FIL secret hitler fanatic?

[Samandytimlucypeterolivia]

So FIL passed away 2 weeks ago, we’ve been at his house the last 4 days cleaning it out, we’ve come across books, vhs, dvd, collectibles all about hitler, I’m not talking a few, I’m talking hundreds and hundreds, We were joking at the start about him being a secret nazi spy, but as we got further in it’s become apparent he a was a hitler super fan, or obsession. It’s quite jarring really. I’ve known him 21 years and not once has he said anything that would even make you think this. He’s never been racist, said anything racially inclined. He’s friendly with all his neighbours who are different race. I’m Anglo Indian, For us it’s come totally out of left field. I FaceTimed DS who has a friend who is intrigued by Hitler and even he was concerned about his grandads secret hobby. He said he wish he knew before his GCSEs last summer as they had a module on Hitler and Stalin in history. Me and DP are a bit shelshocked. Anyone else found out something shocking about a loved one after they passed.

I am really shocked by this post. OP you are completely wrong to consider your FILs book collection as a stain on his character. I’m nearly 60. My grandparents fought in Ww2. Their siblings died fighting the Germans and Japanese. My great grandparents fought in Ww1. Both my greatgrandfathers died in N France. This is the history of our collective grand/greatgrandparents. Whether they fought, defended, sent their children to unknown families in the country, lost homes, livelihoods, lives. This is our recent history. It informs the politics of today. There is a need to understand this history, maybe in relation to Hitler and his Generals and also to the Holocaust. At the very least to try to ensure this doesn’t happen again. It doesn’t mean your FIL was a closet nazi sympathiser. It may well mean he was a closet historian. This is not a book collection to be burned as someone suggested - I’m reeling from that tbh.

Another one wondering if he was actually a fan and based on listener statistics if you could find out what some women are listening to or true crime do you assume they are serial killers?

I agree with everyone else.

Both my DH and my father read everything they can get their hands on about Hitler and WW" generally. DH is now retired and watches all the history war things he can find. My father has several books on Hitler.

Neither are secret Nazis or Hilter superfans. My Jewish father might be rather surprised to be considered as such because of his reading interest!

You can be obsessively interested in a subject without being a fan of it.

As pps have said, lots of people are interested in aspects of WW2 including the Nazis. All that memorabilia wouldn't exist if there wasn't a market for it.

It's human nature to be compelled by horrific things, again, as trends in books/TV/films bear out. Look at the popularity of 'misery memoirs' and true crime.

I had a lot of books,watched documentaries etc on Hitler & that time of History as it really was a turning point in history & it was fascinating. I was & am not a Nazi, it was the history of the time etc that I was interested in & not actually just the man himself. I also was really interested in serial killers etc bought the magazines,books, it's just an interest which I still hold today,I love crime shows,podcasts etc.

You didn't find out anything shocking you discovered he had a big historical interest in Hitler . My nine year old son has a thing about ww1 trenches . The whole nazi thing is fascinating as it was less than 100 years ago so very recent history. Myself and DH have gone on trips to the Normandy beaches so lots of people have a big interest in this stuff.

Absolutely no one could be a "hitler super fan" and not show it in some way for 20 years.

But a stash of old movies and books on Hitler? Completely normal, as others have said. I have heaps, plus bits of army kit, medical stuff, I'd be thrilled if I got relics from that era as a present. It's a link to a part of history I'm fascinated by - not a shrine to worship at.

It was prob "hidden" because he lost interest many years ago and let it all gather dust/be shoved in a drawer.

I am quite interested in True Crime but I watch an awful lot of documentaries about terrorist incidents such as the Bataclan tragedy. I'm not a terrorist though.

The September 11 attacks were a formative part of my life as they happened when i was living in the Middle East and so I assume that is what triggered my fascination.

DS1's special interest is the Titanic.

Yes it seems to be quite normal to be fascinated by tragedy or the darkest part of human nature. There are probably studies about it.

Yeah and well done for besmirching your son's memories of his dead grandfather.

Had he been Professor of Modern History at Oxford this wouldn't have been an issue. It's a fascinating dark piece of history about which many words have been written. Doubt it was like the Father Ted episode

It looks like he was right to keep it a secret.

Jesus!

Following that logic I must be a serial killer and obsessed with learning about the various ways I could get away with murder . . .

Love a bit of true crime . . . .

I remember, during the trial of that awful man who murdered the MP Jo Cox, that the media showed images of his collection of books on the Nazis and I realised that I also owned a fair number of them. Unlike him, however, I’m not a fascist fanatic, just someone with an interest in History and a lot of books.

Is it possible he inherited it from his father and then didn't feel he could throw it out, always meant to sell it on to the right place (university for example).

I don't think you can jump straight to him being a fan, especially if he never ever mentioned Hitler to you.

I must admit, i am interested in ww2 and everything that happened. But its because my dad was in ww2 and i couldn't ask him much about it as he had a heart condition and it upset him too much. But i was young then and he's been gone nearly 30 years now. There's no one to ask about him. As an adult and parent of boys, I cant begin to understand what he went through, at my kids ages. So i watch programmes to try to understand it. Maybe your FIL was the same.

My dad was fascinated by Hitler. He was definitely not a Nazi. Like it or not, Hitler was a fascinating person.

I mean my dad wasn't a Nazi, not Hitler. 😅 Pretty sure Hitler was a Nazi.

I’m very interested in Attila the Hun. I expect OP would be terrified in case I burnt her house down and slaughtered her family…..

Our children all get Hitler and the rise of the Nazis extensively as a history topic - if they haven't done it at least twice by the time they leave school, they've done well. Does that make the people who set the history curriculum Hitler fans?

Also you don't say how old he was when he died, but assuming he was 75+, his early life would have been profoundly shaped (and possibly traumatised) by WWII. It's easy to forget that the generation who are now reaching the end of their lives are those who were babies and very young children during WWII. They didn't grow up with evacuations and "blitz spirit" but lived as very young children who may have lost a parent, had their parent(s) grieving or had a parent who was themselves severely and enduringly unwell after their war experiences. These experiences impacted on childhood bonding on a way we don't as a society talk about (because stiff upper lip and all).

I know several older people who have become deeply engrossed in the politics and "personalities" of WWII and the inter-War years as a way of understanding this profound event that shaped their lives. Of course, counselling and trauma therapy might have been a preferable way of supporting these children at the time, but that just wasn't an option in the late 1940's-early 50's.....

OH is fascinated by Nazi Germany. He says it shows how an otherwise good people can be subverted by a charismatic person. It happens all the time.

Your FiL was probably worried about what people would say.

Are the people who write books and make documentaries about AH fanatical? Probably not. Are Waterstones attempting to radicalise people by selling Mein Kampf? Unlikely.

It's our history. I don't think it's strange that someone might want to know more about it. WW2 is still in living memory. My Dad remembers carrying his gas mask to school in a little box.

That man and the events he spawned changed the course of history. I think every generation needs to know how this horror unfolded. It didn't happen overnight, the build up was right under our noses. Don't shame people for wanting to know more. Look at it and learn from it. The more we understand it, the better chance we have of preventing it from ever happening again.

If he was generally known as a kind man then it doesn’t matter.

For a second I thought you meant Hitler there 🤦🏻‍♀️
Time for another coffee I think.

I think you are being silly and jumping to ridiculous conclusions.

He never showed you any signs of racism and was a kind man to you. He had an interest in Nazi history and indeed history of WW2. Plenty of people do as they are interested in the history of this period. It isn't uncommon at all and a number of the books can often still be bought, either new in bookshops or second hand, at auctions etc.

My secondary school had a number of such books in the school library, including Mein Kampf. My university had even more of them. We certainly weren't all mini Nazis or Hitler fans, just sometimes needing to investigate that era in history.

I think it is much more likely that your FIL liked to dabble at being an amateur historian. They can be a bit obsessive sometimes but that doesn't make them bad people or Nazi sympathisers. Remember him as the kind and non-racist man you admit he was and stop besmirching his memory.

I'm fascinated by psychology and what motivates people, I always have. I'm especially interested in the dark side of human nature. I've studied genocides and been to many historical sites.

I'm not a genocidal maniac intent on wiping out vast swathes of the population.