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The Germans had their propaganda machine...we have the main stream media
Very true. We are not so different, despite our denials to the contrary. Plus, the Holocaust was not exactly public knowlege... I doubt the average German citizen at the time even knew what was happening. A Government is not necessarily a reflection of it's people, after all.
The general sentiment of the average German citizen has been delved into already and I think the PP's have raised some very good points. I think there was a general progression from stong Nazi support in the beginning that rapidly faded as the war progressed and the losses mounted. By the time the war ended the average German was simply shell shocked into accepting whatever reality they were in. They were a truly defeated and decimated country, unlike at the end of WW1.
As far as the atrocities are concerned, I do think that the average German had an idea about what was going on. Perhaps not the extent, but certainly that the atrocities were happening. However, anti-semitism was not a new concept in Germany and Europe to a greater extent. The Nazi's played on this emotion to assign blame for Germany's failures in WW1. I think for most it wasn't outright desire to see it happen as much as it was apathy to allow it to occur, because they simply didn't care and it wasn't worth their life to stand up for a person who was not "German" in their eyes.
When it came to the Russian occupation, I actually have met two individuals who lived it through who both later emigrated to the U.S. and became teachers.
One was an ethnic German living in Hungary who fled with her family to the west as the Russian's advanced. They knew full well what would happen when the Russian's came. They eventually made their way to family in Bavaria that was occupied by the U.S. All they knew at the time was that everyone who had the means was trying to get to the west and away from the Soviets as quickly as possible.
The second lived in Germany in an eastern suburb of Berlin. They were trapped and could not flee to the west, even though many people they knew were trying to. This individual lived through the Russian occupation. The first point that she brought up was the massive differences in standards of living between Russians and Germans. When the Russians occupied her home they had several strange behaviors. One was thinking that the light switches themselves are what made lights go on in the room, so they would rip the switch out of the wall and carry it with them expecting that it would make the lights work. The other was the toilet and they tried to wash out their clothes in the toilet and became incensed when they thought the German civilians were stealing their socks when they flushed. She also remembers hiding from the rape gangs that roved the town at night and spent many nights huddled with several other women and girls in a cystern or a water tower to avoid the gangs. She remarked that it was mainly the younger enlisted soldiers who perptrated the crimes as they were often drunk and the officers did little to stop their behavior. What finally saved her family was when a Russian officer took residence in their home and she found him to be a cultured and respectful man who was willing to secure things for the family in exchange for them doing his laundry and cooking meals. Eventually they fled to west Germany and the allied ZOC.
So, I think the German civilians knew full well what to expect from the Russians and those who could made a beeline to the western allied lines. Those who couldn't make it stealed themselves for the Russian occupation and did their best to survive.
Hello. I study WWII history for hobby and have been reading about the roles and actions of German civilians in relation to Nazi regime during WWII and the consequences they suffered. I have the following Qs for insights.
1. Why wasn't there strong anti-Nazi movement decrying the inhumane and evil policies and programs carried out by the Nazi regime? It seemed most Germans were indifferent to the suffering of Jews, Soviet POWs, and other slave laborers. They must have known the existence of concentration camps all over the Europe.
After all, there were number of them in Germany itself. They must have also known the atrocities being committed in Soviet Union and all over the Europe from family members and relatives who served in Wehrmacht. Why didn't Germans rise up en masse like French Revolution?
a few things here, first we hqave to go back long before the firs world war back to the napoleanic wars when napolean the first tried to do the same thing hitler did in world war two, dominate the whole of europe and create a huge empire. this time period created a lot of animosity between the french and germanic peoples. at the time germany as we know it today was actually a few different countries, you had prussia, and germany among others. fast forward to the franco-prussian war. the object here was several fold;
first to get revenge for what napolean the first did
next to unify all of the german republics
third to embarrass france on the world stage
and fourth to make france seem to be the aggressor
this was made possible when the throne of spain became open, and the throne was offered to a prince of the house of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, a branch of the ruling house of Prussia. The offer, at first accepted on Bismarck's advice, was rejected (July 12) after a strong French protest. But the aggressive French foreign minister, the duc de Gramont, insisted on further Prussian assurances, which King William I of Prussia (later Emperor William I) refused. Bismarck, by publishing the famous Ems dispatch, inflamed French feeling, and on July 19, France declared war.
this enabled bismarck to to unify the german states and prussia against the french aggressors. france ultimately lost the war and had to give up land and pay war reparations. this brings us to the treaty of versailles where the french demanded that germany pay war reparations to the allies, which caused extreme hardship in germany. for instance the weimar republic monetized their debts and created monsterous inflation rates, people would go buy the things they needed as soon as they got their paychecks because if they waited the price would go up further(inflation rates of like 500% or so). this cause a severe depression in the german republics, and just when the german currency was stabilizing, the great depression hit the world throwing germany into another economic tailspin.
when hitler came back in 1933, he campaigned on making germany strong again, and to restore german pride and prestige in the world(sound familiar?). to that end he embarked on a series of public works projects, creating the autobahn, and building new infrastructure, and generally putting the german people back to work. he also blamed the jewish people for the problems the german people had. at first jews and other undesirables were deported, but eventually other countries rejected these people, and thus hitler set up reeducation camps where these people were sent. they were used as slave labor through out the war period. the exterminations came later. while there were some that knew what was going on, they either were too scared, too indifferent, or in the loop in regards to what went on in the concentration camps.
but like any country, when the world is against you, the people rise up and do what is needed to protect their country, it isnt just a german thing.
At the height of his popularity Hitler only got 30 something % of the popular vote. Almost the same as the communists. The Nazi's though had big business and big money on their side. After all Hitler promised to put the unions and socialists down once and for all. The money masters of Germany soon found out however that they had made a huge mistake when the government quickly began to spend 50% and more of the GDP. War became an absolute necessity as the entire economy was being spent to build the military might of the nation. One of my favorite political philosophers put it this way, " if a man devotes almost all of his time a money to build a bicycle. Do you suppose that he is not going to ride on it when it's built?
Very true. We are not so different, despite our denials to the contrary. Plus, the Holocaust was not exactly public knowlege... I doubt the average German citizen at the time even knew what was happening. A Government is not necessarily a reflection of it's people, after all.
You know, I used to believe the whole "they didn't know what was going on" malarkey until I visited Dachau, which is right smack in the middle of the city and walking distance from the train station. I call B.S.
...Did you know that Hitlers ultimate hero was the prophet Mohammad. He was trying to create a German equivalent of Islam. Victory by the sword, the subjugation of all unbelievers, and the creation of a thousand year Reich.
However much he admired the conquests of the Islamic armies, it seems extremely unlikely that Mohammed was anything near "Hitler's ultimate hero." Hitler was quite explicit in his statements about the racial inferiority of the Arabs, despite denying this to some Arab leaders when it was convenient.
Hitler considered Arabs to be Aryans in the Nazi sense of the word. He admired the Prophet for the system he created. Hitler also considered himself a prophet and his aims were similar to those of Mohammed. He believed in an all powerful quasi religous almost theocratic state with himself and his ideas as the permanent truth.
You know, I used to believe the whole "they didn't know what was going on" malarkey until I visited Dachau, which is right smack in the middle of the city and walking distance from the train station. I call B.S.
Most Germans didn't live in Dachau. Even still... while some undoubtedly knew, it is completely possible to live next to a prision and not know what happens there. How much do you know about the goings on at your local state prision? How about Guantanamo? Who would have known what happened there if someone on the inside didn't blab?
Plenty of people could tell you about some of the "special" things our own government has done but who wants to end up like this guy?
Are you responsible for the crimes your government had perpetrated? Are the rank and file grunts following orders guilty for staying silent? These are much harder questions to answer when they are part of one's real life experience, with real consequences and with the unfortunate circumstance of being forced to operate with a confounded sense of right and wrong.
So no, I don't blame the German people AT ALL. I blame the Nazi party, and the two aren't synonymous.
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