A bit on Austrians and Hitler

Background: the Austrians are still really, really sensitive to the fact that their nation gave birth to Hitler, even if they weren't the ones who elected him, and to the fact that they allowed Hitler to take over.

I went with a few friends to see The Black Dahlia tonight at an English theater. The movie, by the way, is pretty good, very disgusting in a nasty-bloody-uck sort of way, but very interesting and certainly suspenseful. It had interesting camerawork and was part film noir, part something else. Anyway, the star character (played by Josh Hartnett) has a German last name. Somebody asks him, "What is that name, anyway?" "German." "Germans. Good people. Hitler was a little excessive." Of course the three of us burst out laughing. Well, Tara and I giggled, and Karen kind of laughed really, really loudly, and then immediately clamped her hand over her mouth. The rest of the theater was totally silent, and an older lady behind us stood up and leaned over to look at where the laughter had come from. Ooops.