“What's interesting is that when you get into the post-war period, many of the narratives in books and movies conclude that if you killed Hitler, you're actually going to make history worse.” IfsBookWarInterestingPeriodsPostsNarrativeBooks And MoviesPost War Author:Gavriel David Rosenfeld
“The Germans tend to like to blame the Nazi experience on one man who can be scapegoated. If you pile all the blame onto him, you exonerate the German masses from any responsibility.” IfsMenResponsibilityMassBlameOne ManNazi Author:Gavriel David Rosenfeld
“Americans and British respondents don't want to let the German people off the hook. They make the case that if you get rid of Hitler, some other leader apart from Hitler would have emerged and, because of the structural constant of German nationalism, would have exploited German national feeling and produce the same kind of events no matter what.” PeopleIfsWantKindMatterFeelingsLeaderCasesEventsProduceNo Matter WhatConstantBritishNationalismHook Author:Gavriel David Rosenfeld
“Originally the premise of killing Hitler was fueled by deep traumatic feelings of wishing and fantasizing that if only things had been different, we could have spared ourselves all kinds of suffering. More recently it's been turned into a comedic trope. As we go forward, tragedy plus time equals comedy...” IfsKindDifferentFeelingsSufferingWishComedyTragedyKillingAll KindsPlusPremisesComedicTropes Author:Gavriel David Rosenfeld
“In times of uncertainty, we tend to move away from deterministic world views. And when we try to find moral footing for our actions, we compare ourselves to the foil of all foils, the Nazi period. It's a quest for moral certainty by saying, "Even if we're not doing great these days, at least we're not the Third Reich." Which can be consoling or alarmist. There's always a present-day agenda behind it.” IfsWorldTryingActionMovingViewsBehindsMoralPeriodsThirdsCertaintyUncertaintyThese DaysCompareAgendasQuestsNaziOur ActionsPresent DayWorld ViewConsolingFoilsAlarmists Author:Gavriel David Rosenfeld
“The first step to get people interested in history is to wonder how things could have been different.” PeopleFirstsHas BeensDifferentWonderStepsFirst StepsCould Have Been Author:Gavriel David Rosenfeld
“Most people experience history as one damn fact after another in high school. But if you can wonder, "Wow, what if the US hadn't gotten involved in World War II?", you can become enthralled by the imaginary possibilities.” PeopleIfsWorldWarFactsSchoolWonderPossibilityInvolvedHigh SchoolDamnWar Of The WorldsWhat IfWowWorld War IiImaginaryWorld War I Author:Gavriel David Rosenfeld
“If you're a website and you want to get attention, you can Hiterlize anything.” IfsWantAttentionWebsite Author:Gavriel David Rosenfeld
“What I have learned from studying counterfactual history is that the law of unintended consequences always kicks in no matter how secure you are in your plan. We have to live with the historical record as it is, like it or not.” MatterLawStudyRecordsPlansConsequenceHistoricalSecureKicksI Have LearnedUnintended Consequences Author:Gavriel David Rosenfeld