Kurt Vonnegut Quotes
Hitler at the end thought that he himself was one more casualty in the war.
Vonnegut, Kurt. Mother Night. Fawcett Publications, 1961.
The British and American bombing of Germany had become so effective that most of the German industrial system was destroyed. However, early in the War, Germany had violated the Geneva Convention and was indiscriminately bombing London and other part of England. In addition the German Air Force had bombed Warsaw, and many other cities throughout Europe. The German’s had killed over 20 million Europeans. When the Allied bombing produced high collateral damage against civilians, some argued that even though German had deliberately used this tactic, the allies should stop the saturated bombing if there were to be high civilian collateral damage. Others argued that it was unfortunate but a military necessity. There were others like Brenen, who argued that killing German women and children was desirable and just.
“Lord Haw Haw” was the name that he used in his propaganda broadcasts from Germany to England. Despite the fact that the broadcasts were anti-British and pro German, many in Britain listened to him regularly. He was very witty and many of his criticisms of British society were views held by many patriots in Britain. As pure entertainment, he was better than most of the BBC broadcasts during WWII. At the end of the war, Joyce was captured, tried and executed for treason.
He defeated Adolf Hitler at the polls in 1932, but the next year he was compelled to yield to Nazi power and appointed Hitler Chancellor of Germany.
The historical record that is available shows that while the Pope did not, actively or aggressively oppose Hitler, and he did not discipline Catholic prelates who were Nazi supporters, there is no specific evidence that shows the Pope conspired with Hitler, about the extermination of Jews or anything else. However, most of the relevant documents of the era are in the Vatican and the records have been sealed and have not been visible to historians. Apologists for the Pope’s passivity point out that a large percentage of Germans were Catholic and he had a duty to not antagonize Hitler who would retaliate against German Catholics and the German Catholic clergy and church property. Further, Fascist Italy was under Hitler’s control, and the Vatican itself could have closed and its property seized. The historical record is still very vague.
His belief and that of a great number of peop[le who have studied the era was that the refusal of most countries, including the United States, to accept Jewish Refugees casueing so many to remain in Europe where they were murdered by the Nazis would have been mitgated if there were a nation that would welcome them/ While that was true certainly for the early years of the Nazi persecution, the largest number of Jews were killed when the Germans overran Poland, France, Hungary, and many other countries including Eastern Europe and Russia. But there are other scholars who believe that the Nazi hatred and feal fo Jews was so great that they would not have allowed the Jews to be gone. While namy Jews woulld have been saved were Israel in existance, there would still have been a Holocaust, only one of smaller proportions they argue.
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. was an American writer. In a career spanning over 50 years, he published 14 novels, three short story collections, five plays, and five nonfiction works, with further collections being published after his death.
