This is fascinating to hear- thanks for posting. When the movie "Der Untergang" or "Downfall" came out I read that Bruno Ganz based much of his portrayal of Hitler on these very tapes- apparently the only known recordings of Der Fuhrer speaking conversationally.

What I'd really like to have on the Sift is a video of the entire conversation along with English subtitles.

*quality stuff

Boosting this quality contribution up in the Hot Listing - declared quality by therealblankman.

This is amazing. It doesn't sound at all like the man we're used to hearing. You know:

I think I found the transcript. I don't know which part is in the video, but anyway: http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=1087

wow! That took me by surprise, totally opposite of what I pictured he sounded like.

*darkness *talks

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>> ^chtierna:

I think I found the transcript. I don't know which part is in the video, but anyway: http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=1087


This video covers the part between these two statements:

1: And my whole - I originally wanted to - already in the fall of '39 I wanted to conduct the campaign in the west - on the continuously bad weather we experienced hindered us.
2: I gave the order to attack on the 10th on the 8th.

The softer side of Hitler

haha! what a self-conscious bum.

The most interesting (and scary) thing re: WW2 history to me is that mass genocide can be conducted by normal people. It's very easy to label these guys "monsters" because that detaches them from reality. It's really crazy to wrap one's head around the fact that this really happened, and was conducted by relatively normal people.

I have a hard time integrating this fact into the future I want to see for humanity; how can a race of species
so guilty of violence against itself unify enough to solve some of the very serious problems we're facing right now. (including, sadly enough, first-world institutionalized racism... thanks Arizona)

We'll have to stay sharp and be vocal to help prevent these sorts of things from happening again.

Hitler is going to be outraged when he finds out he was secretly recorded.

DAS WAR EIN BEFEHL!!!

>> ^jimnms:

Hitler is going to be outraged when he finds out he was secretly recorded.

>> ^therealblankman:

This is fascinating to hear- thanks for posting. When the movie "Der Untergang" or "Downfall" came out I read that Bruno Ganz based much of his portrayal of Hitler on these very tapes- apparently the only known recordings of Der Fuhrer speaking conversationally.
What I'd really like to have on the Sift is a video of the entire conversation along with English subtitles.
quality stuff


If i might correct: you should spell "der" in lower case as long as it's not part of a name (just like the movie name "Der Untergang") or the first word in a sentence. It should be: "...recordings of der...", but since the case / casus is not correct it's wrong anyway. And if you want to use the german original, you should spell it "Führer". Not trying to be a smartass, don't get me the wrong way :-) We're just a few german native speakers around here so i thought I might help a little.

Thanks for correcting my Grammar, especially in a language which I do not speak- it'll come in handy for me to know I shouldn't capitalize the "D" in "der Führer", not to mention instructing me in the proper use of an umlaut. You've saved me from humiliation and embarassment by going out of your way to teach me the use of proper German grammar. There's a term used on the internet for people who do so, but frankly it escapes me at the moment... some sort of "Grammar Authorities" or "Grammar Strict Police"... damnit, what's the word I'm looking for?

@conan I thought it was actually called Der Untergang, is it just Untergang?

^ excellent retort. This comment alone made the video worth watching

I think they were relatively normal people, they just completely detached themselves from what they were actually doing. Like Stalin said, 1 million killed is a statistic. I doubt Hitler could have killed a man up close and personal, like his soldiers did.

In essence it's a psychopathic trait, to completely lose remorse or empathy, though it's likely a mild form of it, since he doesn't not do the killing himself. For a person, there's a tremendous difference between pressing a button and killing people or stabbing them, for instance. Just giving the orders, is different from actually doing it.

>> ^Truckchase:

The most interesting (and scary) thing re: WW2 history to me is that mass genocide can be conducted by normal people. It's very easy to label these guys "monsters" because that detaches them from reality. It's really crazy to wrap one's head around the fact that this really happened, and was conducted by relatively normal people.
I have a hard time integrating this fact into the future I want to see for humanity; how can a race of species
so guilty of violence against itself unify enough to solve some of the very serious problems we're facing right now. (including, sadly enough, first-world institutionalized racism... thanks Arizona)
We'll have to stay sharp and be vocal to help prevent these sorts of things from happening again.

>> ^therealblankman:

Thanks for correcting my Grammar, especially in a language which I do not speak- it'll come in handy for me to know I shouldn't capitalize the "D" in "der Führer", not to mention instructing me in the proper use of an umlaut. You've saved me from humiliation and embarassment by going out of your way to teach me the use of proper German grammar. There's a term used on the internet for people who do so, but frankly it escapes me at the moment... some sort of "Grammar Authorities" or "Grammar Strict Police"... damnit, what's the word I'm looking for?


I'm sorry if i offended you, i didn't mean to.

>> ^gwiz665:

@<a rel="nofollow" href="http://videosift.com/member/conan" title="member since June 1st, 2006" class="profilelink">conan I thought it was actually called Der Untergang, is it just Untergang?


No you're right, the movie's name is "Der Untergang". Maybe my post was somewhat confusing.

>> ^therealblankman:
Thanks for correcting my Grammar, especially in a language which I do not speak- it'll come in handy for me to know I shouldn't capitalize the "D" in "der Führer", not to mention instructing me in the proper use of an umlaut. You've saved me from humiliation and embarassment by going out of your way to teach me the use of proper German grammar. There's a term used on the internet for people who do so, but frankly it escapes me at the moment... some sort of "Grammar Authorities" or "Grammar Strict Police"... damnit, what's the word I'm looking for?


Yeesh. If you can't take a little anal retention, you may want to stop browsing the Sift...

No, please don't misunderstand. I was joking myself- taking advantage of the situation. I mean seriously, how often does one get to call another a "Grammar Nazi" in so appropriate a situation? You corrected my grammar in a posting regarding a video about Hitler? Perfect, delicious irony and I thank you for setting it up so perfectly.

http://videosift.com/video/Grammar-Nazis-Downfall-Subtitles

I don't know why anyone would be surprised by this. It's not like he was a raving psychopath all of the time. Just most of the time.

It's certainly true that the idea that nazi's were all very much human is a much more disturbing thought than the idea that they were all psychopaths or monsters. In fact, I think that that last statement is just too easy an explanation. It's too easy to dismiss it as "oh, they were just crazy and evil". They were, most likely, not. And that is far scarier.

From the transcript it seems the USSR would invade Europe regardless of Nazi aggression. Atleast the eastern part to secure the oil - as always.

>> ^Truckchase:

The most interesting (and scary) thing re: WW2 history to me is that mass genocide can be conducted by normal people. It's very easy to label these guys "monsters" because that detaches them from reality. It's really crazy to wrap one's head around the fact that this really happened, and was conducted by relatively normal people.
I have a hard time integrating this fact into the future I want to see for humanity; how can a race of species
so guilty of violence against itself unify enough to solve some of the very serious problems we're facing right now. (including, sadly enough, first-world institutionalized racism... thanks Arizona)
We'll have to stay sharp and be vocal to help prevent these sorts of things from happening again.


I remember a great book I had to read in college called "Ordinary Men" on this very question. It's about how the average normal German became the voluntary perpetrators of the Holocaust. The scary part of WWII is that they weren't forced or threatened and that they weren't much different from you or I. Everything around them enacted a psychological transformation to make ordinary men into the participants in the most monstrous crime in human history.

*dead

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*military *politics *talks *audio

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