Interesting question with a fantastic answer:
"It makes him seem more "foreign." He seems more evil if you can't understand him.
Obviously, the Nazis were truly monsters. What I mean by "evil" is more like "cartoonishly evil." Most Americans see Hitler as this absolutely demonic figure, Satan incarnated in the flesh. The real lesson of course it that he wasn't. He was a man. Allowing you to hear his words makes him seem less evil. Ultimately, I think that should be the lesson. Hitler didn't roll into power on a drumroll of flames and brimstone. He came to power speaking the most wholesome themes of patriotism, family, traditional German greatness, etc. He was popular because of this. He didn't get into power solely on a "let's kill the Jews" platform.
There's a very similar contemporary version of this. We always want to make our enemies seem radically different from us, whether past or present enemies. The contemporary version is the translation of Muslim radicals. Go watch the translations of one of Bin Laden's or Ahmadinejad's speeches.
They'll translate every word into English. BUT they won't translate "Allah." Allah is just the Arabic word for God. But notice the difference between these two translations:
"Allah commands death to the infidels!"
"God demands we kill the non-believers!"
These are exactly the same. They both describe the same order from the same God, but the second one sounds much less foreign. For many, it's a disturbing reminder that the exact same God they worship in church every Sunday is worshipped by Muslims they demonize.
Language is a powerful thing. It shapes and molds our actions and thoughts. Slight differences in translation can completely change the feeling of a message, it's really a truly frightening thing."
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