3,060,000 German military personnel were taken prisoner by the USSR and that 1,094,250 died in captivity (549,360 from 1941 to April 1945; 542,911 from May 1945 to June 1950 and 1,979 from July 1950 to 1955).[4]
My grandfather was one of these Russian POW. He was 15 years old. Conscripted and sent to the front without a choice.
He said, he only survived the camp because he met his uncle there. That’s about all he was willing to talk about it.
In the first war years my greatgrandfather (his father) spent 3 years in prison because he spoke not favorably about the Nazi regime. No trial, no visits, no information. Everything he owned, including his business was expropriated by the Nazis.
He was supposed to be moved to a camp but then was suddenly released without any information and conscripted into the army.
Neither of them had any choice. Mere soldiers, the ones in the trenches, generally didn’t.
People were executed for refusing military service and after that they sent your whole family into a camp for “Sittenhaft” (kin collective punishment).
The SS and SA who were responsible for unbelievable atrocities were only a part of the German military. They were the “elite” units.
This. Half of this thread is such an absurdly cruel and stupid oversimplification.
Just to make sure: I’m not trying to defend the nazis - the zealots that died as pows got what they deserved. But a lot of the common people never had a choice. It’s mostly the lower income classes that had less of a choice as well. Just meat that got send to the fronlines. I guess I just don’t get why people delight in their fates out of all the people/“nazis” they could hate on.
People were executed for refusing military service and after that they sent your whole family into a camp for “Sittenhaft” (kin collective punishment).
And this is how they force conscripted men willing to die for their principles. You may be willing to die for your principles, but a principled person probably isn’t willing to let their wife and kid slowly starve to death in a Nazi forced labor camp. The Nazis were pure evil.
So, just like the “orcs” that Western liberals love to dehumanize, approve of war crimes against, and cheer for the brutal drone deaths of as they lose each of their limbs over the course of an hour? The ones I see them cheering for the brutalization of every day?
My grandfather was one of these Russian POW. He was 15 years old. Conscripted and sent to the front without a choice.
He said, he only survived the camp because he met his uncle there. That’s about all he was willing to talk about it.
In the first war years my greatgrandfather (his father) spent 3 years in prison because he spoke not favorably about the Nazi regime. No trial, no visits, no information. Everything he owned, including his business was expropriated by the Nazis.
He was supposed to be moved to a camp but then was suddenly released without any information and conscripted into the army.
Neither of them had any choice. Mere soldiers, the ones in the trenches, generally didn’t.
People were executed for refusing military service and after that they sent your whole family into a camp for “Sittenhaft” (kin collective punishment).
The SS and SA who were responsible for unbelievable atrocities were only a part of the German military. They were the “elite” units.
This. Half of this thread is such an absurdly cruel and stupid oversimplification.
Just to make sure: I’m not trying to defend the nazis - the zealots that died as pows got what they deserved. But a lot of the common people never had a choice. It’s mostly the lower income classes that had less of a choice as well. Just meat that got send to the fronlines. I guess I just don’t get why people delight in their fates out of all the people/“nazis” they could hate on.
And this is how they force conscripted men willing to die for their principles. You may be willing to die for your principles, but a principled person probably isn’t willing to let their wife and kid slowly starve to death in a Nazi forced labor camp. The Nazis were pure evil.
So, just like the “orcs” that Western liberals love to dehumanize, approve of war crimes against, and cheer for the brutal drone deaths of as they lose each of their limbs over the course of an hour? The ones I see them cheering for the brutalization of every day?
After all, they’re the invaders.
Well, during the war ukraine has no choice but to kill the russian soldiers if they want to win.
But I think that ukraine treats POW fairly well and if the war ends they probably wouldnt force them to work in Gulag conditions.
What?
They’re probably talking about modern Russia.
Fuck Putin. Hopefully he’ll get what he deserves, soon. At the hands of his oligarchs.