Originally posted here by The Grunt
Germans aren't terrible people, they were led by terrible men for 25 years, and no one can think that they would alone have the power to stop that. Many tried, many died, but the nazi party prevailed and poisoned the mind of the simple man, as has been done thousands of times in human history. Don't blame it on the people, blame it on the leaders.
Agreed.

A person is smart, people are stupid. Blaming the entire germanic peoples is like, well, claiming people of oriental/asiatic decent are only good for math, dry cleaning, and cooking. Or black people are guaranteed to be superior athletes.

It just isn't true. They are generalizations made on some perceptions, right or wrong, that simply can't apply to the entire group.

Now perhaps the german heritage, culture, and way of life leant itself to the rise to power these individuals achieved, but that doesn't mean the germans were themselves all evil and despiteful to the core.

How many American people support, follow, and wholeheartedly believe in everything George W. Bush has done? Can every last one of them (us) be blamed or rewarded for his accomplishments, good or bad? How about the Iraqis? How about the Maylais? (sp?) Or the Japanese, or the Chinese? Lot's of "democratic" countries are fearful and complaining about China...but did you know that 1 in 5 humans on this planet are Chinese Farmers?

I hope the opening of these archives helps us achieve greater enlightenment and we can minimize the hype and BS behind it...but I really doubt that is going to happen. Someone's gotta make a buck on it, right? And you don't make money with peaceful and cooperative events, just hype and conflict. :P