Last updated at 19:48 17 October 2007

A quarter of Germans believe Nazi rule had its good points, a poll suggested yesterday.

They were asked whether they agreed that National Socialism had positive aspects such as 'the highway system, elimination of unemployment, low criminality rate and the encouragement of the family'.

While 70 per cent said No, 25 per cent said Yes.

The survey was commissioned by Stern magazine after a talk show hostess was fired for praising the Nazis' attitude toward motherhood.

Eva Herman, 48, said at a book launch that while there was 'much that was very bad, for example Adolf Hitler,' there were good things, 'for example the high regard for the mother' under the Nazis.

She later explained: "What I wanted to express was that values which also existed before the Third Reich, such as family, children and motherhood, which were supported in the Third Reich, were subsequently done away with."

Praising the 1933-45 Nazi dictatorship is taboo in Germany.

The poll suggested that those aged 60 or older had the highest regard for aspects of the era, with 37 per cent answering Yes.

Those who grew up directly after the war, now aged 45 to 59, were the least enthusiastic, with only 15 per cent responding Yes.