany wasn't a problem. Really.
TheEightfoldPath
The takeover wasn't a problem in and of itself no, it seems bad with hindsight when we know what it resulted in.
TheEightfoldPath
Monster showed itself. Post-ww1 germany was broken, no wonder nationalists gained a lot of support, good(&naive?) folk only saw one side 2/2
oumajgad
Better check what was his position in the army before WWII. He became famous long after Nazis came to power.
LLCoolBeans
He also started out as one of Hitler's bodyguards
oumajgad
He started as soldier in WWI. Even got Iron Cross then.
LLCoolBeans
Hitler also earned the iron cross and was a soldier in WWI. It doesn't make you a good general. I meant started in WWII in his bodyguard.
oumajgad
Does that makes him a monster and a nazi? He got this position because he was good soldier. He quickly got promoted anyway.
LLCoolBeans
Promoted through personal connection, not merit. I'm not saying he was a monster, he just wasn't anti-nazi
TheArcticAC
Being one of the most significant reasons why Germany fucked France in a month however does make you a good general
LLCoolBeans
Perhaps you should be googling people like Heinz Guderian, Manstein or von Rundstedt
LLCoolBeans
You are correct. He, however, is not one of those reasons.
CitizenDickbag
https://www.reddit.com/r/badhistory/comments/1x6ny0/rommel_did_nothing_wrong_appears_in_the_most/ Much misinformation.
TheArcticAC
Badhistory is notorious for being badhistory itself
Frugtkagen
Though this is very much true, Rommel is extremely overrated.
TheArcticAC
As a field marshall, yes. As a general, not at all.
CitizenDickbag
Historians have debunked a good deal of the Rommel Myth, it's not just some reddit comment behind it.
TheArcticAC
Historians can say whatever they want, I study history at uni and I know how much of what they say is academic nonsense
TheArcticAC
His book, his battles, and his style is studied by military personel because it was genuinely good stuff
cleverbeans
I haven't found much compelling evidence against it. Too many people witnessed his excellent treatment of POWs and civilians.