Holy crap. If I'm not reading this wrong, the German architect in question is the son of a Nazi architect, a member of Hitler's inner circle. This guy made his career in such bastions of human rights as the Middle East and China. Who'd have thunk it? Not looking good for Germany really, is it? Architects depending on slave labour... runs in the family. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Speer,_Jr%2E (His father was the Nazis' principle exploiter of forced labor. http://www.auschwitz.dk/Speer.htm)

Holding sons accountable for crimes of their fathers is immoral. Let his actions stand on their own. No one's father should matter.

Pointing out that someone takes jobs in a certain area of the world seems morally questionable at best. He had to take jobs somewhere.

I feel awkward for posting this, because at first glance it looks like I'm defending something terrible. But the reason I'm saying this is because this is otherwise how witchhunts start, so this is the right thing to do.

If this guy is using the modern equivalent of slave labor, then he should be punished for it. That's really all there is to say.

I believe that each person is ethically responsible for their actions, direct or indirect. This man and his father are both guilty. "I needed the money" is no excuse before a court of law, even if you are a capitalist. And I don't believe for a second he needed the money.

If there's plenty of that to go around in this case, just focus criticism there rather than lineage or what seems like conjecture.

It was more of a poorly worded point of interest that felt like a joint condemnation. I still found it interesting in a "Connections" sort of way.

HN seems to assume most URLs won't end with a period? I suppose that's reasonable, and URI escaping symbols is always an option. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Speer,_Jr%2E

>Architects depending on slave labour... runs in the family.

instead of "depending" (which sounds in this context with some active/intentional meaning) i'd say "doesn't care". Such attitude may naturally be passed up from father to son. And role of that attitude in the history of evil, and particular Nazi Germany history is well known.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0436364

So if you mother or father is a bad person, then automatically you are. Great logic.

Here's the logic: if your father was a war criminal, and you have a conscience, you'd probably work really hard to distance yourself from that atrocity. Not doing so is a pretty good indicator of a lack of empathy.

Heh. Your logic is this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man ... I never said that. On the contrary, I believe that each person is ethically responsible for their actions, direct or indirect. This man and his father are both guilty.

Actually, you strongly implied that his father being a Nazi somehow influenced his own behavior. Why bring up his father at all otherwise?

Not caring to look myself, did this man's father raise him?

My father certainly influenced my outlook on many aspects of life when he raised me. I am of course responsible for my own actions, and it is everyone's responsibility to rise above the shortcomings of their parents, but to ignore the role a parent plays in their child's development is just silly.

For example, my father is an evangelical christian. I am not. Realizing that my father is gives a window, however murky, into my development and provides context for many of my beliefs and convictions.

Noting the similarities between the father and the son gives us potential insight into the [lack of] moral development of the son.

Not too much, except for the first eleven years, Albert Speer Jr. was born in 1934. In 1945 his father got sentenced to 20 years in prison and served until 1966, mostly in Spandau. Wikipedia states that he wrote many letters to his children from prison but "found himself unable to re-establish his relationship with his children, even with his son Albert".

>you strongly implied that his father being a Nazi somehow influenced his own behavior

A lot of psychological traits of a person form in early childhood. Do you think his childhood environment was very conductive to development of an unconditional empathy and other humanistic feelings toward other human beings, especially ones of non-"Aryan race"?

And you were born on the same planet as Hitler, as such you are responsible for the death of millions of Jews. After all, you failed to stop Hitler and as such you inderectly caused it. By your own admission people should be judged on their indirect actions as well, so you should probably go turn yourself in for your hate crimes.

How's the fact that his dad was an architect during Nazism even remotely relevant to this discussion?

He wasn't just an architect, he was Hitler's favoured architect and then promoted to run the entire wartime economy due to his ruthless efficiency. As such, he was the main guy in charge of the extensive Nazi use of slave labour.

Again, how is this relevant?

Err, the whole article is about slave labour? And his father is well documented as the greatest user of such in WWII? Thus, the like father like son discovery was a total surprise... hence my post sharing that revelation? How is this not obvious? Are you just trolling? Is it possible to write another post with this many question marks?

The architect involved in the article has nothing to do with the "he" you are referring to. The are entirely independent people.

It's a bit much to claim they're entirely independent people.

Obviously they are not.

However, Jr. seems to have spent his entire life trying to distance himself from the sins of his father, which is as good a thing as he could try to do.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/german-architect...

Oh, come on.

On that note, what's your dad's name?