enjolras-for-you:babyshibe:i-said-adventure:as-adorable-derps-do:j-wolf-harding:demons:The immediate
enjolras-for-you:babyshibe:i-said-adventure:as-adorable-derps-do:j-wolf-harding:demons:The immediate reaction of German POWs upon watching uncensored footage of the concentration camps shot by the US Signal Corps.People often forget that most of the German troops had no idea about what was going on, they weren’t all fanatic Nazis bent on genocide, they were just regular soldiers who answered the call when their country went to war.^ ThisTHANK YOU SO MUCH OMGAlso that forced conscription was in place and that even pre-conscription, people who didn’t sign up were viewed with increasing suspicion. A lot of them weren’t even ‘answering the call’, they had no choice.It’s very debatable how much your average German knew about the Holocaust and its atrocities. Obviously anyone who suffered knew their own experiences, and from speaking to family members who lived in Germany through WW2, many people knew something was happening - people were going missing, for one. But a lot didn’t want to see, and whether it was even possible to know has not really been settled. My grandma always maintained that as a kid in Nazi Germany (she was born in ‘29) she knew people were going missing but not what was happening to them when they did. I’ve never known whether to believe her on that or not.Basically: it’s important to note that not all troops knew what was happening in full (the extent to which this is true is debated, but I think people are pretty agreed that not everyone knew 100% of the picture) and also that not everyone wanted to even be in the army or whatever in the first place.“they weren’t all fanatic Nazis bent on genocide” Thank you for saying that and I really much hope that nobody who ever held a history book in hands truly believes that whole Germany was full of Nazis - and not because I want to defend my own country.And yes, it’s so debatable how much “everyone” knew that we discussed it almost every year in history class from grade 9 on. -- source link
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