Thursday, December 20, 2012

History and Fantasy



Landsberg, Bavaria
December 20, 1924

A) Today following 264 days of imprisonment for his conviction for treason, Adolph Hitler was released. During his time in Landsberg, he wrote Mein Kampf. He was assisted by his personal factotum, Rudolf Hess.  Hitler’s time in prison was much like a vacation at a posh country club, for viands were abundant and fit for a king, visiting privileges for his friends and cronies were quite generous.

B) Today, following 264 days of imprisonment for his conviction for treason, his appeals having been exhausted, Adolph Hitler was executed.

Which is history and which is fantasy?

Results:

Scenario A) Twenty-one years later, the entire world in turmoil and conflict and following the deaths of millions, Hitler himself died, a suicide.

Scenario B) Who knows?

3 comments:

Shelly said...

I would have loved the possibilities with B.

Secondary Roads said...

The situation in Germany after WWI was ripe, ready for a dictator to rise up. Perhaps another would have less ego. Perhaps another would have taken Britain. Perhaps our world would have fallen into darkness for a thousand years. But that is, of course, silly speculation on my part.

vanilla said...

Shelly, sometimes during my readings in history, I wander off on a hobo trip, trying to imagine what might have been. In this instance, you are open to the possibilities. Chuck sees a darker potential; and since it is all fantasy anyway, we may each build our own pretend-world.

Chuck, you raise an interesting point, namely that things could have been worse. A very real possibility. Perhaps I should stick to history and try to learn from it.