Hypothetical Possibility to Kill Hitler

[JesuXPIPassio]

From a Philosophical Theological point of view, faithful to Christianity and perhaps citing some saints, popes and theologians, what can you say if I had a time machine and could go back and kill someone who was very evil and would go on to destroy humanity, like Hitler for example?

Would it be wrong for me to kill Hitler, say, while he was a child? I don’t mean circumstances when it would be a matter of defending myself or another, but rather I’m referring to when it could be interpreted as murder or manslaughter.

Hitler had been responsible for killing 12 million people in the concentration camps alone, plus many more killed by his troops; his perpetrating World War II could be seen as one of the causes of the rise of Communism later on, which went on to kill and suppress the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. The Cold War that resulted from World War II still has its effects today; Catholics in China are still officially suppressed by the government. The recently-murdered Archbishop of Mosul was also a casuality of the results of the war; if not for Hitler, there would have not been the displacement of the Jewish people of Europe; after the war, they needed a homeland and found it in Israel. This led to disputes between the people of Israel and the Palestinians, which gave rise to Islamic extremists, and that went on to cause 9/11, which then was the motivating factor for US to invade Iraq, and that eventually led to the killing of that Archbishop.

Now, if I could go back in time and kill Hitler while he was still a child, before he went on to create Nazism that went to cause all of that, would it be a sin for me to murder him?

 

[mschrank]

Not sure J, but I think it is kind of impossible to say, since by definition you are asking for a rational answer to a irrational situation. Sounds a bit like a “can God create a rock so heavy he can’t lift it” question, where the answer is the question itself violates the law of non-contradiction.

 

[vern_humphrey]

One could never know what the infant Hitler would become – so the question is pointless.

However, there has long been speculation that the Church did have some involvement in the plot to kill the adult Hitler. The bomb used was provided by the American OSS, and may have been carried into Germany by a Catholic priest, who served as a go-between for the plotters – who originally met at a Catholic study group.

 

[Mystic_Warrior]

From a Philosophical Theological point of view, faithful to Christianity and perhaps citing some saints, popes and theologians, what can you say if I had a time machine and could go back and kill someone who was very evil and would go on to destroy humanity, like Hitler for example?

Would it be wrong for me to kill Hitler, say, while he was a child? I don’t mean circumstances when it would be a matter of defending myself or another, but rather I’m referring to when it could be interpreted as murder or manslaughter.

Hitler had been responsible for killing 12 million people in the concentration camps alone, plus many more killed by his troops; his perpetrating World War II could be seen as one of the causes of the rise of Communism later on, which went on to kill and suppress the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. The Cold War that resulted from World War II still has its effects today; Catholics in China are still officially suppressed by the government. The recently-murdered Archbishop of Mosul was also a casuality of the results of the war; if not for Hitler, there would have not been the displacement of the Jewish people of Europe; after the war, they needed a homeland and found it in Israel. This led to disputes between the people of Israel and the Palestinians, which gave rise to Islamic extremists, and that went on to cause 9/11, which then was the motivating factor for US to invade Iraq, and that eventually led to the killing of that Archbishop.

Now, if I could go back in time and kill Hitler while he was still a child, before he went on to create Nazism that went to cause all of that, would it be a sin for me to murder him?

If God wanted Hitler murdered, He would have sent an angel of the Lord to do so. As it stands, Hitler was allowed to do his thing. That doesn’t make his acts right. It just means that there was a bigger plan. How all this fits in God’s divine plan is unknown to me. But, you have to figure that if God wanted it done, He would have done so.

Does that mean I blame God for those acts? Of course not. But as the prophet Isaiah says, “His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts higher than our thoughts.” So, I trust God completely in the way things have turned out.

Peace…

MW

 

[Cajetan]

From a Philosophical Theological point of view, faithful to Christianity and perhaps citing some saints, popes and theologians, what can you say if I had a time machine and could go back and kill someone who was very evil and would go on to destroy humanity, like Hitler for example?

Would it be wrong for me to kill Hitler, say, while he was a child? I don’t mean circumstances when it would be a matter of defending myself or another, but rather I’m referring to when it could be interpreted as murder or manslaughter.

…

Now, if I could go back in time and kill Hitler while he was still a child, before he went on to create Nazism that went to cause all of that, would it be a sin for me to murder him?

It would actually be worse if you murdered Hitler as a child, because Hitler was innocent then. You would be taking an innocent life. It would be a grave sin.

 

[jmcrae]

If I had access to Hitler as a child, instead of killing him, I would expose him to ideas about love and faith, and I would nurture his creative talents (apparently, he wanted at one time to be an artist, but he wasn’t good enough to get a show of his work) - I would give him the tools to solve his problems without violence, and teach him to trust in God for all things. I would try to direct his passion and his powerful personality into good deeds, instead of bad deeds, so that he could become a great Saint, instead of an icon of evil.

 

[Corki]

If I had access to Hitler as a child, instead of killing him, I would expose him to ideas about love and faith, and I would nurture his creative talents (apparently, he wanted at one time to be an artist, but he wasn’t good enough to get a show of his work) - I would give him the tools to solve his problems without violence, and teach him to trust in God for all things. I would try to direct his passion and his powerful personality into good deeds, instead of bad deeds, so that he could become a great Saint, instead of an icon of evil.

Perfect answer!! :irish3:

 

[Gottle_of_Geer]

From a Philosophical Theological point of view, faithful to Christianity and perhaps citing some saints, popes and theologians, what can you say if I had a time machine and could go back and kill someone who was very evil and would go on to destroy humanity, like Hitler for example?

Would it be wrong for me to kill Hitler, say, while he was a child? I don’t mean circumstances when it would be a matter of defending myself or another, but rather I’m referring to when it could be interpreted as murder or manslaughter.

Hitler had been responsible for killing 12 million people in the concentration camps alone, plus many more killed by his troops; his perpetrating World War II could be seen as one of the causes of the rise of Communism later on, which went on to kill and suppress the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. The Cold War that resulted from World War II still has its effects today; Catholics in China are still officially suppressed by the government. The recently-murdered Archbishop of Mosul was also a casuality of the results of the war; if not for Hitler, there would have not been the displacement of the Jewish people of Europe; after the war, they needed a homeland and found it in Israel. This led to disputes between the people of Israel and the Palestinians, which gave rise to Islamic extremists, and that went on to cause 9/11, which then was the motivating factor for US to invade Iraq, and that eventually led to the killing of that Archbishop.

**This is true only if we know that no other, Hitler-free, chain of causation would have let to that effect. There are too many other (hypothetical but) conceivable chains of causation for events so far apart to be linked in that way - one could equally well blame the death of the Archbishop on the defeat of the Spanish Armada or on the fall of Jerusalem to Nebuchadezzar. Alternatively, the Reformation might be blamed on WW2 - if, that is, one takes the view that time is cyclic. **​

Now, if I could go back in time and kill Hitler while he was still a child, before he went on to create Nazism that went to cause all of that, would it be a sin for me to murder him?

**Yes, definitely - anyone may become a criminal; but that would be no reason to treat people as criminals “just in case” they became criminals. Again, there are too many unknowns. FWIW, Greek myth is full of stories of people whose attempts to avert a threatened evil merely succeeded in bringing it about. An attempt to go back in time - were that possible - to kill the infant Hitler, might become a cause of his later career, & not a bar to it. **​

**The question has implications for predictive prophecy - though what exactly they are, is not clear: **

• cda.morris.umn.edu/~okeefets/DeFato.html
• plato.stanford.edu/entries/fatalism/

 

[mschrank]

Perfect answer!! :irish3:

Excellent answer. Think about it, who knows, maybe if Hitler had made different choices, he could have been a great saint, with the most Charisma since Saint Francis.