You can't beat a bit of Goebbels

[Richard Hargreaves]

Man fragt sich erstaunt, was Stalin nicht alles aus diesem Volke gemacht hat.

You have to ask yourself how Stalin ...

didn't do more with this nation?

Good job his diaries only run to 25 or so volumes and 12,000+ pages. Any more and I'd scream...

[HeinrichFrey]

Hello Richard,
although I can`t imagine Goebbels talking in a positive way of Stalin, please tell me the next one or two sentences of the diary entry.

[Richard Hargreaves]

Hi Heinrich,

This is the next bit

Man fragt sich erstaunt, was Stalin nicht alles aus diesem Volke gemacht hat. Eine autokratische Staatsführung kann aus dem rassischen Volke sehr viel herausholen; besonders wenn sie ganz auf Kriegführung und revolutionären Angriff eingestellt ist, vermag sie natürlich ein Potential auszuschöpfen, das unübersehbar ist.

There are occasional compliments for Stalin in Goebbels' diaries, chiefly his tenacity and ruthlessness. And quite a lot of scorn.

[HeinrichFrey]

Hi Richard,
I´ll try it: You have to ask yourself astonished how Stalin was able to develop (or to bring forward) this nation.... No scorn but surprise over the huge ressources of an "Untermenschen"-Nation in case of emergency.

[Richard Hargreaves]

Ah. I was way off with that one! Thank you.

The Goebbels' diaries are a bit of a mixed bag. Some times it can be quite easy to translate, at others horrendous. And he did go on a bit!

[HeinrichFrey]

It`s a pleasure, Richard.
I wonder how You will manage to translate "rassisches Volk". Even in German it`s completely nonsense.

[Richard Hargreaves]

Hi Heinrich,

I translated it simply as "race" - it was about the best a could do. "Racial nation" makes no sense in either language.

[HeinrichFrey]

O.K. this could make sense

[Hans]

Are you sure it says "rassischen" & not "russischen"?

- Hans

[HeinrichFrey]

Hello Hans!
THIS would make sense!