I've been reading Failure of Mission: Berlin 1937-1939 by Sir Neville Henderson, the British Ambassador to Berlin. The book was copyrighted in 1940 so while Germany was certainly the enemy by then, it was not the great evil so associated with the Holocaust today. In the book, Sir Neville has issues with what the Germans are doing to gain territory but he also personally likes some of the men he worked with, Herrman Goering in particular. It's very interesting to read a book that shows so effectively what it was like then at that moment in time for the British and Germans. It's also been pretty wild to read some of Sir Neville's observations in light of current events. Consider these:

"We were too apt to make realities out of wishes and facts out of phrases. There can be no change of heart in Germany unless it comes from within; and we shall never inculcate true democratic ideas in the German people or persuade them to realize the higher responsibilties attached to force and strength, unless we ourselves treat Germany with strict impartiality and fairness."

The part that got me there was "no change of heart in Germany unless it comes from within". Vladimir Putin said something similar a few months ago about Iraq and the arrogance of the US in that we always think we can export democracy which never works - it has to come from within. Of course that is America forgetting its own history (and being reminded by a Russian!). Democracy had to grow slowly here, it wasn't all over and done with after one parade in 1776 but we forget - we always forget.

"...Hitler had one quality which placed him in an unassailable position above the rest of his fellow revolutionaries, it was his faith. Faith in Germany, faith in his mission for Germany, and, alas, increasing arrogant faith in himself and his own greatness."

That arrogance will get you every time, won't it? (THere are some folks in DC who really need to learn this.)

"But by this time the shackles of the Nazi organization and regime are so riveted on the whole country that what the German people themselves may feel or want is a matter of indifference to a system which must go forward or end, to individuals who must remain in power or become nobodies again, and to a leader whose ambitions have now become a form of hysterical megalomania."

You could insert so many other countries in there for Germany - does it sound like Iran or Iraq? Does it sound like Liberia under Charles Taylor or the Sudan or Saudi Arabia or Egypt? Heck - does it sound like the US?

Well, does it?

I'll leave you with this:

"Though there might be restiveness in Germany itself at the exactions of the party and the recurring food shortages, the Germans are a docile, credulous, and disciplined people who like being governed; and they comforted themselves wiht the assurance that Hitler had the knack of getting everything he wanted without war."

I do so enjoy reading history books like this; they remind me just how important - how vital - learning history truly is.