It's obviously off topic and obviously nationalistic flamebait. Those are the high-order bits here. Adding provocations like "lebensraum" makes it even more of an obvious call.
> Have I truly, in your judgement, derailed this thread away from curious discussion?
For sure. A subthread like this usually has a lot of activation energy because the (off) topic is sensational and divisive, but that's not the same thing as curious conversation. Supplanting less sensational/divisive topics with more sensational/divisive ones is the essence of the "generic tangent", which HN's guidelines ask users to avoid for good reason.
If the OP isn't so interesting, the solution is to find other threads that are interesting, not turn this one into a flamewar (or potential flamewar) about something else.
> Have I truly, in your judgement, derailed this thread away from curious discussion?
For sure. A subthread like this usually has a lot of activation energy because the (off) topic is sensational and divisive, but that's not the same thing as curious conversation. Supplanting less sensational/divisive topics with more sensational/divisive ones is the essence of the "generic tangent", which HN's guidelines ask users to avoid for good reason.
If the OP isn't so interesting, the solution is to find other threads that are interesting, not turn this one into a flamewar (or potential flamewar) about something else.