Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Hitler argument

131 replies

Birchtree1 · 12/08/2022 19:12

Just had a massive argument with my husband.
He thinks our son is a leader....( I think he has adhd) he has been pointing it out for a while. He has just mentioned it again and said he is a leader and Hitler was a leader too. Now. ...I lost my shit Hitler killed millions of people and was an ego maniac amd narcissistic asshole. ( in my opinion) apparently I am not normal with this opinion and he doesn't want to talk to me and whatever happened he was still a leader!? I just spoke to my children re our German heritage and the Jews and gypsies and lots of other minorities which I didn't want to do just yet as they are 5 and 8 years old. My husband is refusing to talk to me as I really lost my shit.
He could have mentioned Churchill or whoever ...but mentioning Hitler as an example of leadership? Apparently it is being taught at schools in this county!?!!?

OP posts:
BewareTheBeardedDragon · 13/08/2022 10:33

OP - you are not over sensitive and the people suggesting you are have no idea because they aren't German/haven't German family. I would honestly not take any notice of the voices telling you you're overreacting etc. English people really don't understand. They just don't.

YANBU and your OH is massively U

BewareTheBeardedDragon · 13/08/2022 10:40

And anyone comparing any child or their behaviour in any capacity to hitler in any way needs to seriously examine their thinking because it is a seriously fucked up thing to do.

Hitler was a mass murderer. That fact wipes out any other facet of his personality or actions as an appropriate comparator in any sense. Unless the person you wish to compare is also a mass murderer.

whumpthereitis · 13/08/2022 12:28

Birchtree1 · 13/08/2022 09:28

My OH is very bright. I feel he knew it would wind me up and he succeeded.
I guess I may have over reacted. If I was British I wouldn’t have but being German it just really wound me up. He was a despot and he made the best of a situation when people were at their worst and he managed to pull lots of people along with him. A leader for certain but not exactly the best example! When your wife is German and your child is 1/2 German.
also I don’t see my son as a leader, which is another argument we sometimes have. I see a boy desperate for friends who is bossy and doesn’t always get it right!

You’re not being overly sensitive. It’s a shit comparison to make, on any level. He didn’t make the best of a situation, the Weimar Republic was actually on the road to recovery when he was engineered into power. Hitler managed to take the country and decimate it. On no level is can it be considered compliment to anyone that’s vaguely familiar with German and European history.

If your husband wanted to make a point about your child being difficult, just calling him a ‘little despot’ whilst not great, is significantly better than calling him Hitler to his German wife. If he meant it as a compliment, well then, that’s another fucking problem.

Shade17 · 13/08/2022 13:01

He managed to manipulate his forces into murdering millions of innocent people and gained unwavering loyalty whilst doing it. He was certainly skilful and charismatic but not something to aspire to.

whumpthereitis · 13/08/2022 13:27

Shade17 · 13/08/2022 13:01

He managed to manipulate his forces into murdering millions of innocent people and gained unwavering loyalty whilst doing it. He was certainly skilful and charismatic but not something to aspire to.

Not especially. An effective speaker? Sure, but the reality is that the NSDAP never actually won an election in the Weimar Republic, and indeed his populist support was already on the wane by the time he was engineered into power.

He rose at a time when Germany was facing severe economic turmoil, and provided a handy scapegoat (and indeed an age old one) in the form of the Jews. In regards to the formation, and implementation, of Nazi policy, that was the work of the ministers and bureaucrats behind him (see: the traditional ruling class that were more than a bit fucking salty about a new democratic republic that threatened their claim on power). The man himself was fairly lazy and spent most of his time sat on his arse in the mountains, holding court and waxing lyrical about, well, himself.

When he did start taking control in regards to the military, his decision making was erratic to say the least, and he made some really, really basic fucking mistakes that lead to the overall defeat of the Wehrmacht.

He was an utter failure as a leader, even if you don’t consider the holocaust (although I don’t know why you wouldn’t). Had it not been for a perfect storm of events and people around him, he’d have remained a non entity that, at most, could talk a good game at a party.

Percyprod · 14/08/2022 18:25

I would say you were wrong, Hitler was a leader, surely you can’t dispute that? He led his country into war, and was thoroughly evil, but like Putin and many other people, he was a leader.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page