The right honourable Adolf Hitler?

[123everton]

I caught a bit of "The Nazis, A Warning From History" and in it an old man recalled seeing Hitler speak and that after seeing the look in his eyes that he felt that Hitler was "an honourable man."
So was he?
Think about it, Hitler told the world what he intended to do if he achieved power and how he intended to express that power once he'd achieved it, apart from the Soviet non-aggression pact everything was already down in black and white, and even that was hinted at as part of a political bargaining ploy to buy time before you can destroy them militarily all this was widely published in several languages and over several editions in "Mein Kampf."
I'm not for one second suggesting he was right, but Hitler said plainly and clearly what he intended to do, and promptly did it, is that not an honourable thing?
It's not his fault few people took him seiously at the time.

[jno]

The Germans did. But perhaps there is more to being an honourable man than just being an honest one?

[pericat]

As jno says - there are more meanings to the word honourable two of which are fair and just - Hitler was neither of these - honest maybe but none of the other dictionary definitions

[123everton]

Very good point JNO.

[brionon]

He signed 'Non-aggression'' pacts and reneged on them. Not very honourable,I think ?

[123everton]

He said in "Mein Kampf" you should negotiate with your enemies until you're strong enough to defeat them militarily.

[pudniw]

Presumably, if I pop into my local bank, tell them I'm going to rob them, and then do, I'm a man of my word, and an honourable one, to boot!

[Seadragon]

I caught some of the World War 2 documentary on I think the history channel yesterday and a guy on there said that Hitler's face looked 'pale and flaccid'!!
I think you're right in the sense that 'Hitler advocates' admire the way Hitler implemented his policies. He gave a speech in 1939 in which he stated his racial and ethnic policy of 'exterminating all European Jews'. However anit-semitism was there before Hitler. The Germans were of the conviction that the Jews were to blame for their defeat in WW1 and that they were profiting well and of this wide-held belief in a 'Jewish conspiracy'.

Hitler played upon the anti-semitism around, there is no document linking him to the crimes - he used Himmler to implement his extermination policy in that respect. And one has to remember that he committed suicide - what is honourable in that? He just showed the world what an evil 'manipulator' he was and if anything how easy it is to manipulate people.

[jake-the-peg]

Was this the "honorable man" that gave Chamberlain his word on that famous piece of paper?

[123everton]

Jake I refer you to my previous answer.

[jake-the-peg]

So a violent man who lies for his own advantage and who's word cannot be trusted

What is your definition of honorable in this contect then?

[123everton]

He stayed true to everything he said he was going to do in "Mein Kampf" even to the point of the manner in which he said he'd achieve it.
He represented the people of Germany in the manner that he felt fit, and by and large was given a mandate by the general populus.
I'm not saying he was right (far from it) but in the context (if you will) that he was a politician who was there to represent the Germans (at least those he and they viewed as German) he stated what he was about plainly and clearly.
Once in power he executed it openly, in more ways than one.

[beso]

People like Hitler are thoroughly enamoured with their own philosophy and highly motivated. They truly believe they have the answers humanity requires. And generally not everything they believe in is incorrect.

History is littered with figures like him. Ghengis Kahn, Alexander the Great, Ceasar, Abraham, Joshua, Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, Napoleon, Osama bin Laden. All of them incapable of objective thinking yet all with varying degrees of something worthwhile to contribute among their bigotry and prejudiced outlooks.

[jake-the-peg]

A mandate comes not only from doing the things you say you are going to do but also from not doing significant things that you have not declared.

I'm not sure Hitler had a mandate for genocide!

Besides which a mandate is only valid when the population has a free choice without fear of the consequences.

A common claim of dictators is that they have a mandate from their people - Saddam Hussein claimed 100% of the vote in 2002!

Given the intimidation Hitlers unleased on Germany I think that is a difficult claim to maintain.

Did he have a mandate to murder the leaders of the Brownshirts in 1933 and disband the organization of 400,000?

Did he have a mandate for Kristallnacht?

Did he have a mandate to imprison political opponents without trial?

Writing a book and seizing power does not give you a mandate.

[123everton]

The points you make are largely mute thanks to JNO's answer, Hitler's rise to power was legal, and, if memory serves there was another vote after he assumed power (98% approval I think) even allowing for fraud it is fair to say that the vast majority of Germans supported him.