Nazism was as tyrannical as communism was in terms of personal liberty (and I'm not talking Stalin/Mao communism, which were in fact worse even in that regard, but the post-Stalin Warsaw pact kind), but not nearly as crippling to the economy. If you're going to be a slave, it's still better to be rich than poor, isn't it?
The issue here is, that we have no real refence that we can use as basis, since the National Socialist Fascism was rulling in Germany only from 1933 to 45, and at least half of the time was spend in war, where as Communism, in Russia and later the Warsaw Pakt states, was ruling for a far longer time. And you could even make the argument, that a lot of the possitive effects in the Third Reich, actually came from the reforms and changes applied during the Weimar Republic, which started to show their effect after the Nazis took over - The Nazis for themself came up with only very few completely own projects and reforms.
While I agree with your sentiment in so far as it doesn't matter if you're getting a bullet from a Fascist-Nazi or dieing in a Communist Gulag, it's still a fact that the Sowjetunion existed for more than 70 years, which gives us a much better understanding of their economy. And it had periods of prosperity. The History of Tsarist Russia is a sad and interesting one. At least you could say, that compared to the average citizen of Tsarist Russia, the Communist did improve their conditions, where as the Nazis worsened the conditions of the average German, and actually lead the nation into a world war which left it completely in ruins and occupied by foreign nations.
But I know that this is a very slippery slope.
However, with saying this, most historians today agree that the Nazis have done a lot of damage to the German economy, that propaganda played a very high importance, and that Germany would have most likely suffered very serious economical issues if WW2 never happend. Much of what Germany achieved in war was only possible because they exploited occupied nations without any qualm, which goes even so far that the leadership consciously accepted the death of millions, in nations like Ukraine, to support the German population and military with enough food - See the Hunger Plan. To make this short, the German political leadership and the industry both made decisions based not on economical but rather on political and ideological motifs. This even hindered their war efforts tremendously, when you directly compare the industry and war efforts between the US and Germany. The concept of over engineering, where as the US industry rather favored things that simply
worked - remember, even you said capitalism works, this is one of the examples where it did. This only changed really with Albert Speer assuming the position of Minister of Armaments in 1942, placing more emphasis on mass production and designs that had actually a real application rather than prototypes and overengineered concepts.
And not everything was bad with Hitler. There were many far worse figures in history, you know, and not even they were all bad. It's strange to see people who would otherwise agree with you that the world isn't black and white get so defensive when you suggest that somebody wasn't satan.
Historical revisionism and relativism. Neat. Didn't saw that one in a long time.
Hitler! He was a devil! No! Stalin! He was FAR worse! You're all wrong! Mao was the worst!
Except, that this was never the point, to paint Hitler or any Nazi as the worst figure in world history or to compare them to each other. What ever if Hitler was the worst dictator or Stalin, or if some of their politics had positive effects, is completely meaningless to the fact that antisemitism in general, was one of the roots for the Hollocaust. But yes, I am sure the fact that the Nazis improved animal protection in Germany, will be a huge relief for the victims of the Hollocaust.
Antisemitism, what ever if directly or indirectly was present in all of Europe and the US during the 1920s and 30s. No one simply woke up one morning in 1943, with the idea that all Jews should be now exterminated in concentration camps.
The moment you have to say "But not everything was bad (...)" is where you have to find something, anything where you have to justify the horrorible events which lead to the Hollocaust. There was no reason to hate or even fear Jews, just as there is none to fear or hate Muslims as a whole today. This exact same rhetoric you use now, was used against the Jews by the German state in 1938 to justify their racist actions and the progroms against jews:
On the morning of Monday, 7 November 1938, he purchased a revolver and a box of bullets, then went to the German embassy and asked to see an embassy official. After he was taken to the office of Ernst vom Rath, Grynszpan fired five bullets at Vom Rath, two of which hit him in the abdomen. Vom Rath was a professional diplomat with the Foreign Office who expressed anti-Nazi sympathies, largely based on the Nazis' treatment of the Jews, and was under Gestapo investigation for being politically unreliable.[24] Grynszpan made no attempt to escape the French police and freely confessed to the shooting. In his pocket, he carried a postcard to his parents with the message, "May God forgive me ... I must protest so that the whole world hears my protest, and that I will do."
The next day, the German government retaliated, barring Jewish children from German state elementary schools, indefinitely suspending Jewish cultural activities, and putting a halt to the publication of Jewish newspapers and magazines, including the three national German Jewish newspapers. A newspaper in Britain described the last move, which cut off the Jewish populace from their leaders, as "intended to disrupt the Jewish community and rob it of the last frail ties which hold it together."[12] Their rights as citizens had been stripped.
It's an unreasonable and irrational mentality based solely on fear and prejudice and not on logic or reasoning, where you blame individuals for their actions, and not a whole religion or nation. And yes, this can and has already happend in the US, leading to such events like the geonicide on native Americans or the detention camps for American citizens with Japanese heritage.
Germany's GDP per capita in 1939 was only topped by the US and Switzerland, while communism's effect on the economy can be clearly seen when comparing the GDPs of eastern european states in the interwar period and after the war. So nazism being less detrimental to the economy is a fact.
As for personal liberty, that one is tougher to prove through numbers, but I'm sure that a glance over the peacetime laws of both will show that the nazis were more lax, expecially in regard to freedom of travel.
The GDP is very missleading, while it is true that the German manufactured a lot of goods, it doesn't tell you anything about the wealth of the average german and their living conditions. Building the Reichsbahn or factories for tanks might boost the GDP but it doesn't mean the average German had more in his pocket to buy goods or enjoy wealth. You can't eat the Reichsbahn or plow your field with a rifle. A better thing to look at are the imports and exports of the industry and the average wage of the German citizen, which declined in Germany after 1933. With the exception of goods that have been seen as detrimental to the war efforts - see also 4-year-plan.
While the strict state intervention into the economy, and the massive rearmament policy, almost led to full employment during the 1930s, real wages in Germany dropped by roughly 25% between 1933 and 1938. Trade unions were abolished, as well as collective bargaining and the right to strike. In place of ordinary profit incentive to guide investment, investment was guided through regulation to accord with needs of the State. Government financing eventually came to dominate the investment process, which the proportion of private securities issued falling from over half of the total in 1933 and 1934 to approximately 10 percent in 1935–1938. Heavy taxes on profits limited self-financing of firms. The largest firms were mostly exempt from taxes on profits, however government control of these were extensive. (...)
http://gdc.gale.com/archivesunbound...nomy-and-war-in-the-third-reich-19331944-the/
You would not go and say, the US had the wealthiest citizens in the world just because they managed to manufactured more than 50 000 Shermans from 1939 to 45.
