| The word obsession obviously implies unhealthiness so by definition it is unhealthy.
That said I don't think an interest in World War II is unhealthy. There are so many interesting people and events then, and many things that were quite praiseworthy. Besides something like it will happen again sooner or latter and if we keep the memory we might not botch it up as bad. As T. E. Lawrence said, we have ten-thousand years of experience at fighting and if we must fight, we have no excuse for not fighting well. Furthermore, war is a discipline of knowledge, and knowledge is good in itself and so is taking pleasure in it.
As for taking an interest in Hitler, that is less healthy. We have to remember, I suppose simply because we need to be reminded at times how bad people can be. And of course some have relations who were his victims. But contemplating evil to much is not really healthy. Besides it would please Herr Schneckelgruber more then a little, which might be a good reason to think about him less. |