The 100 most important Germans: Willy Brandt

Willy Brandt (* 18. Dezember 1913 in Lübeck; † 8. Oktober 1992 in Unkel)
What JFK was for the American was Willy for the West Germans.
After twenty years with three chancellors from the Christ Democrats and one year after massive protest from the APO (außerparlamentarische Opposition/ outer parliament opposition) it was time for a change. This change was embodied in Willy Brandt, the former Mayor of West Berlin and first social democratic Chancellor.

The 100 most important Germans: Konrad Adenauer

Konrad Adenauer (* 5. Januar 1876 in Köln; † 19. April 1967 in Rhöndorf)
There are three things that describe Adenauer at is best: He was old, he was clean and he had his own will.  Those were also the reasons why the Nazis never really trusted him, he was too quick witted for them. He maybe never saw an equal in them. During the Weimarer Republic he recognized them most certainly only as the smaller damage compared to the social democrats and communists.

The 100 most important germans: Josef Goebbels

Josef Goebbels ( born 29. Oktober 1897 in Rheydt ; died 1. Mai 1945 in Berlin)
This guy scares me much more than the failed painter, because he influenced the German language more than the man with the mustache. When you don’t belive me read “Lingua tertii imperii”, a book from Victor Klemperer (btw. also a survivor of the Holocaust). Goebbels was the head of the NSDAP propaganda. He was the one who had screamed this terrible question “Do want the total war?!” and the people shouted in raged agony “YEAH”
What is much more scaring is the obvious fact, that propaganda cannot work, when there is no ground to grow on.
I would like to take a thread from the German journalist Gerhard Wisnewski who writes every year a critical retrospect. Wisnewski argued that Bin Laden, Hussein and the other leaders, deemed for god or not, are having people behind them. Those people are just the head of a group. And when you cut of the head, you still got the group. So when you cut of Hitler, Goebbels, Mengele, Röhm and all the other what is left over? It was the people who supported them, maybe because of fear or maybe they believed in them, nevertheless they supported them.

The 100 most important germans: Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler (born 20. April 1889 in Braunau am Inn; died 30. April 1945 in Berlin)
And here we are. He is maybe one of the most famous men working in our country. And what do we learn out of this? Never underestimate a failed painter, because our Uncle Adolf was one of those artists and went through cheap bars to sell his horrible kitsch paintings. This was the way he came in contact with the NSDAP. The rest is history.
The germans decided to elect him and went to war.