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I know a bunch of the German POW’s in Canada Emigrated to Canada after the war. They said they liked it and that western Canada reminded them of the Alps.
When my dad was younger here in Canada, he learned from older farmers that german POW's used to labour on the farms. There wasn't any tension at all, and they seemed quite happy to be here. They weren't confined or monitored in any way. They would do their work, go into town etc. just like anyone else. They probably could have snuck out of the country if they really tried, but they didn't seem to want to leave anyway. After seeing the horrors of war, they might have felt like they escaped the pressure of the horrible things they might have had to end up doing otherwise. That, and it was a far better fate than being a prisoner at the hands of say, the Soviets
They must have found out that "THEY" were the bad guys. And wanted none of it no more if the war ended with them losing. Not wanting to be killed or worst
Not only in the USSR, even in France the prisoners were taken to rebuild the country and they were treated horribly, so many died of hunger or while cleaning the mined areas.
@@sabn9139 Different thing in France, they were under BRUTAL occupation by the Nazis, and I doubt there was much room for mercy in the hearts of those who's entire families had been slaughtered, villages razed, people kidnapped and tortured, etc.
@@TheBaconWizard true that, but also don't forget that the French were the Nazis of Africa though, the crimes that the French committed in Algeria are brutal, they even tested nuclear weapons there.
I remember a story my old high school wrestling coach told me about German POWs where he grew up, he said that during the war they were allowed to gather some scrap metal and build a tree for Christmas. He said that for a few decades a handful of them would return and admire it for Christmas.
My grandma (born in 1931) sheltered a german prisoner after the war in her family's farm, in the north of Savoy. She recalled the prisoner as an old tired fellow, she mentioned how rough his hands seemed to her back then. He didn't talk much, worked a shitload amount of time in the field with her father and couldn't say much in French, but he was always polite and kind with the children. One day he came back from town and brought gifts to the family, and he gave a soft blanked to my grandma (which she still has btw). My great grandfather liked him as well, and he didn't hate the Germans, as he had been taken prisoner himself 30 years earlier during WWI, and was treated well by his german jailers. But one day, the old german dude went to town in the morning and wasn't there for supper. My grandma's father thought he was trying to escaped and try to search for him and talk him out of it, but when he found him, the old german was lying unconscious on the side of the road leading to the house. He had been beaten up by stupid boys who thought they were doing something patriotic. He left the house shortly after and never came back. My great grandma from the other side of my family, born in 1921 (and still going strong baby !!! she got her 100th birthday last june!!), also housed two Germans until 1946 ! But the story was different : my great grandpa was in the Resistance (he was taken prisoner in Dunkirk after being shot in the shoulder and got released in 1943, and immediately joined the FFI) and captured two german soldiers who were gathering weapons in his home village for the incoming fight against the Americans in Le Mans (August 44). Having no authorities to take them to at the time, he simply took him in his own house as prisoners. At the end of the war, he asked them if they'd rather be prisoners in French facilities or remain here at his farm, they chose the latter. And so for two years, they sheltered two german dudes in their home (which I find absolutely fucking insane lmao), and Idk about the great grandpa but my great grandma began liking the dudes, she said they helped her peel the potatoes and milk the cows everyday, and that one of them was, and I quote, "formidable" at making apricot marmelade. Then, in 1946 (why at this time Idk 🤷♂️) they got their ticket home back to Germany and my great grandparents accompanied them to the train station. I know absolutely no person sound of mind is going to read this fucking novel I wrote, but I find these stories beautiful, they're so ordinary and yet amazing, they help you understand that these were real people, with real feelings and emotions, but most of all, they show that despite our differences, sometimes all it takes to get along is just to peel the fucking potatoes or make good marmelade. And that's fucking beautful.
I had friends who had German POWs who worked on their farm in Nebraska. They said they worked well, and were well fed, but, only had one request--that the father who took them back to the POW camp on the hay cart would go through town so they could see the sights, something which he did for them.
@Overlordian And from what my friends said to me, there were no guards or anything, because the prisoners had no interest in fighting for Germany or dying for Hitler. They just wanted to go home to their families after the war.
@@stephenlarson523they had no interest because they lost just like some Iraqi soldiers turned on Sadam when they lost....doesnt take back the war crimes you committed when it was fun
I wonder if they ever showed films of what the Germans were doing to the jews?I bet they knew about it!Shame!They had full bellies while the jewish people were starving all for Hitler1Makes me sick!
We all Heard the story why nothing is black and white a million time but this is another great example and why history is always gray as some German where following order while other german where Nazi and not just following other
In Hearne, Texas, there was a massive POW camp. It was so lightly guarded that POWs would regularly escape just to go into Hearne or Bryan to get a nice meal at a diner or a cup of coffee. The Sherriff would show up and escort them back, often after they finished
@hick It was a logical place to hide. Latin America had been mostly neutral, there were already large German communities and probably most importantly, it was out of the Western and Soviet sphere of influence. Don't forget all of Africa and Asia were Western colonies at the time, whereas Latin America was all independent countries. Although some Nazi's ended up in the Middle East. Those countries became independent around the same time as Israel and they LOVED having former Nazi's helping them with their armies and giving them military tech, to be used against Israel of course.
Funny story…in my English class on my senior year of high school, there was a joke that one of my classmates joked with my teacher that his great grandfather was a Nazi who committed war crimes and escaped to Argentina for safety.
My Grandpa was a tailgunner for a b-17 bomber. He told stories of how, at the beginning of the war, if one of your men was badly injured and most likely wouldn't survive to base, they'd check his parachute and throw him from the plane because German POW hospitals where considered good. But during the late stages of the war that mindset changed and you would hold onto your men and pray they could survive the trip back to base.
@Spencer aside from the fact that i already speak german, the b17 was easier to manufacture, had a larger range and was harder shoot down, it also also could better defend itself. Yes, the He 177 was a fine plane, but it couldnt compete with the b17 due to its low numbers and poor reliability
@Spencer deutsche Fahrzeuge im 2. Weltkrieg sind Ingenieursleistungen ohne Gleichen. Die Technik war der der Alliierten weit überlegen, aber es war oft zu kompliziert. Flugzeuge wie die Heinkel He 177 waren zu anfällig für Störungen als dass man sie in den Ausmaßen der B17 Flotten der Aliierten nutzen konnte. Ebenso das Problem mit deutschen Panzern. Zu kompliziert herzustellen und reparieren um mit den Nummern der Alliierten Panzern mitzuhalten. Die amerikanische Technik war trotzdem meist besser als die Sowjetische, sowohl in der Luft, als auch am Boden. Es gab einen Grund, warum meist ganze sowjetische Panzerkorps nach einem Einsatz ersetzt werden mussten
When I was younger a former German PoW lived across the street from me. He was an Afrika Korps soldier whose artillery line was in a hopeless situation against an incoming allied tank regiment. His commanding officer gathered them to discuss options and he explained that there were two clear options: die for the fatherland and take as many as they could with them, or surrender without a fight and be branded as traitors with their families paying the price for their "cowardice". The officer then brought up a third option, to "surrender with a fight" by intentionally unloading everything they had just out of range of the tank regiment, then destroying the artillery to ensure they could not be used to take German lives before surrendering. This would hopefully result in their lives being spared while preserving their "honor" and protecting their families by giving the appearance that there was a battle. They decided to go with the third option and it thankfully worked. After that he ended up working in an orchard in upstate New York for a few years after the war ended and then he was given an option to either repatriate to Germany or become an American citizen. He took one glance at where his hometown was on the map, saw it was in what would soon become East Germany and went NOPE before becoming an official American citizen.
A story with a happy ending at last! Thank you. My German grandfather was kept in the Rhineland camps-not so happy but better than France or those poor bastards in Russia...
In the german miniseries "Generation War" (Unsere mutter, unsere Vater) SPOILERS . . . in the last episode a hardline Gestapo officer is seen as he's seamlessly integrated in a high ranking position in the west german police. One of the characters tries to expose him and talks to an american officer but he's already perfectly aware of the situation and does not intend to do anything about it. It's pretty historically accurate.
Yeah he was the one who used Greta as his mistress in exchange for giving Viktor an exit visa when in actuality he had Viktor sent off to one of the camps in Poland being that he was a Jew and had Greta arrested and shot right before the Battle of Berlin for spreading defeatism. Then when the American officer entered the room he remembered Viktor and claimed he had helped him.
My dad told me stories about when he was stationed in German in the early 90s. He met a few old German veterans who spoke flawless English. Turned out they'd been sent to POW camps in the USA, and enjoyed it so much they stayed there for much of the Cold War and had only recently gone back to Germany. According to them, they were better fed and better treated in the camps than they were in their own army.
my great grandfather fought in the war and when he was captured by the Americans he was not necessarily treated well. Where he was stationed they made them work in a place that manufactured cookies. He was malnourished and if he would eat any of the cookies he was manufacturing he would have been continuously fed water and cookie dough until he threw up. I mean its definitly better than some shitshow in the east but still in some places it was not exactly fun
The POW camps set up in the U.S. were quite good. The POW camps the Allied Forces set up in Italy was absolutely horrendous. I lot of the German inmates either starved to death or died from disease.
@@BobbybackshotsLLC Perhaps, he was a fellow Catholic, anyhow a German soldier had gone into a church by himself. That is where he saw my grandmother's sister praying. he advised her to leave, before the rest of the unit got there, thus likely saving her life. I heard a story from a US Army veteran whose father was a German tanker. He said while deployed to Ukraine he met and fell in love with a Ukrainian girl. like white men of the past generation, his father was not one for crying. However, when his wife died, he cried. Much like with the English and the Irish, the Swedes and the Russians, our people have a long and contentious history with one another, and perhaps the most sordid with a history of atrocities committed against one another. May more Europeans and European-Americans unashamedly share knowledge that is not in line with the propaganda we hear and see since our childhood. On a positive note: A Pax-Europa group strives on a volunteer basis to locate and bring to rest the remains of the fallen, regardless of the Nation they fought for less than 95 years ago. May Europe be free. May She know peace among her children.
@@BobbybackshotsLLC Maybe he shouldn't have been Nazi scum and been a part of an army that murdered 100's of 1000's. Making cookies without a meal in between, awwwww poor Fritz!!! Maybe the people running the factory should have Schindlered him and shot him in the head for sneaking a snack off the conveyor belt? Or is that too harsh?
My grandmother has told me about the German soldiers who Cleaned her school, in the US, during these times. She said the we happy to be in the us. They got paid something like a quarter a day. While their home was being destroyed and there was no food with certain death, these prisoners were fed, clothed and could afford chocolate. It was the best case scenario for them.
When you look more into it, its a bit shocking when you realise the sheer volume of soldiers that lost the war and joined the US army or became Mercenaries for the next few decades. The Congo war in the early 60's had alot of ex Waffen SS mercenaries fighting in it. Edit- Actually that's kind of what kicked off the modern gold age of mercenaries from the late 40's to early 80's. ALOT of soldiers from Eroupe and Asia were suddenly either without country or just wanted to keep fighting, so millions went into the cold war as mercenaires still fighting their old enemies.
That was the case with Lauri Thorni aka Larry Thorne. After Finland surrendered to the Soviets at the end of the continuation war, he joined a Waffen SS unit of Finnish volunteers to keep fighting the communists then he later joined the US Green Berets and saw some service in Vietnam before his helicopter got shot down
@@ruzzsverion2728 Most ironic of all, As mentioned with the mercenaires in the Congo, there were atleast a few situations where ex-SS, ex-Soviet, ex-US and ex-French soldiers from WW2 all fought together for profit. Or a few where they all fought eachother again, but this tine for money instead of ideology.
@@John.McMillan yeah and I don’t blame him. The communists attempted to invade his homeland just like the rest of Eastern Europe and turn them communists but the Winter War stopped them from achieving that goal. Wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of men like him who suffered under various other communist controlled nations became mercs willing to fight against communism in any army willing to take their services. And on the flip side, there were communists who aided other nations to keep their country red. Cubans fought with the MPLA during the Angolan civil war.
My grandfather (mothers side) was drafted into the Luftwaffe in 1940. He was in an engineering unit that worked on airfields, and was stationed in Norway maintaining bases in far northern Norway from which they flew missions to sink allied aid convoys sailing to Murmansk. In 1944 his unit was moved to France where he worked on V1 and V2 sites, but after the Normandy invasion he was part of the retreat to Germany, and was finally captured by American forces. after this he was sent to France to work as a laborer on a farm. He was a devout catholic and endeared himself to the catholic owners and went from sleeping in the barn to sleeping in the house. He also saved the families young son from drowning. After nearly 2 years (1947) he was released back to Germany where my grandmother had no idea of his fate. My mother, born in 1940, had only seen her father once while he was home on leave, so when he knocked on the door, she had no idea it was her father standing in front of her. The French family and my grandfather remained friends until his death in 1977 and would travel to Germany to visit him. Human connections and faith are capable of overcoming incredible obstacles.
My great Uncle was in Jagerschwader 77. Hope I spelled that right. He was an ace, and he hated the Nazis. I never met him, but my family told me he was ashamed of what Germany did after he got home as he learned more about the war.
As far as my Grandmother knew, her father was imprisoned in America until the war ended. He came back after it with some jewlery from america for his wife, he sadly die not to long after he came back but still to this day my Grandmother posseses the jewlery her father brought from America, it was passed on to her by her mother (the jewlery only has almost no monitary worth, its a memory of her father)
and yeah, it's an overlooked part of history. The mention of France's actions, intentional and negligent, resulted in thousands more killed, the video said, through using POWs to clear minefields.
My late grandfather was drafted at the end of the war at the age of 17. He was captured but later successfully escaped from a Sovjet prison camp. He never talked much about what happened during the war. All we know is that when he showed up at his parents house in Germany, after his successful flight, his own sister didn't recognize him. He was very malnourished and had parasites all over his skin. I don't now if he personally did or was made to do something bad. He didn't talk about a "clean Wehrmacht" nor did he complain about his treatment by the Russians, like some of his generation did. I think he was just happy for having survived and wanted nothing more than live the rest of his days in peace, which he did.
My great grandfather was in the latvian SS(not because he was a nazi but because he hated the soviets)after the war he was captured and sent to a gulag he then got released because one of his friends was in the communist party and convinced some people to release him my great grandfather died later due to tubercolosis he contracted in the gulag
@@catraaufaa_9_viiif323 I wrote a comment telling BigGamer that their great-grandfather was a monster who deserved worse. In my original comment I accidentally said grandfather and was thus correcting it. Obviously some cuck removed my comment at some point
My grandfather was drafted later in WWII (my father was born in 1940 and his sister in 1941 so with two kids he had a high draft number) and was trained as a combat engineer. He went to Europe right at the end of the war and did not see combat. However he did tell me that since he was a mechanic he ended up in the motor-pool and spent his days driving officers around to tour German castles, but never really fixed any Army trucks or other vehicles. When l asked him about that, he told me that they had a lot of ‘American’ mechanics who fixed all the vehicles but also had really really thick German and Hungarian (if I remember correctly) accents that hung around the base and got three hots and a cot and coffee and chocolate and all the good things the American soldiers got in exchange for doing honest work. He said they were some of the funniest people, hardest working men and best mechanics he had ever seen. After the war my grandfather opened an AMOCO station in Danville VA and because his station was the only one in the area that sold the Hi-Test gas the original NASCAR racers (Junior Johnson, Lee Petty, etc used) he got to meet all the NASCAR founders and we have all these old pictures of him in his shop with them. The last part had nada to do with WWII but I always wanted to share that.
I know one, Dad, that come to back to Europe from the US (Fort Meade) after being a POW, being interviewed by a British and German Officer and being told he couldn't go home because the Russians were taking reprisals on returning German soldiers. Then being told France, Holland and Belgium weren't safe either because the resistance was taking German soldiers and shooting them. So he came to England and was put in an interment camp in the New Forest. He was treated well and helped rebuild Bomb damage. He was welcomed and married my Mum, even though Granddad was in the British Artillery during the war...when ask why he let his Daughter marry a German, he said " He's a nice guy, and rather a German, than an Italian or an American!"
As an American, ouch. I got a nice little chuckle from what your granddad said! By the way, remember that only American has the summary of who we are built into the spelling! (Amer-i-can).
Everybody is talking about their grandparents so I will give it a go too. My Grandad was a North German farmer. He got called up against his will for military service in 1935 and in 1938 he could leave the Wehrmacht. Only to get called again in 1939 when the war started. Later after France surrenderd he was stationed on a watchtower near Cherbourg, France. One day an English downed pilot came to the watchtower to surrender, but instead of arresting him, my grandfather and his comrades played cards with the pilot. After this incident, my grandfather was punitively transferred to the Eastern Front.There he later escaped the Stalingrad cauldron, but was sent back into it by an officer. He became a POW and was sent to a Soviet Gulag near Baku. There he escaped from the camp in about 1950, but stayed behind when a comrade broke his leg, and was arrested again. He was one of the last German POWs to return from Russia in 1955. Once home, everything was different, for example, horses were no longer needed in agriculture and his children did not see him for over a decade. He died of a heart attack in a cow barn in 1963.
Twenty years of hell, and for what? Hopefully he made some good friends along the way and they made the best of a bad one, he sounds like a man of honor and integrity for going back for his wounded comrade. R.I.P
So sad..I almost cried...but when I think that germanSS kiled 6 milion of people ..mostly civilians including women and children also destroyed and robbed property worth more than 900 bilion $ making my countrycthe most destroyed contry in WW2. My grandpa also died on heart attavk..but in 1948 even he was in the same age as your ..he was forced labour in germany. German bauer threatened him death very often aiming his Mauser at him. Amd was forced to sleep after heavy work in cold places.
My Grandfather was a farmer and jew in ww2. My grandparents had to hide their identity so they wouldnt get killed from stalins order. World is terrible..
My dad was in the European theatre for it final 16 months stationed in France. He was part of the American force processing POWs to be sent to American camps. He met Fred a 24yo German plumber who was conscripted to fight at the very end of the war. He wanted nothing to do with the war and was disgusted by it. They became friends and when it was time for Fred to be sent back to Germany, he wanted to stay and my dad sponsored him and after a year Fred invented and patented a machine to pull pipe underground. He created a machine that made a huge impact on US infrastructure growth. I knew him as Uncle Fred and was the kindest man I've ever known.
@@connordrysdale5333 how is it weird?? all these stories about german pows staying in America and being treated nicely. when the ppl in these comments reminisce and giggle abt it as if the majority of them weren't fucking nazis who, if Germany had won the war, been in the place of American guards, enslaving us. killing us. treating americans much worse than we treated them, anyways. US should've deported them all back to where they came from immediately after the war ended. the fact that literal fucking nazis were treated better than black soldiers is just fucking insane. it also doesn't help much considering the treatment German-Americans (with ancestry in the US BEFORE WW2 or WW1) were treated. but haha!! nazis liked it better here. disgraceful
If Fred "wanted nothing to do with the war" then he shouldn't have fought it. Yes I know what "conscripted" means, but all that means is he was more scared of breaking the law than of fighting the war. If your "Uncle Fred" had won that war, millions more people would have gone to the death camps, he went out and fought for that because he was too afraid of the alternative. I'm glad he went on to pull up some pipes or whatever though, real fucking charming story about your Nazi fake uncle.
The fact that they never go over this in schools (or just briefly gloss over it) just reinforces the idea that history is written by the winners. Good on you, Armchair Historian.
A friend of mine's father was a German soldier during the war and was shot and captured by US troops in Italy in 1943 and spent the rest of the war in a POW camp in Arizona. He had fought in Poland, Russia and France, and had in fact been seriously wounded in Russia and sent to a military hospital in France to recuperate, and when he was well enough he was sent to Italy, where he was eventually captured. He said the thing that had astounded him the most was that when he was captured---he was on a machine gun crew--the American sergeant who had shot him, and killed the other members of his crew, had immediately begun to treat his wounds rather than just leave him there to die or kill him outright, as the Russians would have done. He was taken to an aid station, then sent back to a larger facility in the rear, where he said he got the same treatment and level of care as wounded American soldiers, which also astounded him. When he was determined to have sufficiently recovered, he was sent back to the US by ship along with a few thousand other POWs, and when they landed in New York they were put on a train to be taken to the POW camp in Arizona. He said he got better food and treatment there than he did while he was in the German army--he used to joke that getting shot was the best thing that ever happened to him--and that when the camp authorities found out he had been a baker before the war they put him to work in the camp bakery. After the war ended he was repatriated back to Germany, but in the early '50s he applied for permission to emigrate to the US; it was granted, and he took his wife and 2 kids to New York and eventually became American citizens.
more than 20 million Russians died liberating Europe in WW2, american losses were not even 1/40th the amount of this, cut them some slack resources were quite thin.
@@Anthonybicee I don't blame the russians for how they treated german soldiers. The eastern front was one of the most savage and barbaric places in history. What I do blame them for is how they treated the civilian populations of eastern europe. Russia actually helped Germany early on and then terrorized the people they conquered and when they later came back as they pushed the germans back after hitler decided to attack russia they did unspeakable things to the civilians in eastern europe. It's one thing to treat your enemy horribly it's quite another to treat civilians in such a horrific way. Yes the western nations often did horrible things to civilians but it was not as widespread and even encouraged like it was in the soviet army.
@@beng6480 are you talking about poles? comparing to german actions, Soviet treatment in poland and liberated territories of western belarussia and ukraine was far better. if Soviet army really did encourage the mass genocide of civilians in captured areas then why only 600k German civilians died? why rokosovskyi and zhukov gave orders to treat civilians well and prohibited any rape and robbery in their armies?
A few Italian p/w s were working in my town, and later emigrated to the area, as it has a famed "Mediterranean climate" among other things, a Swiss-Italian and Portuguese community...
@@SuperDeinVadda well the Interstate Highway Act was suggested by Eisenhower who got the idea from occupied Germany and wanted it to be used as a means of being able to quickly deploy and move the military around in the event of a communist invasion
Well my granpa was in the kriegsmarine artillery and stationed in Paris briefly, Kiel Germany and Poland. He kept lucking out by being transferred away a few month before an invasion or fall of the areas he was stationed in. He ended in British captivity and was released home to eastern Germany. Coming home he learned that the Russians had carted away the stack of bricks that were on our property but left a bunch of field kitchens. A friend of his realized that these were old ww1 models made of brass. So when it became clear that the Russians had forgotten all about them, they cut them up and sold the metal on the black market. This financed construction of our house.
My mother was a child during WW2 growing up in Southern Wisconsin. She recalled German POWs working neighboring farms. They couldn't believe their good fortune, living an area where most of the people spoke German and ate German food. They were down right giddy, missed their family but were so thankful for their good fortune. (My mother attended a Lutheran elementary school and everything was taught in German, except for English). One of the POWs even remained behind and married one of my mom's aunt. I remember him, speaking with a thick German accent at family gatherings.
German POWS worked on my grandfather's farm during the war. Two of the men stayed on as employees after the war. They continued to work for him into in the 1970s.
Apparently this happened a few times. Sometimes a German soldier legitimately fell in love with a local girl in occupied territories, was NOT an asshole to locals during occupation, turned a blind eye to minor “ violations” and non-lethal acts of sabotage, and resistance. So when the Germans retreated, the German Soldier stayed behind after a retreat, and the locals would cover him/tell Allied soldier “he’s ok”, or bail him out of POW prison/vouch for him because while an occupier……was not a jerk about it/actually a cool dude. It was rare, but happened. One town loved one German soldier because after Hitler gave the order to “destroy everything of value” when things went south for Germany, a German soldier deliberately locked himself in a secure room with all the detonation devices so none of the planted explosives strapped to historical landmarks could not be set off. The Germans could not break in in time to get the devices before the Ally’s came rolling in. Locals still remember that German fondly to this day. Apparently a super high ranking officer, at the risk of his own family getting executed back in Germany, basically refused to issue orders/stalled until the Allies rolled into Paris. He had been order to destroy all historical landmarks. Notre Dome, the Eiffel Tower, multiple historic bridges, museums, art galleries, ext had been set to blow and rigged up. But the last time he saw Hitler, he confessed he realized how insane he was (on Meth it’s thought). Despite his families long military history, and being raised to “always obey orders”, he refused that order. While initially locals wanted to rip him apart, when it was realized what he refused to do, he was awarded a medal a few years later. Basically, a thank you for not leveling everything of historic and tourist value in Paris.
@@Cobruh_Commander: They all fought for the Nazis, and if they'd won millions would have died in the death camps all the same. There were not enough graves in Europe for every German soldier. But if there had been...
My dad was an American officer in at a P.O.W. camp for Italian solders. Many worked on local farms and none of prisoners were interested in escaping. When they were eventually released, some chose to stay in America permanently and became successful farmers themselves.
Americans: “Once you’re done helpin’ with the farm, how ‘bout y’all come in to watch a movie.” British: “Thank you for helping out Jerry, here’s an apple and some money for your troubles.” French: “Look at me and I’ll beat you up.” USSR: 😈
Ah, but the Germans didn't occupy any of the USA and only the Channel Islands of the UK. I can well imagine had they done so, our post-war views of them wouldn't be so "charitable".
That’s probably to be expected - the Nazis caused a French Civil War (among other atrocities and crimes in France) and exterminated swaths of Eastern Europe They never touched American soil and even Britain got off relatively easy in comparison
The british army sent a former german soldier to help my great grandmother with household and gardening at her home near Leipzig after the war, her husband was a POW in England and she had a couple of children. The man's name was Erich, he was a dear friend to my family and became sort of an uncle to my father, he gave him a very cool watch for his birthday once and even went partying with him (he was well into his 60s then). He opened up a furniture store and passed away some time back.
I made the mistake of reading a bunch of wholesome comments like this before I watched the video so I was expecting something similarly wholesome but instead everyone is violating the Geneva Convention
My father was also lucky, if lucky you can call it, twice losing his home in bombing raids, but at least he survived his military service unscathed. My father experienced a completely different crazy story at the end of the war. When he completed his training as a machine fitter at the age of 18 (1944), he always had to reckon with being drafted into the army. At this late point in the war, almost all non-volunteer soldiers were sent to the Eastern Front. Because of this, he volunteered for the Navy before being drafted to infantry on eastern front. Because of his learnes job, he was drafted y the nava and trained as a diesel engeneer. He was then supposed to ride in a submarine but the sub he was supposed to ride in was damaged in a bombing raid so they transferred him to a brand new Type 43 minesweeper. That was probably his luck, because if he had got on a submarine, I might not even exist today. By now the war was almost lost, so they were no longer active in the war, just evacuating trapped refugees and soldiers from East Prussia to West Germany. After the end of the war, the minesweepers in Sonderborg (Denmark) were confiscated by the British. But the crews of the minesweepers were not taken prisoner, but were supposed to stay on the boats and clear the Baltic and North Seas of mines for the British. For this purpose, the British occupiers founded the GMSA (German Minesweeping Administration). It was a couriosum, armed German warships with German crews in British service, few days after war. These minesweepers were given the signal flag C (blue, white, red, white, blue striped) as their national flag. My father sailed on these boats until 1948 and was then transferred from the British military administration to the port police in his hometown of Kiel, where he worked as an engineer on a former torpedo catching boat that served as a police boat until 1950. During his military service between 1944 to 1950, my father was in the British service longer than the German service (lol). Unlike other victorious powers, the British were very fair. They understood better than the other allies, that they had nothing to fear from the Germans after the surrender. Even acquaintances of my father, who afte the capitulation ended up in British captivity were prisoners of war only until the infrastructure for an orderly release was in place, which usually lasted no longer than six months. In addition, they were not locked up in camps, but the British simply cordoned off a peninsula (for example, the Eiderstedt peninsula in Schleswig-Hostein) where the POWs could move freely. Day after day loudspeaker trucks came into the villages and called on professional groups. For example: please report all farm workers to the commandant's office, or all construction workers, etc. So there were fewer prisoners every day. The British made sure that the occupied country could feed itself as quickly as possible and was not dependent on British supplies, because these were also very scarce in the UK after the war.
My great-grandfather was a pow in the US from 1944-1945. He was treated very poorly and died a few months after he was released from organ failures at the age of 35. He had also sustained many injuries from being stoned and beaten.
Japan was even worse. Some Japanese platoons literally ate the POWS. and not even a little bit but entirely. They would choose the ones that had the most meat left on their bones and randomly kill and eat them.
@@chaosXP3RT well, you're not wrong , but it did matter a lot. The seismic shift in the balance of power marked the beginning of a new geopolitical epoch ...
Corparal Zuko: If the Allies discover us, they'll have us killed. General Iroh: But if the Soviet discovers us, we'll be turned over to Stalin. Both: Allies it is.
I think Zuko's rank should be higher than corporal. In fact, I think he shouldn't even have an enlisted rank. So maybe, lieutenant or captain (army version).
I live in Kemerovo, Central Siberia, I was born and raised here. The "southern" district of the city is divided into parts: the old one, built by captured Germans in the 40s, and the new one, built in the 00s. There was a prisoner of war camp. For a very long time I did not know that I went to the hospital built by captured Germans, walked next to the orphanage built by the Germans. The Germans built houses here, where they lived all the 40s, and then ordinary citizens settled there and still live there. In addition, the prisoners built entire streets that today are the center of city life. On the one hand, I should be grateful to them, because they have made a huge contribution to the development of my hometown, which I love very much. On the other hand, the Germans, in aggregate, are to blame for the suffering of my family: my grandmother's family, 11 people, almost all died during the occupation at the hands of the Germans and hunger. Another part of my family fled the war and was forced to work hard, build a life from scratch in Siberia. Some lived literally in caves, as there was nowhere else to live. Many never returned from the front. I don’t know if it’s fair what they did with the prisoners, but this definitely needs to be remembered.
Also: most international law doesn't exist yet. it is very rudimentary and basic.. and as history has shown, often isn't worth the paper it is written on during and after a war
My Grandfather served in the Hungarian Army in WWII. He was captured during the battle of Budapest. Many other soldiers and officers had fled with their families before the city was surrounded. My Grandmother wanted to, but He refused to leave his men behind. Before he was captured, he sent his signet ring and a letter to my Grandmother. Spent the next 3 years in a Russian POW camp. He survived and learned an important skill, to speak English. This helped him when he fled in 1956.
My Great Great Grandfather fought for Austria Hungary in World War One, sadly so long ago we really don’t have any of his records from when he was in service.
The cousin of my grandmother was a sniper at the eastern front. At the end of the war the rest of his company tried to walk back home from russia to germany - everybody by their own. So he throw away his rifle and walked more then 1500 Kilometers home. In Poland he got sick - a polish woman took care about him for 1 month. He successfully moved over the rhine until he find his way home. Close to his house he was catched up by an american patrol but could convinced them that he was a farmer. So they wanted him to show his work experience and he worked some hours at a field before he was allowed to move the last steps home. So he was lucky and never become a POW.
My grandgrandfather lost his life one day after the war ended. He was supposed to give up weapons to the allies with his squad. The squad never made it back, and the case never settled and its still a mysthery what happend to them. My grandpa who researched his whole life into this event suspects that they got revenge killed, but never got any closure. His body was never found, probably buried in a massgrave. Yea and my grandgrandmother then had to feed 2 children by herself in a destroyed country.. I cannot even imagine what life this must have been.
@@Gaphalor if it makes you feel any better my grandfather also never found out what happened to his dad. He was wounded in a hospital, then the communists came and all track was lost of him.
My maternal grandfather had brothers who were farmers in Kansas. They spoke German, as thier own father was from Germany. They had POWs working for them, as they could talk to them easily. There was little security, as the guys were well treated, and they didn't want to go back to the fighting.
In the beginning, German prisoners of war were generally men who had been captured during the North African campaign. Compared to German soldiers in general, such soldiers tended to have close ties to the Nazi party and deep trust in Germany's inevitable victory. They were critical of anyone who they considered too "American". After fanatic Nazi soldiers tormented other prisoners of war who were actually grateful that their war was over. Eventually, the fanatical German soldiers had to be separated and sent to various different POW camps. Many German prisoners of war worked as farm laborers on Allied farms.
@@anthonytroisi6682c est une honte... pourquoi ces prisonniers n ont pas été libéré ? Les américains ont envahie l'Europe.. tué des millions de civils ...et jamais été jugé... Et ils continuent...l histoire tournera
My grandmother told me someone she used to clean for was an old german veteran who was a POW for about 3 years. When he was sent to the states he was a sanitation worker and he used that to start up a sanitation business back in Germany. When the war ended a guard offered him a job for his family's company but he refused because in his words "Job offer or not I still have a wife back home."
While in the US Army, during Vietnam, while stationed in Germany, I met several men who had served the German army in WW2. All had horror stories of Russian pow camps, it was many years till they were repatriated . But all became good friends of mine, none had been SS during the war. All became vital to getting Germany fully back on its feet .
Mano, isso é bem complicado por que os alemães mataram uns 20-30 milhões de soviéticos e sem contar os outros países da Europa Oriental, aí depois da guerra todo mundo é prisioneiro político e não cometeu nenhum crime de guerra. Até parece que foi o alto escalão alemão que sozinho matou todas essas pessoas. Claro que não, o exército alemão pra além das SS matava vilas, cidades e etnias inteiras no oriente. Não tem como ter tido um único soldado alemão que não participou disso, seja diretamente ou por omissão.
@@alexphotoman Através da história do amigo acima, da a entender que houve uma injustiça para com esses bons alemães que iriam ajudar na reconstrução da Alemanha após sua repatriação, e que apesar de não serem da SS, e mesmo assim sofreram horrores nos campos de prisioneiros na URSS. Meu ponto é que infelizmente oq a Alemanha nazista fez foi uma coisa coletiva, não importando se você era só um soldado comum um um SS, todos participaram do genocídio e dos crimes de guerra, da destruição de nações inteiras. Então não tem como esperar que eles receberiam outro tratamento por parte das suas antigas vítimas. O fato de eles serem boas pessoas não retira das costas deles o fardo de terem participado, e sendo do exército provavelmente foi uma participação bem ativa, de todas as atrocidades cometidas pelos Alemães
@@hudsonfe8312 no the SS was almost entirely dedicated to doing the crimes that you mentioned above. The Wehrmacht was focused on fighting other European countries. It’s not the same
@@humanchannel7825 não mano, as SS eram as tropas do partido, uma forma de expressão de força do partido e por isso realmente eram mais politizadas e voltadas mais pra os serviços políticos como o extermínio de judeus, porém essa guerra não foi apenas política, econômica tbm, a Alemanha nazista tinha intenções coloniais na europa oriental e o seu exército, a whermacht foi amplamente empregada nesse sentido, assassinato de soldados capturados, massacre de populações cercadas, estupros como arma de terror contra a população... Da mesma maneira que o exército inglês tem um papel amplo no domínio e colonização de países da África por exemplo, o exército alemão também tem na guerra no oriente. Esse cavalheirismo e profissionalismo que se vê na whermacht é só até a página dois, da mesma maneira que na primeira guerra não havia SS e as ações das tropas alemães foram muito parecidas.
The recollection of a professor of mine, who was near the end of his combat medic training when the war ended. Their commander called them together and told them to try to get home...which, for him, was Austria. What had been approximately a day's train ride became two weeks of running, hiding and skulking in the shadows dodging both American patrols and German military gendarmerie. An encounter with either, for different reasons, could become fatal all two quickly. But he made it.
Sgt. Bresnotsky in the 3rd Armor Cav. 1972 was very young in the Austrian Army, recruited to the German Army. Joined the French Forgein Legions then American Army serving tours in Vietnam. A good man.
Many German soldiers volunteered for the French Foreign Legion after WW2 & soon found themselves fighting at Dien Bien Phu in Northern Vietnam. They ended up in the Vietnamese prison Camps & most died of disease or starvation. They must've thot we've jumped out of the frying pan into the fire.
I'm reminded of what Hans Frank, the rather vicious Governer-General of occupied Poland, had to say: "A thousand years will pass and still this guilt of Germany will not have been erased." He was hanged for war crimes by the allies.
Sins of the father, are not the sins of the son. Anyone who truly believes the Germany of Today is responsible for the Germany of Yesterday is reprehensible.
As a child in the 70s our military family was stationed in Germany. My mom worked as a house keeper at a German hospital. While working there she made friends one's name was Elsbeth her father was a German soldier during WW2 a prisoner of the Soviets. I never met him but he gave my Dad a Soviet coin he obtained while a prisoner.
@@ecks738 bolshiveks were a huge threat. They commited mass atrocities on there own people before the Germans invaded. Communism is a jewish ideology.
Very interesting and informative video. This is what happened with my wife's father; he served under Rommel, was captured and eventually sent to one of the southern US POW camps where he was treated very well, especially considering how American POWs were treated in the Axis countries. Apparently, even though the work was challenging, he lived a far more comfortable life as a POW than his wife and family did in Germany during the war. When the war ended, he and his wife were able to get Visas to emigrate to the US. Prior to serving in the German military he was an Olympic class cyclist so he opened up his own bicycle repair shop in CT where he made his own bikes and became quite well known. Sadly, he passed away prior to me meeting my wife so I never had the opportunity to discuss the war with him.
Weird fact of post WWII: Dutch volunteers of Waffen SS were choose between death sentence or join the Dutch Army as the people of Dutch East Indies declared themselves as a independent nation of Indonesia- thus the Indonesian Revolution begin Not to mention the German Kriegsmarine members that previously stationed in Batavia (now Jakarta) decided to join the Indonesian side rather than surrendering to the incoming Allies
As a Dutch person whose grandfather served as part of the KNIL, this is very interesting and would like to know more about it. I know about remnants of the IJA stuck in Indonesia, but not about (ex) Kriegsmarine and SS. I'd appreciate if you could refer me to a source so I can learn more about this. A similar thing happened in France where ex-SS joined the FFL and were sent to Indochina, never knew this was the case in the Netherlands as well.
It's usually very practical. To the victor belong the spoils. Winners take everything, losers try to survive, that is how its always been. Rome was built on the spoils of war of conquering an empire and we still gawk and marvel at its ruins. They annihilated the Carthaginians and eradicated the culture of the Gauls. The aftermath of WW2 is unique because while a lot of German POW's were used as slave labor to rebuild the countries they destroyed, overall Germany was not punished that hard. Not like it was punished after WW1, or how it had punished France in 1871. Crushing reparations were not imposed and a hand of friendship was offered to let Germany come back in from the cold, just like what happened to France after Napoleon. We let it slide that many a warcriminal was let go unpunished, they let it slide that we used millions of POW's for forced labor. With the Germans not feeling as a vanquished and humiliated nation the cycle of defeat-> resentment -> renewed war was broken. Quite a rare feat actually. We should be thankful that it did.
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 You're talking about the West Germans under the Marshal plan. And what you're talking about are the unfair trials, unfair in meaning that high ranking SS and NSDAP members got off much more lightly than much lower ranking staff who barely had any weight nor remotely came close to the higher ranked's attrocities. Then you're completely forgetting how good the treaty of versailles even looked great in comparison to the Soviet occupation zone, where they literally deconstructed and transported the industry away to soviet territory as reparation. Also the soviets were far from appeasing with German population afterwards.
Mmmmh, germans used quite many POW as slave labors in their factory during WWII and they didn't even waited that war was over. I think the german realized that they were in fact lucky to being still alive after what they did in the east or even the west. The feeling you describe, the resentment, in especially strong since the rise of nationalism and the 19th century. Before that, it's just feud between nolble family of different region raising ost of more or less professionnel soldier, but not conscript. As you said, Rome destroyed Carthage, but did the same with the social structure of the Gaul and even the jews in palestine.
Should look up what happened at the Rhine Meadows (Rheinwiesenlager) PoW camp. Plenty of revenge happened there and many thousands died of mistreatment. The prisoners were corralled in an open field with no shelter or sanitation and were denied food and water. In a matter of weeks thousands were dead. When the Red Cross wanted to inspect the camp they were denied access by the Americans. The US reclassified captured German soldiers from PoW to "disarmed combatants" in order to dodge the protections of the Geneva convention. By all accounts it was a war crime but since the victors write the history books nobody really talks about it.
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 Revenge is not practical because it starts more wars and conflict, unless you kill a whole population. Even then, that sets a bad precedence. They didn't hang Napoleon because it would have martyred him and told the world it's okay to execute leaders. We've learnt, especially in the modern era, that punishing a whole group of people in such a way only leads to more issues down the line. In ancient and barbaric times, it might have been practical, but we're way past that. Even the Nazis feared the precedence they set. So really, it's not good for anyone.
"Wow Kriez, you're very good at aiming and shooting accurately with that weapon!" "Thanks, I killed over 35 allies with this, I'm pretty good with handling this firearm. "wait a minute"
UK as a schoolboy during WW2 I often saw the German and Italian POWs working in the fields, no one wanted to escape as they were treated well in the UK, I believe that some 25,000 stayed in the UK after the war, some were invited to spend Christmas with English families, not with us I would add, we struggled to feed ourselves. My elder brother who is 96 and still alive was in the allied army of occupation 1945, he said the conditions for the Germans was terrible, he actually felt sorry for the kids and would share his rations with them.
The following happened during the war: My mom worked at a dairy, that was on a rail line in Syracuse NY. She used to talk about the bringing milk to the German POWs when their trains would stop at the dairy.
That’s insane. My moms is from DeWitt, NY, right outside of Syracuse. Her neighbor growing up was a German POW, last name Kroll, who ended up staying in the US. Small world.
From what I know of him, my great grandfather fought to take France, then spend some time in the east before fighting in north Africa. There he was captured by the USA and take as a POW to Texas to work on a farm. There he got to loving America, his son (sick of getting shot at by both sides, yes the allies killed civilians too) skipped the draft to Switzerland got married and found work in America in the 50s. This man went on to play a critical roll in stopping the Cuban missile crisis. Incredible man with many emotional scars.
So the son being ur dad was sick of getting shot on both sides? Which implies that he was in the war? Which i thought we were talking about nazi granpa ? Im just looking for clarity here. Im vested now. Especially after this. 😂
@@Somsal great grandfather was in the war. His son was bombed while living in Berlin as a boy before moving out to a relatives farm when news of his father being missing came. There allied planes shot at there wagons for some reason. Weather target practices or thinking they were a munitions carts. My grandfather remembers the allied occupation as just the changing of guys with guns. Inperson the militaries acted the same. Except the allies gave candy. And there family was starving, they type of starving where the grandparent have to deside which kid to feed that week. Very sad time that still begins him to tears. Something nice he once said was that there was never any hate for the allies. He very much disliked some of the Moroccan soldier though because of their brutally and sick pleasure in hurting innocents. Idk what happened because he never elaborated.
My German wife's grandfather, a vet of WW1 AND WW2, didn't come home until 1949. I remember hearing that the last German POW didn't return home until 1955.
I live in South Carolina, and the opening statements about the POW's being treated better then the black share croppers reminded me of things my grand dad told us about. Until recently some of the housing units for the POWs we're still standing. They were close to one of the rail lines. My Grand dad told us how the POWs we're transported in passenger cars while blacks had to ride in cattle cars. Nice video. A very pleasant surprise.
It's a thing that always angered me. I understand that POWs had to be treated well but the fact that German POWs got better treatment then an entire group of American citizen is ridiculous. I remember reading the memoirs of a German POW who recounted being allowed to eat at an American diner but seeing the whites only signs. He recounted that it reminded him of the anti Jewish laws that were in place in Nazi Germany prior to the war.
@@obscureoccultist9158 The local governments in the south were probably also using German POWs as conscripted labor to undercut the bargaining position of black Americans (who would have gotten paid more because of the labor shortage).
@@obscureoccultist9158 I went to the Holocaust museum a few years ago. Very amazing experience, I highly recommend. What I found interesting was learning that Hitler actually justified his actions against the Jews by pointing to Jim Crow laws in the US. Really a shame and dark part of our past history in this country. Many people here don’t realize that Hitler justified a lot of his actions by pointing to what the US was doing to African Americans.
@@tsarnickolai That's your problem right there, you think Wikipedia is a legitimate source rather than a zoo where every Russian nationalist can edit every article to fit the Russian narrative and when it comes to AK47 the Russians will edit it to infinity to prevent it from pointing out t wasn't totally a Russian original but really a STG44 derivative with the developer of the STG44 literally on the team that developed it.
My mom was a girl and picked cotton close to a detention center .. She said that the men were very nice and most of them spoke reasonable English.. she said that she always thought they were going to be Americans … She came from Missouri and there was a heavy German population. She was English and Irish blood line but cooked a lot of German food..
Everyone is talking about stories of their grandparents but my grandfather didn't say a whole lot about the war and we honestly didn't ask much about it. He told us stories about some of the friends he made and how humiliating it was when his American counterparts would treat the german pows better than their black american soldiers. He also made a friend with a german pow and had always wondered what happened to him after he was allowed to go back home. He died in 2016 just 3 days before turning 100 and now i wish i had asked him more questions about what he experienced
There's a whole lot of history of black America connected to the wars of the 20th Century. A few black Americans remained in France after WWI, as they felt better treatment there than in the States. The grotesqueries of the second War made the maintenance of Jim Crow untenable in the States. Still some American blood flowed in it's dissolution.
@@simpleman5688 it's leagues better than most you find on youtube. Having teams doing animation for youtube videos is rare, having it actually LOOK somewhat nice is even rarer.
I have to say that the summary at the end is very well thought out and impactful when you think about it. Often times, too often perhaps, we rationalize vengeful and dehumanizing action because of actions taken against us. Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
I wonder what you would feel if your house was burned to the ground and your family either murdered straight away or condemned to slow death due to starvation and exposure. It's easy to stay on moral high horse when such events are just footnotes in history books and not personal experiences. Ask anyone in the East what they think about forgiveness or reconciliation and you'll be suprised how long memories can last.
@@gratius1394 that is true, and I’m not trying to justify anyone’s actions. But when we pick and choose who the law applies to, isn’t that the beginning of tyranny? Regardless of actions taken by others, POW’s are guaranteed rights, rights that are ignored because of practicality. You don’t have to look too far in history to find many examples of “illegal combatants”.
@@erikvaldez2627 OK, let me get this straight - do you honestly believe that warfare can be codified and "civilised" with written laws? And if so, what use such laws can possibly have if one or even both sides simply decide to ignore them?
Very well made documentary ! The animation was well done. While stationed in Italy, I’ve met several Italian veterans who served under the fascists. Their stories were similar. One who was captured by the Americans, told me about his time in the work camps in the US. He was treated well and well fed. Another who was captured by the French, told me they were forced to march to a POW camp in Casa Blanca. Many POWs died on that march. They were worked hard, fed meager rations and treated harshly. Another who was captured by the British, was worked hard and fed meager rations, though the British treated their POWs far better than the French.
prisoners of war in the UK received a meat ration of 1450 K calories Most grew vegetables which were not rationed civilians had a ration of 1650 There were few fat people in Britain during the war. Current recommendations are 2000 for a woman and 2500 for a man.
My grandfather was a guard at a POW camp for captured German soldiers. His stories about the friends he made among the prisoners were terrific. Best one: he used to sneak prisoners out of the camp through a hole in the fence and take them to baseball games. Beer, hotdogs, chasing girls, all that good stuff. He got caught sneaking them back in one time and of course the commander wasn't best pleased. So that was the end of the ball game outings.
@@justaplayer94: They all fought for Hitler, what they called themselves while doing it is of no significance. A bullet and a two-foot-deep grave for every single one of them are the only peace terms we should have offered. But there's always next time.
@@Tamlinearthly no they didin't. Good part of germany thought for their country. Not everone fights for politicans but for the home and Family behind him. You clearly have don't know much about soilders from the Wehrmacht.
One of these soldiers was sent as a POW in my grand parents farm in the south west of France. He was working in the farm and was treated well , so well that he became friend with my grand grand father and went back several times latter in his life with his wife and his kids for hollidays. But not all soldiers sent to France as POW were treated well , generaly at the end of a war you don't see good human qualities being displayed
My grandfather spent time in a French POW camp after being captured by Americans in Italy. Alongside with his unit he was tasked to clear mines with nothing but a wooden stick. After he saw three of his friends be blown up by landmines, he decided to flee. On foot he made it from Western France to Hamburg in Northern Germany, where he surprised his mother who didn't recognise him after years of war. Ironically he went from being a young indoctrinated man (he was born in 1921 and grew up with Nazi propaganda) to being a communist anti-facist in post-war Western Germany for which he lost his government job and was jailed for a few months. He always told my father that the things he saw the Germans commit in WW2 made him sway "the other way" - to the other extreme.
Propaganda is propaganda everywhere. You can read the memoirs of a man who spent 6 years in Soviet captivity. Yes, one way or another, this is also a biased opinion, but you can read and draw your own conclusions. "Das Ziel - Überleben: Sechs Jahre hinter Stacheldraht - Claus Fritzsche"
It’s very unlikely he didn’t know what the red army commit (letting the Warsaw uprising play out instead of contributing, taking as few German POWs as possible, mass rape of women, etc). And then the iron curtain years, the Hungarian revolution, the Berlin Wall. If his politics were based on not supporting the bad guys and everything I mentioned didn’t make him reconsider moving away from communism and embrace western liberal democracies maybe he really was a true communist at heart (not that I’m criticizing, everyone is free to form their own opinion)
@@chepitoloroco He always thought that the atrocities committed in retaliation by the allies, especially the Soviets, were somewhat justified, but still wrong. I find myself somewhat agreeing with that, although like always it affected the wrong people - children, women etc. As he got older he became more of a socialist than a communist. He was not a fan of Stalin but thoroughly supported the GDR. Which is kind of hypocritical. I think he just wanted a better society where everybody is equal and has equal opportunity, but then lost his way by supporting people who created more inequality than they compensated.
@@TheLLLIIINNNUUUSSS He wasn't wrong 6x the amount of russians died (27 million) during the war than germans (5 million), that alone should show the discrepancy in brutality between the soviets and the Nazis. The Nazis planned to genocide Slavs and many other cultures and races, meanwhile the Soviets were out to genocide Nazism the ideology, and its footsoldiers. Under the Nazi regime entire thriving communities were reduced to slave labor to be mass killed when too exhausted to continue to work. I for one respect your grandfather and his willingness to reflect on what he saw, may he rest in peace. I hope never in our lives we are forced to witness the things our grandfathers and further back saw.
The decision to not declare Germans as prisoners of war, was not made when Germany was not officially a state, it was made by Eisenhower in 1943. So, the reference to the USSR not being overly in favour of the Geneva Convention, applied equally to the United States during the war.
My Grandmother was born in 1931, she was born to a small mink and vegetable farm outside of Newbury, Staffordshire, England. Close to where she lived was a old Manor House used to hold POWs, she said she remembered that they had Italian and some Romanian POWs on their farm. I know that they aren’t German but my grandmother told me that she was surprised that they were like normal humans. Some of the Italians stayed in the farm after the war and I believe they are still on that farm today. This makes me think that in the end everyone is human, lost of the soldiers didn’t even want to fight, but war causes us to be forced into combat.
You should do WW2 from Norway's perspective, where you can talk about the battle of Drøbak Sound, Narvik, the Heavy Water Sabotage, Haakon VII, Vidkun Quisling, Max Manus etc.
@@jinksgotha4942 except the war story set in Norway is nothing but altering history. It wasn’t conducted by one woman. The actual heavy water sabotage was conducted by a group of British trained Norwegian commandos in exile who destroyed the facility in operation Gunnerside. Allied bombing followed and whatever heavy water was left was destroyed by the Norwegian resistance forces when the Germans attempted to transport it.
Never understood how my Grandfather left the German army in 1945 and managed to move to Kansas City in 1947. He was a Engineer and train man and went on to work in such a job for another 25 years. He learned English in 2-3 years and raised my father as an American boy and refused to talk about the war beyond a few sentences.
"The most profound lessons are often to be learned in its darkest chapters" - That's the thing I wanted to hear from my history teacher back when I was in school, it would have made history so much more interesting.
"The pragmatic and vindictive moves by the Allies to force German POW's into rebuilding Europe do not excuse the crime of Nazi Germany, just as Nazi atrocities do not excuse Allies violations of the Geneva Convention" I guess you can say "Two wrong don't make a right"
sadly too many people in the comment section seem to think they do, justifying making children clear minefields because their side were "the bad guys" in the war
Yeah, if you did the same thing that Germans did, what makes you and the Germans any better? But i guess they have their own justification and on-site dilemma that they have to violate Geneva convention that were created by them blatantly.
My grandfather was 6 years in a Siberian war prison. He barely survived. He died in his home region - in peace - at the age of 92. He was in the Wehrmacht and told me a lot of interesing war stories. He was a very nice and generous man.
Mein Großvater war auch lange als Kriegsgefangener in Sibirien und ist erst vor wenigen Jahren gestorben. Er wurde auch über 90 Jahre alt. Vielleicht kannten sie sich 🤔
My great grandfather was major general in the USSR , when he came back from war it was obligation to bring German soldiers with him and make them work , he was not a typical soviet and treated them well , my great grandmother was always cooking good food for them. They were tasked to help finish work on my family house , after they were done a year or so later , they were free to leave , to show their respect and say thanks for taking good care, before leaving they gave us gifts , from what I remember what I was told , they gave officer dagger , fork and knife sets and some other stuff , I still have the fork which was passed down so many generations since then and now I eat with it , stainless fork with a eagle on the svastika.
My grandfather had a farm in Indiana where German soldier's worked. He said he fed them peanut butter sandwiches because the American soldier's treated them badly (especially after they found out how the American POW's were treated in Germany.) We have a Germain cuckoo clock that was sent by a German soldier to my grandfather as a sign of appreciation.
I was reading an article on this before. And a lot of the german POWs were sent to south west lower Michigan to work on farms. Cass, Berrien and Van buren counties. And one thing in the article said they were not real well guarded and one time a guard had set his rifle down and walked over by a tree and fell asleep. One of the prisoners saw the commanding officer coming down the road a ways off and picked up the rifle woke up the guard and handed him the rifle so he didn't get in trouble lol. It also said several resettled in the area after the war and the ones that did go back to Germany sent packages back and forth with the farm families that they had worked for. I thought that was a really interesting article
Lived in South Central Michigan all my life. There was a German POW camp just 2 blocks away from my house. After the war many of them settled in my community. They were really nice people and lived out their lives here.
My Grandfather and his brother-in-law both serverd most of the war in France. My Grandpa was drafted 1941. He was later transfered to the eastern front an got captured in Eastern Prussia late 1944. he was lucky enough to stay in the western parts of the Soviet Union, were the winters were not als harsh as in Sibiria. He came home 1947. Never spoke much about the war. My granduncle wa a theacher and stayed the whole war in France. He spoke fluent English an French. As the Allies landed in southern France in August 1944 he surrenderd to the Americans. Than the Americans turend out to be Free French. He returnd in 1948 after very hard labor on a french farm. As said in the video, being POW on the western front didn't nesseary mean an easier fate.
Firstly, I would like to thank you about your family story. Secondly, I would like to further boost your idea that being turned to the french in the western front was truly disgraceful, i would like to comment the fact of a whole German batallion who did not sourrender until they were given protection from the french resistance in a village near Caen Normandy.
There was this small pow camp in Wisconsin that was right behind a high-school and the guards became friends with germans so much so that they even brought them to the bar after the days work. And there was this one American pow coming back from a German camp and was appaled to see us treating them nice after what he endured.
My neighbors father was in the German Wehrmacht however escaped into the US two years into his service. He had no family left in Germany so he did not have to worry about them being punished. Once he got to the US the Xenophobia and Anti German sentiment was at an all time high. He barely spoke as his accent would make him a target and when he did he deepened his voice and try to hide it. However he was caught and placed into a German interment camp 1942- 1945. He was beaten, tarred, tortured you name it. He escaped with a German American and he married a German immigrant and had a one child (my neighbor) . he later died of a Seizure from Traumatic brain injuries.
Some years ago a history professor at Texas A&M was called by a farmer. They met at his house in Central Texas. The farmer with his wife by his side asked the professor if he spoke German. He did and soon the farmer explained that he was a German POW who had escaped his prison and just stayed here. There are huge German and Czech populations in Texas so he kind of just fit in. His wife was stunned to find that her husband of some 30 years was an escaped prisoner.
As everyone talks about their grandparents I’ll do that too: My grandpa was born in 1920 in Sweden and worked for the railroad almost 50 years and never met any Germans as far as I know until his death on his 89th birthday in 2009
My grandma talked about working with the red cross during WW2 and interacting with German POWs a little bit. From what I can remember is that they talked about missing their family and friends and some didn't even want to be in the war or didn't like what Hitler was doing.
@@user-dd8vo7or2d were you there in WW2? Didn't think so, so no, you don't know what it was like for them. Your experiences are not the same as theirs.
I worked with a guy whose uncle in the Australian Army was captured by the Germans in Greece and sent to Germany. After several months in a POW camp he snd another Aussie from farming backgrounds were sent to work on a German farm. They weren’t guarded but told if they escaped or hurt the Family they would be shot. They were really well treated by the German family and slept in a room near the barn. It turns out their only son was captured by British forces in North Africa and was safe and well in a Pow camp in Britain, hence the good treatment.
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Hi Griffin
i sure will
Halo Griffin can u do a winter war vid please
Thank you for this Awesome videos, I specially liked the ones about American, Germán and Russian tanks.
Deutschland fell to the Allies
The red army was so scary that the Wehrmacht fought to like there is no tomorrow just to surrender to the Allies
@Eva Braun’s New Jewish Husband why would a marry a dead lady lol
That's fucked up
Axis soldiers clearly remembered what they had all committed in Russia to Russian civilians and POWs, they simply expected to be treated the same way.
i mean after what germans have done on the eastern front
im not suprised
Didn’t expect to see you here
I know a bunch of the German POW’s in Canada Emigrated to Canada after the war. They said they liked it and that western Canada reminded them of the Alps.
That's cool, I heard about it on The Front channel.
When I can skiing there, I would come😅😆
My Grandfathers Brother did so aswel…
Can understand, the Alps are remarkably beautiful and peaceful.
Many POWs were shot by canada
Current Objective, head West to surrender to the Allies
what u doing here
Good to see you here
|
Surrender to the Americans. The French will press you into slavery…
Current objective: find the Americans and pray
Find the british or Americans but if you find the soviets or French then run for your life.
When my dad was younger here in Canada, he learned from older farmers that german POW's used to labour on the farms. There wasn't any tension at all, and they seemed quite happy to be here. They weren't confined or monitored in any way. They would do their work, go into town etc. just like anyone else. They probably could have snuck out of the country if they really tried, but they didn't seem to want to leave anyway. After seeing the horrors of war, they might have felt like they escaped the pressure of the horrible things they might have had to end up doing otherwise. That, and it was a far better fate than being a prisoner at the hands of say, the Soviets
They must have found out that "THEY" were the bad guys. And wanted none of it no more if the war ended with them losing. Not wanting to be killed or worst
@@Rexington well the Russians definitely weren’t the good guys either.
Not only in the USSR, even in France the prisoners were taken to rebuild the country and they were treated horribly, so many died of hunger or while cleaning the mined areas.
@@sabn9139 Different thing in France, they were under BRUTAL occupation by the Nazis, and I doubt there was much room for mercy in the hearts of those who's entire families had been slaughtered, villages razed, people kidnapped and tortured, etc.
@@TheBaconWizard true that, but also don't forget that the French were the Nazis of Africa though, the crimes that the French committed in Algeria are brutal, they even tested nuclear weapons there.
I remember a story my old high school wrestling coach told me about German POWs where he grew up, he said that during the war they were allowed to gather some scrap metal and build a tree for Christmas. He said that for a few decades a handful of them would return and admire it for Christmas.
This is a underrated commitment this should get more likes
Waaa waaa feel bad for the nazis
@@goatwashed
As you act exactly like Nazis
People forced to do something and punished for it
Yeah you are the new age Nazis
@@azmanabdula Nazism is when nazis get punished for having a direct part in the death of 6 million innocents
apparently
My grandma (born in 1931) sheltered a german prisoner after the war in her family's farm, in the north of Savoy. She recalled the prisoner as an old tired fellow, she mentioned how rough his hands seemed to her back then. He didn't talk much, worked a shitload amount of time in the field with her father and couldn't say much in French, but he was always polite and kind with the children. One day he came back from town and brought gifts to the family, and he gave a soft blanked to my grandma (which she still has btw). My great grandfather liked him as well, and he didn't hate the Germans, as he had been taken prisoner himself 30 years earlier during WWI, and was treated well by his german jailers.
But one day, the old german dude went to town in the morning and wasn't there for supper. My grandma's father thought he was trying to escaped and try to search for him and talk him out of it, but when he found him, the old german was lying unconscious on the side of the road leading to the house. He had been beaten up by stupid boys who thought they were doing something patriotic.
He left the house shortly after and never came back.
My great grandma from the other side of my family, born in 1921 (and still going strong baby !!! she got her 100th birthday last june!!), also housed two Germans until 1946 ! But the story was different : my great grandpa was in the Resistance (he was taken prisoner in Dunkirk after being shot in the shoulder and got released in 1943, and immediately joined the FFI) and captured two german soldiers who were gathering weapons in his home village for the incoming fight against the Americans in Le Mans (August 44). Having no authorities to take them to at the time, he simply took him in his own house as prisoners. At the end of the war, he asked them if they'd rather be prisoners in French facilities or remain here at his farm, they chose the latter. And so for two years, they sheltered two german dudes in their home (which I find absolutely fucking insane lmao), and Idk about the great grandpa but my great grandma began liking the dudes, she said they helped her peel the potatoes and milk the cows everyday, and that one of them was, and I quote, "formidable" at making apricot marmelade.
Then, in 1946 (why at this time Idk 🤷♂️) they got their ticket home back to Germany and my great grandparents accompanied them to the train station. I know absolutely no person sound of mind is going to read this fucking novel I wrote, but I find these stories beautiful, they're so ordinary and yet amazing, they help you understand that these were real people, with real feelings and emotions, but most of all, they show that despite our differences, sometimes all it takes to get along is just to peel the fucking potatoes or make good marmelade. And that's fucking beautful.
Very interesting, thank you for sharing!
@@jugg126 oh thanks ! I didn't actually believe anyone would read it, but I just find them too incredible to be forgotten
I loved every minute of reading that. Thanks for it! Love to see that yep, at the end of the day we’re all human
Thank you for sharing
God bless you!
I red and enjoyed it. Thank you for sharing :)
US Government: "So what do you know about rockets?"
Burger
fart hole
Toyota
@@handbanana5396 haha funi fart word poo poo 🤣 😂
🍆Wang 🍆
I had friends who had German POWs who worked on their farm in Nebraska. They said they worked well, and were well fed, but, only had one request--that the father who took them back to the POW camp on the hay cart would go through town so they could see the sights, something which he did for them.
@Overlordian And from what my friends said to me, there were no guards or anything, because the prisoners had no interest in fighting for Germany or dying for Hitler. They just wanted to go home to their families after the war.
👍🏿
@@stephenlarson523they had no interest because they lost just like some Iraqi soldiers turned on Sadam when they lost....doesnt take back the war crimes you committed when it was fun
I wonder if they ever showed films of what the Germans were doing to the jews?I bet they knew about it!Shame!They had full bellies while the jewish people were starving all for Hitler1Makes me sick!
@@theoriginaltroll388majority of Germans did not comit war crimes.
That ending was amazing. "History is not black and white, merely painted in shades of grey"
Nothing new
We all Heard the story why nothing is black and white a million time but this is another great example and why history is always gray as some German where following order while other german where Nazi and not just following other
And by the victors, no less.
ww2 is more like black and white than ww1 with bits of grey.
@@gabmorrisucat3265 damn, ww1 was a massive regret for every single country in Europe.
In Hearne, Texas, there was a massive POW camp. It was so lightly guarded that POWs would regularly escape just to go into Hearne or Bryan to get a nice meal at a diner or a cup of coffee. The Sherriff would show up and escort them back, often after they finished
People rarely seem to realize there are many German towns around the Austin/ San Antonio area that happened to see a boom in the 1940s
@@masonsmiley9251 Astroville be liek’
Wow I wouldn’t expect there to be one so close to Bryan! Imma have to go to heavens and check it out
@@DYNoMITE7 if I recall correctly, it was where the airport is now
The dam in Denison was built by them too.
never ask a woman her age,
a man his salary.
and an argentinian grandpa his past.
Or a Chilean, or southern Brazilian, or....
@hick It was a logical place to hide. Latin America had been mostly neutral, there were already large German communities and probably most importantly, it was out of the Western and Soviet sphere of influence. Don't forget all of Africa and Asia were Western colonies at the time, whereas Latin America was all independent countries. Although some Nazi's ended up in the Middle East. Those countries became independent around the same time as Israel and they LOVED having former Nazi's helping them with their armies and giving them military tech, to be used against Israel of course.
Funny story…in my English class on my senior year of high school, there was a joke that one of my classmates joked with my teacher that his great grandfather was a Nazi who committed war crimes and escaped to Argentina for safety.
@@samdamanforman7870 I would assume the teacher did not take kindly to that did he?
@@dirckthedork-knight1201 *plot twist: the teacher was a neo nazi*
My Grandpa was a tailgunner for a b-17 bomber. He told stories of how, at the beginning of the war, if one of your men was badly injured and most likely wouldn't survive to base, they'd check his parachute and throw him from the plane because German POW hospitals where considered good. But during the late stages of the war that mindset changed and you would hold onto your men and pray they could survive the trip back to base.
@Spencer ???
@Spencer a wehraboo/tankie in his finest form. Name a more efficient strategical bomber of the 2nd world war
@Spencer aside from the fact that i already speak german, the b17 was easier to manufacture, had a larger range and was harder shoot down, it also also could better defend itself. Yes, the He 177 was a fine plane, but it couldnt compete with the b17 due to its low numbers and poor reliability
@Spencer deutsche Fahrzeuge im 2. Weltkrieg sind Ingenieursleistungen ohne Gleichen. Die Technik war der der Alliierten weit überlegen, aber es war oft zu kompliziert. Flugzeuge wie die Heinkel He 177 waren zu anfällig für Störungen als dass man sie in den Ausmaßen der B17 Flotten der Aliierten nutzen konnte. Ebenso das Problem mit deutschen Panzern. Zu kompliziert herzustellen und reparieren um mit den Nummern der Alliierten Panzern mitzuhalten. Die amerikanische Technik war trotzdem meist besser als die Sowjetische, sowohl in der Luft, als auch am Boden. Es gab einen Grund, warum meist ganze sowjetische Panzerkorps nach einem Einsatz ersetzt werden mussten
@@lordbeaverhistory you really shutted him up lol
When I was younger a former German PoW lived across the street from me. He was an Afrika Korps soldier whose artillery line was in a hopeless situation against an incoming allied tank regiment. His commanding officer gathered them to discuss options and he explained that there were two clear options: die for the fatherland and take as many as they could with them, or surrender without a fight and be branded as traitors with their families paying the price for their "cowardice".
The officer then brought up a third option, to "surrender with a fight" by intentionally unloading everything they had just out of range of the tank regiment, then destroying the artillery to ensure they could not be used to take German lives before surrendering. This would hopefully result in their lives being spared while preserving their "honor" and protecting their families by giving the appearance that there was a battle. They decided to go with the third option and it thankfully worked.
After that he ended up working in an orchard in upstate New York for a few years after the war ended and then he was given an option to either repatriate to Germany or become an American citizen. He took one glance at where his hometown was on the map, saw it was in what would soon become East Germany and went NOPE before becoming an official American citizen.
Smart man
his commander was OP
Damn, that man is lucky
A story with a happy ending at last! Thank you. My German grandfather was kept in the Rhineland camps-not so happy but better than France or those poor bastards in Russia...
@@michaelweeks9317 Isn’t it disrespectful to call them bastards tho?
In the german miniseries "Generation War" (Unsere mutter, unsere Vater)
SPOILERS
.
.
.
in the last episode a hardline Gestapo officer is seen as he's seamlessly integrated in a high ranking position in the west german police. One of the characters tries to expose him and talks to an american officer but he's already perfectly aware of the situation and does not intend to do anything about it. It's pretty historically accurate.
Yeah he was the one who used Greta as his mistress in exchange for giving Viktor an exit visa when in actuality he had Viktor sent off to one of the camps in Poland being that he was a Jew and had Greta arrested and shot right before the Battle of Berlin for spreading defeatism. Then when the American officer entered the room he remembered Viktor and claimed he had helped him.
@@Wolf-wc1js yea he was that guy but delete that comment because it spoils a lot
I seen on rte tv it very good
@@leventeszathmari4045 yeah lol he just spoiled one of the huge plot lines
@@Wolf-wc1js honestly made me frustrated to see his lack of empathy for his actions and even acted like he saved viktor 🤬
My dad told me stories about when he was stationed in German in the early 90s. He met a few old German veterans who spoke flawless English. Turned out they'd been sent to POW camps in the USA, and enjoyed it so much they stayed there for much of the Cold War and had only recently gone back to Germany. According to them, they were better fed and better treated in the camps than they were in their own army.
I wonder what make it so interesting as ot might help me
my great grandfather fought in the war and when he was captured by the Americans he was not necessarily treated well. Where he was stationed they made them work in a place that manufactured cookies. He was malnourished and if he would eat any of the cookies he was manufacturing he would have been continuously fed water and cookie dough until he threw up. I mean its definitly better than some shitshow in the east but still in some places it was not exactly fun
The POW camps set up in the U.S. were quite good. The POW camps the Allied Forces set up in Italy was absolutely horrendous. I lot of the German inmates either starved to death or died from disease.
@@BobbybackshotsLLC Perhaps, he was a fellow Catholic, anyhow a German soldier had gone into a church by himself. That is where he saw my grandmother's sister praying. he advised her to leave, before the rest of the unit got there, thus likely saving her life.
I heard a story from a US Army veteran whose father was a German tanker. He said while deployed to Ukraine he met and fell in love with a Ukrainian girl. like white men of the past generation, his father was not one for crying. However, when his wife died, he cried.
Much like with the English and the Irish, the Swedes and the Russians, our people have a long and contentious history with one another, and perhaps the most sordid with a history of atrocities committed against one another.
May more Europeans and European-Americans unashamedly share knowledge that is not in line with the propaganda we hear and see since our childhood.
On a positive note: A Pax-Europa group strives on a volunteer basis to locate and bring to rest the remains of the fallen, regardless of the Nation they fought for less than 95 years ago. May Europe be free. May She know peace among her children.
@@BobbybackshotsLLC Maybe he shouldn't have been Nazi scum and been a part of an army that murdered 100's of 1000's. Making cookies without a meal in between, awwwww poor Fritz!!! Maybe the people running the factory should have Schindlered him and shot him in the head for sneaking a snack off the conveyor belt? Or is that too harsh?
My grandmother has told me about the German soldiers who Cleaned her school, in the US, during these times. She said the we happy to be in the us. They got paid something like a quarter a day. While their home was being destroyed and there was no food with certain death, these prisoners were fed, clothed and could afford chocolate. It was the best case scenario for them.
When you look more into it, its a bit shocking when you realise the sheer volume of soldiers that lost the war and joined the US army or became Mercenaries for the next few decades.
The Congo war in the early 60's had alot of ex Waffen SS mercenaries fighting in it.
Edit- Actually that's kind of what kicked off the modern gold age of mercenaries from the late 40's to early 80's. ALOT of soldiers from Eroupe and Asia were suddenly either without country or just wanted to keep fighting, so millions went into the cold war as mercenaires still fighting their old enemies.
That was the case with Lauri Thorni aka Larry Thorne. After Finland surrendered to the Soviets at the end of the continuation war, he joined a Waffen SS unit of Finnish volunteers to keep fighting the communists then he later joined the US Green Berets and saw some service in Vietnam before his helicopter got shot down
Many German soldiers ironically joined the French foreign legion.
@@Wolf-wc1js Hes certainly one of the most notable and interesting example.
Guy didnt like communists.
@@ruzzsverion2728 Most ironic of all, As mentioned with the mercenaires in the Congo, there were atleast a few situations where ex-SS, ex-Soviet, ex-US and ex-French soldiers from WW2 all fought together for profit. Or a few where they all fought eachother again, but this tine for money instead of ideology.
@@John.McMillan yeah and I don’t blame him. The communists attempted to invade his homeland just like the rest of Eastern Europe and turn them communists but the Winter War stopped them from achieving that goal. Wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of men like him who suffered under various other communist controlled nations became mercs willing to fight against communism in any army willing to take their services. And on the flip side, there were communists who aided other nations to keep their country red. Cubans fought with the MPLA during the Angolan civil war.
My grandfather (mothers side) was drafted into the Luftwaffe in 1940. He was in an engineering unit that worked on airfields, and was stationed in Norway maintaining bases in far northern Norway from which they flew missions to sink allied aid convoys sailing to Murmansk. In 1944 his unit was moved to France where he worked on V1 and V2 sites, but after the Normandy invasion he was part of the retreat to Germany, and was finally captured by American forces. after this he was sent to France to work as a laborer on a farm. He was a devout catholic and endeared himself to the catholic owners and went from sleeping in the barn to sleeping in the house. He also saved the families young son from drowning. After nearly 2 years (1947) he was released back to Germany where my grandmother had no idea of his fate. My mother, born in 1940, had only seen her father once while he was home on leave, so when he knocked on the door, she had no idea it was her father standing in front of her. The French family and my grandfather remained friends until his death in 1977 and would travel to Germany to visit him. Human connections and faith are capable of overcoming incredible obstacles.
What a great story, very heartwarming.
My great Uncle was in Jagerschwader 77.
Hope I spelled that right. He was an ace, and he hated the Nazis.
I never met him, but my family told me he was ashamed of what Germany did after he got home as he learned more about the war.
Wonderful tale. Thank you for sharing. =)
@Derrick Bridges what are you talking about, you spastic? Give this guy respect and do one
Wow that’s interesting
As far as my Grandmother knew, her father was imprisoned in America until the war ended. He came back after it with some jewlery from america for his wife, he sadly die not to long after he came back but still to this day my Grandmother posseses the jewlery her father brought from America, it was passed on to her by her mother (the jewlery only has almost no monitary worth, its a memory of her father)
Hello
I like your logo
That’s a really cool story, I hope you guys keep it safe for ever
So it's a fake?
@@MASTEROFEVIL That it isn’t worth alot does not mean it’s fake
I’d just like to say your content is absolutely fantastic, sometimes I can hardly believe stuff of this quality is free to watch.
I wasn't expecting this, but I'm glad. It's an overlooked part of history.
Yeah, the Soviet Union in particular is often overlooked in the West for its brutality especially after the war.
reminder for ppl in comment sections; don't click random links xo
@@compatriot852 the German officer who saved wladislaw szpilman also unfortunatly died in a gulag
and yeah, it's an overlooked part of history.
The mention of France's actions, intentional and negligent, resulted in thousands more killed, the video said, through using POWs to clear minefields.
Yeah male pattern baldness has done untold damage throughout human history
At least we hope the art schools learnt to accept every applicant
Very funny.
@@sovinr8658 yes
@@sovinr8658 yes
Xd
@@sovinr8658 baked beans
My late grandfather was drafted at the end of the war at the age of 17. He was captured but later successfully escaped from a Sovjet prison camp. He never talked much about what happened during the war. All we know is that when he showed up at his parents house in Germany, after his successful flight, his own sister didn't recognize him. He was very malnourished and had parasites all over his skin.
I don't now if he personally did or was made to do something bad. He didn't talk about a "clean Wehrmacht" nor did he complain about his treatment by the Russians, like some of his generation did. I think he was just happy for having survived and wanted nothing more than live the rest of his days in peace, which he did.
My great grandfather was in the latvian SS(not because he was a nazi but because he hated the soviets)after the war he was captured and sent to a gulag he then got released because one of his friends was in the communist party and convinced some people to release him my great grandfather died later due to tubercolosis he contracted in the gulag
Great-grandfather*
He seems like a nice man.Wish him peace
@@emie9858 *grandfather, you know right the dude commenting this could be older than you thought?
@@catraaufaa_9_viiif323 I wrote a comment telling BigGamer that their great-grandfather was a monster who deserved worse. In my original comment I accidentally said grandfather and was thus correcting it. Obviously some cuck removed my comment at some point
My grandfather was drafted later in WWII (my father was born in 1940 and his sister in 1941 so with two kids he had a high draft number) and was trained as a combat engineer. He went to Europe right at the end of the war and did not see combat. However he did tell me that since he was a mechanic he ended up in the motor-pool and spent his days driving officers around to tour German castles, but never really fixed any Army trucks or other vehicles. When l asked him about that, he told me that they had a lot of ‘American’ mechanics who fixed all the vehicles but also had really really thick German and Hungarian (if I remember correctly) accents that hung around the base and got three hots and a cot and coffee and chocolate and all the good things the American soldiers got in exchange for doing honest work. He said they were some of the funniest people, hardest working men and best mechanics he had ever seen. After the war my grandfather opened an AMOCO station in Danville VA and because his station was the only one in the area that sold the Hi-Test gas the original NASCAR racers (Junior Johnson, Lee Petty, etc used) he got to meet all the NASCAR founders and we have all these old pictures of him in his shop with them. The last part had nada to do with WWII but I always wanted to share that.
Hey man, that's a pretty neat story, thanks for sharing! Learn all kinds of new things.
They got three hots? What are hots?
@@iantan8881hot meals a day
As a NASCAR fan and someone from a military family myself, your grandad sure had a story there!
I know one, Dad, that come to back to Europe from the US (Fort Meade) after being a POW, being interviewed by a British and German Officer and being told he couldn't go home because the Russians were taking reprisals on returning German soldiers. Then being told France, Holland and Belgium weren't safe either because the resistance was taking German soldiers and shooting them. So he came to England and was put in an interment camp in the New Forest. He was treated well and helped rebuild Bomb damage. He was welcomed and married my Mum, even though Granddad was in the British Artillery during the war...when ask why he let his Daughter marry a German, he said " He's a nice guy, and rather a German, than an Italian or an American!"
You are in your 60s, aren't ya?
Sure
@@winchesterchua3311 I'm in my mid 50's my Dad is 98
Several of the lads I went to school with had German or Italian fathers who had been POWs.
As an American, ouch. I got a nice little chuckle from what your granddad said!
By the way, remember that only American has the summary of who we are built into the spelling! (Amer-i-can).
Everybody is talking about their grandparents so I will give it a go too.
My Grandad was a North German farmer. He got called up against his will for military service in 1935 and in 1938 he could leave the Wehrmacht. Only to get called again in 1939 when the war started. Later after France surrenderd he was stationed on a watchtower near Cherbourg, France.
One day an English downed pilot came to the watchtower to surrender, but instead of arresting him, my grandfather and his comrades played cards with the pilot. After this incident, my grandfather was punitively transferred to the Eastern Front.There he later escaped the Stalingrad cauldron, but was sent back into it by an officer.
He became a POW and was sent to a Soviet Gulag near Baku. There he escaped from the camp in about 1950, but stayed behind when a comrade broke his leg, and was arrested again.
He was one of the last German POWs to return from Russia in 1955.
Once home, everything was different, for example, horses were no longer needed in agriculture and his children did not see him for over a decade.
He died of a heart attack in a cow barn in 1963.
Oh wow, I'm from Baku, I wouldn't guess someone would be stationed in Azerbaijan SSR, back in the day.
R.I.P.
Twenty years of hell, and for what? Hopefully he made some good friends along the way and they made the best of a bad one, he sounds like a man of honor and integrity for going back for his wounded comrade. R.I.P
So sad..I almost cried...but when I think that germanSS kiled 6 milion of people ..mostly civilians including women and children also destroyed and robbed property worth more than 900 bilion $ making my countrycthe most destroyed contry in WW2. My grandpa also died on heart attavk..but in 1948 even he was in the same age as your ..he was forced labour in germany. German bauer threatened him death very often aiming his Mauser at him. Amd was forced to sleep after heavy work in cold places.
My Grandfather was a farmer and jew in ww2. My grandparents had to hide their identity so they wouldnt get killed from stalins order. World is terrible..
My dad was in the European theatre for it final 16 months stationed in France. He was part of the American force processing POWs to be sent to American camps. He met Fred a 24yo German plumber who was conscripted to fight at the very end of the war. He wanted nothing to do with the war and was disgusted by it. They became friends and when it was time for Fred to be sent back to Germany, he wanted to stay and my dad sponsored him and after a year Fred invented and patented a machine to pull pipe underground. He created a machine that made a huge impact on US infrastructure growth. I knew him as Uncle Fred and was the kindest man I've ever known.
Im not sure wether this is true or not
How many Jews did he kill??
@@ericpilger2217 i’m assuming none seen as it was the final 16 months. what kinda question even is that bruh
@@connordrysdale5333 how is it weird?? all these stories about german pows staying in America and being treated nicely. when the ppl in these comments reminisce and giggle abt it as if the majority of them weren't fucking nazis who, if Germany had won the war, been in the place of American guards, enslaving us. killing us. treating americans much worse than we treated them, anyways. US should've deported them all back to where they came from immediately after the war ended. the fact that literal fucking nazis were treated better than black soldiers is just fucking insane. it also doesn't help much considering the treatment German-Americans (with ancestry in the US BEFORE WW2 or WW1) were treated. but haha!! nazis liked it better here. disgraceful
If Fred "wanted nothing to do with the war" then he shouldn't have fought it.
Yes I know what "conscripted" means, but all that means is he was more scared of breaking the law than of fighting the war. If your "Uncle Fred" had won that war, millions more people would have gone to the death camps, he went out and fought for that because he was too afraid of the alternative.
I'm glad he went on to pull up some pipes or whatever though, real fucking charming story about your Nazi fake uncle.
The fact that they never go over this in schools (or just briefly gloss over it) just reinforces the idea that history is written by the winners. Good on you, Armchair Historian.
A friend of mine's father was a German soldier during the war and was shot and captured by US troops in Italy in 1943 and spent the rest of the war in a POW camp in Arizona. He had fought in Poland, Russia and France, and had in fact been seriously wounded in Russia and sent to a military hospital in France to recuperate, and when he was well enough he was sent to Italy, where he was eventually captured.
He said the thing that had astounded him the most was that when he was captured---he was on a machine gun crew--the American sergeant who had shot him, and killed the other members of his crew, had immediately begun to treat his wounds rather than just leave him there to die or kill him outright, as the Russians would have done. He was taken to an aid station, then sent back to a larger facility in the rear, where he said he got the same treatment and level of care as wounded American soldiers, which also astounded him.
When he was determined to have sufficiently recovered, he was sent back to the US by ship along with a few thousand other POWs, and when they landed in New York they were put on a train to be taken to the POW camp in Arizona. He said he got better food and treatment there than he did while he was in the German army--he used to joke that getting shot was the best thing that ever happened to him--and that when the camp authorities found out he had been a baker before the war they put him to work in the camp bakery.
After the war ended he was repatriated back to Germany, but in the early '50s he applied for permission to emigrate to the US; it was granted, and he took his wife and 2 kids to New York and eventually became American citizens.
more than 20 million Russians died liberating Europe in WW2, american losses were not even 1/40th the amount of this, cut them some slack resources were quite thin.
@@Anthonybicee I don't blame the russians for how they treated german soldiers. The eastern front was one of the most savage and barbaric places in history. What I do blame them for is how they treated the civilian populations of eastern europe. Russia actually helped Germany early on and then terrorized the people they conquered and when they later came back as they pushed the germans back after hitler decided to attack russia they did unspeakable things to the civilians in eastern europe. It's one thing to treat your enemy horribly it's quite another to treat civilians in such a horrific way. Yes the western nations often did horrible things to civilians but it was not as widespread and even encouraged like it was in the soviet army.
@@beng6480 are you talking about poles? comparing to german actions, Soviet treatment in poland and liberated territories of western belarussia and ukraine was far better. if Soviet army really did encourage the mass genocide of civilians in captured areas then why only 600k German civilians died? why rokosovskyi and zhukov gave orders to treat civilians well and prohibited any rape and robbery in their armies?
@@КотВасилий-м7н hear of Katyn or no?
A few Italian p/w s were working in my town, and later emigrated to the area, as it has a famed "Mediterranean climate" among other things, a Swiss-Italian and Portuguese community...
I remember learning about this in my Texas History class, most of the highways here are built on POW labor
So even in America Hitler is responsible for the autobahn
Hahaha
@@SuperDeinVadda lol
@@SuperDeinVadda well the Interstate Highway Act was suggested by Eisenhower who got the idea from occupied Germany and wanted it to be used as a means of being able to quickly deploy and move the military around in the event of a communist invasion
I remember going to Texas and thinking to myself, where's the chili!
Obviously didnt do a good job at it xD
Well my granpa was in the kriegsmarine artillery and stationed in Paris briefly, Kiel Germany and Poland. He kept lucking out by being transferred away a few month before an invasion or fall of the areas he was stationed in.
He ended in British captivity and was released home to eastern Germany.
Coming home he learned that the Russians had carted away the stack of bricks that were on our property but left a bunch of field kitchens.
A friend of his realized that these were old ww1 models made of brass. So when it became clear that the Russians had forgotten all about them, they cut them up and sold the metal on the black market. This financed construction of our house.
Awww, guess you's shouldn't have started a war.
Take bricks, leave brass.
@@juscoz3167 I mean, it's not like his grandpa started the war lol. Just like I didn't separate migrant children from their parents but "we" did.
Who's "we"?, I'm not a yank
@@juscoz3167 Lmao. grow up
My mother was a child during WW2 growing up in Southern Wisconsin. She recalled German POWs working neighboring farms. They couldn't believe their good fortune, living an area where most of the people spoke German and ate German food. They were down right giddy, missed their family but were so thankful for their good fortune. (My mother attended a Lutheran elementary school and everything was taught in German, except for English). One of the POWs even remained behind and married one of my mom's aunt. I remember him, speaking with a thick German accent at family gatherings.
German POWS worked on my grandfather's farm during the war. Two of the men stayed on as employees after the war. They continued to work for him into in the 1970s.
Apparently this happened a few times.
Sometimes a German soldier legitimately fell in love with a local girl in occupied territories, was NOT an asshole to locals during occupation, turned a blind eye to minor “ violations” and non-lethal acts of sabotage, and resistance.
So when the Germans retreated, the German Soldier stayed behind after a retreat, and the locals would cover him/tell Allied soldier “he’s ok”, or bail him out of POW prison/vouch for him because while an occupier……was not a jerk about it/actually a cool dude.
It was rare, but happened.
One town loved one German soldier because after Hitler gave the order to “destroy everything of value” when things went south for Germany, a German soldier deliberately locked himself in a secure room with all the detonation devices so none of the planted explosives strapped to historical landmarks could not be set off.
The Germans could not break in in time to get the devices before the Ally’s came rolling in.
Locals still remember that German fondly to this day.
Apparently a super high ranking officer, at the risk of his own family getting executed back in Germany, basically refused to issue orders/stalled until the Allies rolled into Paris.
He had been order to destroy all historical landmarks. Notre Dome, the Eiffel Tower, multiple historic bridges, museums, art galleries, ext had been set to blow and rigged up.
But the last time he saw Hitler, he confessed he realized how insane he was (on Meth it’s thought).
Despite his families long military history, and being raised to “always obey orders”, he refused that order.
While initially locals wanted to rip him apart, when it was realized what he refused to do, he was awarded a medal a few years later.
Basically, a thank you for not leveling everything of historic and tourist value in Paris.
"My great aunt married a Nazi." You can keep that to yourself--in fact, you should.
@@Tamlinearthly Not every German soldier was a Nazi. Just like how every Yankee soldier isn't an opium-guarding war criminal.
@@Cobruh_Commander: They all fought for the Nazis, and if they'd won millions would have died in the death camps all the same.
There were not enough graves in Europe for every German soldier. But if there had been...
My dad was an American officer in at a P.O.W. camp for Italian solders. Many worked on local farms and none of prisoners were interested in escaping. When they were eventually released, some chose to stay in America permanently and became successful farmers themselves.
What it was a POW camp in the USA? Lol
There were many pow camps in the US;@@xgtwb6473
Americans: “Once you’re done helpin’ with the farm, how ‘bout y’all come in to watch a movie.”
British: “Thank you for helping out Jerry, here’s an apple and some money for your troubles.”
French: “Look at me and I’ll beat you up.”
USSR: 😈
Ah, but the Germans didn't occupy any of the USA and only the Channel Islands of the UK. I can well imagine had they done so, our post-war views of them wouldn't be so "charitable".
That’s probably to be expected - the Nazis caused a French Civil War (among other atrocities and crimes in France) and exterminated swaths of Eastern Europe
They never touched American soil and even Britain got off relatively easy in comparison
Based USSR, US treatment of Nazis shows the inherent problems in our country.
@@nilsdahlin8744 cry more
@@nilsdahlin8744
Lol ok tankie
The british army sent a former german soldier to help my great grandmother with household and gardening at her home near Leipzig after the war, her husband was a POW in England and she had a couple of children. The man's name was Erich, he was a dear friend to my family and became sort of an uncle to my father, he gave him a very cool watch for his birthday once and even went partying with him (he was well into his 60s then). He opened up a furniture store and passed away some time back.
Fake
@@adenmitchell7633 I agree that’s all cap
🧢
I made the mistake of reading a bunch of wholesome comments like this before I watched the video so I was expecting something similarly wholesome but instead everyone is violating the Geneva Convention
My father was also lucky, if lucky you can call it, twice losing his home in bombing raids, but at least he survived his military service unscathed.
My father experienced a completely different crazy story at the end of the war. When he completed his training as a machine fitter at the age of 18 (1944), he always had to reckon with being drafted into the army. At this late point in the war, almost all non-volunteer soldiers were sent to the Eastern Front. Because of this, he volunteered for the Navy before being drafted to infantry on eastern front. Because of his learnes job, he was drafted y the nava and trained as a diesel engeneer.
He was then supposed to ride in a submarine but the sub he was supposed to ride in was damaged in a bombing raid so they transferred him to a brand new Type 43 minesweeper. That was probably his luck, because if he had got on a submarine, I might not even exist today. By now the war was almost lost, so they were no longer active in the war, just evacuating trapped refugees and soldiers from East Prussia to West Germany.
After the end of the war, the minesweepers in Sonderborg (Denmark) were confiscated by the British. But the crews of the minesweepers were not taken prisoner, but were supposed to stay on the boats and clear the Baltic and North Seas of mines for the British. For this purpose, the British occupiers founded the GMSA (German Minesweeping Administration). It was a couriosum, armed German warships with German crews in British service, few days after war. These minesweepers were given the signal flag C (blue, white, red, white, blue striped) as their national flag. My father sailed on these boats until 1948 and was then transferred from the British military administration to the port police in his hometown of Kiel, where he worked as an engineer on a former torpedo catching boat that served as a police boat until 1950.
During his military service between 1944 to 1950, my father was in the British service longer than the German service (lol). Unlike other victorious powers, the British were very fair. They understood better than the other allies, that they had nothing to fear from the Germans after the surrender. Even acquaintances of my father, who afte the capitulation ended up in British captivity were prisoners of war only until the infrastructure for an orderly release was in place, which usually lasted no longer than six months.
In addition, they were not locked up in camps, but the British simply cordoned off a peninsula (for example, the Eiderstedt peninsula in Schleswig-Hostein) where the POWs could move freely. Day after day loudspeaker trucks came into the villages and called on professional groups. For example: please report all farm workers to the commandant's office, or all construction workers, etc. So there were fewer prisoners every day. The British made sure that the occupied country could feed itself as quickly as possible and was not dependent on British supplies, because these were also very scarce in the UK after the war.
My great-grandfather was a pow in the US from 1944-1945. He was treated very poorly and died a few months after he was released from organ failures at the age of 35. He had also sustained many injuries from being stoned and beaten.
For the best
@@bendover2160 As a reward, now we have you and your sodomite pals.
Boo hoo
America: Easy mode
Britain: Medium mode
France: *Hard mode*
USSR: Ü̿҉̼͚̯̠̠͔l̵̮̪͈̞̠͊ͬͩt̵͕̜̬͈̤̮̘͙͛̾͑͋r̤͎̲̼̝ͩ͢a̜̝͍͐̑̕ ̶̩͈̘͉͈ͪN̨͍̹͙̮̠͔͉ͣ̔̈î̵̳̺̼̙͎̲̚g̜͓̘̞̃ͬ̀ͣ́ḫ̤̅̓͞t̵̝͉̪̪̤̦̪͉ͧͭ̍͊ṃ̡̠̘͆à̮̯̼͙̪̙͚ͬ͘ͅr͔̘̗͌͜e̸̥̼̗͍͔̩ͣ͂ͧ
170 likes and no comments
Pretty much
If americans had experienced nazi soldiers the way France and in particular USSR did, there would not be easy mode om the part of USA.
Japan was even worse. Some Japanese platoons literally ate the POWS. and not even a little bit but entirely. They would choose the ones that had the most meat left on their bones and randomly kill and eat them.
Canada: pacific mode
"One day son, if you work hard you can become a massive hypocrite."
- Oversimplified
An astute observation.
I guess, the lesson here is that the Allies were just as evil as the N*zis. So WWII didn't really matter
@@chaosXP3RT well, you're not wrong , but it did matter a lot. The seismic shift in the balance of power marked the beginning of a new geopolitical epoch ...
@@chaosXP3RT Yeah liberty and free markets are just like totalitarian oligarchies.....
/s if you didn't catch it.
@@chaosXP3RT if you seriously believe that you are in trouble.
Corparal Zuko: If the Allies discover us, they'll have us killed.
General Iroh: But if the Soviet discovers us, we'll be turned over to Stalin.
Both: Allies it is.
Is this an ATLA reference?
@@juliannasreddin5226 no, its a WW2 reference
I think Zuko's rank should be higher than corporal. In fact, I think he shouldn't even have an enlisted rank. So maybe, lieutenant or captain (army version).
@@mill2712 exile zuko
@@juliannasreddin5226 no this is Patrick! lol
I live in Kemerovo, Central Siberia, I was born and raised here. The "southern" district of the city is divided into parts: the old one, built by captured Germans in the 40s, and the new one, built in the 00s. There was a prisoner of war camp. For a very long time I did not know that I went to the hospital built by captured Germans, walked next to the orphanage built by the Germans. The Germans built houses here, where they lived all the 40s, and then ordinary citizens settled there and still live there. In addition, the prisoners built entire streets that today are the center of city life.
On the one hand, I should be grateful to them, because they have made a huge contribution to the development of my hometown, which I love very much.
On the other hand, the Germans, in aggregate, are to blame for the suffering of my family: my grandmother's family, 11 people, almost all died during the occupation at the hands of the Germans and hunger. Another part of my family fled the war and was forced to work hard, build a life from scratch in Siberia. Some lived literally in caves, as there was nowhere else to live. Many never returned from the front.
I don’t know if it’s fair what they did with the prisoners, but this definitely needs to be remembered.
Watched a documentary about happy people. It was about people in central siberia.
“Sometimes international law is just ink on a piece of paper” - Griffin
Based
Geneva conventions? More like Geneva suggestions
People sometimes break rules during war? what a surprise
How exactly are people using the word "based?"
It’s not base it’s reality…
Also: most international law doesn't exist yet. it is very rudimentary and basic.. and as history has shown, often isn't worth the paper it is written on during and after a war
My Grandfather served in the Hungarian Army in WWII. He was captured during the battle of Budapest. Many other soldiers and officers had fled with their families before the city was surrounded. My Grandmother wanted to, but He refused to leave his men behind. Before he was captured, he sent his signet ring and a letter to my Grandmother. Spent the next 3 years in a Russian POW camp. He survived and learned an important skill, to speak English. This helped him when he fled in 1956.
My great-grandmother lived in Budapest🇭🇺 during the war and later moved to America
My Great Great Grandfather fought for Austria Hungary in World War One, sadly so long ago we really don’t have any of his records from when he was in service.
he learned english in a gulag? LOL
He fled the gulag or fled the Eastern Bloc as a whole?
@@TheResilient5689 he fled Hungary to Austria and then to the US with my mother and grandmother.
The cousin of my grandmother was a sniper at the eastern front. At the end of the war the rest of his company tried to walk back home from russia to germany - everybody by their own. So he throw away his rifle and walked more then 1500 Kilometers home. In Poland he got sick - a polish woman took care about him for 1 month. He successfully moved over the rhine until he find his way home. Close to his house he was catched up by an american patrol but could convinced them that he was a farmer. So they wanted him to show his work experience and he worked some hours at a field before he was allowed to move the last steps home. So he was lucky and never become a POW.
Amazing story!
lucky guy. My grandad lost his leg in Germany
My grandgrandfather lost his life one day after the war ended. He was supposed to give up weapons to the allies with his squad. The squad never made it back, and the case never settled and its still a mysthery what happend to them. My grandpa who researched his whole life into this event suspects that they got revenge killed, but never got any closure. His body was never found, probably buried in a massgrave.
Yea and my grandgrandmother then had to feed 2 children by herself in a destroyed country..
I cannot even imagine what life this must have been.
Неужели люди одобряют историю про то, что нацист избежал наказания?
@@Gaphalor if it makes you feel any better my grandfather also never found out what happened to his dad. He was wounded in a hospital, then the communists came and all track was lost of him.
My maternal grandfather had brothers who were farmers in Kansas. They spoke German, as thier own father was from Germany. They had POWs working for them, as they could talk to them easily. There was little security, as the guys were well treated, and they didn't want to go back to the fighting.
In the beginning, German prisoners of war were generally men who had been captured during the North African campaign. Compared to German soldiers in general, such soldiers tended to have close ties to the Nazi party and deep trust in Germany's inevitable victory. They were critical of anyone who they considered too "American". After fanatic Nazi soldiers tormented other prisoners of war who were actually grateful that their war was over. Eventually, the fanatical German soldiers had to be separated and sent to various different POW camps. Many German prisoners of war worked as farm laborers on Allied farms.
@@anthonytroisi6682c est une honte... pourquoi ces prisonniers n ont pas été libéré ? Les américains ont envahie l'Europe.. tué des millions de civils ...et jamais été jugé... Et ils continuent...l histoire tournera
My grandmother told me someone she used to clean for was an old german veteran who was a POW for about 3 years. When he was sent to the states he was a sanitation worker and he used that to start up a sanitation business back in Germany. When the war ended a guard offered him a job for his family's company but he refused because in his words "Job offer or not I still have a wife back home."
🟨SERCH ADITYA RATHORE-HE ALSO MAKES INFORMATIVE CONTENT LIKE ARMCHAIR HISTORIAN
Fake
@@adenmitchell7633 what's fake?
@@thegamingkaiser2874 Shite talker, who thinks he a time traveler. You'll get use to em.
While in the US Army, during Vietnam, while stationed in Germany, I met several men who had served the German army in WW2. All had horror stories of Russian pow camps, it was many years till they were repatriated . But all became good friends of mine, none had been SS during the war. All became vital to getting Germany fully back on its feet .
Mano, isso é bem complicado por que os alemães mataram uns 20-30 milhões de soviéticos e sem contar os outros países da Europa Oriental, aí depois da guerra todo mundo é prisioneiro político e não cometeu nenhum crime de guerra. Até parece que foi o alto escalão alemão que sozinho matou todas essas pessoas. Claro que não, o exército alemão pra além das SS matava vilas, cidades e etnias inteiras no oriente. Não tem como ter tido um único soldado alemão que não participou disso, seja diretamente ou por omissão.
@@hudsonfe8312 yeah but whats your point?
@@alexphotoman Através da história do amigo acima, da a entender que houve uma injustiça para com esses bons alemães que iriam ajudar na reconstrução da Alemanha após sua repatriação, e que apesar de não serem da SS, e mesmo assim sofreram horrores nos campos de prisioneiros na URSS. Meu ponto é que infelizmente oq a Alemanha nazista fez foi uma coisa coletiva, não importando se você era só um soldado comum um um SS, todos participaram do genocídio e dos crimes de guerra, da destruição de nações inteiras. Então não tem como esperar que eles receberiam outro tratamento por parte das suas antigas vítimas. O fato de eles serem boas pessoas não retira das costas deles o fardo de terem participado, e sendo do exército provavelmente foi uma participação bem ativa, de todas as atrocidades cometidas pelos Alemães
@@hudsonfe8312 no the SS was almost entirely dedicated to doing the crimes that you mentioned above. The Wehrmacht was focused on fighting other European countries. It’s not the same
@@humanchannel7825 não mano, as SS eram as tropas do partido, uma forma de expressão de força do partido e por isso realmente eram mais politizadas e voltadas mais pra os serviços políticos como o extermínio de judeus, porém essa guerra não foi apenas política, econômica tbm, a Alemanha nazista tinha intenções coloniais na europa oriental e o seu exército, a whermacht foi amplamente empregada nesse sentido, assassinato de soldados capturados, massacre de populações cercadas, estupros como arma de terror contra a população... Da mesma maneira que o exército inglês tem um papel amplo no domínio e colonização de países da África por exemplo, o exército alemão também tem na guerra no oriente. Esse cavalheirismo e profissionalismo que se vê na whermacht é só até a página dois, da mesma maneira que na primeira guerra não havia SS e as ações das tropas alemães foram muito parecidas.
The recollection of a professor of mine, who was near the end of his combat medic training when the war ended. Their commander called them together and told them to try to get home...which, for him, was Austria. What had been approximately a day's train ride became two weeks of running, hiding and skulking in the shadows dodging both American patrols and German military gendarmerie. An encounter with either, for different reasons, could become fatal all two quickly. But he made it.
Sgt. Bresnotsky in the 3rd Armor Cav. 1972 was very young in the Austrian Army, recruited to the German Army. Joined the French Forgein Legions then American Army serving tours in Vietnam. A good man.
Well written
Many German soldiers volunteered for the French Foreign Legion after WW2 & soon found themselves fighting at Dien Bien Phu in Northern Vietnam. They ended up in the Vietnamese prison Camps & most died of disease or starvation. They must've thot we've jumped out of the frying pan into the fire.
I'm reminded of what Hans Frank, the rather vicious Governer-General of occupied Poland, had to say: "A thousand years will pass and still this guilt of Germany will not have been erased." He was hanged for war crimes by the allies.
@@gotzvonberlichingen9740 Hehehehe, Bullshit.
@@gotzvonberlichingen9740 das stimmt
@@gotzvonberlichingen9740 good
Too bad for him it took his country's defeat to change him from a mass murderer to a philosopher.
Sins of the father, are not the sins of the son. Anyone who truly believes the Germany of Today is responsible for the Germany of Yesterday is reprehensible.
well put together + great animations
Ch
Tsong, andito ka na naman ulit haha.
Lods. Patikim kay alodia
@@pepotsasori317 bruh
@@pepotsasori317 disgusting.
🌔SERCH ADITYA RATHORE-HE ALSO MAKES INFORMATIVE CONTENT LIKE ARMCHAIR HISTORIAN
I've found that part about man's baldness most disturbing- terrifying stories.
Only a balding man like me would agree
@@larcm3 I agree!
I thought that was a hilarious sponsor plug!
@@michaelancona1120 ...plug? Really?
A bit rich coming from a weird guy with a smoking pipe on a stand: lecturing on male health but full marks for quirkiness
As a child in the 70s our military family was stationed in Germany. My mom worked as a house keeper at a German hospital. While working there she made friends one's name was Elsbeth her father was a German soldier during WW2 a prisoner of the Soviets. I never met him but he gave my Dad a Soviet coin he obtained while a prisoner.
America: oh we don’t need to follow the convention, I mean Germany doesn’t even exist right now!
That feels like it creates a horrible precedent…
Yeah, they were morons...
They also treated their "enemies" better than the Black Allied soldiers. The racism of it all
Ever heard of the term "enemy combatant"
The were no longer „Enemy combatants“
Gitmo detainees: Ya think?
If Steiner had attacked he would have turned things around.
If only
It's OK, he will attack any minute now
@@scottanno8861 anyyyy minute now
Yes his 10k men will destroy all millions of Allies
aanyyyyyyyyyyyyyy second now...
*looks at pocket watch*
Surviving WWI, surviving the Spanish flu, surviving the Great Depression, surviving WW2, but only to die in a death camp in Siberia.
Well that's death camp not alive camp
@@drunkzilla3522 XD
Being born in Germans around turn of the century had a rough life
@پیاده نظام خان have you ever considered what the Germans did the Russian people in the war? What a pathetic comment you wrote.
@@ecks738 bolshiveks were a huge threat. They commited mass atrocities on there own people before the Germans invaded. Communism is a jewish ideology.
Very interesting and informative video. This is what happened with my wife's father; he served under Rommel, was captured and eventually sent to one of the southern US POW camps where he was treated very well, especially considering how American POWs were treated in the Axis countries. Apparently, even though the work was challenging, he lived a far more comfortable life as a POW than his wife and family did in Germany during the war. When the war ended, he and his wife were able to get Visas to emigrate to the US. Prior to serving in the German military he was an Olympic class cyclist so he opened up his own bicycle repair shop in CT where he made his own bikes and became quite well known. Sadly, he passed away prior to me meeting my wife so I never had the opportunity to discuss the war with him.
Your father was a fascist… how many people has he killed ?
Your wife’s father … ok
Weird fact of post WWII:
Dutch volunteers of Waffen SS were choose between death sentence or join the Dutch Army as the people of Dutch East Indies declared themselves as a independent nation of Indonesia- thus the Indonesian Revolution begin
Not to mention the German Kriegsmarine members that previously stationed in Batavia (now Jakarta) decided to join the Indonesian side rather than surrendering to the incoming Allies
I wonder if any chose death.
I wonder if any Germans "went native" in the colonies and married and mixed with Indonesians etc.
@@seronymus Can you provide more source, im interested in this story
As a Dutch person whose grandfather served as part of the KNIL, this is very interesting and would like to know more about it. I know about remnants of the IJA stuck in Indonesia, but not about (ex) Kriegsmarine and SS. I'd appreciate if you could refer me to a source so I can learn more about this. A similar thing happened in France where ex-SS joined the FFL and were sent to Indochina, never knew this was the case in the Netherlands as well.
There's always a lot of rhetoric about "revenge" following a war, but usually it's abandoned because it's just not practical.
It's usually very practical. To the victor belong the spoils. Winners take everything, losers try to survive, that is how its always been. Rome was built on the spoils of war of conquering an empire and we still gawk and marvel at its ruins. They annihilated the Carthaginians and eradicated the culture of the Gauls. The aftermath of WW2 is unique because while a lot of German POW's were used as slave labor to rebuild the countries they destroyed, overall Germany was not punished that hard. Not like it was punished after WW1, or how it had punished France in 1871. Crushing reparations were not imposed and a hand of friendship was offered to let Germany come back in from the cold, just like what happened to France after Napoleon. We let it slide that many a warcriminal was let go unpunished, they let it slide that we used millions of POW's for forced labor. With the Germans not feeling as a vanquished and humiliated nation the cycle of defeat-> resentment -> renewed war was broken. Quite a rare feat actually. We should be thankful that it did.
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 You're talking about the West Germans under the Marshal plan. And what you're talking about are the unfair trials, unfair in meaning that high ranking SS and NSDAP members got off much more lightly than much lower ranking staff who barely had any weight nor remotely came close to the higher ranked's attrocities. Then you're completely forgetting how good the treaty of versailles even looked great in comparison to the Soviet occupation zone, where they literally deconstructed and transported the industry away to soviet territory as reparation. Also the soviets were far from appeasing with German population afterwards.
Mmmmh, germans used quite many POW as slave labors in their factory during WWII and they didn't even waited that war was over.
I think the german realized that they were in fact lucky to being still alive after what they did in the east or even the west.
The feeling you describe, the resentment, in especially strong since the rise of nationalism and the 19th century. Before that, it's just feud between nolble family of different region raising ost of more or less professionnel soldier, but not conscript.
As you said, Rome destroyed Carthage, but did the same with the social structure of the Gaul and even the jews in palestine.
Should look up what happened at the Rhine Meadows (Rheinwiesenlager) PoW camp. Plenty of revenge happened there and many thousands died of mistreatment. The prisoners were corralled in an open field with no shelter or sanitation and were denied food and water. In a matter of weeks thousands were dead. When the Red Cross wanted to inspect the camp they were denied access by the Americans. The US reclassified captured German soldiers from PoW to "disarmed combatants" in order to dodge the protections of the Geneva convention.
By all accounts it was a war crime but since the victors write the history books nobody really talks about it.
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 Revenge is not practical because it starts more wars and conflict, unless you kill a whole population. Even then, that sets a bad precedence. They didn't hang Napoleon because it would have martyred him and told the world it's okay to execute leaders. We've learnt, especially in the modern era, that punishing a whole group of people in such a way only leads to more issues down the line. In ancient and barbaric times, it might have been practical, but we're way past that. Even the Nazis feared the precedence they set. So really, it's not good for anyone.
"Wow Kriez, you're very good at aiming and shooting accurately with that weapon!"
"Thanks, I killed over 35 allies with this, I'm pretty good with handling this firearm.
"wait a minute"
Fascinating. I'm glad that UA-cam suggested your channel.
UK as a schoolboy during WW2 I often saw the German and Italian POWs working in the fields, no one wanted to escape as they were treated well in the UK, I believe that some 25,000 stayed in the UK after the war, some were invited to spend Christmas with English families, not with us I would add, we struggled to feed ourselves. My elder brother who is 96 and still alive was in the allied army of occupation 1945, he said the conditions for the Germans was terrible, he actually felt sorry for the kids and would share his rations with them.
The following happened during the war: My mom worked at a dairy, that was on a rail line in Syracuse NY. She used to talk about the bringing milk to the German POWs when their trains would stop at the dairy.
That’s insane. My moms is from DeWitt, NY, right outside of Syracuse. Her neighbor growing up was a German POW, last name Kroll, who ended up staying in the US. Small world.
From what I know of him, my great grandfather fought to take France, then spend some time in the east before fighting in north Africa. There he was captured by the USA and take as a POW to Texas to work on a farm. There he got to loving America, his son (sick of getting shot at by both sides, yes the allies killed civilians too) skipped the draft to Switzerland got married and found work in America in the 50s. This man went on to play a critical roll in stopping the Cuban missile crisis. Incredible man with many emotional scars.
So the son being ur dad was sick of getting shot on both sides? Which implies that he was in the war? Which i thought we were talking about nazi granpa ? Im just looking for clarity here. Im vested now. Especially after this. 😂
@@Somsal great grandfather was in the war. His son was bombed while living in Berlin as a boy before moving out to a relatives farm when news of his father being missing came. There allied planes shot at there wagons for some reason. Weather target practices or thinking they were a munitions carts. My grandfather remembers the allied occupation as just the changing of guys with guns. Inperson the militaries acted the same. Except the allies gave candy. And there family was starving, they type of starving where the grandparent have to deside which kid to feed that week. Very sad time that still begins him to tears. Something nice he once said was that there was never any hate for the allies. He very much disliked some of the Moroccan soldier though because of their brutally and sick pleasure in hurting innocents. Idk what happened because he never elaborated.
My German wife's grandfather, a vet of WW1 AND WW2, didn't come home until 1949. I remember hearing that the last German POW didn't return home until 1955.
I live in South Carolina, and the opening statements about the POW's being treated better then the black share croppers reminded me of things my grand dad told us about. Until recently some of the housing units for the POWs we're still standing. They were close to one of the rail lines. My Grand dad told us how the POWs we're transported in passenger cars while blacks had to ride in cattle cars. Nice video. A very pleasant surprise.
It's a thing that always angered me. I understand that POWs had to be treated well but the fact that German POWs got better treatment then an entire group of American citizen is ridiculous. I remember reading the memoirs of a German POW who recounted being allowed to eat at an American diner but seeing the whites only signs. He recounted that it reminded him of the anti Jewish laws that were in place in Nazi Germany prior to the war.
@@obscureoccultist9158 The local governments in the south were probably also using German POWs as conscripted labor to undercut the bargaining position of black Americans (who would have gotten paid more because of the labor shortage).
Umm German soldiers were probably very polite and well behaved.
@@obscureoccultist9158 I went to the Holocaust museum a few years ago. Very amazing experience, I highly recommend. What I found interesting was learning that Hitler actually justified his actions against the Jews by pointing to Jim Crow laws in the US. Really a shame and dark part of our past history in this country. Many people here don’t realize that Hitler justified a lot of his actions by pointing to what the US was doing to African Americans.
@@someguyontheinternet7628 and??? Black Americans weren’t???
Wow! what a suprise! didnt think for one second that the clean werchmant myth was going to be relevant in this video, so glad you brought it up.
There’s no such thing as a clean army
US and USSR: You're going to pay for this...unless you can design rockets.
Or any weapon system really. Hugo Schmeisser ended up in the team that craeted the AK47 that looks suspiciously like the STG44...
@@tsarnickolai LOL so Schmeisser was on the team but did not contribute to the development. Guess he was just there to sample the coffee.
@@tsarnickolai That's your problem right there, you think Wikipedia is a legitimate source rather than a zoo where every Russian nationalist can edit every article to fit the Russian narrative and when it comes to AK47 the Russians will edit it to infinity to prevent it from pointing out t wasn't totally a Russian original but really a STG44 derivative with the developer of the STG44 literally on the team that developed it.
@@tsarnickolai You're a Russian troll? I did not know that but I guess it explains things.
@@tellyboy17 the ak 47 and the stg 44 were way different
My mom was a girl and picked cotton close to a detention center ..
She said that the men were very nice and most of them spoke reasonable English.. she said that she always thought they were going to be Americans …
She came from Missouri and there was a heavy German population. She was English and Irish blood line but cooked a lot of German food..
Everyone is talking about stories of their grandparents but my grandfather didn't say a whole lot about the war and we honestly didn't ask much about it. He told us stories about some of the friends he made and how humiliating it was when his American counterparts would treat the german pows better than their black american soldiers. He also made a friend with a german pow and had always wondered what happened to him after he was allowed to go back home. He died in 2016 just 3 days before turning 100 and now i wish i had asked him more questions about what he experienced
That’s sad black Americans went through so much they freed the Jews but we still weren’t free the SHOULDVE refused to fight
They would always put their European kin above what they see as little more than a 'historical mistake'.
There's a whole lot of history of black America connected to the wars of the 20th Century. A few black Americans remained in France after WWI, as they felt better treatment there than in the States. The grotesqueries of the second War made the maintenance of Jim Crow untenable in the States. Still some American blood flowed in it's dissolution.
History is a written by the Victor's.
@@lmupzz6864 Sure, a black man from the South refusing to serve in 1942. Are you serious?
I have no idea how they do these animations so good, while also posting frequently. It's just amazing!
Well he got a huge team to help him, if you look at credit there are like 20 people or maybe more working
Amazing like Spider-Man cartoon-awful in other words?
@@simpleman5688 it's leagues better than most you find on youtube. Having teams doing animation for youtube videos is rare, having it actually LOOK somewhat nice is even rarer.
One thing history always shows us is that no matter the government , they all love their loopholes whenever it suits them.
I guess, the lesson here is that the Allies were just as evil as the N*zis. So WWII didn't really matter
One thing history always shows us is to never invade Russia.
@@chaosXP3RT you can't be fucking serious
that Keeps sponsor transition was 👌🏼😂
I have to say that the summary at the end is very well thought out and impactful when you think about it. Often times, too often perhaps, we rationalize vengeful and dehumanizing action because of actions taken against us.
Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
I wonder what you would feel if your house was burned to the ground and your family either murdered straight away or condemned to slow death due to starvation and exposure. It's easy to stay on moral high horse when such events are just footnotes in history books and not personal experiences. Ask anyone in the East what they think about forgiveness or reconciliation and you'll be suprised how long memories can last.
@@gratius1394 that is true, and I’m not trying to justify anyone’s actions. But when we pick and choose who the law applies to, isn’t that the beginning of tyranny?
Regardless of actions taken by others, POW’s are guaranteed rights, rights that are ignored because of practicality. You don’t have to look too far in history to find many examples of “illegal combatants”.
@@erikvaldez2627 OK, let me get this straight - do you honestly believe that warfare can be codified and "civilised" with written laws? And if so, what use such laws can possibly have if one or even both sides simply decide to ignore them?
So humans are doomed to repeat their stupidities.
I already knew the quote, I just always feel like this fits.
@@gratius1394 it's not about being friendly to your enemy, it's about preserving your own humanity.
Very well made documentary ! The animation was well done.
While stationed in Italy, I’ve met several Italian veterans who served under the fascists. Their stories were similar. One who was captured by the Americans, told me about his time in the work camps in the US. He was treated well and well fed.
Another who was captured by the French, told me they were forced to march to a POW camp in Casa Blanca. Many POWs died on that march. They were worked hard, fed meager rations and treated harshly.
Another who was captured by the British, was worked hard and fed meager rations, though the British treated their POWs far better than the French.
prisoners of war in the UK received a meat ration of 1450 K calories Most grew vegetables which were not rationed civilians had a ration of 1650 There were few fat people in Britain during the war. Current recommendations are 2000 for a woman and 2500 for a man.
My grandfather was a guard at a POW camp for captured German soldiers. His stories about the friends he made among the prisoners were terrific. Best one: he used to sneak prisoners out of the camp through a hole in the fence and take them to baseball games. Beer, hotdogs, chasing girls, all that good stuff. He got caught sneaking them back in one time and of course the commander wasn't best pleased. So that was the end of the ball game outings.
I can think of lots of things I'd like to do with a Nazi that involve a baseball bat, but going to a game isn't one of them.
@@Tamlinearthly Would that be have him shoving the bat up your backside to stop you talking crap or some kind of sexual enjoyment.?
@@Tamlinearthly dude not every soilder was a nazi.
@@justaplayer94: They all fought for Hitler, what they called themselves while doing it is of no significance.
A bullet and a two-foot-deep grave for every single one of them are the only peace terms we should have offered. But there's always next time.
@@Tamlinearthly no they didin't. Good part of germany thought for their country. Not everone fights for politicans but for the home and Family behind him. You clearly have don't know much about soilders from the Wehrmacht.
One of these soldiers was sent as a POW in my grand parents farm in the south west of France.
He was working in the farm and was treated well , so well that he became friend with my grand grand father and went back several times latter in his life with his wife and his kids for hollidays.
But not all soldiers sent to France as POW were treated well , generaly at the end of a war you don't see good human qualities being displayed
My grandfather spent time in a French POW camp after being captured by Americans in Italy. Alongside with his unit he was tasked to clear mines with nothing but a wooden stick. After he saw three of his friends be blown up by landmines, he decided to flee. On foot he made it from Western France to Hamburg in Northern Germany, where he surprised his mother who didn't recognise him after years of war.
Ironically he went from being a young indoctrinated man (he was born in 1921 and grew up with Nazi propaganda) to being a communist anti-facist in post-war Western Germany for which he lost his government job and was jailed for a few months. He always told my father that the things he saw the Germans commit in WW2 made him sway "the other way" - to the other extreme.
Propaganda is propaganda everywhere.
You can read the memoirs of a man who spent 6 years in Soviet captivity. Yes, one way or another, this is also a biased opinion, but you can read and draw your own conclusions.
"Das Ziel - Überleben: Sechs Jahre hinter Stacheldraht - Claus Fritzsche"
It’s very unlikely he didn’t know what the red army commit (letting the Warsaw uprising play out instead of contributing, taking as few German POWs as possible, mass rape of women, etc). And then the iron curtain years, the Hungarian revolution, the Berlin Wall.
If his politics were based on not supporting the bad guys and everything I mentioned didn’t make him reconsider moving away from communism and embrace western liberal democracies maybe he really was a true communist at heart (not that I’m criticizing, everyone is free to form their own opinion)
@@chepitoloroco He always thought that the atrocities committed in retaliation by the allies, especially the Soviets, were somewhat justified, but still wrong. I find myself somewhat agreeing with that, although like always it affected the wrong people - children, women etc.
As he got older he became more of a socialist than a communist. He was not a fan of Stalin but thoroughly supported the GDR. Which is kind of hypocritical. I think he just wanted a better society where everybody is equal and has equal opportunity, but then lost his way by supporting people who created more inequality than they compensated.
@@TheLLLIIINNNUUUSSS He wasn't wrong 6x the amount of russians died (27 million) during the war than germans (5 million), that alone should show the discrepancy in brutality between the soviets and the Nazis. The Nazis planned to genocide Slavs and many other cultures and races, meanwhile the Soviets were out to genocide Nazism the ideology, and its footsoldiers. Under the Nazi regime entire thriving communities were reduced to slave labor to be mass killed when too exhausted to continue to work. I for one respect your grandfather and his willingness to reflect on what he saw, may he rest in peace. I hope never in our lives we are forced to witness the things our grandfathers and further back saw.
@@Anthonybicee Very well said. Atrocities like these mustn't ever happen.
The decision to not declare Germans as prisoners of war, was not made when Germany was not officially a state, it was made by Eisenhower in 1943. So, the reference to the USSR not being overly in favour of the Geneva Convention, applied equally to the United States during the war.
@Lex Bright Raven Agree completely, but that is not what I was talking about
Yes, he is quite often wrong! :-(
And what about the Japanese brutal treatment of POWs way before the War?
@@Remote-Planet No, see, those were just “Other Losses”
@@Remote-Planet Canadian edition? Or American re-print with “edits for clarity” ?
My Grandmother was born in 1931, she was born to a small mink and vegetable farm outside of Newbury, Staffordshire, England. Close to where she lived was a old Manor House used to hold POWs, she said she remembered that they had Italian and some Romanian POWs on their farm. I know that they aren’t German but my grandmother told me that she was surprised that they were like normal humans. Some of the Italians stayed in the farm after the war and I believe they are still on that farm today.
This makes me think that in the end everyone is human, lost of the soldiers didn’t even want to fight, but war causes us to be forced into combat.
Excellent video as always. I really enjoy hearing other sides of history.
You should do WW2 from Norway's perspective, where you can talk about the battle of Drøbak Sound, Narvik, the Heavy Water Sabotage, Haakon VII, Vidkun Quisling, Max Manus etc.
I knew battlefield 5 was good enough to be true
@@jinksgotha4942 except the war story set in Norway is nothing but altering history. It wasn’t conducted by one woman. The actual heavy water sabotage was conducted by a group of British trained Norwegian commandos in exile who destroyed the facility in operation Gunnerside. Allied bombing followed and whatever heavy water was left was destroyed by the Norwegian resistance forces when the Germans attempted to transport it.
12th man easily Norway's best film
that would be cool considering the fact that they are talked so little in WWII like Belgium and Luxembourg
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidkun_Quisling
Never understood how my Grandfather left the German army in 1945 and managed to move to Kansas City in 1947.
He was a Engineer and train man and went on to work in such a job for another 25 years. He learned English in 2-3 years
and raised my father as an American boy and refused to talk about the war beyond a few sentences.
Probably recruited
"The most profound lessons are often to be learned in its darkest chapters" - That's the thing I wanted to hear from my history teacher back when I was in school, it would have made history so much more interesting.
Absolutely amazing video! I love the balanced look at history.
"The pragmatic and vindictive moves by the Allies to force German POW's into rebuilding Europe do not excuse the crime of Nazi Germany, just as Nazi atrocities do not excuse Allies violations of the Geneva Convention"
I guess you can say "Two wrong don't make a right"
sadly too many people in the comment section seem to think they do, justifying making children clear minefields because their side were "the bad guys" in the war
Yeah, if you did the same thing that Germans did, what makes you and the Germans any better? But i guess they have their own justification and on-site dilemma that they have to violate Geneva convention that were created by them blatantly.
German prisoners got off easy
Or any international law is a joke. Also french was sure ready to fight unarmed germs, in 39 they lost that spirit
Not to forget the massive rape of german women when Soviets reached Berlin
My grandfather was 6 years in a Siberian war prison. He barely survived. He died in his home region - in peace - at the age of 92. He was in the Wehrmacht and told me a lot of interesing war stories. He was a very nice and generous man.
Не таким уж и милым раз оказался в плену на восточном фронте
Your grandpa must have done evil things
@@yurichtube1162 и много
Mein Großvater war auch lange als Kriegsgefangener in Sibirien und ist erst vor wenigen Jahren gestorben. Er wurde auch über 90 Jahre alt. Vielleicht kannten sie sich 🤔
@@yurichtube1162 Not requiring specific evidence is known as 'lynching'
My great grandfather was major general in the USSR , when he came back from war it was obligation to bring German soldiers with him and make them work , he was not a typical soviet and treated them well , my great grandmother was always cooking good food for them. They were tasked to help finish work on my family house , after they were done a year or so later , they were free to leave , to show their respect and say thanks for taking good care, before leaving they gave us gifts , from what I remember what I was told , they gave officer dagger , fork and knife sets and some other stuff , I still have the fork which was passed down so many generations since then and now I eat with it , stainless fork with a eagle on the svastika.
My grandfather had a farm in Indiana where German soldier's worked. He said he fed them peanut butter sandwiches because the American soldier's treated them badly (especially after they found out how the American POW's were treated in Germany.) We have a Germain cuckoo clock that was sent by a German soldier to my grandfather as a sign of appreciation.
I was reading an article on this before. And a lot of the german POWs were sent to south west lower Michigan to work on farms. Cass, Berrien and Van buren counties. And one thing in the article said they were not real well guarded and one time a guard had set his rifle down and walked over by a tree and fell asleep. One of the prisoners saw the commanding officer coming down the road a ways off and picked up the rifle woke up the guard and handed him the rifle so he didn't get in trouble lol. It also said several resettled in the area after the war and the ones that did go back to Germany sent packages back and forth with the farm families that they had worked for. I thought that was a really interesting article
🏮SERCH ADITYA RATHORE-HE ALSO MAKES INFORMATIVE CONTENT LIKE ARMCHAIR HISTORIAN
You give respect you get respect.
History is written by the Victor's.
Lived in South Central Michigan all my life. There was a German POW camp just 2 blocks away from my house. After the war many of them settled in my community. They were really nice people and lived out their lives here.
My Grandfather and his brother-in-law both serverd most of the war in France. My Grandpa was drafted 1941. He was later transfered to the eastern front an got captured in Eastern Prussia late 1944. he was lucky enough to stay in the western parts of the Soviet Union, were the winters were not als harsh as in Sibiria.
He came home 1947. Never spoke much about the war.
My granduncle wa a theacher and stayed the whole war in France. He spoke fluent English an French.
As the Allies landed in southern France in August 1944 he surrenderd to the Americans. Than the Americans turend out to be Free French.
He returnd in 1948 after very hard labor on a french farm.
As said in the video, being POW on the western front didn't nesseary mean an easier fate.
Firstly, I would like to thank you about your family story. Secondly, I would like to further boost your idea that being turned to the french in the western front was truly disgraceful, i would like to comment the fact of a whole German batallion who did not sourrender until they were given protection from the french resistance in a village near Caen Normandy.
There was this small pow camp in Wisconsin that was right behind a high-school and the guards became friends with germans so much so that they even brought them to the bar after the days work. And there was this one American pow coming back from a German camp and was appaled to see us treating them nice after what he endured.
Well according to the Bible it says love thy enemy. I think they did the right thing in Wisconsin. Two wrongs don't make a right just a greater wrong.
In Wisconsin, inviting someone to the bar after work is as routine as saying Hello. XD
@@johnholden7825 I think that’s routine just about everywhere.
My neighbors father was in the German Wehrmacht however escaped into the US two years into his service. He had no family left in Germany so he did not have to worry about them being punished. Once he got to the US the Xenophobia and Anti German sentiment was at an all time high. He barely spoke as his accent would make him a target and when he did he deepened his voice and try to hide it. However he was caught and placed into a German interment camp 1942- 1945. He was beaten, tarred, tortured you name it. He escaped with a German American and he married a German immigrant and had a one child (my neighbor) . he later died of a Seizure from Traumatic brain injuries.
@@sevendaysaweek2622 "Beaten, tarred, and tortured" in an internment camp? Sorry, this sounds made up.
¡Gracias!
The videos just keep getting better and better! That's awesome!
Some years ago a history professor at Texas A&M was called by a farmer. They met at his house in Central Texas. The farmer with his wife by his side asked the professor if he spoke German. He did and soon the farmer explained that he was a German POW who had escaped his prison and just stayed here. There are huge German and Czech populations in Texas so he kind of just fit in. His wife was stunned to find that her husband of some 30 years was an escaped prisoner.
I heard about this guy. When looking at the case, the judge just said let him be, he's a good citizen.'' And he lived happily with his family.
As everyone talks about their grandparents I’ll do that too:
My grandpa was born in 1920 in Sweden and worked for the railroad almost 50 years and never met any Germans as far as I know until his death on his 89th birthday in 2009
The animated video displays historically - accurate detailed weapons and attire. Absolutely epic production.
USA: "Why did you take all the war criminals."
Argentina: "Hey, you took all the scientists"
Stupid profile picture, opinion invalid
@@techpriest1852 I think it was pretty funny
@@mam0lechinookclan607 in fact it was hilarious lmao
@@techpriest1852 name checks out
USSR: 👀
My grandma talked about working with the red cross during WW2 and interacting with German POWs a little bit. From what I can remember is that they talked about missing their family and friends and some didn't even want to be in the war or didn't like what Hitler was doing.
lol. They always say they "didn't like what their leaders were doing" whenever the tides turned.
@@user-dd8vo7or2d You realize drafting exists right? If the soldiers drafted didn't listen to orders either they or their family paid for it.
@@vesuvius115 I served with some of the worst scoundrels on Earth. I think I know what its like so don't lecture me.
@@user-dd8vo7or2d were you there in WW2? Didn't think so, so no, you don't know what it was like for them. Your experiences are not the same as theirs.
@@user-dd8vo7or2d i dont think your parents count as "worst"
I worked with a guy whose uncle in the Australian Army was captured by the Germans in Greece and sent to Germany. After several months in a POW camp he snd another Aussie from farming backgrounds were sent to work on a German farm. They weren’t guarded but told if they escaped or hurt the Family they would be shot. They were really well treated by the German family and slept in a room near the barn. It turns out their only son was captured by British forces in North Africa and was safe and well in a Pow camp in Britain, hence the good treatment.