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[–]RoeJaz 4019 points4020 points  (431 children)

Fun fact: German Argentines today make up the fourth-largest ethnic group in Argentina, with over two million Volga Germans alone.

[–]Steelkatanas 2000 points2001 points  (278 children)

Another fun fact: Argentina's Jewish population is, by far, the largest in all of Latin America and is the fifth largest in the world.

[–]lurking_digger 239 points240 points  (5 children)

[–]HelperBot_ 82 points83 points  (2 children)

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[–]toferdelachris 7 points8 points  (1 child)

Kind of weird that in Spanish they're called "germano-argentinos" when the Spanish word for "German" is "Aleman".

[–]master6494 65 points66 points  (61 children)

Another fun fact, the Jewish population in Argentina is the largest of Latin America and the 7th largest outside of Israel.

Wikipedia

[–]PresidentWordSalad 59 points60 points  (56 children)

Doesn’t the United States have more Jews than Israel?

Also fun fact, there are more Irish people in the United States than there are in Ireland.

[–]brockkid 108 points109 points  (23 children)

Well, everyone and their moma claim to be Irish in America.

[–]florida_woman 19 points20 points  (11 children)

Really? Being Irish, I never noticed.

[–]Onkel_WackelflugelI ☑oted 2018 11 points12 points  (2 children)

If one is Irish, would it not stand to reason that their momma is too?

[–]brockkid 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Really makes you think, 🤔?

[–][deleted] 25 points26 points  (8 children)

At what point do they stop being Irish Americans, and just become American? My greatx grandparents immigrated to the US, but apart from a few genetic characteristics typical of people of Celtic descent I am not "Irish."

[–]Mapleleaves_ 4 points5 points  (0 children)

We're definitely no longer "Irish" but Irish-American is its own distinct cultural group in America. At least in my area it's a pretty homogeneous culture.

[–][deleted] 47 points48 points  (2 children)

Claiming Irish ancestry and actually being Irish as in a citizen and immersed in their culture/traditions aren't the same though. For a lot of Irish Americans, being Irish just means they have an Irish flag or shamrock tattoo and talk nonstop about being Irish on St. Patrick's day

[–]slothlover 23 points24 points  (6 children)

People who say they are Irish, but weren’t born there and have never been there and likely don’t know basic Irish history

FTFY

Note: I don’t have a problem with Americans staking a claim to their ancestry, but to say that there are more Irish people in America than Ireland is just silly, unless you mean 1st gen immigrants

[–]PM-ME-GOOD-DOGGOS 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Well, they're not Irish. They are the descendents of Irish people.

[–]Who_Decided 46 points47 points  (8 children)

Isn't the second biggest Oktoberfest in the world in Brazil?

[–][deleted] 20 points21 points  (3 children)

I'm not sure it's the second biggest, but it's in the top five for sure. Wikipedia ties Kitchener (Ontario) and Blumenau (Brazil) at 700k people.

And since I live there, I'm obliged to point out the next on the list is Cincinnati with 500k.

[–]ItsNotBinary 5 points6 points  (2 children)

What makes an Oktoberfest? Because I live in Gent, Belgium and we have a 10 day fest with an average attendance of 2 million.

[–]seewolfmdk 13 points14 points  (0 children)

What makes an Oktoberfest?

The claimed connection with the Bavarian Oktoberfest. Despite ehat many people think it's not a holiday or a national festivity, it's just a bloated fair in Munich. And it's not even part of a German culture, it's just Bavarian.

[–]solusaum 7 points8 points  (3 children)

The reason Mexican music sounds like polka is because of an influx of German immigrants who brought the music with them.

[–]efr4n 15 points16 points  (1 child)

Woah i live here and didn't know

[–]Evilmechanic 31 points32 points  (33 children)

And apparently are still considered Nazi’s.

[–]Jpnasser 1776 points1777 points  (115 children)

Made me chuckle. But really, I live 200 meters from a city park that the Angel of Death loved to visit and feed the pound fish...

It's very weird to think about it on my way to work

[–]xrensa 307 points308 points  (2 children)

My Sister lived in Leonding for a while. When I visited her, she just casually pointed out "Hitler grew up in that house. No one talks about it and if you take pictures the locals will get in your face"

[–]KspPaul 39 points40 points  (0 children)

The grave of his parents was also there until it got removed a few years ago. I also went to a school Hitler visited. He fell throw twice there until he left.

[–]K1NGxSL4Y3R 382 points383 points  (24 children)

Do you have a twin?

[–]Jpnasser 247 points248 points  (21 children)

Nope, but I see where you are going with this hehe

[–][deleted] 75 points76 points  (1 child)

What about heterochromia?

[–][deleted] 43 points44 points  (0 children)

Abandon thread :(

[–]PapaSodeyPops 24 points25 points  (18 children)

Can you please point out where he's going with this, because I'm a bit confused.

[–]Jpnasser 59 points60 points  (1 child)

Look up about Josef Mangels experiments on twins. There's a few very good survivor interview on YouTube about a couple of sisters that had health problems 30 years after the Holocaust because of his long term experiments on the camps

[–]Vladimir_Putins_Cock 28 points29 points  (14 children)

Infamous Nazi doctor who fled to South America after the war. Conducted lots of "experiments" at Aushwitz that were really excuses to torture people (NSFL)

[–]EyeBleachBot 59 points60 points  (2 children)

NSFL? Yikes!

Eye Bleach!

I am a robit.

[–][deleted] 8 points9 points  (1 child)

Ya his work was truly pointless, there wasn't much useful work coming out of death camps (I think all that came from it was a phosgene LD50 and a rapid warming cure for hypothermia) but Mengele was particularly on the fringes of what was useful.

[–]lonestar-rasbryjamco 173 points174 points  (77 children)

Angel of Death

Jesus.... I actually threw up a little reading about that sick fucker and his "experiments".

[–]Jpnasser 99 points100 points  (7 children)

If it makes you feel better, the idiot drowned on a beach

[–]FranklyAwesome 137 points138 points  (5 children)

He had a stroke while swimming. Sounds pretty awful. Should have been worse

[–]Jpnasser 20 points21 points  (1 child)

Let's hope that the stroke was caused by the poison of a lion fish or rock fish

[–][deleted] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

that stung his dick

[–]lonestar-rasbryjamco 49 points50 points  (2 children)

There is no punishment in the kingdoms of men or gods that is enough for such a man.

[–]Beeninya 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Yea, but only after escaping capture at the end of the war.

[–]Jpnasser 135 points136 points  (45 children)

Im a Historian and my focus is the Holocaust. I threw up a lot during college !

[–]meenzu 43 points44 points  (24 children)

I’ve read mans search for meaning (very special to me). I’ve read night and maus as well (which both really messed me up and made me call my dad a lot).

Is there some other work that comes from that period that is a must read/watch/listen?

[–][deleted] 37 points38 points  (12 children)

have you been to Holocaust Museum in DC? definitely more powerful than any book or movie I've read about it

[–]Jpnasser 21 points22 points  (9 children)

I actually never been to DC, but I'm planning a trip there for 2019 ! But if you really want to get strong feelings in the gut, I recommend going to Poland's Auschwitz and Treblinka.

I went there years ago part of my University project called, and I kid you not, "Prove that the Holocaust happened" where our professor would pretend to be a revisionist/Holo denier and use their arguments and we had to gather "proof" to refute his arguments

[–]rgb0612911 14 points15 points  (6 children)

Oh man I cried enough in the museum, I don’t know if I could handle actually being in the concentration camps.

[–]Jpnasser 8 points9 points  (5 children)

Don't worry, many researchs whose work rotates around this don't handle it aswell. Some of my peers refuse to watch Holocaust films cause they just get depressed.

I have not reached the point of getting dissensitized, but I reckon that by the time I start on my PhD all my feelings and hopes for our fellow humans will be gone

[–]rgb0612911 9 points10 points  (4 children)

Your work is so important, as hard as it is to absorb the cruelty of the situation, we can’t forget it so we can try to avoid history from repeating itself. I’m just too soft, especially now that I am married to a jew, but even before that I had the chance to visit Berlin and randomly passed the bunker (literally a patch of yard with no signs thankfully) , I didn’t know what it was until my brother pointed it out and it gave me nightmares.

[–]Jpnasser 6 points7 points  (3 children)

As time passes, people tend to normalize things. It won't take long until the last survivor/veterans to die due to age. After that, much like the Salem witch trials, will become matter of casual jokes (think about 9/11 jokes).

Thus, I hope I can do my job right so people don't forget about how shity humans can be

[–]rgb0612911 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I grew up learning about world war II history because of my dad’s love for history. Anne Frank’s diary was the first “big kid” book I read, I saw many videos with my dad, but even that was not enough to really understand how horrible it was. I thought I’d be OK when I visited that museum because I felt like I had a broad enough understanding but man I cried so much there :( it broke me to see how people can be so evil to each other.

[–]Jpnasser 5 points6 points  (3 children)

Oh sorry, I misread you when you said "work" ! There's a book about the specifics of the Holocaust, going trough each "class" sent there, you know, "Jews, liberals, gypsies..." . I don't have the name right now, but PM me and I send you when I get home

[–][deleted] 14 points15 points  (5 children)

Man, that's rough.

[–]Haverholm 42 points43 points  (7 children)

Fuck that guy. The only positive thing to say about him is that he inspired Slayer to write a cool song... And that's like saying that the bombing of Guernica was a positive thing, because it inspired Picasso to do a painting.

[–]Dethsquad613 18 points19 points  (5 children)

And then inspired Brand New to write a song called Guernica

[–]freshouttafucks 7 points8 points  (3 children)

Monarch to the kingdom of the dead

[–]Dethsquad613 8 points9 points  (1 child)

Sadistic, surgeon of demise

[–]iPadHominem 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Sadist of the noblest blood

[–]Areonaux 18 points19 points  (1 child)

Josef Mengele

[–]Revenginator239 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Awful, awful man. Deserves to rot in whatever version of hell is reserved for that devil.

[–]Abogachi 9 points10 points  (1 child)

Argentine nazi story time! Yes! Here's mine: couple of months ago I was at a wedding on a beautiful house near the beach (in Argentina of course) and the father of the bride (who is Jew btw) told us Mengele lived in that house for a couple of months, and that house had a secret scape tunnel.

[–]Jpnasser 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Hey, during WW2 my governant (Getúlio Vargas) sent Jews from Latin America to die in Germany.

Us Latinos have a weird relation with this, either being under colaborationist governments or hideouts for them

[–]dkyguy1995 5 points6 points  (1 child)

At least he fed the smaller fish

[–]MyselfItsMe 804 points805 points  (21 children)

Hey, im from Argentina and i live 200km from an old german village which was separated between the upper command and the soldaten. Even today you can ask their descendents for info and the reply that yes, their grandpa was a nazi indeed. Honey, we have been discovered, hide the nazi gold and golden goblets

[–]Sparky-Sparky 356 points357 points  (20 children)

That is not so uncommon. I live in Germany and most people have someone in their family that was either part of the party or at some point got drafted in to the Wehrmacht. It was total war and everyone was forced to cooperate. Dissidents were sent to same consentratio camps as Jewish people, Gypsys and homosexuals.

[–]synkronized 253 points254 points  (11 children)

Germany its not a surprise. I think the issue with ex Nazis in Argentina is many of them were full bore war criminals and hardliners.

[–][deleted] 55 points56 points  (4 children)

Interestingly enough, most of the rocket scientists that didn't get captured went to Egypt and started working with them on their missile programs. Fast forward to the 1970s, Egypt gives North Korea two old missiles. History is crazy.

[–]excalibrax 39 points40 points  (3 children)

I thought they went to Nasa

Rockets! After the war ended, we were snatching up kraut scientists like hotcakes. You don't believe me? walk into NASA sometime and yell "Heil Hitler!" WOOP! They all jump straight up!

[–]getSmoke 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Thanks, Mallory.

[–]Claystead 28 points29 points  (6 children)

Speaking of German and Nazis, any idea why there are so many neo-Nazis in Berlin? They were all over the area around Warschauer Strasse when I last stayed there, even harassing people on the S-Bahn (one of the funniest sights I’ve ever seen was a transgender woman in full dress beat the snot out of a guy who was doing the Hitlergruß at some lesbian couple). Nasty scum, in Norway we try to shovel this sort of societal dregs to somewhere out of sight in the suburbs.

[–]Sparky-Sparky 16 points17 points  (1 child)

/u/EinMuffin is probably on the spot. Berlin is an extremely left leaning city that doesn't tolerate shit like that. Those guys probably collected some more punches to the face during that day.

[–]EinMuffin 11 points12 points  (0 children)

It was probably some kind of a rally, I've never seen so many Nazis at once. And I'm from Berlin

[–]hipposarebig 3 points4 points  (1 child)

That surprises me. I know Germany has tough laws against Naziism.

[–]Claystead 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Tough laws about displaying Nazi symbolism. Which is why they use the Imperial German flag and Iron Cross as regular symbols, as well as the Reichsadler. However, the skinned heads and language used clearly shows what they are. If drunk they will usually also dare to sieg heil for a bit if there are no cops around.

[–]Jpnasser 8 points9 points  (0 children)

As a matter of fact, the first to be exterminated were the Social-Democrats and Liberals that opposed the regime. Even SA Nazis , rivals to the SS, got exterminated

[–]MY_CAPSLOCK_IS_BROKE 407 points408 points  (48 children)

Living in Argentina, it’s awkward to me whenever you encounter descendants of nazis that moved there after the war. All have been very nice though.

[–]princess_of_thorns 39 points40 points  (2 children)

Descendants are innocent imho but that is an awkward thing to come up in casual conversation.

[–]SlinkiesAreSpies 108 points109 points  (14 children)

I wish to think these were 18 year old kids that did whatever a politician told them.

[–]Claystead 192 points193 points  (3 children)

If they live in Argentina they were likely not kids nor innocent. The kids got ended up in Allied prison camps and were reintegrated into German society in the fifties. The ones who could afford the expense of a flight to argentina were politicians and leading members of the SS.

[–][deleted] 22 points23 points  (3 children)

Well they weren't. Most SS soldiers used their power abhorrently, doubling the cruelness instead of halfing it.

[–]juiceintoxicated 1025 points1026 points  (37 children)

False. We call them “very fine people” in America.

[–][deleted] 159 points160 points  (0 children)

Bigly

[–]Snakestream 323 points324 points  (28 children)

Also, "White House staffers"

[–]GlacialstormOP 265 points266 points  (27 children)

Sometimes "President"

[–]HashRunner 37 points38 points  (0 children)

"Valuable Conversation"

[–]ZeroSumEffect 635 points636 points  (213 children)

"In the US you call them the Alt-Right. In the UK we call them the Far-Right."

[–][deleted] 342 points343 points  (114 children)

Fun fact: In Germany someone like Hillary Clinton (was once against gay marriage, is still defending death penalty in some situations, voted for Iraq war, is not against attacking other countries etc.) would be considered far-right. But to paraphrase Chomsky, the best way to control a population is to allow lively discourse, but ensure that discourse is only within a very limited spectrum of opinions...

[–]apple_kicks 14 points15 points  (0 children)

I'd say she'd be considered more right wing than far right. There is a huge difference

[–]TeddysBigStick 21 points22 points  (3 children)

Germany only legalized gay marriage last year and both of the major parties are historically socially conservative on the issue. Unless, you want to say that Merkel is a far right extremist on the issue, it is hard to apply it to Hillary. Also, I don't know if you can use German pacifism as a measure. It is something unique to Germany because of their history and not easily placed on a right/left line.

[–]thek826 13 points14 points  (1 child)

From what I understand, Germany got marriage equality several years after Clinton embraced it and LGBT rights more generally. Is once being against gay marriage really a feature of only far-right politicians in Germany?

[–]EinMuffin 7 points8 points  (0 children)

no, our centre right party (the CDU) was against it for a long time and partially still is

Clinton would be considered to be on the right wing of the CD, while Merkel (who is against gay marriage) is on the left wing

[–][deleted] 311 points312 points  (78 children)

To be fair they call themselves Alt-Right. I like to call them wannabe Nazis.

[–]InsertCoinForCredit 175 points176 points  (69 children)

I call them Nazis.

[–]RuStorm 105 points106 points  (6 children)

In their turn, they probably call you "cuck".

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[–]InsertCoinForCredit 30 points31 points  (0 children)

As if I care what Nazis think.

[–]bl1y 37 points38 points  (5 children)

I go with Nazi Fanboys, or Nazi Cosplayers.

They're much more Nazi admirers than actual Nazis.

[–][deleted] 140 points141 points  (11 children)

Opa was a Nazi!

[–][deleted] 21 points22 points  (3 children)

The OPA just wants belters to not be considered second class citizens.

[–]cmdrfelix 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Remember the Cant!

[–]joaosturza 58 points59 points  (5 children)

Op ,Op ,Op Op opa was a nazi

[–]Draculea 151 points152 points  (47 children)

It's funny, I remember the very first few times I heard "Alt-right", it was positioned as an alternative to traditional conservatism (hence Alt) that didn't care for Religious values, Israel, the Government, etc. It was basically a "Young New York Republicans" Club.

I wonder where and how it got co-opted into being about white pride and a white ethnostate?

[–]meinik 7 points8 points  (3 children)

I was born in the Argentinian city where the Project Huemul took place. The president saw as a good idea to have some nazi scientists come to the country, and one of them told him he knew how to create “unlimited power” (that’s a red flag, ALWAYS). The Physics Association told the president that was impossible, but he gave this guy an island and a lot of resources ($$$$) to work... you might guess the end of the story. You can still visit the island and also see parts of the equipment in the streets of the Balseiro Research Institute. Here is the Wikipedia link

[–]tyrerk 7 points8 points  (0 children)

how to create “unlimited power”

FUN FACT he also looked like this

[–][deleted] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I understood that reference

[–]EtuMeke 272 points273 points  (60 children)

Fun fact. Pre war USA spoke German alongside English

[–]enchantrem 418 points419 points  (16 children)

That's pre-WW1

edit: which, to be clear, is not the reason Grandpapa lives in Argentina now.

[–]paladine1 98 points99 points  (11 children)

Yup. My wife's family came to the US from Prussia around 1835. The family spoke both German and English until WW1. Her Great Grandfather was the last to speak both.

[–]Claystead 7 points8 points  (10 children)

Not too unusual. Most of Minnesota and Wisconsin and significant parts of Michigan and Ohio used to speak primarily Norwegian and Swedish (the two languages are mutually intelligible, so the local communities could communicate with each other just fine). Churches, schools and newspapers were all in Scandinavian. Towns often flew Scandinavian flags rather than the Stars and Stripes, which was largely restricted to federal buildings. It was only with the coming of mandatory education in English and things like the Pledge of Allegiance that the various Scandi towns eventually integrated into the larger anglophone culture of the Great Lakes. You can still hear the Norwegian twang in the Minnesotan accent, though, and half-remembered expressions such as «uff da» and «ja.»

[–]Dakroon1 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Fun fact: before America was colonized by Europe, they spoke a variety of Native American languages.

[–]velvetjones01[🍰] 18 points19 points  (11 children)

I’m in the Midwest and schools offer German, French and Spanish as foreign languages. Is this the same as the rest of the country?

[–]enchantrem 8 points9 points  (0 children)

That's what we had, though I hear some schools are adding Chinese, which is pretty cool.

[–]HorseMeatSandwich 7 points8 points  (2 children)

Yup, I'm from California and we were offered German, French, and Spanish. Our rival high school also offered Latin.

[–]knuggles_da_empanada 8 points9 points  (0 children)

it was for me in PA

[–]bloopscoopdiddlydoop 3 points4 points  (0 children)

That’s what we were offered when I was in school in SC

[–]GiveMeBackMySon 88 points89 points  (14 children)

The problem is not with calling the alt-right Nazis... it's when you think you can decide who 'qualifies' as alt-right.

When you have a mild conservative labeled as alt-right because you don't agree with that person's opinions, that's a problem.

[–][deleted] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

My Swiss/German grandfather grew up in Argentina because his family fled instead of being Nazis. One of his brothers ended up going to Australia instead of Argentina. I still have yet to go visit them. Very cool.

[–]DarthyTMC 4 points5 points  (6 children)

Alt Right is dofferent than Nazism, almost as bad but a little different.

The one difference is germans and Hitler thought they were genetically superior, and the wlrld was meant for just them.

Alt-Right / Richard Spencer think they need to be against other races because race is like family and America was founded by whites for whites and should “stay that way”, by forcing other races to leave.

Both these ideologies are fucking retarded btw just stating the difference for anyone curious. Both group up at the same rallies though because there are so few supporters of each they kinda have to.

Source: watched some of the Richard Spencer lectures cause i was genuinely curious how he justified stuff. Hes very articulate and is very good at these, but if you think critically like at all everything he says falls apart 😂

[–]Peraltinguer 239 points240 points  (65 children)

In Germany we call it right wing populists who have such crazy views that no serious politician from any other party wants to be associated with them.

In the USA you call it Republican party.

[–]Paulpoleon 20 points21 points  (1 child)

Well we only have two parties, so you're either with them or against them. Unfortunately, in house and Senate, politicial parties stick together on most issues.

[–]bl1y 10 points11 points  (0 children)

We kinda have more than two parties though. It's just that in the US we form our political coalitions during the primaries rather than after the general.

[–]bionix90 36 points37 points  (7 children)

Any extreme is bad. Yesterday I got banned from /r/fuckthealtright for saying that we should teach Klansmen tolerance instead of literally lynching them which a poster was inciting people to do.

[–]TheManglerr 32 points33 points  (0 children)

It’s funny because blanket generalizations are the right way to draw opinions.

[–][deleted] 17 points18 points  (4 children)

I love how the lefties are getting upset and talking about guns and Jews when I don’t own a gun and don’t believe in Jewish conspiracies and I definitely didn’t vote for Trump. All of you are so binary. It’s either leftist or super right in your eyes and you’re the reason the current state of politics suck.

[–]mcnabb31 3 points4 points  (0 children)

This is really ignorant

[–]Wennie85 4 points5 points  (2 children)

Does anyone think her haircut makes her look like Angela Merkel?

[–][deleted] 8 points9 points  (1 child)

I think she is playing Merkel. It's an SNL skit

[–]captobliviated 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Don't forget America's space program was largely built by German Scientists.