Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests/Artur Phleps

Artur Phleps[edit]

This nomination predates the introduction in April 2014 of article-specific subpages for nominations and has been created from the edit history of Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests.

The following discussion is an archived discussion of the TFAR nomination of the article below. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/requests). Please do not modify this page unless you are renominating the article at TFAR. For renominations, please add {{collapse top|Previous nomination}} to the top of the discussion and {{collapse bottom}} at the bottom, then complete a new {{TFAR nom}} underneath.

The result was: scheduled for Wikipedia:Today's featured article/November 29, 2013 by Bencherlite ^Talk 13:26, 5 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Artur Phleps (1881–1944) was an Austro-Hungarian, Romanian and German officer who held the rank of SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS (lieutenant general) in the Waffen-SS during World War II. An Austro-Hungarian Army officer before and during World War I, he joined the Romanian Army during the interwar period and became an adviser to King Carol. In 1941 he left Romania and joined the Waffen-SS. He saw action on the Eastern Front before raising two Waffen-SS mountain divisions and one corps in occupied Yugoslavia. Units under his command committed many crimes against the civilian population of the Independent State of Croatia. This was the subject of international controversy when Kurt Waldheim's service as Phleps' translator became public in the mid-1980s, during his successful bid for the Austrian presidency. In addition to the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, Phleps was awarded the German Cross in Gold, and after he was killed in September 1944, he was awarded the Oak Leaves to his Knight's Cross. (Full article...)

1 pt for date of birth, there has been no warfare bio of a German WWII general officer as TFA since Albert Kesselring on March 14, 2010, and so far as I can see, no Waffen-SS general has ever been a TFA. --Peacemaker67 (send... over) 22:10, 18 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

For points purposes, I think the most recent similar article is George Jones (RAAF officer) (another WW2 biography, 26th October, so just over a month beforehand = no points adjustment) so 1 point looks correct. Bencherlite^Talk 22:31, 18 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
- Sure, I think there is a case for drilling down to nationality, but I accept the umpire's decision. German warfare bio articles in general are pretty underdone at FA, and German generals even more so, but Australians of all ranks are relatively common. Cheers, Peacemaker67 (send... over) 23:47, 18 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  - I'm not saying it shouldn't run (articles frequently run with minimal, sometimes even negative, "points" if people are happy with the mix of articles appearing at TFA - and every article that's nominated is one fewer date that I have to sort out myself). As you point out, WP is thin on German warfare bios (Walter Model is I think the only other one not to have run at TFA) whereas I count 38 Australian WW1 and WW2 biographies at WP:FANMP... Bencherlite^Talk 00:10, 19 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
    - One of the Australian biography writers also wrote the article on Kesselring. I know this is nitpicking, but Phelps never served in the German Army. Could the first sentence be re-worded? Hawkeye7 (talk) 00:27, 28 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hi @Hawkeye7: have deleted "army", the fact that he was Waffen-SS is clear by the end of the sentence. Does that work for you? Peacemaker67 (send... over) 02:38, 1 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Support, haven't seen a German WWII general officer in quite some time on the Main Page, helps show non-Anglo-type WP:WORLDVIEW, — Cirt (talk) 01:01, 21 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Comment: Any relevant free-use picture that could be used with the blurb? — Cirt (talk) 18:35, 31 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hi @Cirt: unfortunately not, all the pics in the article are non-free, as I wasn't able to find any definitively free ones. I am being conservative about the one of him and Waldheim. Peacemaker67 (send... over) 02:38, 1 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

This one is free-use-licensed: File:Kirchenburg Birthälm.jpg. Cheers, — Cirt (talk) 09:33, 1 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I'm sure Peacemaker67 meant that all the pics of Phleps in the article are non-free. Yes, that image of the church and some surrounding buildings is free, but it's irrelevant to the blurb as it currently stands. Rewriting the blurb to mention his birthplace for the sole purpose of using the church image doesn't appeal to me. I think this is a TFA that will just run without a picture. Bencherlite ^Talk 13:42, 1 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Okay, sounds good, — Cirt (talk) 13:59, 1 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

That's quite a sea of blue ... does anyone really believe that anyone reading the main page will need to click on, for example, World War I or World War II or Yugoslavia? I read a concern at WT:FAC that linking is no longer being checked at FAC .. this example seems to bear that out.SandyGeorgia (Talk) 14:49, 1 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not sure what your point is. Are you saying that FAs don't need to have links in the lead? Surely we are not assuming that the casual reader is familiar with all three concepts. Someone of 20 today would not have been born when Yugoslavia effectively ceased to exist. Many young people in my country could not tell you the span of years over which the two wars were fought. Some parts of the world were not involved in one or both of the "World Wars". Your comment appears to reflect a decidedly Western-centric world-view. I thought our best work was supposed to address systemic bias, not reinforce it. Peacemaker67 (send... over) 11:05, 5 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]