Posted on 03/14/2018 10:50:26 AM PDT by GoldenState_Rose
Difficult as it is to fathom, given most people's conception of dictatorship, most Germans appear to have led happy, productive, even normal lives in the Third Reich. This indicates that a dictatorship can enjoy widespread popularity among the majority even while committing unspeakable crimes against minorities and others.
The horrors of the Nazi regime and the Holocaust still present some of the most disturbing questions in modern history: Why did Hitler’s party appeal to millions of Germans, and how entrenched was anti- Semitism among the population? How could anyone claim, after the war, that the genocide of Europe’s Jews was a secret? Did ordinary non-Jewish Germans live in fear of the Nazi state? In this unprecedented firsthand analysis of daily life as experienced in the Third Reich, What We Knew offers definitive and surprising answers to these crucial questions.
Combining the expertise of Eric A. Johnson, an American historian, and Karl-Heinz Reuband, a German sociologist, What We Knew is the most startling oral history yet of everyday life in the Third Reich, drawing on gripping interviews as well as a unique survey of four thousand people, both German Jews and non-Jewish Germans.
(Excerpt) Read more at archive.org ...
*any resemblance to today under the current U.S. President is purely coincidental. NOT!
The Germans who were forced to visit the death camps: Harrowing footage shows shamed civilians whom Allies ordered to see the atrocities carried out in their name by the Nazis
Video shows locals being taken around Buchenwald concentration camp in 1945
Hundreds of Weimar residents were made to see piles of bodies in the Nazi camp
One woman can be seen being carried away by two US soldiers after collapsing
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5307007/Clip-shows-Germans-walk-Nazi-camp-WW2.html#ixzz59kdEGUKj
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
As did mine.
She told me that she was once slapped in the face by a teacher for not doing the Heil Hitler thing when passing him on the street.
At the end of the war the Americans were across the valley reconning the area to see if there were any German units in the area. According to mom my grandmother hung a huge white sheet from the 3rd story window of their house, which was perched on a hillside in the town, very visible to the Americans. A neighbor told her to take it down, because what if the Nazis saw it? My grandmother told her that she just didn’t care anymore.
The Americans moved across the valley and into their town and my family was rewarded for hanging the white sheet. My then 13 year old mother got the first candy bar she had eaten in many years.
Another family anecdote, my German grandfather was a construction foreman overseeing the construction of a stretch of the coastal defenses at Normandy. He was a great grandfather to me, died at 92.
I asked a War Bride what they thought of Hitler when they were growing up:
“Oh, we thought he was great!”
Your grandmother was both brave and lucky. I read an account of a German woman who was with a group of refugees when she heard the news that Hitler had killed himself. She exclaimed, “Oh, thank God!” without thinking. An SS man shot her on the spot.
A German Jew named Klemperer wrote a very interesting book on his life in Nazi Germany in the early 1930’s.
The autobahns were good but most of the roads very bad.
He wanted to get a loan. The banker refused simply because legal conditions were bad for bankers.
The Nazis made him buy their newspaper. He got to know what sort of insults he would have to endure on any given day.
“My mom vaguely remembered the police searching their house regularly...”
And German police were like no other in the world!
“A German Jew named Klemperer wrote a very interesting book on his life in Nazi Germany...”
Werner Klemperer...Col. Klink?
Werner Klemperer’s uncle.
Oops, sorry, Victor Klemperer was Werner’s first cousin once removed.
The thing I took away from that footage was how well-dressed and seemingly well-fed the civilians were. I believe if you were an average German (obviously not one of the targeted groups) life was much better for you than if you were, say, an average Soviet.
I have been recently watching on YouTube “Die Deutsche Wochenschau” and “Ufa Tonwoche”. They are WWII German newsreels. Interesting to see the Germans portrayed as the good guys, while the Brits are shown as pure evil. Of course as you move into 1944, the tone changes from “Our boys are sweeping all before them” to Our boys are bravely maneuvering to more defensible positions.” Many of the Wochenschau programs have English subtitles, but you get a good idea of what’s going on even without.
The Italians had a girl singling group, Trio Lescano, that sounds very like the Andrew Sisters. Apparently the same style of music was popular on both sides. Don’t know about the German’s taste in music, however. Don’t want to know what the Soviets liked.
Almost all the Germans in Hogans Heroes were played by Jews.
The French guy was a Holocaust survivor.
“Eisenhower ordered all available American troops to go and witness the horrors he’d just seen. He also forced German citizens and officials from nearby towns to do the same,” Mr. Boehner said in the letter.
“He understood that there must be a record, first-hand evidence and incontrovertible answers to those who would deny the Holocaust.”
“Get it all on record now – get the films – get the witnesses – because somewhere down the road of history some bastard will get up and say that this never happened.”
Nazism had wide support in progressive circles around the world including the US, in fact our eugenics programs inspired some of the more odious Nazi practices in part. One of the biggest coverups in history has been the wholesale attempt to erase that support, after the Holocaust atrocities were discovered.
“Germany was abused and tricked into both wars.”
Yeah, they just kept getting tricked into invading other countries...
Sorry, Mr. Rodgers
But the lies of the victors are starting to wear thin. There are always two sides to every war. At least. Call me cynical, but I doubt the stories we have been told about Hilter and the Third Reich. The facts are that Germany was railroaded into WWI and attempted peace on more than one occassion. The Red Menace was very real, as was the Treaty of Versailles. Both disasters for post war Germany. The people of Germany suffered greatly the depedations of a mini EU. It is no wonder that Aldoph Hitler arose from the Debauched post war Germany. Much like Donald Trump in post war, post NAFTA, post WTO America, post Clinton,Obama America.
Watch Russia. They are being treated like Germany by the International community. The war drums are beating loudly.
“I doubt the stories we have been told about Hilter [sic] and the Third Reich.”
Then you are a fool. Here is a helpful hint:
Germany didn’t invade other countries because other countries turned the road signs around...
Nice. Enjoy your ignorance.
“I will bear witness” a diary from 1933 - 1941. There is a sequel which describes his survival through the war in Dresden and living under the commies. Victor Klemperer.
“Enjoy your ignorance.”
Enjoy your Nazi propaganda. Just don’t expect many Americans to swallow it.
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