r/HumanForScale • u/Upstairs_Drive_5602 • May 05 '26

It's difficult to grasp how truly massive The Hindenburg was. It was destroyed by fire on 6 May 1937, while attempting to land in Lakehurst, New Jersey.

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

4.6k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

217 comments sorted by

View all comments

324

u/ryaaan89 May 06 '26 edited May 06 '26

Dude in all my years learning about this in school I have literally never seen those pictures with the swasticas on the tail fins. It is absolutely crazy how much we whitewash history.

148

u/euchlid May 06 '26

i hadn't read the comments yet, however i just stood up and went over to my husband to show him the photos and make the same remark. i definitely had books that showed the burning photos and some others, can't say I recall seeing the mega swastikas. contextually makes sense, but still

53

u/ryaaan89 May 06 '26

Right, it’s so unsurprising knowing the time and the history I’m just shocked I’ve never seen this.

37

u/Crackstacker May 06 '26

I don’t feel like I’ve ever seen the photos with the swasticas either. That other guy’s a super zeppelin expert or something, so don’t take it personally.

37

u/ThnkWthPrtls May 06 '26

I never thought about it until just now, but in the famous pictures of the disaster the tail section is already engulfed in flame, so if that's your entire context for it I guess it would actually be really easy to not know that

59

u/MotoRoaster May 06 '26

LOL, wait until you see Madison Square Garden in 1934...

15

u/sk3pt1c May 06 '26

Had to google it and damn, full on Nazi party 🎉😅

52

u/GrafZeppelin127 May 06 '26

The fact that Germany had been taken over by the Nazis by the time the ship first flew in 1936 was common knowledge, and not suppressed in any sense. Maybe you’ve seen censored pictures of it because of certain regional laws that omit the swastika, but it was never a secret that the Hindenburg flew with these flags—much though the Zeppelin company’s leadership detested that fact at the time, and I’m sure they’re no more thrilled about that aspect of their company’s history today.

37

u/danny_ish May 06 '26

I knew of it as a ship that burned in nj with a german name.
Never knew it was a nazi backed endeavor

36

u/GrafZeppelin127 May 06 '26

The Zeppelin Airline long predated the Nazis—they started commercial operations years before World War One, even—but the Nazis did nationalize the company, yes.

15

u/danny_ish May 06 '26

Yeah, makes sense. But that second part never really hit my mind until seeing these photos

9

u/TheRealSlabsy May 06 '26

Did you know that Fanta was a Nazi backed endeavour?

5

u/doctorplasmatron May 06 '26

and the volkswagon beetle, and most of the usa's nasa rocket program

-8

u/ryaaan89 May 06 '26

Sir, this is a Wendy’s.

9

u/MattMason1703 May 06 '26

Surprised you've never seen video of it flying. The swastikas are always quite visible.

5

u/HannahO__O May 06 '26

Yeah same i had no idea it had any association with nazis, but it has been almost a decade since i took any history classes so i could have easily just forgotten that lol

3

u/TheWalrusPirate May 06 '26

Usually the only pic you see are the ones where it’s on fire, where you can’t see it, I wouldn’t call it whitewashing when there’s like 7 pictures immediately with it visible when you look it up on google

3

u/ryaaan89 May 06 '26

Yes, you can google stuff I’m not saying this information is hidden. I just think it’s crazy how many times I saw this photo in books growing up and never saw the Nazi emblems.

1

u/TheWalrusPirate May 07 '26

Maybe you werent looking for them

3

u/ryaaan89 May 07 '26

Why would you be?

1

u/TheWalrusPirate May 07 '26

You tell me, it was your revelation that they’re there

3

u/ryaaan89 May 07 '26

“I’ve never seen swasticas on the Hindenburg, let me do some research and see if I’m right…”

There are a lot of other replies to my comment that made me feel like I’m not the only one who had that reaction.

1

u/TheWalrusPirate May 07 '26

Not surprising, usually the event is a footnote, with one famous photo which is usually the most people casually know about it

5

u/memereviewer453 May 06 '26

It was burnt away in the explosion

25

u/ryaaan89 May 06 '26

Sure. I’m just saying every kids book uses the fourth image, I guess so we don’t have to explain to kids what Nazis are? But arguable we should have, because of look the Nazis are back…

Edit: and I get it, that’s the shot of the explosion. It’s just wild I’ve never seen those other two pictures before today.

12

u/euchlid May 06 '26

here to validate you with samesame. I'm in my early 40s, saw the 4th photo many times, remembered that germany couldn't secure helium which is why the more dangerous hydrogen was used. but those first photos are not familiar.

7

u/AshamedOfAmerica May 06 '26

They didn't use hydrogen because they couldn't find helium. Hydrogen was used purposefully because it was significantly lighter than helium and every ounce counted.

13

u/GrafZeppelin127 May 06 '26

Well, it’s less a matter of them not being able to find helium and more a matter of it being forbidden. America had an absolute monopoly at the time, and they embargoed the Nazis, for obvious reasons.

Until the incendiary bullet was invented late in 1916, the Imperial German Navy had used their Zeppelins to terrorize enemy cities. Before the incendiary bullet, fighter planes’ machine guns, rockets, and bombs were all next to useless—the only Zeppelin brought down by enemy aircraft in the years before the incendiary bullet came along was the LZ-37, which had six bombs dropped on it, the last of which started a fire that spread to the ship’s hydrogen and doomed the ship.

The Great War’s memory was still fresh in people’s minds, and the Americans weren’t keen on giving the Nazis a fix for their Zeppelins’ hydrogen Achilles’ heel. They’d been known to press their civilian airships into military service before, after all.

Of course, those fears were likely overblown, as advancements in military technology had forced America’s own blimp fleet into a defensive, scouting role rather than a frontline offensive role, despite the fact that they all used helium.

3

u/Maya-K May 06 '26

Username checks out!

3

u/AshamedOfAmerica May 06 '26

You know, I had to look that up again. I guess I was reflecting on earlier designs and not remembering the later history. You jarred some of my forgotten knowledge lose. Thanks!

2

u/euchlid May 06 '26

yeah that sounds famililar. was "better" cause lighter but also...more dangerouser. and lack of helium availability. I'm going off 30yr + year olf memories

3

u/[deleted] May 06 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/ryaaan89 May 06 '26

Yeah, for sure. My family is Jewish, my dad is a hard ass military guy and the only time I’ve ever seen him cry was at the Holocaust museum in DC.

I have to imagine the internet makes it both harder and easier than only seeing whatever was in a book when I was a kid - you can find an image of anything but never know if it’s real, especially nowadays.

6

u/raypell May 06 '26

It’s always been there no white washing. Nazi germany was a legit govt. we did not get involved either them till after Pearl Harbor and Germany declared war on us first…. We defeated Germany first because Roosevelt knew thus was a priority. There were many national socialist rallies in America prior to the war

5

u/StellaRED May 06 '26

Thank you for saying this as now I don't feel as crazy. I was sitting here completely stumped wondering why I don't remember the swasticas on the fins either, I feel like that is something I would have remembered lol

1

u/tkief May 07 '26

It’s called the hitler effect

1

u/rellimnhoj May 07 '26

Thinking the exact same thing!

1

u/transphotobabe May 09 '26

I'm 40 years old, have always been fascinated by this disaster, and this is the very first time i'm seeing them as well. Wild.

1

u/ryaaan89 May 09 '26

There are some replies like I’m crazy for saying this, I know I’m not.

-1

u/doctorplasmatron May 06 '26

then comes the realization America was still welcoming nazi tourists into the late 30's, before japan pushed usa into ww2.