Interview with a German WW2 Veteran
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- Опубліковано 1 жов 2024
- Recently, we had the privilege of interviewing Dr. Joachim Hess, who fought on the German side during World War II. He shared his unique perspective, outlining the life of a Wehrmacht soldier during the conflict.
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@WorldWarTwo I lived and worked in Germany in the early and mid nineties. During that time I knew several veterans of the second world war who fought in the Eastern and Western fronts. They were more than enthusiastic to tell their stories about their perspective of the war and what they experienced as POW's. I considered them good men.
The real tragedy of ww2 was what happened to germany and german civilians.
The bad thing is that this spirit of the devil is blowing over the entire West today. Especially the USA with all the power the states have and which is waiting to be abused! If we are not careful, the entire West will experience the same thing as we Germans in the Second World War. May the gods protect us!
@@6foot8jesuspilledpureblood82
And what happened to Russian was not a tragedy ? They lost more than twenty million just soldiers their towns and hundreds villagers
Were burned to the ground
@@6foot8jesuspilledpureblood82Apparently the ony
tragedy 🤔🤔🙄🙄
Poor Germans and Germany...
German-Speaker here. Your German is remarkably good, Herr Olsson!
SacredScout, from his comments im assuming that Herr Olson is German
@@jimsmith9819I’m not. I’m of Swedish/French/British/American upbringing. My parents are Swedish, but I grew up mostly in France.
Thank you SacredScout.
@@spartacus-olsson I love how much of a polyglot you are.
@@DoraFauszt nice to see you Dora! And thanks.
99 years old and still clear as a bell! 👍
And with perfect teeth!
and better hair than mine
pop made it into his 90s, his body was fucked but sharp as a tack until the day he died
glad to give this commend it's 300th like
@@williamhalsted4German veteran, not B.E.F
I've always been a huge advocate for having German perspectives because they're literally half of the story.
ah
Less than half was Germany's. The remaining half+ was generated by Russia and actually Russia still generating that story.
nazi sympathizer
ParaLight Worx for German view
I think the perspective of the people on all sides is important, because this is an international show and the knowledge of a sides varies from country to country.
Now we´re in the very last years when there are still living veterans of WW2, so getting this interviews for posterity and asking good questions like Spartakus did is very valuable. It´s a shame the way youtube censors this channel.
I'm actually glad they can keep doing this though. It's like a massive spit on UA-cam's face!
Scam ads are fine, but God forbid we get some educational stuff about the horrors of war! 🙄
All I can say to all veterans Allies & Axis Men & Women thank you and surviving one of the bloodiest conflict in human history and serving your country and to those we lost god bless you all.
@@isaiahkayode6526 under no circumstances do you have to thank Germans for fighting for their country in WW2 you utter nitwit
What we get taught in school is a very watered down black and white abbreviated version of the war. Especially with WW-I. That war was always summed up by the assassination of ArchDuke Franz Ferdinand, which was just an oversimplification of what actually lead off to that whole thing.
Its disappointing and disgusting that UA-cam always has to meddle even in older history.
@@Ratkill9000 true! I remember being massively disappointed in High school when we finally got to the World Wars.
I interviewed my great uncle for my school exams when I was like 16
I knew him but hadn’t really spoken to him ever before yet he agreed to talk about his experiences and to be recorded
He was a plane mechanic in the luftwaffe
He wanted to be a paratrooper but the Luftwaffe conscription officer told him that that is no good idea that Germany needs men like him in the Plane mechanics ( he was a skilled electrician already )
He later thought that the recruiter wanted to spare him a bad death as the glory days of the German paratroopers had been over by that point ( 1941)
So he became a mechanic for airplanes
He repaired them day and night , sometimes they had to drive out to find crashed German or enemy machines to salvage or repair what they could
He was a very lucky man too
His airfield near Stalingrad was encircled just as he had hopped on the train to Germany for his holiday he had been granted
So he lost his first comrades and they all probably died in a gulag
This then happened 3 more times with him having holiday every time his poor comrades were encircled by Soviet troops
In 1945 he was sent to Dresden to repair and retrieve the local me262 squadron from the airfield
They arrived 2 days after the famous air raid
He said at some point they couldn’t drive on as there was mountains of dead in the streets so they had to walk the rest
When they arrived on the airport everything was either destroyed or the planes had already flown out
Then he was given a rifle and was told to walk towards the east until they find Russians to shoot at
His officer was shot whilst retrieving his bicycle out of a village they thought was still in German hands
It was not it was filled with Soviet guard division troops
Later they were in between two mountains somewhere in the sudentenland where they knew the Russians were on the hill infront
All of a sudden they raised the white flag and started screaming and shooting guns in the air
It was the 8th of may 1945 the end of the war
He then was put in an old concentration camp somewhere in the Berlin area where the Russian commander treated them very fairly
The watches the guards had stolen were returned with a promise to all his German pows
You will not be moved to Russia and I will release you on one year if you work hard !
So they then dismantled German infrastructure like railways and such and they were then sent to the Soviet Union for rebuilding
Funnily enough he recalled that it was near the zone border and 100 meters further the Americans sat on their jeeps made stupid remarks and laughter at them whilst chewing gum
Meanwhile they had to dismantle tracks at 40 degrees outside 😂
The Russian kept his promise and released them but he wouldn’t release anyone to the French zone as the French would grab any returneese and sent them to their Labour camps
So he let himself be released to his girlfriend in the Russian zone
They married and my uncle lived a good honest life and was a very prominent and well respected man to his death
At 96 years old he died to a lunginfection as a follow up to a simple cough
This was 3 weeks after I had made the interview
I went to visit him in the hospice and seing a 96 year old ww2 veteran scream for someone to finally fucking shoot him to end his misserary as he was in such aching agony changed me for the rest of my life
I’m not ashamed to say I burst out crying when I left the hospice
This was my uncle walthers story
I hope you found it someone interesting
I find it to remarkable to be lost to history
Remember that every soldier is a human being at the end of the day
Thanks for sharing.
Vielen Dank. Mein Opa ist '39 mit 19 eingezogen worden. Der 2. älteste von 10 Brüdern auf ner Pferdezucht nahe Allenstein. Hatte grade Zimmermann gelernt und wollte auf die Walz. War wohl nix. War Pionier - X mal verwundet, am ganzen Körper verbrannt. Dann Gefangenschaft und' 50 zurück. Ist bei irgendeiner Selektion mit Hämorrhoiden "durchgefallen"...für den Rest gings ab nach Sibirien. So ungefähr hat meine Oma es erzählt. Er selbst hat nie viel gesprochen. Ausser beim Essen - Butter(Fett) Kartoffeln, Salz...immer die gleichen Geschichten über das Tauschen vom selbigen. Ich habe sie geliebt, an seinen Lippen gehangen. Ich habe einfach gespürt, daß ich etwas unendlich Wichtiges gesagt bekomme. Einmal die Woche wurde "Resteessen" zelebriert. Der Kühlschrank im Keller mit den mit Draht zugerödelten Töpfen hör ich jetzt noch brummen... 😅. Ach und noch so viel mehr. Weshalb er Weihnachten spät immer in der Küche gesessen hat, hab ich erst später erfahren. Russischer Angriff bei dem sein bester Freund aus Kindheitstagen an einem Bauchschuss in seinen Armen verblutet ist..."Scheiß Kriech"- hat Oma immer nur gesagt. Im schönsten Ruhrpott - isch. - jaaa, der schöne Adolf... Und mit "nie mehr" ist's ja leider auch nicht weit her... 😢
@@pseudonym745 es ist wichtig das wir die Schicksale dieser Männer nicht vergessen
Danke für diesen berührenden Beitrag ...
@@pseudonym745 Great memories, some hard ones but still great my friend.
''War, my father said, is the destruction of national wealth.''
Words of truth from a wise man.
Reminds me of Cicero's quote
It reminded me of a great quote by Dwight D. Eisenhower:
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.”
Your father is not that wise. Because it could be the creation of national wealth as well. You just have to win - then you can loot your enemies and enrich yourself. I mean your logic is so dumb and your father very silly - you can just look at the French or British empires and their wars to grow and maintain their empires - very profitable based on data and results.
In German he says “people’s wealth” (volksvermögen) which makes it even more poignant since it’s not only about the destruction of monetary wealth, but people.
SUN TZU, sums spent on chariots and armor, will reach the total of a thousand ounces of silver per day.
My grandfather died 2 weeks ago, he was 97 and part of the Volkssturm. He was injured by an American grenade an nearly died.
He hated the war as well. He told me he never shot his weapon outside of training. I've learned a lot of him. Thanks for being a positive role model grandpa, I'm happy you could fall asleep peacefully.
@@punishedgloyperstormtroope8098 Bruh wtf
@@punishedgloyperstormtroope8098 You drop on your knees when someone from Volkssturm says they hate war.
I dont say he wasn't a good grandparent or something like that but to call him a hero is a bit excessive.
@@punishedgloyperstormtroope8098 Why i am not surprised you are that kind of person...
@@punishedgloyperstormtroope8098 those who got sympathi to the nazi regime
@@punishedgloyperstormtroope8098 Guy with perpetualy sore right arm.
This is such an amazing interview! Finding a German WW2 veteran who is still healthy and perfectly cognitive in 2024 is legendary. I feel like with all of this technology and social media this will surely help the younger generations connect more with history!
Hoch lebe Deutschland....frieden.fur alle...lernen
The real tragedy of ww2 was what happened to germany and german civilians.
@@6foot8jesuspilledpureblood82 the real tragedy is how many people died because of german politics and the german war.
@@6foot8jesuspilledpureblood82What happened to the Soviets was horrible aswell
The thing about any WW2 veterans still alive, of any nation, is they're usually the most innocent cohort. All the ones with real power and decision are long dead. These guys were just young boys caught up in events above their head.
one died recently here in new zealand.- he was 102 years old and captain in new zealand army in w.w.2.
'Your enemy are still people' is an important lesson I wish more in power would remember today.
What’s that even mean
@@chrisfalx3251 War is a bitter, brutal affair. Even after the war is over, it is common centuries later for that bitterness and hatred towards another race or nationality to exist that was spawned from war. My dad served in Korea and Vietnam. Never once did he talk poorly of either. By not condemning them, no chain of hatred formed in me. He spoke nothing but positives for all he met- Turks, Italians, Japanese etc. I think that is a lot of what the original sentiment entails.
@@chrisfalx3251 its very easy to demonize, and dehumanize those who fought on the German side. with so much evil from the top, you have to remember that millions of people in Germany were just people trying to survive. When guns fall, we must do what we had to do from the beginning and talk it out. Its hard to do that when you forget your counter part on the "enemy" side is just someone who was given orders just like the Allied side. Yes there were very evil people in the German army and other areas of their control, but many of the common soldiers and support were just people. Not evil, just people.
@@chrisfalx3251 It was said during the thirties and there was much talk of certain mensch being 'unter' so I took it as a reminder not to listen to talk othering the foe and sadly that hasn't gone away.
like Putin even gives a fuck. Lol wake up bro
“Every grenade, every bomb, every bullet is a loss.” 😢❤😢
A powerful quote, thanks for watching.
lol
lmao
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed." - Ike
@@thebobbyllama6410 It doesn't matter. Both quotes prey on naivete.
@@Arnaere..You really think war is fun yo?
I'm amazed at this guy's father. He saw the whole war before it even happened by just looking at industry production, understanding that Germany's only hope was to seize as much as they could and then force an end to the war before the Americans could intervene. What a destructive horror these humans endured.
Unfortunately, the world is very predictable. Round and round and round it goes, where it stops nobody knows
Leader of Turkiye, Atatürk said something similar. If i remember correctly in 1937 Atatürk said briefly that Germans are going to start a war soon and going to lose it because what theyve started the war with isnt gonna be at the end.
As if allied didn't do the same lol
@@fiword Churchill learned from Galipolu the most. Which they lost to Atatürk's capability of predicting the moves of British. If any of the allies had that, America wouldnt need Japan to join in, Soviets wouldn't count on Germans, English wouldnt underestimate the mobility of the German Wehrmacht. Still yes, allies predicted the war would come to them eventually, based mostly on the steel production.
@@geordiejones5618
Germany’s only hope was not to start the war . Are you blind and deaf ? What Germany lost in Russia , Ukraine ? Lebensraum , that what was all behind it territories in the East that Hitler wanted and wrote about in his Mein Kampf already in the twenties
Missing Oma and Opa now.
They shared a lot of stories with us.
You are so lucky. In the soviet occupation, we had lots of veterans but many I know did not speak a word about the war. Just some generic sentences like let there be peace, be a good pupil at school etc. My wife's grandfather was conscripted into the Red Army at over 40 of age, some technical corps. He went to Berlin and back (not in the first lines obviously). He did not talk about the war at all. The family knew next to nothing about his experiences. Many people who survived Gulag did not speak a word about their experiences, either. I guess it was best not to talk in the soviet union.
The real tragedy of ww2 was what happened to germany and german civilians.
Mine was born in 45’ told me post war stories. She has alzheimer now and doesn’t even recognise me.
@@6foot8jesuspilledpureblood82 No. And I say that as a German nationalist. We suffered a lot and our pain and the unjustice against us should not be forgotten but we can not take the spot light.
@@6foot8jesuspilledpureblood82 uh no, they are low on this of 'real tragedies of WW2'.
How about the real tragedy of the Jewish people, the Poles, the Serbs, the Russians, the Chinese...
Pretty much any group who were invaded by the friends, relatives and neighbours of the german civilians you are sympathizing with.
Plenty of 'real tragedies of WW2' from the far east battlefronts too.
Great interview. Hans Hellmut Kirst, who served as an artillery officer on the eastern front and later became an international best selling author, gave numerous interviews up until he passed away. Kirst was very frank about growing up in nazi Germany, joining as a party member, enlisting in the army in 1933, and the wisdom he came away with. Interestingly, Kirst later indicated that after the war he did not immediately believe accounts of Nazi atrocities. "One did not really know one was in a club of murderers". Some memorable quotes that I still think about are:
“The soldier must say Yes when he thinks Yes. But when many say Yes and think No, when they feel forced to say Yes, though they think No, or when they say Yes for the sake of their careers, their own comfort or self-interest while their consciences tell them No, the point has been reached where true soldiering dies out altogether. And not only soldiering. This is death’s great triumph. For when conscience dies, mankind dies with it.”
"I had confused National Socialism with Germany"
Kirst remains one of the best anti war satirists.
HH Kirst wrote some cracking books.
blah blah blah
08/15 is one of my all time favorite shows and book. A friend was watching it when I visited him about 20 years ago. International Historic Films has the DVD set.
@@juliaforsyth8332 I read "The Wolves" as a teen. Made such an impression.
@@mikebrase5161 I've never seen the films. Maybe one day someone will rediscover his work for the screen.
Thank you for interviewing him. The German perspective is so important to know.
Thanks and thank you for your continued and incredible support.
-TimeGhost Ambassador
It's watered down. The real perspective isn't allowed on youtube. It wakes too many people up.
@@powerhouse1981 facts, the real truth may not be shown sadly...
My Great-Grandfather was in the Polish cavalry in September 1939. After a short stay in a POW camp, he came back to tend to his pretty big family. During the war, polish partisans, german infantrymen and soviet infantrymen made him house them. Once, he was about to be executed and his family burned alive in the barn after the germans found out he housed the partisans, thanks to the officer's good heart, his and his family's life was spared. My father always described him as a cold, down to earth and tough man. However, he told me he could see fear and pain in my Great-Grandfather's eyes only when he was telling him these stories. War leaves a mark on everybody, no matter how tough they are.
War is much more than hell.
We civilians in North America and other select places in the world are, for now, spared of it.
Hope that it never comes for us…. 💔
A close family friend went over the border and joined the Canadian special forces went on to go on one of the deadliest raids on the submarine pen in France and nearly everyone died and he got out and was damn lucky to get out, continued to stay with the Canadian special forces untill the US joined the war, and then came back over and joined the US Air Force and went on to fly more missions than anyone else in ww2, was shot down no less than 6 times and was the sole survivor every single time and survived a plane crash coming back over to the US on a bomber that crashed on the return flight to the US. Guy had like a gazillion lives and had stories for days.
My great-grandfather was a local hero who participated in all THREE Upper-Silesian Uprisings (Katowice), and in the initial German invasion of WW2. After he escaped from a pow camp or concentration camp (don't know how), he was persecuted by the Gestapo. The SS sent a few soldiers to raid his family home and search for him. When a regular soldier entered his house, he saw his children (my grandmother included) playing on the floor. He started crying a lot and told said to my great-grandma (as an Upper-Silesian she understood) "Back in Germany, I have children of my own". He turned around and left. My great-grandfather lived for decades after the war.
Your great grandfather is part of the Greatest Generation. Men like him saved us. My father was 20 years old in Warsaw when the Germans invaded. He joined the Polish Army and fought them street by street until he was captured. He saw how brutal and racist the Germans were to civilians and Polish POWs. He escaped and made it to France with thousands of other escaped Poles and joined the Polish Army in Northern France. When the Germans invaded France in May of 1940 he was fighting again and was captured again. He was in a camp for captured POWs but escaped with another soldier and eventually made it to England and joined the Polish First Armored Division and was put into a Sherman tank even though he wanted to join the Polish Paratroopers. He saw a lot of the terrible things the Germans and Russians did in Poland and hated the Germans all his life. Who can blame him. I certainly can’t.
Danke fürs teilen. Das is so unglaublich wichtig, gerade jetzt! Unfassbar, wie klar der Herr noch immer ist. Ich wünsch ihm noch viele gesunde und schöne Jahre.
Sehr schön geschrieben; wahre Worte.
Dem kam ich mich nur anschließen.
Vielen Dank fürs Zuschauen.
I am fluent in english, but: Vielen Dank, daß das Interview auf Deutsch geführt wurde. Gerade die ältere Generation kann leider selten gut Englisch sprechen und da wäre SEHR viel verloren gegangen. Als gebürtiger Deutscher bin ich sehr froh, daß sie so gut Deutsch sprechen.
Thanks a lot!
Incredible to see him so sharp still at 99
I wonder if he is still working. The secret to look so sharp at that age is not to stop working. Retirement is always death sentence. I have a friend heading for 90, he's an architect and he is actually more energetic than I am in my 30's.
At the start, Sparty said that these were some highlights, I wonder then if there's a chance that the full interview might be released at some point?
Yes
@spartacus-olsson oh hell yeah
It needs an English dub; I'm very interested, but the embedded subs are too small to read on a phone screen, and the CC is still in German.
This is an English-language channel, on a (primarily) English-language site; It's a bit weird to insist on non-English audio, especially for such an important interview.
I'd think you'd want to make such an interview as accessible as possible.
@@baconsarny-geddon8298 Unless you're almost blind, the subtitles are perfectly readable and aren't small at all - even on a phone screen. I can already tell that you're an American, because for some reason Americans are mentally challenged by the existance of subtitles. Learn to read and stop being a baby. You'll be fine.
I was born in 94, raised and still live in Essen. It was heavyly bombed serval times. My Grandfather was born in 31 and he could recall the first daytime attack and its date with ease. Thats how bad it was he always said you can hardly know what war really means. I loved listening to him he told me some gruesome storys that he witnessed back then. Im a son of my time a long period of peace thats what i stand for. But even I understand that war is evil. He was the best Grandpa you could ever imagine. A Long time before he passed away we agreed that I would stay with him when his time would come. Im glad I held that promise. May you never have to witness war in any way shape or form. Love and Peace to all of you ❤✌🏼
Thanks. Take care
And Essen became a sh*thole full of mossis like the whole Ruhrpott
All but 2 family members were in the German military during ww2, a couple were active nazis that did some really bad stuff and were evil a few just got caught up in it.
Moin, dein intensives und bewegendes Verhältnis zu Deinem Opa berührt mich....ein großes Glück!
Liebe Grüße Marko
@@fredfrohlich5075 Jo Grütze zurück.
Forty years ago I got to know a man who had been a Wehrmacht tank commander at Leningrad. He said that he had been given command of a tank which performed perfectly on flat dry ground at 20 degrees C. The only conditions he never met in the USSR were flat, dry ground at 20 degrees. He said the worst thing was keeping his socks dry, because every man he knew who wore wet socks died.
To see what the German Army experienced while fighting in the East you only have to look at Ukraine, where even modern M1 Abrams tanks have issues traversing the muddy terrain.
The Father of my moms best friend growing up was a U-Boat captain that survived the war and had stories to tell, he died recently like 2018.
Now imagine how the nearly 2.000.000 dead Soviet Citizens who have died thanks to that poor man's summer holiday must have felt!
@@Josh-dm5eq soviet casualties were nothing compared to how many people Stalin killed because he didnt want them around and perceived them as threats. He killed more than the germans did.
@@Josh-dm5eqterrible, but the soviets got more than revenge on prisoners and civilians during and after the war. Like two evil criminal gangs fighting each other.
Hi!! He looks great for 99. Wish him good health, and thanks for coming to Timeghost to talk about your experiences during ww2!!
That is hands down the healthiest and most lucid 99 year old I’ve ever seen.
May he live another 20 years!
A lot of Germans age well over all, my grandmother is 84 and can pass for early 70's still. A lot of her family also died closer to 100 than not. It has a lot to do with their diets 😅
I have friends whose fathers fought for Germany in the 14-45 war. One became a psychiatrist in order to cope with her father's alcoholism and abusiveness. Germany produced an entire generation of men who suffered from PTSD.
not only germany…….
@@Marco187PoloTrue, but when an entire generation is forced to fight for an unjust cause, it would come worse for their souls.
What 14-45 war? Are you collectively referring to WWI and WWII? Those were two different wars.
@@Melior_Traiano Two different wars? In the 1914 chapter, Germany invaded France, resulting in an alliance of democratic nations: Britain, France, the United States, etc. The German generals who lost that chapter then chose a promising young man to lead revanchist Germany: Hitler. Germany then attacked Czechoslovakia and Poland, leading to an alliance of liberal democracies (plus Russia, who dropped out of the first half before the intermission). The 1938 chapter followed directly from the resolution of the 1914 half. One hundred years from now your "separate wars" will be treated the same way we lump everything at the turn of the 19th century into the "Napoleonic Wars."
@@danielwillens5876 They are already referred to as the "World Wars", genius. The emphasis is also on wars as in multiple wars. I can't help you, if you can't understand these basic facts.
Was not expecting this sort of video at all, but so glad that we have it thanks to the great efforts of all of you at TimeGhost and Dr. Hess.
It wouldn't be possible without the TimeGhost Army, thank you for watching.
He survived great depression, ww2, cold war, the covid pandemics and has lived until war in Ukraine and in Gaza with clear and sharp mind. Gush, what a health and what a person
He survived the vaccination. Lots in his age did not.
@@wonderfalg Imagine how many people died because they did not take the vaccine.
As a German, I'm deeply impressed by Spartacus' language skills!
One of my best moments was getting to watch the movie Dunkirk and realising the person who had sat next to me in the dark was a man who was there, he came with his daughter, with his ribbons, medals and beret.
Through the film I could sense him getting emotional, it made the experience that much more for me, after the film he just turned to me and asked me "Did you like the film?". I spoke to him briefly and his daughter mentioned he was there, all I could do was thank him for watching the movie with me.
I never had a chance to speak to anyone who was a veteran before then, and that was likely my only chance.
Thank you for this video.
Amazing!
I am American. My father was in WW2. I love Germany and the German people. It's hard for me to visualize such violence that occurred between us. It is good to hear the other side accurately describe what the war was like for them. Hollywood doesn't usually give accurate accounts. Men like Dr Hess did what they had to do to survive.
I was in the USAir Force in Germany 1976-80. I too love the German people, and I felt sad for their loss as well.
@@paulpfeifer2612you are German yourself. Study your ancestry.
My US Military family was in Cold War West Germany, 73 to 80, my German neighbor, took part in Operation Barberosa. I learned to listen to his stories, then my Post Chapel went on a trip to Israel in 75, I learned to listen. Living off post, my school mates' father was formally a Hitler Youth, and I learned to listen. And now we are on the threshold of repeating the past. Who is listening?
those who dont learn from the past are doomed to repeat it
lol what are we going to repeat? You mean what Germany was doing during the Weimar Republik? Gender changes, p***philes, normalizing a hedonistic society? Or are you talking about the solution that was brought to end such filth? I assume the latter.
Very well stated. 👍
Sweet man. Seems like a very decent person thrown into fighting for a truly evil empire; a story that millions could tell. When you see Nazis portrayed in film, you don’t typically imagine a gentle man like this behind the steel helmet.
My grandfather never really talked about the World war 2, until we got drunk one night we shared our experiences in the military together. But when him and me went to the recruiters before he said you guys have it soft! Our training was brutal we had 20 mile speed hikes with a full pack and had to live with 62 guys every day and one small footlocker! They were aww struck and one asked where did you see action asking reluctantly! My grandfather took a small breath and said Europe and I was at Achion and the battle of the Bulge, but I won't talk about it because you weren't there! They stood up and gave him a proper salute!
salute
My god, both Aachen and the Bulge and he came out alive! Your grandpa was made of some stern stuff. Salute!
My gram gram fought in the Caucasus, he was not in the soviet army ;)
@@johnmacmillan3941 I know a guy like that too. he got in a fight with a russian guy at sochi in 2014
Danke.
Herman Sims (old disabled U.S. Army Infantryman veteran, son of a Navy veteran of WWII, all of the Pacific Campaign)
Thank you for your service, and your family's service.
Thank you for the interview!
When Dr. Hess mentioned his main motivation being survival and thus striving to be in a support role, it reminded me a lot of my grandfather. The only real difference is, that mine went to the mountaineers in 1940 or 1941, in the hopes that the war would be over by the time their training was done. He finished that in '43 and luckily survived the eastern front
Thank you for sharing a bit of your grandfathers story, and thanks for watching.
I sadly never met my grandfather, but from what I was told, he knew somebody at the recruitment office, and thus landed a position as a ship's cook in Norway. Which, all things considered, was probably one of the safer places to be.
My man your German is immaculate, I am semi fluent but struggle listening to native German speakers sometimes because of the way their words flow together but with the way you enunciate I barely needed to look at the subtitles. I don't know which I am more impressed by: your guest or your command of the language.
The part where he returns to his team's duty station and finds everyone else dead or wounded was chilling. It's hard to imagine what it must feel like to know that you're only intact my virtue of random chance.
Well, we are all here to begin with by virtue of random chance.
Life is luck.
It must have been an incredibly harrowing and sobering experience.
Sehr tolles Interview! Unglaublich was die Soldaten und vor allem die Zivilisten alles mitmachen mussten damals! Danke dass er seine Geschichte erzählt und uns mit seinen Erfahrungen bereichert hat, Krieg ist furchtbar und ich wünsche mir dass mehr Menschen diese Einsicht haben und es verstehen.
Thank you for your service sir.
My father's side came to America a little bit before the Revolutionary War, and every single person in my direct male bloodline has served in the US military. My mother's side came to America around the mid-'60s. All I know about my maternal great-grandfather's side was that he fought on the Eastern Front. He died when I was about 5 or 6, I can't quite remember.
As for my paternal side, all I had known for the longest time was that he enlisted on his 18th birthday just in time to be part of the Normandy beach landings. I only ever saw him during birthdays, Christmas, or Thanksgiving. Every single year at every single family gathering I would ask him what it was like, which beach he was at, if he was in the battle of the bulge, you know just the typical stuff. But every single time he would say, "No, not yet at least - you're too young." On my 17th birthday, I asked him his story. He said, "I want to only share the landings; the rest is too painful." It was a long, but incredible story. Just for a general gist since it'd take like 3 hours to type everything out, he was part of the second wave at Omaha. Once the door dropped down, three guys at the front dropped dead, he spent a good chunk of it hiding behind those logs just praying that he wouldn't get hit. He saw a kid blow up after walking on a landmine and saw some internal organ of some sort land just yards away from him. By the time the Germans were running out of ammo, his buddy next to him peaked up to see if they were out entirely since it was taking longer between each reload for them every so often but that one took maybe a minute or two. He pulled his friend back into cover just to see his face caved in. By the time they got to the bunkers and trenches, he saw a wounded Wehrmacht soldier crying while holding his hand - *literally* holding his own hand with the other. He didn't fire his rifle even once. He past away last summer.
Spartakus german is insane...its brilliant
and Dr. Joachim Hess really has a story worth hearing
Isn't Sparty German?
Yes, he is german.
@@40sBlockProductions I think he is from sweden but lives in germany
@@harambe5479No, he ist not German, but he lives in Germany
@@harambe5479 He is Swedish, and you can hear that he has a slight accent, but only minimal
Awesome to see another veteran's story filmed and documented
This guy's father was incredibly smart, at least as far as I can tell from his story. "War is the destruction of national wealth" is a great way to put it, and I find it remarkable he managed to give a good prediction of what would happen once the war had started
Incredible - all veteran voices ought to be heard from this war
There were millions of soldiers still alive after the war. No1 has the time to listen to all of them
@@heavyartillery-qm5hu ok smartass
@@heavyartillery-qm5huare you stupid each person listens to different story’s, as time passes that pool will get smaller
Excet maybe the few surviving escaped SS officers in South America who have lived in comfort and satisfaction.
Excellent job! What a joy to watch! I'm 57 and my grandparents were of the Depression/ WW2 area. I had dozens of uncles that fought in the war. They're all long gone, but listening to this man speak was like seeing them all over again. God Bless him and you too Spartacus.
Thanks for watching!
Thank you for your work. Never forget.
And thank you for watching.
What a man. Preaching peace. I hope this stands as a record of what it was like as a German during the war.
If this German dude is honest with himself, he must live down the fact that he was in the army of the country that committed the worst genocide in human history and murdered millions of French, British, Russian etc. etc. To get that off your conscience you'd have to do volunteer work every day of your life, donations, visit those affected etc.
Let us NOT to forget these voices, axis and allies alike. This was the deadliest conflict of the 20th century, millions death, both militarily and civilian. They know a thing or two about war, suffering, misery, loss. Yet all of them say "enough with war". We oughta start listening at some point.
Problem is the people who repeat history aren't the ones learning from it
@@dfjabwe’re seeing it already with Russia wanting to try and take back what they claim is theirs and China flexing their muscle in the South China Sea and wanting to take Taiwan. Global tensions have never been this bad since the Cold War if not even prior to WW2. Nobody wants to hear the truth because they think a Global Conflict could happen again.
He already had one russian dīctâtòr to think about (and even his own with Hitler, the terrible german ręgimë), what can he say at such an old and retired state too? And after all he has already done already? And he isn't a victim of the current wars, the same as us luckily
@@dusk6159 Have you seen your buddy's legs mangled so bad it looks like a hamburger? Have you tried to stem a bleeding with meters of gauze? Have you seen the mangled remains of an IED detonation where you collect pieces instead of limbs? Technology has changed but war is still the same. You can't "unsee" that. Think about it for a second.
@@SuiLagadema So every other country besides western/first world or european ones don't see that?
I could listen to him speak for hours! What a marvellous find by this channel!
It's not too difficult to find allied veterans, especially Americans, discussing their experiences on UA-cam. More often than not, they'll be discussing some (relatively) well-known, fact like D-Day. For some reason though, possibly due to the language barrier, you don't find many survivors from the Axis side (Germany, Italy or Japan). It's really fascinating to see how the other side experienced the war.
Glad you enjoyed, never forget.
We defeated the wrong enemy
Dr Hess' dad seems to have been a very smart man. A trait that obviously runs in the familiy. You don't get to choose where or when you are born. Great interview.
I was thinking the same. The foresight and lack of delusions about Germany's chances of winning the war... my own great grandfather told my grandfather that Germany might win the war, but I don't know whether he just said that to keep my grandfather calm and whether he really believed what he was saying.
Dr. Hess is also very smart! He is the senior boss of the company i work and i have the pleasure to meet him every week. Lokking forward to visit my first 100 year party!
Ich wünschte, ich wäre mit 96 Jahren so gesund. Gott segne die Soldaten dieses sinnlosen Krieges
Thank you for this touching interview! This is probably the saddest aspect of this series, that there are not many witnesses alive anymore. My grandfather was approx. 15 years older than Dr. Hess (born in 1910) and served in the Wehrmacht from 1941 to the end. All the time on the Eastern front. I don't know if he ever would have called himself a pacifist, but I think his attitude towards war was pretty similar. Unfortunately the war never really left him, he was suffering from severe PTSD, though he had a successful academic career.
We heard so much about the battles during this war and in the day-to-day coverage on Instagram we also see some soldiers singled out. But it is a huge difference to talk to an actual veteran or survivor of the Holocaust. I always enjoyed these conversations, as they put life into the narrative of the war. So it is a great treasure, to have this interview with one of the last veterans of the war, as I guess there are not many left, from either side.
Any chance you could find an Allied veteran and make an interview as well?
Anyways, it is the specials like this that makes me proud to be a member of the Time Ghost Army, as I know this is only possible because of our contribution.
Germany, bless it, has done the best by far of any Axis nation of reckoning with being on the wrong side of history
Agreed. Italy and Japan like to pretend they didn't do anything wrong. A cursory glace at history proves otherwise:
Fascist Italy (1922-1943)/Italian Social Republic (1943-1945):
-Libyan genocide during and after the Second Italo-Senussi War
-using mustard gas during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War
-bombing civilians during the Spanish Civil War
-participation in the Holocaust
Etc.
Early Shōwa Japan (1926-1945)
-"comfort women" sexual slavery (included children, often resulted in mutilation and/or murder of victims)
-Unit 731 human experimentation (biowarfare/chemical warfare experiments on live prisoners).
-Nanjing massacre, aka "rape of Nanking"
-"Three Alls Policy" (kill all, burn all, loot all)
-attack on neutral Honolulu, USA
-Bataan death march in the Philippines
Etc.
Not saying Germany is perfect. For decades, Germany pushed myths and narratives about the "clean Wehrmacht" and how the average German supposedly had no idea about the Holocaust, etc. But compared to the non-apologies and outright negationism of the other two, it's definitely a great example of taking responsibility.
Thanks for releasing the same week as the 80th anniversary of D-Day. I'm sad to report that Bill Cameron, a Canadian WWII veteran who served in the D-Day invasion, passed away at age 100 the night before he was booked to fly out to France to attend the events.
My Grandfather used to be in a Submarine against British Forces, the other barely survived Stalingrad. Im thankful for all shared memories. We need to show, why generations are traumatized.
I've watched nearly all of the content on this channel and nearly all on the Great War channel (which I was introduced to nearly 10 years ago) and this is perhaps one of the best episodes on either platform. I sincerely hope for more of this content before that generation fully fades away. It also gave me a chance to brush up on my very rusty German.
What a story, what an episode.
Thank you Sparty.
We are the last generation that can meet WW2 veterans. The last WW1 veteran passed away in 2011. The last ww2 veteran will probably pass away in the 2040s or possibly the early 2050s. Times fly, memories do not. We must interview every surviving ww2 veteran who are willing to share their stories and then archive it on the internet, available to anyone.
I worked in a „Altersheim“ in north Germany last year and met 2 WW2 veterans, they were both dragged into the Wehrmacht in the later stages of the war. Unimaginable what they experienced and both said the same „we are glad we survived, many of our comrades did not…“. Let us not forget what has happen in the 20th century, I wish more people would have the chance to talk with them…
Most WW2 veterans were born in the late 1910s to mid 1920s and most won't reach 2030.
@@Durahan82 Good that he is talking about the last ww2 veteran then
@rammusannus5364 I had my Grand-Pa from my father's side , but he died in 2002 😢
@@Durahan82 Sorry for being an asshole. I was having a rough day.
Dang, great interview.
Just the one thing, Spartacus. No need to turn your head to the camera every 2 seconds.....
99 years old. He is really clear and well spoken. Great generation.
My great grandpa fought in Stalingrad and was caught as POW by the Soviets, and came home 1946. Took his own life a few years later, i don't even wanna know what he saw or did when he was around my age.
Every world leader should be made to watch this video.
I actually shed a tear listening to this. Thank you for the interview, everyone should hear his story!
Thank you Sparty and Dr. Hess.Stories like this make the war more real and personal. We can all learn so much from the survivors and by learning history.
Thank you so much for the comment and the superchat!
It's been many decades since I've spoken German, but I still love the wonderful compound words when I run across them, like here... "Geography book" - Erdkönnenbuch (sorry if the spelling is off) - "Earth knowledge book". I miss it.
Der Gewinner schreibt die Geschichte
My father was 2 years younger than Dr. Hesse. He had emergency high school graduation in June 1944 and was drafted. But my grandfather succeeded in getting him into officer school. That bought enough time to avoid front service in the last year of the war. My father’s best friend was trained as sniper and killed on Christmas eve 1944 at age of 18 in Hungary by the Red Army. My father talked his whole life about missing him.
"Every grenade, every bomb, every bullet is loss."
Pointless, it truly is. It saddens me greatly to see the veterans of any war live long enough to see their efforts fail once again. Peace is never achieved long enough to be enjoyed by whole generations, and I don't think it ever will be. It only lasts just long enough for people to forget, and ensure it happens again.
Speak to a Russian veteran, please. I can assist with interpretation. I have a very advanced English. My grandma is still alive, 86 and was a child during the period.
Short stories:
people of her village Клястицы advised her father to run and become a partisan. He refused for some reason and worked on a near railroad station. Germans caught him helping partisans and ordered him being shot with some other people. Granny remembers that she was going up the hill that led to her village and she heard shots. Then - cries and weeps of women who were told not to come close to the spot. She ran to her mother and she was weeping with other women. She remembered part of her dad's skull tangling off his head strapped by a piece of flesh. Several months later they were able to exhume their bodies (only women did that. There were only boys, girls and women in the village, and several collaborators) and for some reason my granny remembered that some skin was falling off from her dad's heel. One of the relatives cried to put a sock or something on his foot, so it wouldn't disintegrate.
there was a raid by partisans. Germans ran to trenches near the railroad (women and remaining men were ordered to work there) and she was too little to really understand what's happening. Still, her mum dashed away from the station and dragged her along, but my gran was unwilling to run along with her mother, then her mum hit the mud while babushka continued running/walking until her mom snatched my gran by the leg and caused her to fall face first. Then she heard bullets whizzing above her head.
I was in that village once, I saw the house. It was the farthest from the railroad (the railroad is almost 1 km away) and within 300-400 m. to the forest. Partisans took shelter in their house one night. They left in the morning but they also left A LOT of footprints on the snow. Germans always patrolled the area at the certain time. And they definitely punished everyone for helping guerillas. But an hour before the Germans arrived, the blizzard covered all their tracks.
Once, the young German soldier (grandma description of his looks was so stereotypical: round glasses, red hair, tall) on this patrol gave her a sugar cube.
The cow. It saved their lives. Potatoes were scarce. But the cow could provide two-three glasses of milk a day. Sometimes even more. She was a very kind animal and allowed to warm grandma's hands in her udder.
When Germans left, the collaborators also left with them, and loaded all the private cattle from the village by German order. Grandma's mother received a new one some time later. A German one. Reparations.
My grandfather surrendered with parts of his unit (a StuG brigade I forgot the number of, maybe 236?) in - then - Czechoslovakia. He described his march into captivity only once and mentioned that they were walking in a column stretching several kilometers. He told me that the whole time there was shooting going on, at the rear, the front and in his vicinity as the Soviets shot everyone too exhausted to keep on walking. That was a harrowing story I will always remember.
Every veteran, who has actually seen or been in combat, a war, (My Dad included, 15th Air Force, Tailgunner on a B-24, MIA) says the same thing...what a waste...
So many mixed feelings in here...so i will just shut up for once and thank your effort.
Indeed, particularly as "we never really talked politics in the house"... Where have we heard that before.
@@ByronBohte Exactly. If this German dude is honest with himself, he must live down the fact that he was in the army of the country that committed the worst genocide in human history and murdered millions of French, British, Russian etc. etc. To get that off your conscience you'd have to do volunteer work every day of your life, donations, visit those affected etc. It's really obnoxious that there is no mention at ALL of these tragedies. Shame on them
The greatest pacifists of our time were veterans of the first world war. Sadly their pacifist attitudes were not enough to prevent an even bigger war
This is why i have been watching this channel for years, is for this moments that make me go " yes, this is why i love this channel, the team and effort behind".
You have a new patron from now.
Much appreciated, welcome aboard!
Ruhm und Ehre! ❤
It is fun watch Sparticus have a fanboy moment :-)
Mr. Olsen speaks excellent German.
I hope the comments stay civil. I know when memoirs of ww2 interviewed some Germans there were a lot of comments about platforming that side, even though they also had young draftees from the last few years. This is important history but not everyone will see it that way
That is awesome! I have always wanted to talk to a German veteran. Its always fascinating to hear from the other side.
I had the fortune of speaking to several veterans from both sides of the conflict. What strikes me is that most have left behind any hatred towards their former enemies. It’s amazing to see them talking to each other over a meal and some drinks, bringing up memories.
@@punishedgloyperstormtroope8098 What fall in morality or economics? Politically there’s indeed some issues (mostly due to outside meddling) but nothing the democratic process won’t fix eventually.
my dad served 80-83 in Nurnberg Germany 2nd ACR Merrell barracks/Sudkaserne, near our housing area at Pastorius Strasse, in the summer of 83 I worked at Zeppelin field you know-the rallies- groundskeeping ,with two old germans one missing an arm; I remember one of the German TV channels ZDF? airing documentaries of their war with Russia, and the high school auto shop teacher one time telling how Russian tank rounds fell at their feet. I have in my possesion 4 large format prewar black and white photos one of which was I think was Hitlers JU52 and another of an officer-I do't know who, but he had a pet like a Scottish terrier and he looks like he would be a WW1 vet
I wonder if he gets a veteran discount...
At Lowes
In my younger days, I sought out WW2 vets to hear them tell their stories; I didn't understand how anybody didn't find them thoroughly engrossing. Both of my grandfathers served in the USMC during the War - one a Sherman tank commander, the other in a non-combat capacity - so I was fortunate to have their stories close to hand. Grandpa - my Dad's father - told me stories that his own children never heard.
Can't read the titles which is a shame.
More groups should take initiatives to collect interviews like this for posterity; after another few decades many of these veterans won't be alive to tell their story and their stories will be lost forever unless we start preserving them now.
I’ve often admired the Germans for their rebuilding and commitment to civilisation, but what is it that the generations that fought both world wars despise Australians to the point that only Australia was excluded from the reparations payments agreed by Germany in 1953 to 2010. Just where did this prejudice by Germany come from?
As a german and somebody who is quite new to the channel… I‘m impressed from the german speech skills from the interviewer. Its Perfect!!!
In the interview the speaker said "we germans" so im assuming hes a native german so it makes sense.
@@officialjoe1156no, he’s not a native, as evidenced by grammatical errors that are rather obvious, but his general pronunciation and accent are pretty good, definitely better than probably 95% of L2 German speakers. He could probably pass for ‘native’ by accent, but he still has some issues with grammar, as most L2 speakers tend to have.
Thanks for sharing with us. I appreciate his words towards the end, addressed to young Germans. The reality however tells me, a 63 year old former Bundeswehr Soldier (compulsory for 15 month) when I had left school prior to studying, that our young people are extremely intimidated, disoriented and helpless in the face of a socialist state dictatorship that has been subtle introduced since Angela Merkel took office and handed over to her successor former young Marxist Olaf Scholz. Our situation is desperate, we need support from our NATO Partners urgently ! As Olaf Scholz stated today in our parliament: ,, We will not revert back to good old times, cause they weren't as good most of the time' anyway ' Good Night Germany !
What an absolute honour to have an interview with this gentleman and share it to the world, thank you so much
As this gentleman says…war doesn’t solve anything, doesn’t produce anything but negative. Go home Putin, go home Hamas, go home Netanyahu
Spartacus in perfect fluent german, what a surprise or I must have missed those parts before.
Hats off !
Not to diminish his very good German, and this is nitpicking, but there were a few mistakes here and there, mostly with der/die/das - but that is a nightmare for people learning the language, more than understandable, and doesnˋt make him any less comprehendable. I was impressed by both how many technical terms and colloquialisms he was able to both say and understand.
You know he is German and they usually speak German.
No I don't think I ever heard him speak, but I always thought that is pronounciation of german names and places is VERY good.
The show is produced in Germany I think
@@kevinconrad6156I thought he was Swedish
Man, at 14:32, despite the seriousness of the interview, and despite the absolutely horrible scene of carnage and death and destruction, my first thought was “ooh! There’s a kitty!”
17:15 i believe it was Cicero who said 'the sinews of war is infinite money'
When I was a cild, back in the USSR, most adults around have survived the war, many have fought in it. But the most amazing thing for me, at 18, was visiting my great grandfatger, already 96, who had fought in WWI, mostly as a cavalry man (he was an ethnic Mongolian (Buryat, specifically), so a born rider). I taled to him about the war, and it was peculiar that the most fasinating thig for him was seeing a lift in Petrograd, while he was having his training as a member of an armoured vehicle crew. He asked me whether they still had lifts there
Thank you, Spartacus, for the privilege of listening to this interview. I dearly wish Dr. Hess's words on tolerance would echo throughout my beloved USA. Thank you , thank you l, thank you.
Guy is a little old... you should find a younger WW2 veteran... like around 40 years-old... would get you more views... also, maybe a Jewish WW2 veteran which would add more perspective.
This video and this whole channel should get archived in to a time capsule and or be a mandatory watch for every student during history class, I swear. Great work you guys are doing, love it!
Not let their tragedy repeat itself. Lovely and very true. Hence why the world needs rid of Putin!
Incredible video…
Thank you All!
So Very, very much.
😔
I noticed an inaccuracy and would like to point it out: At 6:25, Dr. Hess answers with "Jein", which is not an actual word in German, but a mix of "Ja"/Yes and "Nein"/No. The subtitle states "No. Not really" for it.
I'd also like to say that your pronounciation in German is on native speaker level! Most impressive! When I first heard you speak German, I was quite confused if you are actually a native speaker.
May I ask you how you learned to speak German so well?
When Dr. Hess mentioned the Red Army raping women, it reminded me of the story of my grandmother. She wasn't raped, but she must have lived through hell. She was a young girl, 12 years old, when the war ended. During the war, her family lived in Danzig, which is a Polish town today (Gdansk). It was the most north-eastern (kind off isolated) German city with a big harbor and thus a huge target for bombing raids and for the Russian advance in general.
She told me that air raid alarms were very common. In the middle of the night, during school, at dinner - just at any time. She witnessed neighbours laying dead on the streets after bombing raids and once even a fighter plane hunting down and shooting at individual people who couldn't make it to cover.
One time she told me a Russian squad entered their air raid shelter. Obviously none of them spoke German; they shouted, threw things around and eventually one soldier put his pistol right to my grandmothers forehead. Just a moment after this a Russian officer came in and held the squad back, probably saving my grandmothers life by this.
My grandmother fled to western Germany, where we live to this day. I know she had an older sister during the war, but I don't know what happened to her, nor do I know if her parents survived. She never told me about this.
It was hard to talk to my grandmother since she suffered badly from dementia for quite a few years before she died. The war must have been engraved deeper in her than anything else, because whenever we met her (after she started suffering from dementia), she sooner or later started talking about the war. The same stories I just wrote over and over again. And the most disturbing thing is that she always giggled when telling stories, even with these kind of stories.
If anyone read this much, thank you.
Thank you for sharing!
As for my German skills, I have lived in Germany for a long time, and I’m bilingual Swedish/English since language acquisition, and trilingual with French added in early childhood. Learning new languages with “native pronunciation” is a skill that all infants have by birth, but is gradually lost from around age three until early puberty. Bilingual language acquisition and adding a third language at early age will maintain this ability into adulthood. So while I’m glad that it’s the case and flattered by the compliment, I can’t take any credit since it’s purely a consequence of circumstances beyond my control.
Being in the USA I have known and talked to many ww2 vets and survivors that I wished that there stories could be recorded. War is hell, no doubt about it, and to hear this interview is a reminder to me and to all of us, as Spartacus says “ never ever forget.” Thanks to dr Hess for doing the interview