Earlier this semester, I was browsing through my instagram. I got down to one of the Lincoln Museum's post where it had a picture of a German helmet from World War Two (I could go into the specifics of it, but I'll spare you all). Their title was "From our Artifact Collection: a Nazi helmet from World War II." There was only one problem. The helmet was not Nazi. It was a standard helmet worn by the Luftwaffe (German Air Force), and other than a very small swastica in the emblem for the Luftwaffe, there were no other markings that would indicate the wearer had any affiliation with the Nazi Party. I usually don't like to comment on posts, but this really irked me. I commented on it that not all Germans who fought in World War Two were Nazi.
So this leads into my main point. Nazi and German are not interchangable. Nazi Party membership even during its highest years was still only a small percentage of the German population. Whoever wore the helmet was most likely not a member of the Nazi Party. He was probably just a regular German citizen. He probably didn't want to be fighting the war, but his nation was at war and he went.
A better term for the helmet would be "German helmet from World War Two" or something along those lines. And I am somewhat confused as to why the Lincoln Museum even has this helmet in their collection. How does the Luftwaffe helmet have anything to do with Abraham Lincoln? I don't see much of a connection. So just remember, German does not equal Nazi and be sensitive to which word you use.
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