Was it all bad? Germans look anew at Nazi taboos

By Madeline Chambers

BERLIN (Reuters) - A row over a television host's praise for Hitler's family values has exposed deep divisions in Germany over whether it is acceptable to say anything positive about the Nazis, 62 years after the end of World War Two.

While Hitler's main legacy -- the murder of 6 million Jews and the destruction caused by the war -- is undisputed, the controversial views of blonde-haired, blue-eyed Eva Herman have grabbed the headlines in Germany for more than a week.

Last month, public network NDR sacked Herman, a presenter on a flagship news programme for 18 years, for saying she regretted that family values nurtured by the Nazis had been swept away.

The Nazis encouraged women to stay at home, look after their husbands, and produce and rear children.

Last week the 48-year-old was thrown off a talk show after refusing to apologise and pointing out Germans were still driving on roads built during the Third Reich.

Many commentators have accused Herman, who rejects any links to far-right parties, of being provocative, dangerous and stupid but a Forsa poll showed a quarter of Germans think the Nazis had some good points.

"The insecurity about how to deal with Nazism is huge. As is ignorance. Eva Herman has unwittingly kicked off a long-neglected debate," Stern magazine wrote in a cover story.

That debate is highly sensitive as Germany fights rising right-wing motivated crime and after a spate of racist attacks, especially in the former communist East.