Chulalongkorn Fine and Applied Arts Faculty dean apologizes for Hitler graduation mural

[SICHONSTEVE]

Come, study at Chula... we are the best in Thailand... we guarantee to make you as benighted as Adolph.

Says Assoc. Professor Supacorn Dispan,

Dean, Fine and Applied Arts Faculty, Chulalongkorn.

P.S. and some lunatic here said Chula is on par with Oxford, Harvard, Yale and Cambridge... Really!

P.P.S. Baht is bound to go up this month...

It might be on a par with Harvard and Yale!!

[samran]

There are comics and movies about the Superhero's some by Marvel but what I cannot understand is where do the students in Thailand get the idea that Hitler was a hero. Has there ever been any books, magazines or movies about him that made him out as a hero. Is this something to do with the Groucho Marx black comedy. Anybody got any ideas it's way beyond me.

Thats the point though isn't it? Hitler is little more than a comic figure to most Thai's.

Though it isn't an intentional ridicule of Hitler, nevertheless they've reduced him to the level of hello kitty and scooby doo. It is hard to take offence, though of course, people will.

Edited July 15, 2013 by samran

[drdoom6996]

Got this from internet (FB in particular)..

A group of students who were unaware of who Hitler was? Gee, now just WHO do you think should be blamed, or responsible, for their lack of "educational awareness"?

Perhaps the man who wrote the letter of apology?

I have an 18 year old daughter here. She is half Thai and half American. She did not understand. We Googled. She read. And now she understands that if we were alive at that time She Wound Not be. She ask if I knew anybody that fought in that war. I told her who. She requested not to go to any University here. She is embarrassed by the Thai ignorance to this important event in the history of all countries. It was World War 2 for goodness sake. What else are they not teaching in University?

[charmonman]

If Thais want to glorify Hitler and his ideology and accept that blond-haired and blue-eyed people of European descent are a superior race, then they are free to do so, but it makes them look pretty damn stupid, doesn't it?

[BillyBobThai]

A copy of this to each person who can read, would be a good start.

[Lingba]

Just for the Hell of it and out of curiosity, I pulled up some images of Hitler on my computer, then called my Thai wife over to look at the pictures and asked her if she knew who the guy was....She looked for a moment and then shrugged her shoulders and said she didn't know..and asked who it was...so after explaining a little, she was so shocked...I asked her if she ever learned about him in school..she said no...

What a country..what an education system

[bigbamboo]

Come, study at Chula... we are the best in Thailand... we guarantee to make you as benighted as Adolph.

Says Assoc. Professor Supacorn Dispan,

Dean, Fine and Applied Arts Faculty, Chulalongkorn.

P.S. and some lunatic here said Chula is on par with Oxford, Harvard, Yale and Cambridge... Really!

P.P.S. Baht is bound to go up this month...

Chula is ranked just inside the top 200 universities in the world and is primarily known for the students having the longest names and the shortest skirts.

Edited July 15, 2013 by bigbamboo

[NanLaew]

.... Thailand's best and brightest....

Holy oxymoron Batman!!!

[atyclb]

Why would a university prof or student on planet thailand know earth history? Totally inappropriate to be aware of anything off planet T

[GuestHouse]

There are comics and movies about the Superhero's some by Marvel but what I cannot understand is where do the students in Thailand get the idea that Hitler was a hero. Has there ever been any books, magazines or movies about him that made him out as a hero. Is this something to do with the Groucho Marx black comedy. Anybody got any ideas it's way beyond me.

Thats the point though isn't it? Hitler is little more than a comic figure to most Thai's.

Though it isn't an intentional ridicule of Hitler, nevertheless they've reduced him to the level of hello kitty and scooby doo. It is hard to take offence, though of course, people will.

It seems an awful lot easier for some to make excuses.

But then this is Thailand, and Thais must not be held accountable for their own actions - they are like children - simple innocents.

[Fullstop]

benightedness of his students

An apology is worthless when served with bullpucky. They KNEW it would cause a reaction. It did. Mission accomplished.

[GuestHouse]

I think rather than demand apologies from the Dean of the university, it might be more effective to identify the young lady giving the Nazi salute and send her along with a few of her friends on a study trip to the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum.

They might then have a few 'facebook' moments to share that are likely to be more instructive than, by the evidence presented, anything they learned at Chula.

[captspectre]

Sad to see the reality of Thailand. Since the late 90's I've see Thailand degenerate into a a rather screwed up country. Thai people are about as bad as they come in my eyes.

This Hitler thing is just another nail in the coffin for Thailand's image "The Land of Smiles".

More like "The Land of Hiels"

What a dump.

it is not surprising that thailand has sunk so low. during the second world war they rolled over to the Japanese, not a shot was fired. yet they have a "victory monument in bangkok! figure that one out.the thai's are just not prone to study history as they keep making the same mistakes! four military coups since 73.

[SCARLETIBIS1]

Try and tell a Thai why it is inappropriate and wrong... and they will just tell you that foreigners have no right to tell them what to do because they were never colonised... their general benightedness knows no bounds...

Countries that got colonized had something to offer the victors. If I were a Thai I wouldn't brag about it.

[metisdead]

A completely off topic post has been removed. The same off topic post was posted in another topic last night and it was deleted. Your motorcycle parking problems are not related to these topics.

[charmonman]

A little research shows that Hitler themed bars and restaurants are also present in other Asian countries, particularly South Korea, which shows that ignorance and insensitivity to European history is not limited to Thailand. Given that Korea suffered under the cruelty of Hitler's ally the Japanese during WW2, their ignorance seem particularly pitiful. What can you expect from a country whose main cultural export is K-Pop? Perhaps all this Nazi/Hitler stupidity is just the Thais imitating the Koreans as they seem to like to do these days, much to their detriment.

[Misterwhisper]

If they wanted to create controversy by juxtaposing "good superheroes" with "bad superheroes", why didn't they stick to their very own "bad superhero" in the first place? I mean former prime minister Field Marshal Plaek Phibulsongkhram, a self-admitted admirer of Hitler and fascism.

Drive down Ratchadamnoen Nok Avenue and marvel at the fascist architecture lining both sides of the boulevard together with the clearly fascist architecture-inspired Democracy Monument.

Phibulsongkhram (whose first name Plaek interestingly translates as "weird") also introduced the greeting "Sawasdee", which - you may have guessed it - literally means "Hail!" (or "Heil!" in German).

The good Field Marshal also is the one who re-named Siam into Thailand (Prathet Thai) in 1939, because he felt that it would better suit his extreme nationalistic policies to stress that this country is FOR THAIS ONLY; not Malays, not Cambodians, not Laotians, not Vietnamese, but Thais, and Thais only.

He also is the one who sided with the Japanese and made his country a de-facto ally (and thus it was NOT a victim of Japanese Imperialism like its neighbouring countries as often falsely claimed; Thailand was an ALLY). The only reason why Thailand was not treated as being on the losing side was that Plaek was deposed literally weeks before war's end and the new government quickly renounced the alliance.

Not that Thai students would know about these facts, because to this day Plaek is indeed depicted as a great man and thus would rather be classified as a "good superhero".

Edited July 15, 2013 by Misterwhisper

[samran]

There are comics and movies about the Superhero's some by Marvel but what I cannot understand is where do the students in Thailand get the idea that Hitler was a hero. Has there ever been any books, magazines or movies about him that made him out as a hero. Is this something to do with the Groucho Marx black comedy. Anybody got any ideas it's way beyond me.

Thats the point though isn't it? Hitler is little more than a comic figure to most Thai's.

Though it isn't an intentional ridicule of Hitler, nevertheless they've reduced him to the level of hello kitty and scooby doo. It is hard to take offence, though of course, people will.

It seems an awful lot easier for some to make excuses.

But then this is Thailand, and Thais must not be held accountable for their own actions - they are like children - simple innocents.

If any of these guys had any knowledge, understanding of what the holocaust was, then my tone would be different. But as everyone seems to be wanting to make clear they haven't. Some people just don't know any better. I just find it hard to be offended.

Use the opportunity to show them the error of their ways? For sure. But something to get angry over? Not for me - and not in this case.

[NanLaew]

As a Jew it is highly offensive to me and I would also think to many Russians who lost 20m people in WWII The really sad thing here is just how isolated and ignorant this facility must be to let it get to this stage. Ignorance comes to mind......the joke is on Thailand.

Yes it's basically ignorance but I think a new trend is growing of immature Thais KNOWING it ticks off foreigners so using Nazi images to have fun with that. But the bright side is that there really isn't an actual politically oriented Neo-Nazi movement in Thailand.

There is no 'bright side' to this.

It is perhaps understandable that Thai people are not educated in this history of the Nazis and the atrocities the Nazis committed, Thailand and Thais were after all not direct victims of the Nazis.

Nevertheless, the atrocities committed by the Nazis are rightly recognised as crimes against humanity - Not just the genocide, but also euthanasia, the crimes committed by the Nazis against their own people, waging unprovoked war, and the wide spread war crimes committed against the both the civilian populations and the captured military personnel of the nations the Nazis invaded.

Of significance to Thailand (and all nations) is the fact that these atrocities started with the lies of Nationalism, the polarisation of the German people and the state control of freedom of expression, education, the press/media - all wrapped up in the flag.

The dangers of Nationalism are not just the genocide committed by the Nazis, though those dangers exist, the dangers start with Nationalists dictating what is and what is not acceptable (patriotic) thought.

There are other dangers too. The wars of Europe arose from national economic, resource and territorial conflicts - Europe learned the cost of these conflicts in WWI and WWII (aka WWI Part II).

Asia now, today, is facing national economic, resource and territorial conflicts - Asia, and Thailand, now, today has nationalist governments and populations 'trained' not 'educated' in blind observance of nationalist agendas.

The dangers are very real

It is in Thailand's best interest to understand the history of Nationalism and where it leads.

The lesson will be learned one way or another.

Valid observations GH but I am afraid that just like Thai-style democracy, any criticism will be put down to hysteria and will be glibly explained away by some 'educated' government mouthpiece as, "Thai-style nationalism different, not same same farang style nationalism."

[Fullstop]

Can someone please explain the difference in the alleged offensiveness between these awkward Uni students efforts and the countless cartoons, songs, movies, TV series and musicals lampooning Hitler over the decades?

Let's face it. The majority of people making noise over this are just doing that.'Making noise' Making what they perceive to be the socially acceptable noise to make in the given situation.

Sheeple.

Edited July 15, 2013 by Fullstop

[Jingthing]

Can someone please explain the difference in the alleged offensiveness between these awkward Uni students efforts and the countless cartoons, songs, movies and musicals lampooning Hitler over the decades?

This wasn't a lampoon. It was a HEROIC depiction.

Next ...

[GuestHouse]

Can someone please explain the difference in the alleged offensiveness between these awkward Uni students efforts and the countless cartoons, songs, movies and musicals lampooning Hitler over the decades?

lampooning

QED

[Fullstop]

Can someone please explain the difference in the alleged offensiveness between these awkward Uni students efforts and the countless cartoons, songs, movies and musicals lampooning Hitler over the decades?

This wasn't a lampoon. It was a HEROIC depiction.

Next ...

Err ... not ALL those movies, songs etc ... "Lampooned" him. But latch on to that one category if it makes you happier. The point is ... Hitler has been used as a figure in "entertainment" for decades.

Baaaa.

[DocN]

I would prefer her to rip open her shirt like Superman.

That's not going to happen, as such thing would be bad for the University's reputation and the girl would be reprimanded, if not severely punished.

...and the Cultural Ministry would be going coockoo about that, also!

Not about the Hitler, though!

[Fullstop]

Can someone please explain the difference in the alleged offensiveness between these awkward Uni students efforts and the countless cartoons, songs, movies and musicals lampooning Hitler over the decades?

This wasn't a lampoon. It was a HEROIC depiction.

Next ...

Err ... not ALL those movies, songs etc ... "Lampooned" him. But latch on to that one category if it makes you happier. The point is ... Hitler has been used as a figure in "entertainment" for decades.

Edited July 15, 2013 by Fullstop

[bigbamboo]

The irony here is that you have a country with essentially two political entities, one claiming to be democrats, the antithesis of dictatorship and the other claiming to be united against dictatorship.

So why the glorification of the most infamous dictator of them all?

[Miami Bob]

Well make no mistake I don't support anything to do with Hitler or his eugenicist agenda, but yes it is very interesting the totally lopsided percentage of elites in the US federal gov that are Jewish relative to the overall population. As for who their indirect masters are [ as well as most other governments ] ....well, good place to start would be with the Rothchilds, Rockefellers , Warburgs, Dutch royals, etc. who control the big multinational corps., banks, military contractors, oil, etc , but like you said that's another thread.

I think a good place to start would be for you to spend some time reading up on where the the ideas you are posting come from..... Here's a clue.... It was from a piece of propaganda published by one of the most oppressive regimes in human history.

Yes I'm aware of their propaganda. What I was saying has to do with the reality of what's going on today, not any regimes propaganda decades ago. Actually the head of the Dutch royal family was a Nazi sympathizer and after the war was the founder of the bilderberg group if you know what that is.

Nice talking to you anyway.

[DocN]

I suggest that this Uni should organise some field trips to a museum in Kanchanaburi.

Perhaps you should go. Then you can see that what happened there was not related to Hitler. Doh!

....ahm...it is Museum, showing the horrors, commited by the Japanese to POW. The W stands for WAR...as in World WAR 2...which was started by...who???

Doh!

[Fullstop]

So why the glorification of the most infamous dictator of them all?

The thing that seems to be going over a lot of heads is that there was no REAL glorification. The uni students were simply "being naughty" knowing full well of the consequences. They baited a single hook ... and got thousands of bites. Like I said earlier ... Mission accomplished.

[Somtamnication]

I am a bit embarrased about my own benightedness.

To save others the trouble of looking this word up it means:

Being in a state of moral or intellectual darkness; unenlightened.

Phew. Thanks for the translation. For a while, I was thinking the British Queen was involved. You know...... be knightedness.....