this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2024
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[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 weeks ago (16 children)

Which is why this is fictional, and he's allowed to have a narrative story arc.

However, if this was a Nazi SS Officer, who fled to South America, and then went on to redeem himself by [insert narratively compelling redemption story], he'd still be a war criminal.

But again, it's a cartoon, and we don't have to treat his character as if he were an actual Imperial General commanding troops during wars of conquest, especially one from the IJA.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 weeks ago (14 children)

Pretty big difference in your scenarios there yours has a Nazi war criminal fleeing after the war is ended. Yeah it doesn't really hit as hard when it's after the fact and there's no skin in the game. A person who realizes his nation is wrong and fights to stop his Nation during the war has a lot more redeeming qualities than someone who claims to have changed his mind after the war is over and while they're running and hiding.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

A sort-of close example might be Erwin R- you know what I'm going to stop myself right now because I'm in over my head and I'm about to wake up some hard-core ww2 historians with very strong opinions

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Before diving into the topic of if the Desert Fox committed any war crimes, or the myth of the good Nazi, you should start here.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah I've read a bit about him. I know he wasn't a great guy. But history is complicated and so are people.

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