Oberstein vs. Heydrich
Walter Amos (amos@sedl.org)
Fri, 31 Jul 1998 13:49:19 -0500 (CDT)
On Fri, 31 Jul 1998, Sampo Haarlaa wrote:
> By the way, I recently noticed that Oberstein's character was probably
> taken from a nazi officer Reinhard Heydrich (I like to study war history.
> No, I started it long before I had even heard about anime or LOGH).
> At least the notes about his personality are almost same. Even
> appearance is very close, except that Heydrich had a short hair.
Ah yes, good ol' Reinhard Heydrich, the man my friend Rob Fenelon likes
to call "The Naziest Nazi of them All!" He truly was Hitler's Aryan
darling: attractive, athletic build, blond hair, blue eyes, and a
Heidelberg fencing champion, not to mention a fanatically devoted party
member.
But while some of Oberstein's Machiavellian ideas might be familiar to
someone like Heydrich, I think there is at least one major difference.
I believe one of Oberstein's main inner motivations for wanting to
overthrow the Goldenbaum dynasty was the first Emperor Rudolf's
"Inferior Genes Exclusion" laws, which would have meant someone like
him with a genetic vision defect should have been eliminated. Like
Reinhard, Oberstein seems to believe the judge of a person's character
is their performance and skill, not their race or genetic makeup.
Heydrich on the other hand would probably have been an enthusiastic
supporter of the "Inferior Genes Exclusion" laws.
And I think that probably Heydrich was more personable (terrible as
that may sound) than Oberstein, at least when meeting with fellow Nazi
comrades. I have a copy of the film "The Wannsee Conference", a
dramatization based on the actual meeting minutes of the conference
where the Nazi "Final Solution" to the Jewish Question was mapped out.
Heydrich was the chairman of the conference. And one important
observation about him, hateful as his objectives in the conference
were, he had excellent management skills. He acted as though he had
taken modern courses on conflict resolution. As the meeting debate got
heated, Heydrich called for a break and had refreshments brought in,
letting people cool off before they came to loggerheads. Contrast this
to Oberstein's actions, for example, in the meeting with Reinhard's
staff officers after Kircheis is killed, where he tells them to go off
and get Prime Minister Lichtenlade. Mittermeyer is obviously quite
steamed by Oberstein's attitude and none of the other admirals act too
fond of him either, but Oberstein does nothing to try and "honey" his
words or opinions. I think Heydrich would have tried to be a little
more accomodating, if for no other reason than to increase the
likelihood of his own ideas being accepted.
==============================================================================
"Zu jeder Zeit, an jeder (sic) Ort, bleibt das Tun | Walter Amos
der Menschen das gleiche..." - Galactic Heroes II | amos@sedl.org