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 jumped down from the train that was supposed to bring him to a gulag (he was a soldier (vehicle driver) in ww2, just like all other German males at that time) with six others and walked 800 000 km home over many nights (at daytime they’d be seen and captured to be brought to a gulag, which basically equalled death), before dawn broke they always went to a farm and asked if they could hide there for the day (the farmers were very friendly despite having been enemies not long ago (enemies in wars usually exist on a political level, but not on a personal one), most didn’t reject them and let them sleep, usually also gave them something to eat and if they were lucky something to take with them for the next night).
He was the only one who arrived back home, all others either were captured or died.
There he went to the American zone since he had heard his chances for survival were best there. They threw him into a pit (went a few meters down, he broke his arm from falling down), gave him some stray, water and bread (apart from the bread basically like many animals are kept). After eight years (including frequent physical and psychological torture (= for example telling him to lay off all clothes and stand at a wall, pointing a gun at him telling him it’s time to die like once per month)) he was so ill that they expected him to die within a few days so they set him free so he could visit his wife and children one last time.
He recovered and lived to become 90 years old.
Just because one side was very bad it doesn’t mean the other sides were angels. I’m not defending the Nazis in any way, but I’m sure there were many cases such as his. And he didn’t do anything special as far as I know, didn’t have a high rank or anything, he just was a normal vehicle driver in his country’s army.
My grandfather jumped down from the train that was supposed to bring him to a gulag (he was a soldier (vehicle driver) in ww2, just like all other German males at that time) with six others and walked 800 000 km home over many nights (at daytime they’d be seen and captured to be brought to a gulag, which basically equalled death), before dawn broke they always went to a farm and asked if they could hide there for the day (the farmers were very friendly despite having been enemies not long ago (enemies in wars usually exist on a political level, but not on a personal one), most didn’t reject them and let them sleep, usually also gave them something to eat and if they were lucky something to take with them for the next night).
He was the only one who arrived back home, all others either were captured or died.
There he went to the American zone since he had heard his chances for survival were best there. They threw him into a pit (went a few meters down, he broke his arm from falling down), gave him some stray, water and bread (apart from the bread basically like many animals are kept). After eight years (including frequent physical and psychological torture (= for example telling him to lay off all clothes and stand at a wall, pointing a gun at him telling him it’s time to die like once per month)) he was so ill that they expected him to die within a few days so they set him free so he could visit his wife and children one last time.
He recovered and lived to become 90 years old.
Just because one side was very bad it doesn’t mean the other sides were angels. I’m not defending the Nazis in any way, but I’m sure there were many cases such as his. And he didn’t do anything special as far as I know, didn’t have a high rank or anything, he just was a normal vehicle driver in his country’s army.
Edit: Another example: https://lemmy.world/comment/12283788