Jews, Nazis, and Nukes

[Bill Greenwood]

A phrase in a book really caught my eye.
The book is FIGHTER, by Len Deighton. It is the story of the Battle of Britain, and covers not only the fighting but the personalites and strengths and weaknesess of each side.

The line is, Except for the antisemitism of the Nazis, the Germans well might have developed nuclear weapons and so won the war.
That line really made me think.
Many, even most of the brillant scientist that developed the American nuclear program were Jewish, like the boss Robert Oppenhiemer.
Had Germany had these people, could they have done what was done in the U S? While V2 rockets reached London near the end of the war, if they had nuclear warheads England had litle defense excpet to try to bomb the factoires and launch sites. But Germany had no missiles that could reach the U S.

Who knows?

[the330thbg]

They had no missles to reach the US.., but they had the FW 200 'Condor' that certainly could have reached the U.S.

[k5083]

There was a provocative play on this, Copenhagen, centering around a visit by Heisenberg (who headed Germany's atomic program) to Copenhagen in 1941 where he met with Niels Bohr. I saw it on Broadway some years ago and it made quite an impression, although the factual content of it is controversial.

An a-bomb would not likely have been used on the U.S. whether it could be delivered or not. By far the most important of Germany's adversaries was the U.S.S.R. London would have been another obvious target.

The idea that using an a-bomb, or two or three, would have won the war for Germany would be simplistic. It did not win the war for the U.S., but at most, finished an already-won war. What would the Soviets or Brits or Americans have done if a bomb took out 100K civilians in Moscow, London or NY? Given up on a war they were otherwise winning? Not likely.

August

[agent86]

You do realize that Albert Einstein,Yes that Albert Einstein had to flee the Nazi's from Germany.Could you imagine them murdering him in a Concentration camp? They hung themselves by not only forcing the most intelligent scientists to run( their towelboys the Italians did the same) they also proceeded to burn numerous irreplaceable books and papers. We here in the West can thank them because for better or worse,we reaped the rewards of these peoples intelligence. Oooops another Nazi miscalculation.another one of many.we can all thank god for their ineptitude and stupidity.

[tom d. friedman]

ooohh...... i had to open this thread carefully!! i didn't know what to expect!! the post title really grabs your attention!!

[Bill Greenwood]

This slightly off subject, but related to the Nazis, and their persecution of Jews and other minorites.
Here is Aspen, some of the vets have gotten together and recorded their military and war time experiences.
Curt Bresnitz is a local man. He is probably close to 90 now. He was born in Austria, left the country to avoid the Nazi persecution, he may actually have been in the German army at one time, I am not certain about that part of it. Anyway,he came to America, joined our Army and fought throughout the rest of the war. He was part of the group that liberated Dachau.
I haven't met him personally, but I used to ski race with his Son. I'll try to find out more details about him.

[Scott Rose]

ooohh...... i had to open this thread carefully!! i didn't know what to expect!! the post title really grabs your attention!!

No kidding, almost nuked it (pun intended) before reading it. But if everyone behaves, it can stay... for now.

[b29flteng]

Richard Rhodes' book "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" gives a very good history of the Nazi, Jewish, American history of the whole story.

[Bill Greenwood]

So what's that mean, Scott? Is it now the policy of WIX that we are not supposed to write anything critical of the Nazis?
I don't think WIX has any real Nazis, maybe a few that are close to neo Nazis in their views.
I think the whole subject of the Germans and possible nukes is interesting and important.

[Second Air Force]

Richard Rhodes' book "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" gives a very good history of the Nazi, Jewish, American history of the whole story.

Rhodes also wrote an excellent second volume titled Dark Sun that details a lot of the history of the thermonuclear research program and also delves into the Soviet espionage program that involved Klaus Fuchs and others. Both books are excellent.

Scott

[brucev]

They had no missles to reach the US.., but they had the FW 200 'Condor' that certainly could have reached the U.S.

i dont think the FW 200 could have even gotten close on a one way trip, nor did any of the nazi's various "amerika bombers" come close to operational status

[the330thbg]

So what's that mean, Scott? Is it now the policy of WIX that we are not supposed to write anything critical of the Nazis?
I don't think WIX has any real Nazis, maybe a few that are close to neo Nazis in their views.
I think the whole subject of the Germans and possible nukes is interesting and important.

That is 'odd' Bill that you would try to 'stir the pot' here.

So unlike your character

[Scott Rose]

So what's that mean, Scott? Is it now the policy of WIX that we are not supposed to write anything critical of the Nazis?
I don't think WIX has any real Nazis, maybe a few that are close to neo Nazis in their views.
I think the whole subject of the Germans and possible nukes is interesting and important.

Actually Bill, my concern had little to do with Nazis or Nukes and everything to do with the fear that the post was going to be anti-Semitic in nature. The post of course wasn't so I didn't remove it.

[Enemy Ace]

Well shoot, I thought the post subject was the lead-in to a joke.

[the330thbg]

Well shoot, I thought the post subject was the lead-in to a joke.

nope.., that lead-in would be 'a Rabbi, a Priest and a Mexican...'