Paul,

Could you be more pathetic. Considering that in 1938 Germany's economy had completely turned around, and the evil side of Hitler was not yet apparent, it was difficult not to give the Nazi some grudging respect (Like Crusty Milne gives to ISIS). However, I doubt that Menzies maintained that respect.

LR However, had benefit of hindsight with the knowledge of the tens of millions murdered by the communists, yet still admired their murderous system.

Foxy,

I look forward to the day when you can quote something other than a left whinge journalist. I tried to find essay to which you alluded, only to find that I have to pay for it. Reviewing his other works, it would appear that his speciality is left whinge polemics which I am not of a mind to pay for.

As for his essay, the pivotal point appears to be the "revelation" by a vociferous opponent of TA punching a wall next to her after an SRC meeting in a crowded Student facility which was seen by no one.

If you can point me to a free copy I will read it. However, until then I don't consider that your left whinge articles carry any weight.

Shadow, In 1938 the evil side of Hitler was well documented and apparent to all who wanted to know, but not to the likes of Liberal Party founder Menzies, who got his nick name of 'Pig Iron Bob' for allowing sales of iron to imperialist Japan, some say it was returned later in the form of bombs used to kill Australians. All well documented by history. Maybe you have another version of history, or you just don't want to know. How quickly Menzies got the flick when war broke out, the people knew exactly what he stood for.

"Paul,

Could you be more pathetic. Considering that in 1938 Germany's economy had completely turned around, and the evil side of Hitler was not yet apparent..."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_Agreement

1938 was integral year for Hitler's ambitions.

"Since most of the border defenses laid in the territory seceded as a consequence of the Munich Agreement, remaining part of Czechoslovakia was entirely open to further invasion, despite having relatively large stockpiles of modern weaponry. In a speech delivered in Reichstag, Hitler stressed out also the military importance of occupation, noting that by occupying Czechoslovakia, Germany gained 2.175 field canons, 469 tanks, 500 anti-aircraft artillery pieces, 43.000 machine guns, 1.090.000 military rifles, 114.000 pistols, about a billion rounds of ammunition and three millions of anti-aircraft grenades. This amount of weaponry would be sufficient to arm about half of the then Wehrmacht. Czechoslovak weaponry later played major part in the German conquest of Poland and France, the countries that pressured the country's surrender to Germany in 1938."

(Psst, Paul...it's all right. Shadow Minister is taking modern European history next semester)

Hi Poirot,

"Considering that in 1938 Germany's economy had completely turned around, and the evil side of Hitler was not yet apparent..." obviously a statement by a person who must be an historical illiterate!

Menzies visit to Nazi Germany took place in August 1938, within 3 months, November 1938 the Nazi's had organised a riot (pogrom), known as Kristallnacht (the “Night of Broken Glass”). This attack against German and Austrian Jews included the physical destruction of synagogues and Jewish-owned stores, the arrest of Jewish men, the vandalisation of homes, and the murder of individuals. The Nazi's had been persecuting Jews and others, including summery executions, since they had come to power in 1933, the infamous Nuremberg Laws were well established by the time of Menzies visit. Menzies as Attorney-General was spokesman on external matters, but failed to condemn the actions of Nazi Germany in the Australian Parliament, in fact he was just the opposite, Liberal in his praise of Hitler the patriot, and probably though of him as a down right nice bloke! The only ones speaking ill of Hitler in those days were the "lefties", and I'm sure if there had been a Q&A program on ABC radio (no TV then) Menzies as PM would have band his ministers from talking, sine the ABC was bias with lefties bagging fascism.

Paul,

My first mistake was to take at face value. Menzies was at no time an admirer of Hitler. Lee Rhiannon was a strong advocate of Moscow even after their many atrocities were known.

To quote:

"IT is said distraction is the last refuge of the desperate.

In Mike Kelly’s case this is more than apt. In an attempt to explain away Labor’s abstention on the UN vote for Palestinian state observer status and Bob Carr’s aggressive campaign to distance Australia from Israel, Kelly has opened a new front in the history wars (“Labor’s abstention explained” AJN 18/01).

His portrayal of Sir Robert Menzies as a Nazi sympathiser and appeaser “not concerned for the fate of the Jews of Germany” is a despicable slur. Kelly’s claims are not only patently false but intellectually dishonest.

Menzies understood the true nature of the Nazi threat, referring in his memoirs Afternoon Light, to the “sinister figure of Hitler”. When it came to attributing responsibility for the war, Menzies made clear “the guilt was that of Germany alone”.

Following a four-day visit to Germany in July 1938 (not the “several weeks” Kelly claims) Menzies, in fact, was shocked by the Nazis’ destruction of the liberal and democratic features of Germany, and by the apparent willingness of the German people to accept this. He wrote about the “somewhat queer atmosphere of Germany”, and told Dr Schacht, the president of the Reichsbank, that “the real danger of the regime was that the suppression of criticism would ultimately destroy Germany”.

Far from unrealistically believing peace could be preserved, on his return he expressed his deep concern at the parochialism of the Australian states in resisting Commonwealth plans to prepare for war. He told the Constitutional Club of Sydney in October that:

“Few people of the Commonwealth fully realised that the European crisis might involve hostilities in Australian waters – that war might be something that would come to Australia, and not merely something that was happening 12,000 miles away” (SMH, 25/10/1938)."