Alternate History - Adolf Hitler?

[Cire]

By most accounts Adolf Hitler's childhood was pretty dysfunctional, and probably contributed greatly to the type of person he became in his adult life. Also, a few years ago someone posed the question, "If you could travel back in time and strangle baby Hitler in his crib, would you do so?"…

What if instead of a story about someone traveling back in time to strangle baby Hitler in his crib, what if there was a story in which a time traveler rescues baby Hitler from his horrible childhood, and thereby turns him into a great human being? What if a young Adolf Hitler had been introduced to Mahatma Gandhi, Pablo Picasso, or Ernest Hemingway? Well, I thing that this type of a story would be much more interesting that one about someone traveling back in time to murder a baby, and I’m just wondering if it has already been written by someone?

 

[Resurgam]

I've toyed with this idea, but due to the... reaction such a story would cause, it hasn't gone very far.

 

[BlackDragon98]

Best case scenario is he becomes a famous architect and designs a bunch of buildings in Europe.

But no, I haven't seen a story/TL where someone travels back in time to make Hitler a good person.

 

[Marco Incognito]

Hitler as a subject tends to be a bit touchy. In terms of pulling him out of time you run the risk of the Soviet Union rising in Europe unchallenged. Even if you create "Good Hitler" and place him back in time. Mussolini likely wouldn't try anything and even if it did it was not very successful when attempting to take countries on its own. Let's say, being generous, Stalin still invades Poland and Hitler sends troops to defend it. We know from History how well a fight between Germans and Soviet in that area would go down, but its less of a stalemate due to the Polish army. We'll say they push the Soviets back. World War II is largely averted.

Mussolini remains a dictator in Italy. Japan still launches its campaign of war but this time is opposed by Britain, France, Germany and then the US assuming they attack Pearl Harbor. The US only has one enemy so the war is one much quicker without atomic bombs . The Atomic Bomb is instead invented by Albert Einstein in Germany since he had no reason to flee the Nazis and so the Cold war is between Germany and the Soviet Union. Winston Churchill never becomes Prime Minister of the UK. Stalin died in 1953. There is no Berlin Wall for obvious reasons. Hitler would likely resign or die die in the 50's or 60's. If there is a "Cuban Missile Crisis" analogue it would be somewhere like Italy.

attacks Pearl Harbor

 

[Nivek]

Best case scenario is he becomes a famous architect and designs a bunch of buildings in Europe.

But no, I haven't seen a story/TL where someone travels back in time to make Hitler a good person.

A shift in priorities? he is just an actor in all his grandiose but the evilest thing he do are some art crimes

In terms of pulling him out of time you run the risk of the Soviet Union rising in Europe unchallenged. Even if you create "Good Hitler" and place him back in time.

Who cares?

 

[BrobDingnag]

Who cares?

People who know about communism.

 

[Nivek]

People who know about communism.

That is an european issue anyway, if hitler become a mere footnote in story communist are france issue them

 

[Michel Van]

There is a TL in this forum: The Iron Eagle
were Hitler is born in Texas USA !
Raised in US culture and went to University, he begin a political career in Democrats under W. Wilson
This Hitler is well educated and eloquent, but far more dangerous as his brute alter ego from Austria...

 

[Cire]

Best case scenario is he becomes a famous architect and designs a bunch of buildings in Europe.

Or, I was thinking that maybe he'd take a completely different career path, maybe he'd end up studying religion or doing charity work in the third world. From one extreme to the other.

 

[Kerney]

I think Hitler being anything other than a monster is disturbing, because it implies that anyone or at least a lot of people, under different circumstances, could be Hitler. Considering how much help he got in building the Third Reich, this is definately true.

However, doing that would force us to look at our own evil in the face and admitting that we could be like Hitler, is highly disturbing to a lot of people.

If Hitler is a special evil genius, walled off from the rest of humanity, that is much more comforting.

That is a big part of why few or any "good Hitler" stories have been written.

 

[mspence]

Not a time travel story, but Fritz Leiber's "Catch That Zeppelin!" imagines a world where Hitler emigrated to the US and became a famed airship engineer:

Catch That Zeppelin! - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

!

 

[Nivek]

I think Hitler being anything other than a monster is disturbing, because it implies that anyone or at least a lot of people, under different circumstances, could be Hitler. Considering how much help he got in building the Third Reich, this is definately true.

That is the point, anyone can be good or evil, depending how is life play out, we've a videogame and a movie over that theme too.

That is a big part of why few or any "good Hitler" stories have been written.

The part of the other anyone?

 

[Alex1guy]

I think Hitler being anything other than a monster is disturbing, because it implies that anyone or at least a lot of people, under different circumstances, could be Hitler. Considering how much help he got in building the Third Reich, this is definately true.

However, doing that would force us to look at our own evil in the face and admitting that we could be like Hitler, is highly disturbing to a lot of people.

If Hitler is a special evil genius, walled off from the rest of humanity, that is much more comforting.

That is a big part of why few or any "good Hitler" stories have been written.

I don't even think it's that element.

I feel the reason that there are few "Good Hitler" stories is, well without him being a dictator or whatever, he and his life simply isn't interesting. We remember Hitler because he represents what happens when hatred becomes the bedrock of a nation's ideaology and exploring that idea presents something potentially intriuging or confronting.

But if he doesn't ascend to power or becomes "a good person", what's the point in writing a story about him? He's just some struggling artist or something.

 

[Cire]

because it implies that anyone or at least a lot of people, under different circumstances, could be Hitler

Well, maybe some people might initially find such a story to be unsettling, but in reality, Hitler died three quarters of a century ago so maybe there will come a point where he will be just another historical figure such as Ghengis Khan or Caligula?

At any rate, I was just wondering if someone as extreme and fanatical as Hitler could be shunted or diverted down another path, like a speeding train switching tracks, and maybe instead of being a fanatical dictator, Hitler could have been an enthusiastic pacifist instead. In other words, sometimes I wonder if there is really a lot of difference between Hitler and Leon Tolstoy? How would someone like Tolstoy, Jimmy Carter, or Mahatma Gandhi turned out if they had been raised by Hitler's parents.

At any rate, I can see how some people might find such a story disturbing, but what I find even more disturbing is the idea of someone traveling back in time to strangle baby Hitler in his crib.

 

[AltoRegnant]

Honestly, keep the dude out of vienna, maybe send him to Paris. the two were huge cultural centers and a lot of the antisemitism came from VIenna. ship him to Paris and even if he rose to power and promised to Make Germany Great For The First Time Again he would do everything incredibly differently

 

[Starforce]

Strangling a baby who had no idea what they would become in the future is just downright disgusting.

If someone had a different life, they can end up like he did. Hitler wasn't a monster. He was human, and I think that's what lesson we should learn from history, that everyone is capable of doing great things or horrible things, and how one is brought up has tremendous consequences on what they turn out to be in the future. It's why we should ensure our children have the best lives they have, so they turn out to be great people in the future.

 

[Nivek]

Honestly, keep the dude out of vienna, maybe send him to Paris. the two were huge cultural centers and a lot of the antisemitism came from VIenna. ship him to Paris and even if he rose to power and promised to Make Germany Great For The First Time Again he would do everything incredibly differently

Paris wasn't as bad after the whole dreyfus affair anyway?

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Part_de_l'autre there is, written by a french even