Kenneth Althaus

[Rompa]

I'm sure this has been discussed many times but I would just like to know: WHO WAS HE? He is often Chief of the Army in the US and it says he's a national socialist. I looked him up, but I can't find anything about this guy, so I just want to know if anyone knows who he is and whether he was a nazi or not?

 

[RDG]

Just googled him. Found a lot...

 

[Rompa]

Just googled him. Found a lot...

Really? I just found that he was a brigadier general in some armoured division, nothing that would explain why he is eligible for the post as chief of army or if he was a nazi or not

 

[RDG]

Maybe the Nazi thing is related to another Althaus, that name is of pure german origin and relatively wide spread, relatively. Maybe the Nazi theologian Paul Althaus was meant, check THIS

 

[blue emu]

From a news article published March 5th, 2006:

ALTHAUS RETIRES

At Silver Springs Attraction, Brig. Gen. Kenneth G. Althaus was closing out a second career in February 1964 as superintendent of plants and grounds. During his 13 years at the attraction he had overseen the planting of over a half-million plants.

He was responsible for expanding the improving the park grounds, and he was enormously proud of the beauty of his gardens. He planned to spend his second retirement hunting and fishing and perhaps doing a little painting.

Althaus retired from the U.S. Army in 1945 after a career of 32 years. He was promoted to brigadier general in the 10th Armored Division during World War II. He was severely wounded in a land mine explosion in France.

He was commander of the tank destroyer school at Fort Hood, Texas, when he retired from the army. He came to Ocala at the personal request of W.C. Ray Sr., a former co-owner of Silver Springs Attraction.

... Painting??? Wasn't Hitler an artist? This guy sounds like a Nazi to me!

Really? I just found that he was a brigadier general in some armoured division...

Commander of Combat Command A, 10th Armored Division, from 22-Sept-'44 to 15-Dec-'44... basically from the Division's arrival in the ETO until their arrival on the Moselle.

 

[CSABadass]

General Althaus was a random victim of PI's need to fill an alt-history gap as far as I can tell. Myself, I edited him out and replaced him with genuine historical fascists.

 

[Auricius]

Myself, I edited him out and replaced him with genuine historical fascists.

And who would that be?

 

[son of liberty]

Well he was a republican, but apparently had no affiliation with the fascists, nazis, or even the KKK.

 

[MonJoe]

Anyone have a good picture of him? Maybe he had a hitler mustache.

 

[son of liberty]

Anyone have a good picture of him? Maybe he had a hitler mustache.

 

[CSABadass]

And who would that be?

A slight correction to my earlier post: "genuine fascist" is a an overstatement, as I substitute America First-er Robert E. Wood.

 

[unmerged(104551)]

Brig Gen. Kenneth G. Althaus

I'm sure this has been discussed many times but I would just like to know: WHO WAS HE? He is often Chief of the Army in the US and it says he's a national socialist. I looked him up, but I can't find anything about this guy, so I just want to know if anyone knows who he is and whether he was a nazi or not?

Gen. Kenneth G. Althaus was my grandfather..I happened upon your messages regarding him on the internet.. I am not sure what this website is about, however I want to make it very plain to you that my grandfather was a wonderful God-fearing leader, army commander, family man, community leader in Ocala, Florida where he retired, and in no way tied to Nazis. I was shocked to read you thought he was a national socialist. He was friends with Patton, as was my father (Col K.G. Althaus Jr) was friends with Patton's son Col Patton (later Gen. Patton as well). my grandfather was known as "general" in Ocala where he settled after the war. He became an astute oil painter and yes, he was responsible for the landscaping in Silver Springs Fl, years ago when it was privately owned. His wife, who was very active in the Episcopal Church and in DAR is probably "rolling in her grave" at the very thought of his having Nazi ties! Just wanted to set the record straight. Thanks...By the way what is this website about...just curious.

Jacque Althaus Richardson

 

[unmerged(17893)]

By the way what is this website about...just curious.

This is a subforum for a grand strategy wargame called Hearts of Iron 2: Doomsday.

 

[unmerged(42723)]

Gen. Kenneth G. Althaus was my grandfather..I happened upon your messages regarding him on the internet.. I am not sure what this website is about, however I want to make it very plain to you that my grandfather was a wonderful God-fearing leader, army commander, family man, community leader in Ocala, Florida where he retired, and in no way tied to Nazis. I was shocked to read you thought he was a national socialist. He was friends with Patton, as was my father (Col K.G. Althaus Jr) was friends with Patton's son Col Patton (later Gen. Patton as well). my grandfather was known as "general" in Ocala where he settled after the war. He became an astute oil painter and yes, he was responsible for the landscaping in Silver Springs Fl, years ago when it was privately owned. His wife, who was very active in the Episcopal Church and in DAR is probably "rolling in her grave" at the very thought of his having Nazi ties! Just wanted to set the record straight. Thanks...By the way what is this website about...just curious.

Jacque Althaus Richardson

Thx for the info. This website is about strategy games made by Paradox, and the one we're dealing with in this subforum is "Hearts of Iron 2" and its expansions, all about world war two. You play one of many nations here and aside from the historical path you can also take the nation you play into a completely different political direction, so a non-democratic US is possible. Since the game includes lots of leaders and politicians for all kind of ideologies I suspect they simply choose for example Althaus for the NS side. While the game is usually very accurate it's probably very inaccurate in such single cases, but I'd assume it's not because of bad intention.

 

[orimazd]

Gen. Kenneth G. Althaus was my grandfather..I happened upon your messages regarding him on the internet.. I am not sure what this website is about, however I want to make it very plain to you that my grandfather was a wonderful God-fearing leader, army commander, family man, community leader in Ocala, Florida where he retired, and in no way tied to Nazis. I was shocked to read you thought he was a national socialist. He was friends with Patton, as was my father (Col K.G. Althaus Jr) was friends with Patton's son Col Patton (later Gen. Patton as well). my grandfather was known as "general" in Ocala where he settled after the war. He became an astute oil painter and yes, he was responsible for the landscaping in Silver Springs Fl, years ago when it was privately owned. His wife, who was very active in the Episcopal Church and in DAR is probably "rolling in her grave" at the very thought of his having Nazi ties! Just wanted to set the record straight. Thanks...By the way what is this website about...just curious.

Jacque Althaus Richardson

I was wondering who he was as well. Who better to tell us than a relative?

Interesting that I have run into two people who are relatives of important WWII figures...this guy, and someone on facebook who is related to Curtis LeMay (shares the same last name too).

Anyways, in the game that this forum is about, Kenneth Althaus is a nazi leader. As someone said, its probably to fill in a gap when they couldn't find anyone who fit the model...he should be a social conservative in the game, not a nazi.

Maybe they will make that change in the next patch, who knows.

 

[Red Boxer]

I'd be interested to see what the PI reply to this is.

 

[jeffery clark]

Actually Kenneth Althaus IS NOT portrayed in the game (Hearts of Iron) as a Nazi (specifically a german national socialist associated with Hitler's regime), but as an American National Socialist. National socialism has many forms, including the Jewish Zionist and Arab Baathist movements. It is a "right-wing" authoritarian form of government that places the nation above the individual and is associated with a planned economy controlled by the government instead of a free market. Every country in the world has some degree of socialism in their economy. While IMHO national socialism is not a good type of government, the actions of the Nazis in WWII and subsequent propaganda have given national socialism a much worse "rap" than is actually the case. The Nazi activities that we are forbidden to talk about on this website have nothing to do with national socialism as a form of government, although this type of government can facilitate such activities.

National socialists tend to be very patriotic, military-oriented, believe the good of the many outweighs the good of the few, see things in black and white, and believe that the ends justify the means. National socialists can either be atheists (the state is god) or very religious (the state is blessed by god or is doing god's will and is thus always right). This is a valid philosophy, although not mine.

Kenneth Althaus was apparently not a member of the American National Socialist Party so the game misrepresents his political affiliation. This is unfortunate for his relatives and a general problem with historically based games where fact and fiction intermingle. However, since the game utilizes thousands of historical figures and allows alternative outcomes (e.g., a national socialist US), Paradox Interactive has tried to match these figures with leadership and minister positions associated with the various ideological orientations of the game.

In the absence of viable American national socialist alternatives, PI probably chose historical figures such as Kenneth Althaus that they considered very patriotic with a strong military orientation instead (no military is a democracy). Interesting that Althaus and Patton were good friends. If Patton was the leader of the US in 1945 and allowed to choose his form of government, I wonder what type it would have been. Certainly not stalinist or left wing, possibly not democratic. I would guess Paternal Autocrat, if not farther to the right.

Great to see a close relative's opinion and hope he is not offended by this.

 

[CSABadass]

In the absence of viable American national socialist alternatives, PI probably chose historical figures such as Kenneth Althaus that they considered very patriotic with a strong military orientation as alternatives (the US military is not a democracy).

Great to see a close relative's opinion and hope he is not offended by this.

But there *is* a viable historical alternative for Althaus--see my post above. There's no need to libel Althaus, and never has been.

(One could--and perhaps should--make the same case for the KIA General Nathan Bedford Forrest III, but I trust the ignorant will insist en masse that he pay for the sins of his grandfather by being labeled a Nazi.)

And I hope his relatives are mad as hell and not shy about letting PI know about it.

 

[dannyboy2016]

The next version of Mod New Nations will have George Van Horn Moseley as a fascist US chief of Staff and Chief of Army. He allegedly had fascist sympathies, supported the German American Bund, and was involved in organizations like America First.

 

[CSABadass]

The next version of Mod New Nations will have George Van Horn Moseley as a fascist US chief of Staff and Chief of Army. He allegedly had fascist sympathies, supported the German American Bund, and was involved in organizations like America First.

Kudos to the (already pretty awesome) NNM crew!