Nazis In Our Midst...

[Richard W]

As for his wife, do Thais even know there was a Second World War, or did they think "Hmmm theres a lot of soldiers around here lately, good for business"?

Yes, they remember being bombed by the allies. One Thai told me the Rama VI bridge was destroyed by us, and my wife knows that her relatives were bombed by us. However, it's not so important for them - the devastation of the Burmese wars is probably more important.

[Horizontalbiker]

Another question springs to mind while reading this thread. Why have the Thais adopted the swastika? I've seen it in many places, badges on young Thai guys on the skytrain, tattoos, flags in local bars, stickers on cars. As far as I'm aware the Thais take it as a symbol to mean power and strength, as their not really educated as to the real meaning. I've even stopped people and tried(in my limited Thai) to explain what would happen to them if the people who invented this symbol came to Thailand, some listen some don't.

Don't blame the guys wife for her lack of education.

[PvtDick]

I would never blame the wife for lack of education. I would, however, blame her for a lack of inquisitiveness. If my Thai wife built a shrine to someone in my house, I would certainly be interested enough to find out who he was and what he stood for.

[ka12345]

Another question springs to mind while reading this thread. Why have the Thais adopted the swastika? I've seen it in many places, badges on young Thai guys on the skytrain, tattoos, flags in local bars, stickers on cars. As far as I'm aware the Thais take it as a symbol to mean power and strength, as their not really educated as to the real meaning. I've even stopped people and tried(in my limited Thai) to explain what would happen to them if the people who invented this symbol came to Thailand, some listen some don't.

Don't blame the guys wife for her lack of education.

Ehh, are you not aware that the symbol now known as the swastika was around for thousands of years before the nazis began using it..? It is still used as a religious symbol in many parts of Asia and in that context it has nothing to do with nazism...

The people you try to "educate" probably see you as a lunatic.

[PvtDick]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We've heard about the South Asian roots of the swastika ad nauseum.

What has become popular, however, is the NAZI swastika, tilted, counter-clockwise, in a white circle on a red field. The national flag of the Third Reich. They are NOT displaying it because of any Hindu or Buddhist association with the earlier forms of swastika.

As noted above, people who associate it with being a general bad-ass, without knowing anything about the Third Reich.

[Dutchy2]

I would never blame the wife for lack of education. I would, however, blame her for a lack of inquisitiveness. If my Thai wife built a shrine to someone in my house, I would certainly be interested enough to find out who he was and what he stood for.

Totally right, on the other hand, most of the evil people in the world were married yet their wives couldn't stop them from doing what they did.

I do then not think that that Thai lady can do much about it. Thai women couldn't even stop their men from getting mia nois, it's the financial dependency among other things that makes them often virtually powerless. Apart from the stigma that divorced Thai women have, no Thai man will marry a divorced woman. What can she do?

Dutchy

[Horizontalbiker]

Another question springs to mind while reading this thread. Why have the Thais adopted the swastika? I've seen it in many places, badges on young Thai guys on the skytrain, tattoos, flags in local bars, stickers on cars. As far as I'm aware the Thais take it as a symbol to mean power and strength, as their not really educated as to the real meaning. I've even stopped people and tried(in my limited Thai) to explain what would happen to them if the people who invented this symbol came to Thailand, some listen some don't.

    Don't blame the guys wife for her lack of education.

Ehh, are you not aware that the symbol now known as the swastika was around for thousands of years before the nazis began using it..? It is still used as a religious symbol in many parts of Asia and in that context it has nothing to do with nazism...

The people you try to "educate" probably see you as a lunatic.

PvtDick beat me to it, but as he states, the swastika is a reverse of the Hindu symbol, which I believe stands for prosperity and goodness, hardly something equated with the swastika.

[Khutan]

What has become popular, however, is the NAZI swastika, tilted, counter-clockwise, in a white circle on a red field. The national flag of the Third Reich. They are NOT displaying it because of any Hindu or Buddhist association with the earlier forms of swastika.

Maybe they are too lazy to get the proper depiction of the symbol of whatever.

But I have never met a lazy Thai so I am now confused.

[Dutchy2]

But I have never met a lazy Thai so I am now confused.

Do you never leave your appartment or are you preparing for your first trip to Thailand?

[Horizontalbiker]

Thais lazy!!!! Never, they just don't feel the need to do much that's all

[stumonster]

this issue with symbolism has been ongoing for eons.

the swastika(swastica) in its various forms means many things to many people. Its syncronicity is visually appealing. we are reading into it what we believe it symbolises, which does not mean that every body regards it in the same light.

I believe the french bloke under discussion regards it as a symbol of the nazi's , but so be it.

I flag I regard as a symbol of australian freedom from a distant monachy, the eureka flag,

has been appropiated by neo nazi groups in australia, but still many people regard it in the same way I do.

[PvtDick]

A swastika can mean many things.

A swastika on a white circle on a red field -- the Nazi party flag -- can mean only one.

[possom]

get over it !! each to their own in their own home . the guy didnt preach it to you ,in fact as i recall, you didnt even meet him . i watch documentaries about hitler on the history channel sometimes, and i enjoy them (as i enjoy many factual based programmes ) DOES THIS MAKE ME A NAZI ??

[PvtDick]

Possom, dear, I am over it.

But there is no doubt any reasonable person could make that someone who hangs a Nazi flag Fuhrer-style behind his office chair and has expensive oil paintints of Hitler on every wall, idolizes the man. He also had Nazi treatises explaining how the Holocaust is a Semitic lie hanging around. Even the family telephone downstairs had a Nazi flag sticker on it, for Chrissakes!

Although you (and many of us) watch the History Channel, I'd dare say that none of us (at least, I hope) would display a portrait of the man or Nazi flags or Nazi hate propaganda anywhere in our homes. Intellectual interest is one thing; idolatry is another.

And no, I don't care about what one does in his own home (as long as no one gets hurt). I do, however, worry that someone unbalanced and hateful enough to be a Nazi sympathizer might also be a danger to those around him. I was initially concerned for the guy's wife and child, but I've now let it go. Their (potential) problem, not mine. Right?

[rainman]

I still it believe it matters a lot of your culture or people was under direct 'targeting' from Hitler or any dictator. Stalin was just as bad as Hitler and killed more people, as far as i'm informed. Yet, he was a US/UK ally (from here on called 'Allies'), so Stalin is not considered so bad for the Allies. However, Hitler was the enemy of both and therefor considered worse. Same for the Thais, they were never attacked by Hitler, therefor he is not considered so bad in their views.

[rainman]

But there is no doubt any reasonable person could make that someone who hangs a Nazi flag Fuhrer-style behind his office chair and has expensive oil paintints of Hitler on every wall, idolizes the man. He also had Nazi treatises explaining how the Holocaust is a Semitic lie hanging around. Even the family telephone downstairs had a Nazi flag sticker on it, for Chrissakes!

Then he's most likely a Nazi. As far as i'm aware, its not illegal in Thailand to be a Nazi, so what can one do about it? Not much more than venting in an online forum (no offense, its a good topic to discuss). And he's not alone, so are at least hundreds of thousands of people, if not millions, around the world.

When people tell me they want this or that to change in politics, i always tell them:

"Do not sit around in a bar talking about it. If you really want to change something, go onto the streets, convince people of your ideas".

At the risk of sounding Nazi ...Hitler did that, and it worked.

[igotworms]

Stalin killed more people than Hitler. But they starved or were worked to death in the vast GULAG camps around Russia. Hitler never killed vast amounts of his own people, yet Stalin did.

But the name of Hitler fills one with Dread, wheras Stalin goes by unoticed, or as the great Russian leader who drove Hitler back into Berlin.

Hitler eliminated thousands of of sick, diseased, and mental patient Germans to cleanse the gene pool. And what about the German jews?

Stalin is most definitely not deemed by historians as a great leader. It wasn't he who propelled the Nazis from Russia, it was the guns of his officers aimed at their Russian men holding the front line.

Unless this guy is on some sort of nazi missionary mission, idolizing a former meth junkie is not against the law. But, if his wife is a good friend to your wife, maybe she should tell her about Hitler. Perhaps his wife has the right to know, but will she care, considering that he may be a devoted family man?

If I was married to a nazi I would like to know about it.

[meemiathai]

Hitler achieved some astonishing things in his time. But we only remember the bad things he did.

Sorry! Even if he had invented Viagra(although I don't need it yet), it wouldn't have been good enough for me/us to remember the bad things he did!

And worshipping such a person is dangerous enough IMO! Unless the person has an ant's size brain!

[meemiathai]

I would never blame the wife for lack of education. I would, however, blame her for a lack of inquisitiveness. If my Thai wife built a shrine to someone in my house, I would certainly be interested enough to find out who he was and what he stood for.

Everyone is different. Every relation is different. Perhaps the Thai wife had asked but her French husband didn't tell. Who knows what is happening?

[meemiathai]

And no, I don't care about what one does in his own home (as long as no one gets hurt). I do, however, worry that someone unbalanced and hateful enough to be a Nazi sympathizer might also be a danger to those around him.

Exactly!

[OxfordWill]

There are many books about the Nazi's written in thai, for both school children and adults.

I would think the wife might want to be at least informed as to the potential gravity of her husbands interests, and a simple way of doing this would be to buy her a small 'introduction to hitler' textbook and hand it over with a smile, "This is a book about the man your husband likes so much - I thought you might want to learn about him.'

Let's at least save the kids.

[rainman]

Millions of people drive a car invented by Hitler, the VW Beetle. Billions of people drive on streets invented by Hitler, the Autobahn (commonly known in the US as the 'highway').

[igotworms]

Millions of people drive a car invented by Hitler, the VW Beetle. Billions of people drive on streets invented by Hitler, the Autobahn (commonly known in the US as the 'highway').

He also invented beer and toilet paper. Huh? Hitler didn't create VW, he just had his propaganda machine rename it after convincing Mr Porsche into sharing his technology and facilities. And Hitler invented freeways? I doubt it.

[rainman]

Millions of people drive a car invented by Hitler, the VW Beetle. Billions of people drive on streets invented by Hitler, the Autobahn (commonly known in the US as the 'highway').

He also invented beer and toilet paper. Huh? Hitler didn't create VW, he just had his propaganda machine rename it after convincing Mr Porsche into sharing his technology and facilities. And Hitler invented freeways? I doubt it.

Don't get me wrong, i'm not supporting anyone or anything; i'm just writing what i've read from other sources.

Here are some interesting pages on the subject from the Hitler Historic Museum:

http://www.hitler.org/artifacts/volkswagen/

http://www.hitler.org/artifacts/autobahn/

Perhaps best known throughout the world for its superior engineering and open stretches without a speed limit, the Autobahn was Hitler's invention from his dreams about an interstate highway system.

...

Sitting at a restaurant table in Munich in the summer of 1932, Hitler designed the prototype for what would become the immensely successful Beetle design for Volkswagen (literally, the "car of the people").

[simple1]

There are many books about the Nazi's written in thai, for both school children and adults.

I would think the wife might want to be at least informed as to the potential gravity of her husbands interests, and a simple way of doing this would be to buy her a small 'introduction to hitler' textbook and hand it over with a smile, "This is a book about the man your husband likes so much - I thought you might want to learn about him.'

Let's at least save the kids.

I've been looking for history books in Thai for my Thai stepson; aged 13. He keeps saying that his school does not have any material on foreign history (private bi-lingual school). Can you recommend a bookshop or place/s to obtain? I'm based in Pattaya, but can commute to BKK Thanks...

[Crash999]

Of course I don't mean that Thai women are buffalo-brained in general!

I mean that this woman is married to a man who obviously spends much of his time worshipping Hitler -- yet she doesn't even both to ask who he is or what he's all about.

I cringe a little at the 'buffalo' comments... She almost certainly *has* asked him at some point and what he told her was most likely not that Hitler was an evil person. She'd have no reason to disbelieve what her husband told her, so no reason to label her as stupid.

This guy's misguided admiration of Hitler in and of itself isn't harming anyone- hence the extreme reactions I read on this thread are over the top. Not really much that can be done about this guy- after all, everyone is entitled to have crazy beliefs. Of course if he is in his 80s and you found an old SS uniform in his closet then that'd be a different matter....

[Dickie]

He's dead. The people he caused to die are also dead. The benefits of the war are still with us along with the bad history. Why refuse to acknowledge the benefits just because he took left-wing thinking to the extreme?

[ASIC]

Wasn't that supposed to be right-wing thinking?

[Dickie]

Wasn't that supposed to be right-wing thinking? 

Depends upon your interpretation of 'right wing'. Left-wingers have, very successfully, convinced people that AH was right wing when, in fact, he was a classic example of left-wing gone mad.

[350torana]

I always thought Nazism was an example of extreme version of right wing politics. And Stalin was to the other end. The end result is ironic anyways,u always end up with mass graves, people kicking in doors in the middle of the night and ragtag 'militias with ak 47s in modern days .

'Animal Farm' by George Orwell is a good example of this irony .