Thor,
I also have Mannerheim's farwell and thank you to the volunteer forces on 8 mm and video. I am not that sure of the 8 mm film quality and it is urgent to put the video on DVD. I do not think it is a historical nugget, because between my grandfather and my parents and their friends, all closely involved with the Finnish history, you are the first who told me that the Germans did not support Stalin in Finland 1939. I also have many other stories and not well known pieces. Your father's thoughts were very good and he deserves credit for it. You can tell him that he did not miss much, because it was a very tough fight and the voluntary forces took very heavy casualties. Relatively much higher than the Finnish, it was the worst winter in Finland during the whole 20th century. Your father must be around 83-85 and I am sure that he got his chance to resist Hitler in Denmark a couple of years later. I have a lot of stories from that period and my family's experiences. My Grandfather was a friend to Mannerheim and was asked to join his stab in 1939. Being Swedish military, he had to resign before doing so. He was the promised a large support for his life project, if he redraw his resignation and decided to do so. Inspired by the Germans use of dogs in the first world war, he had started, in the beginning of the 30th, a military school for training and use of dogs . He was struggling with very small budgets and a lack of interest. This despite that he already improved the selection and training methods of guide dogs for blind people, from being a somewhat failure German program, to a feasible and successful application. His daughter and son in law went, but he created maybe the most important training school for dogs in the world. His contribution to the use of dogs in military and civil applications is much larger than what he ever could have done in Finland or imagine before he died in mid 70th. The whole world's use of dogs today, have in one way or other an origin in the school and the methods that they developed. Hakan At 05:46 PM 2/6/2003 -0800, you wrote: >Hakan, > >I agree with most of what you say. Yes Hitler came to >power democratically, but that is NOT the same thing >as saying that Nazi Germany was democratic. You >emphasized the democratic nature of Fascist Italy and >Germany in an earlier post, and I believe you wrote >that they had elections up until the outbreak of war. >That is what I was really disagreeing with. > >With regards to Nazi air support for the Russians >during the Winter War, that might make for an >interesting article in a history journal. I have >never heard of that before. I asked my father, who >almost went to Finland in 39-40 as a Danish volunteer >but couldn't get there before the war ended, about >that, and he had never heard that either. You might >have an historical nugget on your hands. > >Best, > >Thor > >Message: 16 > Date: Wed, 05 Feb 2003 04:02:13 +0100 > From: Hakan Falk <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Re: Re: Re: Democracy--Nazi Germany was >Democratic!??? > > >Dear Thor, > >I am familiar with this and more, but if you go >through >democratic systems, without direct or proportional >representation, the wrong guy can come to power and >this without representing the popular vote. US have >such >a system and the current president is an example on >that. It is true that the Nazis and Hitler hijacked >the >democracy, I have never claimed anything else, The >fact is however that he came to power trough >democratic >vote and in a democracy. Sharon in Israel have roughly >the same popular base as Hitler had in the beginning. > >It is many other factors to consider in the German >history. >Among them the piece in Versailles who was enormously >stupid and the major reason for creating an >environment >were such a sick person as Hitler could be seen as a >salvation. He also became dictator by democratic >means, >as you rightfully pointed out. Why Hitler got his >powers >was because of the "terrorist acts" that history show >was >engineered by the Nazis themselves. I think that it >was >an early version of "Homeland defence". > >Yes, the industrialists saw Hitler as a fairly dumb >puppet. >That made them underestimate him and they thought >that he would deliver, which he also partly did. > >It is good that you clarified the history a bit and it >is a lot >more to it. Please read what you wrote a couple of >times >and draw some parallels with things that happens in >some >of todays democracies. You will see the picture also >and >understand why I am worried. I am not saying that it >will >develop along the same lines, only that it is >similarities. > >If you read what I am saying, you have to agree that >Hitler >came into power in a democracy. He got his power by >democratic means and in a crisis situation, which >could >be extended by the war situation that the country was >in. > >Yes, it was German resistance and I have even met some >of them when I was young in the 50's. Friends of my >mother, >from the time 1936 to 1937, when she studied in >Munich. >It was a much larger resistance to Hitler among >intellectuals >and students than todays history implies. > >Historic judgements and evaluations can always be made >and balanced ones starts to be accepted not until >around >100 years after the events. It is difficult to judge >before that. >I have a mother in law who, during the Spanish civil >war, >refused to dance with the commander of the socialist >forces >(not Franco, but the good guys according my Swedish >history). The day after, her 16 year old brother was >arrested >and executed, without any reasons or political >involvement. > >Hakan Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
