Comment Central - Times Online - WBLG

Today's Web Grab

You might enjoy:

• Hendrik Hertzberg in Notes on politics, mostly: Book Blurble No. 2 (Civil War)
• Joey Jones In Boulton & Co: Home Office ad binge ruffles feathers
• Jennifer Howze in Alpha Mummy: How do you make the Internet safe for kids
• Nora Ephron in Huffington Post: Hooked on Hillary
• Lisa Miller in Belief Watch: A Good Book in camouflage

The tragic end of The Killing Fields

If you've been reading the stories about Dith Pran you may be wondering what happened to the man whose face you associate with that name. What happened to Killing Fields actor Haing Ngor?

This, I am afraid, is the answer.

Paddy Hitler, Max Mosley and the dilemma of Nazi children

As the son of a concentration camp survivor I have wondered what it must be like to be the child of a leading Nazi.

How does one resolve the painful conflicts that such a relationship produces?

Not long ago my mother met with Hilde Schramm, the daughter of Albert Speer, their meeting being featured in a radio programme. My mother thought her a good woman who had struggled to put right her father's crimes in the best way she could.

But nevertheless, my mother decided not to confront her directly about Speer. Why? Because Mum felt it would not be fair. The issue was bound to be so difficult for Schramm. "After all, he was her Daddy".

In today's paper there was the fascinating (if sordid) story of Max Mosley, Oswald's son, and his Nazi sex games. Both Nicholas and Max Mosley have striven so hard to consign their family history to the past. Yet it is clearly still there in Max's case, and strongly so.

Here's a review of ten Nazi children.

Gudrun Himmler: No conflict for the daughter of Heinrich Himmler. She remains, basically, a Nazi. Since 1951 she has been a member of Stille Hilfe, an organisation supporting arrested, condemned or fugitive former SS-members in states of distress. For decades she has been their prominent symbol.

Katrin Himmler: Himmler's great niece, on the other hand, regards Uncle Heinrich as a mass murderer. She worries about what she is going to tell her child about the family. Why? Because she is married to a Jew who survived in the Warsaw ghetto and then went to live in Israel.

Hilde Schramm: The daughter of Hitler's architect has become a bohemian figure, a Green politician, and a brave and outspoken leader of efforts to return works of art stolen by the Nazis. She simultaneously retains affection for her father with an abhorrence for Nazi crimes, including his. This dual stance is made possible to some extent by the lack of clarity still existing about Speer's exact role and knowledge about the Final Solution. Obviously however, Speer knew much more than he admitted.

Max Rufus Mosley: The son of Oswald Mosley was his father's supporter and aide in the 1960s when Oswald had made European federalism his cause. He later was involved in the Tory party, before becoming a Labour donor in the mid 1990s. He keeps talk of the Mosley political past to a minimum and has become successful instead in the world of motor racing. 

Paddy Hitler: Adolf Hitler did not have a son, but he did have a nephew, Paddy. Paddy, the son of Hitler's brother Alois, lived in Liverpool as a young boy. In 1933 he moved to Germany, trying to be a car salesman and cash in on his family name. Things didn't work out and he moved to the US, denouncing his Uncle and serving in the US Navy in the war. Finally he settled in Long Island where he had three sons, including Brian Hitler. I am not making this up.

Nicholas Mosley: Oswald Mosley was married twice. Yet while Diana Mosley, Max's mother was a fascist supporter, Nicholas's mother Cynthia was not. She was alive during Oswald's Labour years. Her son Nicholas is a successful novelist and an outspoken critic of his father and his politics.

Romano Mussolini: The third son of Benito was a successful jazz pianist. So successful in fact that he became one of the top players in Europe in the 1960s, his albums winning critical acclaim and prizes. He started under a pseudonym, Roman Full, but later played under his own name. He claimed that his father had been misunderstood - that he was not an anti-Semite or as ruthless as he was portrayed.

Martin Bormann Jr: Bormann's son was an ardent Nazi as a child, but gradually came face to face with Nazi crimes, recording with horror an incident in which Himmler's family showed him a lightshade made of human skin. He became a Priest and tours the world denouncing the crimes of the Nazis.

Alessandra Mussolini: Roman's daughter is more fascist than jazz pianist. The Mussolini family has had its revenge on democracy with Alessandra's election to the European Parliament. Or perhaps it's the other way round. Benito's grandaughter has grown up into a fully fledged neo-fascist leader. She has gone through a complex legal process to allow her children to attach the name Mussolini to their father's surname. Bet they are all eternally grateful.

Albert Speer: Hilde turned to politics while her brother chose the alternative route, picking up his father's architectural legacy. He has been fabulously successful in this alternative career, despite bearing such a controversial name.

Magazine Rack - Issue 194

You might enjoy:

• John Fund in The American: Cuckoo for Switzerland
• Hugh Miles in Prospect: A Cairo conversion
• Michael Kinsley in The New Yorker: Mine is longer than yours
• Robert Skidelsky in The New York Review of Books: Gloomy about Globalization

What should we do about the 'Yid Army'?

Listen to my podcast on whether it's ok to support the 'Yid Army'

Dith Pran: A reader

-- Douglas Martin in The New York Times: Dith Pran, 'Killing Fields' Photographer, dies at 65

-- The Times Obituary: Dith Pran

-- Dith Pran in The New York Times: Video: The last word

-- Dith Pran in The New York Times: Return to the Killing Fields

-- Time: Schanberg's score

-- See below for The Killing Fields trailer:

Monday's comment from the papers in...

Today in Times Comment

• Melanie Reid: Are schools being inspected to death?
• William Rees-Mogg: We're successful - at grand failures
• Tim Hames: Prepare for a shock BNP victory
• Terence Kealey: Blame Gordon for Jodrell's woes
• David Aaronovitch: Who wants to kill the elderly?
• Caitlin Moran: Delia Smith may be in the soup - but at least she's keeping it real
• Gary Duncan: Two worlds of the City and UK collide to pose a threat to all

And from the rest of the papers...

• Janet Daley: (The Telegraph) - Public rage is increasing: Are you still happy to pay more tax?
• Philip Johnston: (The Telegraph) - Immigration doesn't benefit Britain
• Jim White: (The Telegraph) - Decade of change: Why we beat the French
• Max Hastings: (The Guardian) - I mourn for British Airways. I want to love our airline, if only it will let me
• Jackie Ashley: (The Guardian) - Clarkson for prime minister? It's time women fought back
• Gary Younge: (The Guardian) - America lauds Martin Luther King, but undermines his legacy every day
• Andreas Whittam Smith: (The Independent) - Yet another reason to condemn Blair over Iraq
• Bruce Anderson: (The Independent) - We're not ready to extend lives indefinitely
• Basildon Peta: (The Independent) - After 28 years of misrule and corruption, the end is near
• Keith Waterhouse: (The Daily Mail) - The showcase with not a lot to show for it
• Clive Crook: (The Financial Times) - Financial markets need more than a patch-up

And from around the world...

• William Kristol: (The New York Times) - McCain's biography isn't enough
• Robert D. Novak: (The Washington Post) - Clinton and Obama are beginning to sound like a pair of Democratic twins
• Roger C. Altman: (The Washington Post) - Piercing this bubble for good
• Wang Lixiong: (The Wall Street Journal) - The cry of Tibet
• Bridget Stutchbury: (International Herald Tribune) - Did your shopping list kill a songbird?
• Richard Lourie: (The Moscow Times) - The next collapse will be Russia's last

In today's Sunday Times comment

Michael Clarke says Britain is doing the worrying as the battle for Basra unfolds ...The House of Commons has failed to react to changing times, argues Michael Portillo ... India Knight sings the praises of Carla Bruni ... Britain needs to rethink immigration as it's all too easy to get in, believes Roshan Doug ...Minette Marrin blames parenting in today's society for the drop in marriages, while Rod Liddle is appalled at parents who indulge their criminal children

Today's Web Grab

You might enjoy:

• Emily Hill in Comment is free: Is it cos I is short?
• Mike Nizza in The Lede: In U.S., a stronger order to learn English
• Stephen K. Dubner in Freakonomics: Our daily bleg
• Chris Dillow in Stumbling and Mumbling: Terminal 5: A Coasean problem
• Anna Shepard in Eco-Worrier: Ten unexpected benefits of being self-sufficientish

The price of hair and makeup

And while we're on the subject of the great male-female political divide....

How concerned should we be about Clinton's cosmetics? Michael Kinsley lights a firecracker in this Slate article with his suggestion that a female candidate spends at least half an hour more primping each day than her male counterparts. He goes on to calculate:

No one will care whether the president is well-coiffed when answering that 3 a.m. phone call. But in a close-fought election campaign, every minute counts. If you figure 20 minutes a day over a year and a half of 14-hour days and six-day weeks, it comes out to an extra two weeks of campaigning or sleep for a male candidate.

Well any male candidate but those of the John Edwards 'I spend $400 on a haircut' variety.

Men have always spent as much time obsessing about their looks as women. Who's to say that Obama doesn't spend half an hour examining his pores or John McCain worrying about his wrinkles?

Furthermore, Kinsley has forgetten the female capacity to multitask.

It's ridiculous to assume that Clinton spends those thirty minutes fretting about which eyeshadow best matches her pantsuit. She may well be simultaneously holding a political briefing and running over speech notes.

And why not? After all, Maggie Thatcher was notorious for leaving her male colleagues flailing in her wake. And that was in the eighties when hair and makeup could take days.

Finally, who knows when the candidates make their big decisions? George Bush likes to jog three miles each day. JFK relaxed with the odd girlfriend. Barack Obama takes the times to read to his daughters. And for all we know, McCain may have his brainwaves in the bath.

Having the headspace to think is vital for a politician. None of these relaxation techniques lessen their ability to be or become President. If Hillary wants to take forty minutes to do her appearance, well good for her.

Alice Fishburn