A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

On Quora, Eitan Krokowski asks: Why weren’t Auschwitz and the other concentration camps bombed by the Allies during WWII? My reply: There are several reasons why the Anglo-American Allies did not use the Eighth Army Air Force or British Bomber Command to bomb German extermination camps such as Auschwitz or Treblinka during World War II. First, there was a great deal of skepticism among military and political leaders in Washington and London when European Jews began reporting on what the Germans were doing in Poland and the Soviet Union. A few American publications, including LIFE magazine, had published several illustrated articles about the plight of Poland’s Jewish population under Nazi occupation, but most newspapers of the day (the  New York Times  included) tended to publish “atrocity” stories in the back pages. (Editors, reporters, and publishers of the day still remembered the often-false or wildly exaggerated stories of German atrocities in France and Belg...

Battle Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia. On Quora, member Cody Pafford asks: Why are people offended by the Confederate battle flag? My reply: Because the 11 states that formed the Confederate States of America from March 1861 to April of 1865 rebelled against the Union to defend the odious institution of slavery. As a result of this dark stain on the American psyche, and because Southern apologists have tried mightily to whitewash history by claiming the Civil War was fought over the more innocuous principle of “States’ Rights,” the Stars and Bars - which was originally the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia, but was later incorporated into the last two national flags of the entire Confederacy - represents the side that started the bloodiest war in American history. Most people who know the history of the Civil War and the design history behind American flags will say - accurately - that this is not the  national flag  of the Confederate State...

Could Hitler have been considered "good" in any way? Some argue he wasn't really evil as he really believed and followed his beliefs and thought he was right in his actions. No. Not in the slightest. There is no redeeming factor in Adolf Hitler’s life as a dictator and Commander in Chief of the Greater German Reich’s armed forces that can be even considered to be “good.” It’s amazing (and, frankly, appalling) that three-quarters of a century after the final campaigns to liberate Europe from Nazi domination, there still exist many people all around the world - including citizens of the Allied nations that waged war against the Third Reich - that think Hitler was a well-intentioned man who loved Germany and merely wanted to save Western Civilization from the scourge of Communism. It’s a matter of historical record that Adolf Hitler adored his mother Klara, was good to dogs, was kind to German children (except those who were Jewish or were related to his political...

The answer is simple: The Axis powers consisted of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and a militaristic, aggressive, and expansionist Japan, plus various satellite nations (such as Hungary, Romania, and (for a time) Finland. The Axis nations were led by Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Hideki Tojo, three guys who would never earn the Mr. Congeniality award either in their lifetimes or in prosperity’s point of view. In essence, the Axis nations are considered to be World War II’s bad guys for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that their war aims were: Territorial expansionism at the expense of their neighbors Deliberate genocide of entire ethnic and religious groups Totalitarian rule on a continental scale Interestingly, though Germany, Italy, and Japan were nominal allies in World War II, their military alliance was more or less cosmetic. The two major powers, Hitler’s Third Reich and Tojo’s Japanese Empire, discussed the division of their conquered lands i...

Do you think the Empire in  Star Wars  was based off of the Nazis? The Galactic Empire’s resemblance to Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich is neither superficial nor coincidental. It is intentional. When George Lucas made the original  Star Wars  film in the late 1970s, he and his design team (which included illustrator Ralph McQuarrie, costume designer John Mollo, and storyboard artist/model designer Joe Johnston) looked at 20th Century history and modern totalitarian states for design ideas that would fit the ethos of a ruthless and evil dictatorship in a galaxy far, far away. Nazi Germany was the most obvious font of inspiration for the designers; the Second World War, after all, had occurred only one generation earlier and Nazi uniforms, German army gear and weaponry, and other regalia still evoked the evil tyranny that was the Third Reich. It’s no accident that this Imperial soldier is called a “stormtrooper.” That’s what the brown-shirted rowdies of the Na...

Pros:  Interesting, if slightly flawed concept.  Good script.  Nice acting. Cons:  Tends to perpetuate the myth of Nazi efficiency.  Otherwise, none. Patterns of Force:  Parallel Worlds, TV Production Politics and  Star Trek  Explained  Considering the socio-cultural and financial success of Paramount’s  Star Trek  franchise – a multi-media colossus rivaled perhaps only by J.K. Rowling’s  Harry Potter  and George Lucas’  Star Wars  empires – over the past 46 years, it’s hard to remember the reality that Gene Roddenberry’s Original Series was not given too much support from NBC,  the network on which it originally aired. Of course, to those fans who saw  Star Trek  during its broadcast network run (1966-1969) and those who latched on to Trekker status in the decade that followed its cancellation and eventual rebirth in syndication, the show’s struggles to survive on the air is part of t...