Blog Review: World War II in Color

World War II in Color is a blog that provides color photographs of World War II. There are a lot of images of Germans. Any discussion of a blog like this is going to lead in two directions simultaneously. First, we have to have a discussion about politics, and Nazis in general (is this a Nazi blog? Is the blogger a Nazi? etc.). Then we have to have another political discussion about intellectual property. Where did the blogger get these images? Are they “legal” in the U.S.A. where I am or anywhere else?

First, let’s address the Nazi question. I’m against Nazis. I’ve spent more time that I probably should have fighting Nazi ideas like those presented in the films of Lars von Trier. One thing that I regret is using “von” Trier’s (“von” is a nickname) “Dogma 95” as a inspiration for my own idea of a model building philosophy called Dogma 72 (hence the URL of this site–see above). I didn’t realize that I was taking my ideas from a Nazi or would have used another name.

Yes, I meant that. Von Trier is a Nazi in his view of the world–and what makes this truly disturbing is how many people agree with his view of the world. Given an opportunity, these crypto-nazis would run out in the streets and take over.

That’s farkin’ scary.

But they didn’t get to be Nazis by looking at old photographs. It’s their belief in a weird hybrid of idealism (the human being as an ideal to be managed as such) glued to a version of materialism (the human genome as government property) that makes them Nazis.

So whenever I read a description of Nazis that begins and ends with people in snazzy uniforms with neato armbands I know I’m reading something stupid. Nazism resides in the minds of the believers, who can twist anything around until it reflects their failure to believe in two things: an eternal human soul and the power of love. Once you jettison these things, you end up in Nazi-land very quickly, I don’t think author of this blog (Alif Rafik Khan) is a Nazi but he may be for all I know. His blog doesn’t say.

Now we can move on the intellectual property argument. If Mr. Khan is stealing all these photos, then I guess I’d be “wrong” in some cosmic sense to recommend his blog. But I just can’t feel it. I like the fact that these photos have been laboriously uploaded by Mr. Khan, and so I’ll just say that if somebody is miffed that they didn’t get paid, it’s not my problem. I may like to drive the speed limit on the freeway (yes–I’m that guy) but in this case I won’t play Internet Cop.

I’m happy to have access to color photos from the German side because I can calibrate my own internal monitor using these images. That’s right, I’m of the opinion that you can’t tell what color something was from a black and white image, but even bad color images will give, over time, an insight into the truth.

Look at enough color images and you see the “true” colors shining through, to coin a phrase.

Mr. Khan posts these images without asking for any money or other compensation, I like that. His blog hasn’t been updated lately so I’m hoping he didn’t get hauled in by the secret police for questioning.

If you’re interested in seeing some very provocative photos, check it out.

Note: There are other WWII in color blogs out there. This is one among many.

5 Replies to “Blog Review: World War II in Color”

  1. Excellent website. Thanks for that.

    What do you mean by human genome owned by the government? It is already copyrighted to a private firm now haha. Whether that is preferable…well…Too late for government.

    1. It’s not Bayer is it? Bayer used to be part of I.G. Farben. I recommend reading The Devil’s Chemists by Josiah E. DuBois. Unfortunately, it’s a “rare” book. I have a copy signed by the author.(I wonder what it’s worth as a collectible?) The book explains how big business (I.G. Farben in particular) were instrumental in furthering the Nazi regime. In some cases they took the lead. I.G. Farben ran the synthetic rubber factory at Auschwitz. They were so cruel to the workers that the SS sent them a letter telling them to treat the prisoners better. After the war, DuBois was one of the prosecutors at Nuremburg. The Farben executives were mostly acquitted of all wrongdoing–a few went to prison for a few years. The reason? German industry was needed to resist Soviet communism.

  2. The SS sent them a letter? oh boy.

    Pity the book is considered rare. There are so many books about that I want to read, but have become ‘rare’ as you say, and are therefore out of the hands of the common folk. Mind you, they sit somewhere in a collectors stash, locked away, while people that want to, you know, read the book, cannot get our hands on them. Penguin used to be good at publishing nice, cheap reading copies of rare books so that they could be used as intended.

    Were Farben in on the ‘testing’ that was done during ww2? You know, on down syndrome ‘patients’, pregnant women and so fourth? Condemned massively after the war, but the ruling nations couldn’t wait to get their hands on the outcomes of the ‘research’, including some of the players so I have heard.

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