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News & Current Events Apr 25, 2026 at 6:14 PM

Nazi-looted $10 million Stradivarius violin has turned up in France, says expert

Posted by Scary_Statement4612

Nazi-looted $10 million Stradivarius violin has turned up in France, says expert
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Nazi-looted $10 million Stradivarius violin has turned up in France, says expert
Has a 300-year-old Stradivarius violin stolen by the Nazis during the Second World War turned up in France? Pascale Bernheim, an expert on looted musical instruments, believes so.
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agisten 1 day ago +1214
I bet someone who knew what exactly it was kept it hidden, then recently passed away, and new owners sold it or are looking to sell.
1214
Cold_Specialist_3656 1 day ago +565
Hide it till statute of limitations runs out and any heirs that could claim it are gone.  Really common
565
Raammson 23 hr ago +239
There’s like no statute of limitations for conversion or larceny in a lot of countries. Also the whole the insurance company gets the title thing is a meme that tv shows made up. 
239
ContinuumGuy 19 hr ago +41
IIRC some Spanish museum tried to play the "statute of limitations" card on some family in California whose ancestors lost their entire art collection during the 30s and 40s to Nazis and some of the pieces ended up at this one museum, and California basically passed a law that said "b**** please." While California obviously can't force the Spanish museum to hand over the paintings (although I would watch a movie about some thieves hired by a government to steal back stolen Holocaust loot while providing plausible deniability), IIRC if the law goes into effect (there's legal disputes going on over it) I presume it'd allow the State of California to take action against anyone involved in that museum who may have business interests in California (and given that California is the 4th largest economy in the world probably means SOMEONE would be exposed) if the family wins its lawsuit. (Note that I may be misremembering this so please correct me if I have some details wrong)
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ZuAusHierDa 13 hr ago +10
Usually you can’t sue a nation in another nation. That’s a principle of international law.
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Dickbutt11765 12 hr ago +7
There are [highly relevant exceptions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Austria_v._Altmann) that apply to theft by the Nazis during this time period, though. This case was quite the big deal at the time.
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ZuAusHierDa 11 hr ago +2
Morally I’m on the side of the woman, but apparently international law always vanishes when it comes to Nazis.
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Cold_Specialist_3656 22 hr ago +44
Yeah but good luck finding evidence or anyone to prosecute 100 years later.
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Juggletrain 21 hr ago +105
The evidence is the violin, and you don't need to prosecute anyone for a dispute over ownership of stolen goods.
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church-rosser 18 hr ago +6
you still need to show lawful ownership at time of theft. Otherwise, that Stradivarius belonged to my great grandfather and I'm claiming it's ownership rightfully descends to me as the sole surviving heir.
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petit_cochon 18 hr ago +35
If you had bothered to read the article: > Bernheim found that Polish industrialist Henryk Grohman had owned the instrument before the Second World War, then handed it over to the Polish museum before his death.
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church-rosser 18 hr ago -25
i read it. "you're oughta your element Donny".
-25
TotoCocoAndBeaks 9 hr ago +1
God this is such an ignorant comment. Good luck proving that you legitimately own an item that will have considerable evidence to the contrary. Very specific types of people legitimately owned them, and your hypothetical granddad who passed his stolen one down to you wasn’t one and it will be very easy to prove.
1
giggity_giggity 21 hr ago +20
I was taught that you can’t pass title to stolen property.
20
SamizdatGuy 17 hr ago +4
Because you don't have title to pass
4
ZuAusHierDa 13 hr ago +1
Depends on the national law.
1
Mystic_Jewel 15 hr ago +5
In addition, statue of limitations is typically to report a crime and not for crimes already reported. You can’t commit a very obvious crime and the go “haha! You didn’t catch me in so many years so now it doesn’t matter!”
5
KendalBoy 18 hr ago +2
It was Faye Dunaway chasing Steve McQueen!
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whalebackshoal 16 hr ago +2
The SOL can expire but no one can acquire good title to property which is stolen.
2
SBRH33 23 hr ago +109
Yep. That is exactly how a cache of extremely rare 1933 gold double eagles were found in Philadelphia. Turns out they were stolen from the Philly mint and hidden away for for almost 80 years in a hidden compartment at I. Switt Jewelry blocks away from the mint. The story is pretty wild because when the coins were found they were taken to the mint to be verified only to be seized by the federal government and locked up in Fort Knox. The family sued and actually won a substantial settlement in the late 2000's
109
Raammson 23 hr ago +135
The family didn’t get shit a jury ruled that the dead family member has stolen the coins or bribed someone to steal them. The family then bitched and moaned and whined through three appeals and lost. 
135
SBRH33 22 hr ago +50
This I did not realize. As I remember it, back in 2004, the case with the Feds was settled and the value of the coins were to split between the estate and the Feds. And that's the last I paid attention to it. Turns out the Feds changed their minds at the last moment and successfully sued the estate for complete ownership and zero compensation. Ooooof
50
UpstairsConnection57 21 hr ago +41
The family never owned the coins to begin with. Therefore they lost nothing.
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Uilamin 17 hr ago +1
I am assuming some legal confusion might come in with respect to being a neutral 3rd party gaining possession of stolen property. If Person B steals from Person A and then Person B sells to Person C then Person C is considered the legitimate owner (with some caveats). Person A (depending on the jurisdiction) has the right to purchase the stolen item from Person C at the cost Person C paid Person B (to prevent Person C becoming a victim). If you were to take this in an inheritance case and argue that the inheritors were neutral 3rd parties then the initial victim would still have a right to purchase the property from the inheritor... however, in this case, the inheritor got it for free and therefore that right could be exercised without a cost (unless they paid an inheritance tax, which case the government could refund the relevant parts in order to take possession)
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UpstairsConnection57 17 hr ago +6
You can not inherit stolen property, at least not in my neck of the woods.
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Hippiebigbuckle 14 hr ago +6
> If Person B steals from Person A and then Person B sells to Person C then Person C is considered the legitimate owner (with some caveats). What?! No. This isn’t even remotely true.
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joeyblow 13 hr ago +2
Yea where Im from thats just receiving stolen property and its confiscated and either returned to the original owner or next of kin.
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EttinTerrorPacts 9 hr ago +1
At common law, no. Nemo dat quod non habet. But equity can intervene on behalf of a bona fide purchaser for value without notice. This all depends on jurisdiction, of course, and can be further modified by statute, including for specific categories of property.
1
yoghurt 15 hr ago +4
You might be thinking of a different case regarding the single 1933 Double Eagle which was legally exported by King Farouk of Egypt in the 30s… it disappeared for a while after he was overthrown, and when it turned up again, there was a prolonged lawsuit in which the owner and US government eventually settled on a split of the proceeds at auction.
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Ooops_I_Reddit_Again 22 hr ago +31
Morons for taking it all to get verified at the same time
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Skimballs 21 hr ago +15
It’s like getting your illegal drugs tested at the police department. What could possibli go wrong?
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church-rosser 18 hr ago +6
In Philly, not much. Maybe a cop gets high and continues doing nothing all day long. Go Birds!
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omnibossk 12 hr ago +2
They inherited the intellect of their ancestor for sure.
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Ryukajin 18 hr ago +6
dang they could have been rich if they just melted the gold before.
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deedee2148 16 hr ago +3
Oh there's plenty of stuff hidden in Europe and the USA, after the Nazis, US soldiers were the biggest thieves. 
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tanaephis77400 9 hr ago +1
It's fortunate that they knew what it was. A large number of valuable historical artifacts or works of art probably ended in a landfill because inheritors had no clue and were in a hurry to clear the deceased's house.
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joeschmoe86 1 day ago +372
Not in a good way, but it's honestly impressive how the Nazis managed to loot so much valuable shit without the first troops there destroying it. I can't imagine the average marine stopping to think whether this shitty old violin might be worth more than the town he grew up in.
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Kokks 1 day ago +226
They looted rich people, so they knew the stuff is valuable.
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snakeLipssynk 21 hr ago -39
The rich needed to be looted (bc they looted it), but not via a holocaust.
-39
Ready_Nature 19 hr ago +13
How else do you think that would happen?
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ASimpleBlueMage 15 hr ago +17
This post is a reminder that things can go too far left lol. What kind of dumbass statement is this? Yes the wealthy need to be appropriately taxed, but looting is just criminal behavior. 
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KingBretwald 23 hr ago +185
A lot of their looting was systematic, not done by random soldiers. The Nazis systematically looted from museums and rich people's houses. There were whole departments for it. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose\_Valland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Valland) \- a member of the French resistance - documented so much of the theft in France which allowed many works to be saved from resistance bombing, and to be returned after the war.
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ContinuumGuy 19 hr ago +28
There was also a book (and so-so movie) about the western Allies efforts to locate Nazi looting -- The Monuments Men. Really goes into detail just how systemic the Nazis were. Hitler wanted to put all of the art he liked into museums in Austria and Germany once the war was over.
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Fuddlerontheroof 17 hr ago +22
There’s a documentary called the R*** of Europa, I believe, that is basically a factual version of the story. I watched it on Netflix a while back, not sure if it’s still there. It talks all about the systemic looting and theft by the Nazis, the real Monuments Men, and the general destruction of fine art, architecture, etc during the war. It was pretty well done if I remember right. Some crazy stories like how the French evacuated everything from the Louvre to keep the Nazis from stealing it.
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throwawayyyywego2024 10 hr ago +1
He was proabbly going to claim it was all invented by Germany or originally belonged to Germany. They had this very Aryan centric view of history and constantly claiming shit belonged to ancient Aryans or "lost German tribes ( great zimbabwe)
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Qualityhams 22 hr ago +19
It’s not impressive, the Nazis who had the stolen loot didn’t go anywhere and were folded back into society.
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Commercial-Co 14 hr ago +6
One descendant even became president of the us
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ZuAusHierDa 13 hr ago +2
Which one? There was a president with nazi parents?
2
Silver_Adagio138 1 day ago +36
‘Millions’ of art works still missing
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djseifer 20 hr ago +19
Somewhere out there, probably buried in a mineshaft, is the Amber Room.
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Rooilia 11 hr ago +3
I am almost certain it burned down in the Königsberg castle. The description of what was left fits melted ember. Btw. Why would it still sit in a mine shaft if you have to store several waggons of crates. How would you overlook that? Very unlikely no one noticed.
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Moftem 12 hr ago +2
[A very interesting read. Thank you!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber_Room)
2
Mohingan 23 hr ago +20
A lot of people don’t know that the Nazi economy pretty much solely relied on the continuous conquest and thievery of others, and Paris specifically was spared from shelling and bombing on the most part because of how much art and valuables were located in it.
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Nervous_Promotion819 22 hr ago +37
> and Paris specifically was spared from shelling and bombing on the most part because of how much art and valuables were located in it Well, not really. Paris remained intact mainly because the French decided not to defend it, in order to prevent it from being destroyed like other cities. As a result, Germany didn’t need to bomb the city to take control of it
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FuzzyComedian638 22 hr ago +22
The French took apart the Rose Window at Notre Dame, piece by piece, and hid it so it wouldn't be destroyed. After the war they put it back together, again piece by piece. 
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Emergency-Style7392 19 hr ago +3
Prague did the same thing
3
UpstairsConnection57 17 hr ago +5
The Nazis were efficient evil. Nothing to be admired, but something to be noted.
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Luna__Moonkitty 21 hr ago +15
Reports of ICE agents raiding the wrong house, taking whatever they want then leaving...
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WampaCat 16 hr ago +2
I mean this is just one violin. Imagine how many others might have been destroyed just for this one to remain
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Cool-Airline-9172 17 hr ago +5
The Nazi invasion was an excuse for other countries to steal from the Jewish people.
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PlatinumPOS 23 hr ago -10
The average marine (or German) didn’t. Just like finding dinosaur fossils, most of what there had been was destroyed. It’s due to random flukes, luck, and sometimes diligence that something like this survived.
-10
HeirophantGreen 1 day ago +176
If you deny cookies, you can't read the article. That's c***.
176
jews4beer 1 day ago +72
I denied cookies. It yelled at me again that I wouldn't see advertisements. And then I went on to read the article, but with no half page ads. Was actually pleasant.
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Koala_eiO 1 day ago +10
How do you get ads anywhere on the internet? I haven't seen an ad in like 20 years, when I first installed an ad blocker.
10
jews4beer 1 day ago +2
I always used uBlock. It doesn't work anymore and I haven't found a trustworthy replacement yet.
2
IcyCow5880 1 day ago +32
It works the same way as ever on Firefox. You just have to ditch Chrome who decided to ban ublock
32
Grouchy-Donkey-8609 22 hr ago +10
firefox makes it easy to switch, for those who care. Its worth it for unblock and sponsorblock(for youtube) alone.
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Moftem 12 hr ago +2
Ah yes. My beloved old, slightly lethargic but perpetually anarchistic Firefox.
2
AznKian 1 day ago +7
You can make it work on chrome still. You have to change the boot path for chrome to allow legacy extensions. Guide is out there on listnook.
7
Brullaapje 1 day ago +2
Out of intrest is the uBlock on android in combination with Firefox?
2
vixxienz 21 hr ago +2
still works on anything other than chrome
2
UKFightersAreTrash 15 hr ago +1
"Adguard Adblocker" works pretty well for chrome.
1
jmeel14 12 hr ago +1
If you're talking about PC, then I suggest getting something called a script blocker. I use NoScript. The way it works is, it scans through the website for links to script requests (NoScript also handles files like fonts, images, etc.), then gives you the option to either let it through or block it, blocking most ads (except on YT and Google, which seem to obtain ads from their own network, meaning blocking them disables the website). I have it set to whitelist mode, meaning everything is blocked by default unless I allow it.
1
spinbutton 23 hr ago +1
On your phone? I use ad blockers on my pc, but I need to figure out how to do it on my phone
1
vwguy1 22 hr ago +8
[Firefox Focus](https://www.firefox.com/en-US/mobile/focus/) is super privacy-centered as it has built-in ad block and when you close the app, it automatically deletes all history, cookies, session data, trackers ect. Edit: link formatting fixed
8
RoscoePSoultrain 18 hr ago +2
Does that mean you have to relog into a site every time you visit?
2
vwguy1 16 hr ago +5
In Firefox Focus yes, you will need to log in to any websites every single time you close the app, which is the point. Absolutely nothing is saved from the browsing session and all trackers are blocked as well. Mine says 332,837 trackers blocked so far which is just insane.
5
TemmieXdd 22 hr ago +3
I know brave has built in adblock, I think Mozilla mobile has ability to run extensions and I assume there are couple more browsers with such feature.
3
Substantial_Policy60 23 hr ago -1
I pay for AdGuard, I think its worth it. If I use the desktop version of YT and Twitch on my phone I get no ads as well..assume you have android but it works on Iphone as well as I have a 16.
-1
kermityfrog2 16 hr ago +3
WTF is up with this article anyways? I can barely understand it. It's got disjointed short paragraphs that are barely related to each other.
3
franklindstallone 23 hr ago +2
Using 1blocker on safari it never asks about cookies and works just fine.
2
swng 16 hr ago +2
If you open the page in incognito mode and accept cookies, don't they just get deleted when you close your incognito window?
2
Illumanutti 23 hr ago +34
Damn Agatha, I work my ass off finding that at the bottom of vault 92 so you can fence to the caravans?!
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2toneSound 20 hr ago +5
I feel like 10mil is pretty c**** for such a unique asset
5
HenriettaSnacks 22 hr ago +5
The red violin? 
5
ExynosHD 18 hr ago +4
I bet you Neal Caffrey needed money and decided to sell it off
4
Imbendo 15 hr ago +4
Curious how it was stored. These instruments need to be played consistently and kept in the right environment. It’s why most of the existing Stradivarius instruments are in loan to professional musicians.
4
Pale-Asparagus-8733 1 day ago +32
After all these years, it was just stringing us along.
32
ScutumSobiescianum 19 hr ago +5
Played us like a fiddle
5
pickledambition 23 hr ago +7
You can't fret when it comes to violins
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Yum_Kaax 21 hr ago +3
Frets on a violin?
3
zaevilbunny38 23 hr ago +14
Here's your reminder that the French Police have never been reformed, after N@zi occupation. The same police that hunted resistance members and cleared undesirables homes, all with honors, and pensions, with no investigation.
14
Rooilia 11 hr ago +1
So denazification ended at germanys border. Good to know.
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HugoSur4o 10 hr ago +1
Denazification didn't happen in germany either fyi
1
hot-black-coffee 21 hr ago +4
“My Stradivarius! My beautiful Stradivarius!” -Larry Fine, ‘Disorder in the Court’
4
ShareEvening5856 17 hr ago +2
Playable?
2
FishermanWaste1268 22 hr ago +2
I would have been trying to sell that in China or somewhere non European.
2
throwawayhyperbeam 20 hr ago
Stradiwhovius?
0
Cool-Airline-9172 17 hr ago
"Nazi Looted" = theft by countries like Sweden and France who capitulated so they could also steal from the Jews.
0
ResistOk9351 16 hr ago +11
Per the article the violin disappeared from a museum in Warsaw Poland at the time when the Nazis were retreating from the Soviet advance.
11
Cool-Airline-9172 16 hr ago -5
Ok, thanks. My Bad. I don't put Poland in the same basket as Sweden and France when it comes to WWII.
-5
ContributionSad4461 9 hr ago +1
Sweden was famously neutral during WWII and did not steal from any Jews afaik, we would probably have given them up if it came to that but it didn’t thank god
1
boojiboy1984 16 hr ago +1
Don't tell trump you can loot.
1
DaleceBynajmniej 11 hr ago +1
Now do Poland
1
Rooilia 11 hr ago +1
Looted by Nazis, turns up in France. I would like to know the middle men.
1
whereismo293 20 hr ago -6
French and English are the biggest thieves
-6
MourningRIF 1 day ago -14
Just in time for Trump to steal it.
-14
IcyCow5880 1 day ago -28
I'm not a Trumper cuz I have disdain for all politicians equally but u sound like you have TDS.
-28
Ath47 16 hr ago +3
You just outed yourself. Literally nobody who dislikes Trump would ever refer to Trump Derrangement Syndrome. He invented that term to deflect criticism.
3
IcyCow5880 16 hr ago
Buddy, I'm a Canadian. He literally talks about taking over my country, why tf would I like him? But if you look at a story about a violin and start thinking about Trump... well then something is obviously wrong with your thought patterns. As I said, I dislike all politicians because they're all liars. Just most of them are a lot more smooth about it than Trump. Of course, because I dislike all of them I'm a conspiracy theorist, so I'm told.
0
Ath47 16 hr ago +1
This dude was just joking, because stealing a $10m artifact during a war seems extremely on brand for Trump. He already got downvoted a bunch for bringing up Trump when most of us are trying to avoid thinking of him. But then you brought up TDS, which is not a real thing, and is a fictional disorder invented by republicans specifically to villainize their (wholly valid) critics. It's unusual to ever see it mentioned by someone outside the cult. But I guess here we are.
1
IcyCow5880 16 hr ago +2
Yeah, its cuz i dont follow the Trumper cult or the anti-Trumper cult so I'm not hip as to who owns which terms.
2
Ath47 15 hr ago +1
Fair enough. Didn't mean to make assumptions.
1
GlorifiedBurito 1 day ago +16
You sound like you eat up propaganda like it’s your last meal on earth
16
namideus 21 hr ago -7
Why would Trump steal a violin
-7
church-rosser 18 hr ago +1
Cuz, "Im the best fiddler ever know to man. People say to me, "Donald, how can you play the violin so well?" And you know, I oughta win the Nobel Peace Prize for my Peacemaking efforts in the middle east, but something something Biden..."
1
UndeadBuggalo 9 hr ago +1
Stratawhovius? Planes upside down. Junk
1
GlokzDNB 1 day ago -95
Nazi this Nazi that Again, they were just Germans. We blame Israel for their genocide, not their ruling party. I hate when I see Nazi related titles like they were some kind of extraterrestrial invaders Germans killed millions, stole wealth and art from all the Europe, period.
-95
Pleasant-Feeling-644 1 day ago +10
German this German that Again, they were just humans. We blame humans for their genocide, not their ethnicity. I hate when I see german related titles like they were some kind of extraterrestrial invaders Humans killed millions, stole wealth and art from all the of the world, period.
10
WardedDruid 1 day ago +35
No. They were f****** Nazis. In 80 years when history is teaching about all the horrible shit that came from the MAGA movement, I don't want someone saying that they were just Americans. F***. That. There are so many of us opposed to what's going on, that we should not be lumped in with those shitty f****** people.
35
jopperjawZ 1 day ago -10
But the MAGA movement *is* just Americans. Denying that fact only allows the same basic flaws within American culture that produced this movement to continue to flourish after the movement itself has petered out
-10
L2Sing 23 hr ago +14
All squares are rectangles. Not all rectangles are squares.
14
jopperjawZ 23 hr ago -8
Right, and if the fundamental problem is with right angles, emphasizing the difference in the length of the sides only helps to keep from solving that problem
-8
WardedDruid 23 hr ago +4
And the Nazis were just Germans. You can still differentiate between those that supported the fascist scum and those that did not. No one is denying that the MAGAts are all Americans. But not all Americans are MAGAts, and they should not all be lumped together.
4
jopperjawZ 23 hr ago -7
MAGA is the symptom, not the disease. Just because not every American has exhibited that symptom, doesn't mean they don't have the same disease
-7
jmodshelp 1 day ago +41
Because the German people went through and go through a lot to try and make amends for their past. What a shit take.
41
big_ron_pen15 1 day ago +16
Fair take by you here though.
16
GlokzDNB 1 day ago -26
Doesn't matter, you can't undo what's done. If you build concentration camps and lose the war it will take centuries for people to forget. There are still people out here who witnessed this. No matter how many of you are there to treat Nazis like some aliens, I'll always remember stories told by my grandmother telling me what Germans did. I will always remember stories on graves in the middle of nowhere where families were killed for hiding jews. Nobody of my family ever said Nazis did this or that. Old people always said Germans did this and that, and so will I until my last day on this planet
-26
Koala_eiO 1 day ago +23
Yeah ok, some pre-1945 Germans did that. So what? The Germans of today aren't responsible for what happened 80 years ago.
23
big_ron_pen15 23 hr ago +3
Does your dad know that you rollerblade
3
faen_du_sa 1 day ago +10
idk about you, but I do def blame their ruling party. I do think as with the Nazis, they have brainwashed a lot of their population to go with them though.
10
Windturnscold 1 day ago +3
But when the Palestinians do something people blame Hamas, their elected government
3
Confident_Access6498 1 day ago -2
Correct.
-2
jopperjawZ 1 day ago -16
And they felt entitled to do so because it was all perfectly in-line with all of European history up to that point. Nazis became the scapegoat for what were fundamental problems within European culture
-16
InspectorDull5915 1 day ago +11
The Nazi's were scapegoats? That's something I never expected to hear.
11
jopperjawZ 1 day ago -9
The Nazis were scapegoats for the broader sins of European culture. Nothing within Nazism is out of line with the actions and ideologies that were prevalent throughout Europe both before and after WW2
-9
WardedDruid 21 hr ago +2
Wow, a real Nazi apologist? You are less than scum. While I hope you find your end at the end of a long and peaceful life, I hope you also earn a Darwin Award for not procreating and creating more scum like you.
2
jopperjawZ 21 hr ago
I'm not a Nazi apologist, dipshit. Nazism is an abhorrent ideology and anyone who advocates for it should be met with extreme violence. It's also an ideology that is a natural outgrowth of the authoritarianism, racism and antisemitism that has been pervasive throughout European history. Pretending like Nazism is a singular aberration is to deny the reality of European culture and, ultimately, leaves Europeans vulnerable to similar ideologies taking root. Just like MAGA and American culture
0
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