The Ironies of the 20th Century’s Grand Narratives
History is written by the victors.
— Winston Churchill/Hermann Göring
Who is the most evil person in the history of mankind? Before even going on a Google search, I was quite sure who would make it out on top of most of the lists, and indeed, he did on the first five I checked: Adolf Hitler.
Hitler earned himself such a bad reputation that both his first and last name have fallen entirely out of fashion. Adolf, among the 15 most popular first names in Germany in the 19th century, is now only given to 15 people per year. There is no historical figure I can think of that can match him in this regard, with the sole exception perhaps of China’s Chairman Mao (I have never met anyone named Chairman in our current generation, and yes, this is a dumb joke).
World War II shook the world at its core. It was the most deadly conflict in the history of mankind, with war against civilians and genocide written into its DNA. It transformed our world order, ending the age of the European Empires that had shaped global politics for centuries, paving the way for the hegemony of the U.S. and the Soviet Union and the Cold War that came with it.
Don’t get me wrong: I am very happy I got to grow up in a Germany not led by the Nazis’ insane ideology, and Hitler was indeed as bad as they make him out to…
