"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
A depressing report from Richard Komaiko at the Asia Times (via):
A rumor is spreading virally throughout the Middle Kingdom that asserts that Austrian-born Hitler was raised by a family of Chinese expats living in Vienna. According to the rumors, a family named Zhang found young Adolf - born on April 20, 1889, when he fell on hard times as a young man in Vienna.
They took him in, sheltered him, fed him and paid for his tuition. As a result of this assistance, Hitler held eternal gratitude and admiration for the Chinese people. The rumor also asserts that Hitler secretly supported China in World War II, and that his ultimate ambition was to conquer the world in order to share power with China, with everything west of Pakistan to be administered by the Fuhrer, and everything east of Pakistan the province of the Chinese people.
This rumor apparently resonates deeply with the Chinese Internet generation. On May 10, 2011, a user of Kaixin, the Chinese equivalent of Facebook, posted a version of the rumor on his wall. The post attracted an enormous following, with more than 170,000 views and 40,000 comments.
Of the people who left comments, 38.8% believe that Hitler was raised by Chinese, 7.1% believe that Hitler supported China in World War II, 4.6% regard Hitler as a hero, and 9.1% hope that China will have a leader similar to Hitler.
As the rumor spreads throughout the Chinese social web, admiration for Hitler is growing stronger and stronger. Blog posts with titles like "Why I like Hitler" are popping up every day, and an increasingly greater share of young Chinese are choosing to express their nationalism by voicing support for Hitler.
While it is disheartening that the Chinese seem to have a blind spot for genocide, I don't believe that correcting their view of Hitler would have any influence on the fundamental problem here -- their yearning for a strong leader and national greatness. Isn't the point of this article that "Hitler" is only a symbol to these supposed admirers?
Posted by: clazy8 | May 31, 2011 at 08:01 PM
That's part of the point, no doubt. It's also a colossal misjudgement - not to mention a disastrous misunderstanding of history. Hitler didn't like or admire the Chinese - he thought they were one of the lower races. If you start believing Hitler was some kind of hero, you're wide open to importing all the racial stuff and the anti-semitism and god knows what else.
Posted by: Mick H | May 31, 2011 at 08:43 PM
That's true. This story recalls two other oddities. I wish I knew where I found them. Or what the precise connection is. One was a story about a boutique, maybe in Shanghai, that employed a Nazi motif for decoration. Black swastikas and lots of red, if I recall correctly. Apparently innocent... And then another story, which I think I read in the past month, about the fascination among South Koreans for Jews and Judaism, something to do with a cultural affinity in regard to respect for education and achievement, and maybe something else to do with uniqueness. If I find the link, I'll drop it in here.
Posted by: clazy8 | June 02, 2011 at 06:54 PM
And Hitler is a bestselling management guru in India. What better model for your business success? Ten or eleven wildly successful years of expansion, getting the trains to run on time and providing jobs and then, er, oh...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/5182107/Indian-business-students-snap-up-copies-of-Mein-Kampf.html
Posted by: Sinister | June 02, 2011 at 09:02 PM
The story seems to have become a perennial: http://www.mid-day.com/news/2010/oct/021010-Mein-Kampf-Adolf-Hitler-Mahatma-Gandhi-margin-Navajivan-Trust.htm
Posted by: clazy8 | June 03, 2011 at 09:22 PM