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 mother worked in Germany in the late 60s (We are Norwegian) and her boss’ (and life long friend of the family) husband was 16 when he was literally drafted from HJ to the SS in early 45. He was a good jugend and it was an “honor” and such BS. But having spent all his childhood in nazi Germany he knew nothing else. He was captured by the Russians in Czechoslovakia and spent 5 years as a POW and the only reason he made it as far as becoming a POW was his age and because the SS NCOs made sure he didn’t get the SS serial number tattoo since he was so young.
God knows how he manages to survive, but I never knew him to not eat every morsel of food on his plate, and he never talked about his experience.
I shed no tears for Nazis, but I do shed tears for the duped and the “innocents” of any conflict.
My mother worked in Germany in the late 60s (We are Norwegian) and her boss’ (and life long friend of the family) husband was 16 when he was literally drafted from HJ to the SS in early 45. He was a good jugend and it was an “honor” and such BS. But having spent all his childhood in nazi Germany he knew nothing else. He was captured by the Russians in Czechoslovakia and spent 5 years as a POW and the only reason he made it as far as becoming a POW was his age and because the SS NCOs made sure he didn’t get the SS serial number tattoo since he was so young.
God knows how he manages to survive, but I never knew him to not eat every morsel of food on his plate, and he never talked about his experience.
I shed no tears for Nazis, but I do shed tears for the duped and the “innocents” of any conflict.