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just saw the movie "Valkyrie", a question i have is, at that point of the war, how many Germans realize Hitler is leading the country to ruins? i got the impression there's quite a few, but maybe it's just the movie...
just saw the movie "Valkyrie", a question i have is, at that point of the war, how many Germans realize Hitler is leading the country to ruins? i got the impression there's quite a few, but maybe it's just the movie...
By that time, any German who isn't utterly sheltered, fanatical or stupid has a pretty good idea that the war is lost. (Eva Braun probably still believed, but she was both utterly sheltered and stupid.) By that time, it was impossible for the average German civilian to ignore the explosives raining down on his or her country, or for the average German soldier to ignore the enemy aircraft that were rocketing and strafing him with fairly little intervention by his own aircraft.
It was, however, very dangerous to voice defeatist thoughts openly at that time (or pretty much any other until the Reich government began to disintegrate).
Interesting question and I can only speculate although j_k_k's answer is a good one.
I think its important to remember that the Reich totally controlled the media, which was limited to newspapers and radio. No TV and its not like someone could read the NY Times online. They could, at great risk, listen to foreign broadcasts. Of course the Allies had been so demonized, they probably thought it all lies anyway.
While destruction was raining down on them, the Reich was bombarding them with propaganda of even worse consequences should the Allies prevail. And I reckon they feared the Russians alot more than the other Allies.
It was a regime built on fear and now there was a whole new dimension of fear to add to it.
There was a great deal of fatalism on the German General Staff by 1943, even. They knew the war was lost, they knew they were being commanded by a man who would bring absolute destruction on the country, but they all knew that they would face grisly deaths if they so much as wiggled their ears. If you read about the aftermath of the bomb plot, literally thousands of innocents were tortured to death. Hitler would entertain himself by watching films of supposed conspirators being garroted with piano wire. That's how pervasive the reign of terror had become.
Victor Klemperer's stories of life in WWII Germany are very instructive this way. Raised Jewish, he converted to Christianity and married a Christian, and thus escaped the 'Final Solution'--but not by much. He records the nature of discussion and fear as he experienced it while the war dragged on. A very valuable account of what it was like from an anti-Nazi who saw German WWII life without ending up in a concentration camp (from which, obviously, one would no longer see much about what Johann the Plumber was thinking and saying). Of course, Klemperer's status as a literary academic affect the account, but he still had to get by in life, and thus still regularly interfaced with all walks of life in the private and public sector of his area.
just saw the movie "Valkyrie", a question i have is, at that point of the war, how many Germans realize Hitler is leading the country to ruins? i got the impression there's quite a few, but maybe it's just the movie...
Albert Speer wrote about this. He makes it sound like most of the people in the inner circle knew. They were afraid to cross Hitler who was just as dangerous whether or not the war was lost. No one knew who remained loyal to him, and there were a lot of opportunists. I think a lot of them must have been like Speer, going through the motions of helping with whatever was going on, but also laying out their own escape plans, waiting for the right moment.
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I believe the German's tried to Surrender to the American/British forces but still wanted to fight the Soviets. Don't know how they could have done that......
I believe the German's tried to Surrender to the American/British forces but still wanted to fight the Soviets. Don't know how they could have done that......
I'm not sure whether or not they wanted to fight the Soviets...but it's not a matter of speculation that whenever possible towards the end of the war, they certainly did prefer to surrender to American or British armies than Russian armies.
Albert Speer wrote about this. He makes it sound like most of the people in the inner circle knew. They were afraid to cross Hitler who was just as dangerous whether or not the war was lost. No one knew who remained loyal to him, and there were a lot of opportunists. I think a lot of them must have been like Speer, going through the motions of helping with whatever was going on, but also laying out their own escape plans, waiting for the right moment.
As I recall, Speer was pretty much the only big wig at the Nuremburg trials to admit that he was wrong and express remorse, much to the consternation of some of the others. Still netted 20 years as Spandau, but not so harsh for Hitler's favorite architect and one who utilized slave labor.
The Nazis who went to the gallows were pretty much unrepentant. A couple made statements hoping for peace but the others were defiant and yelled nationalistic slogans before the trap door opened.
Of course, they were the ones not cafty enough to escape to Argentina.
As I recall, Speer was pretty much the only big wig at the Nuremburg trials to admit that he was wrong and express remorse, much to the consternation of some of the others. Still netted 20 years as Spandau, but not so harsh for Hitler's favorite architect and one who utilized slave labor.
The Nazis who went to the gallows were pretty much unrepentant. A couple made statements hoping for peace but the others were defiant and yelled nationalistic slogans before the trap door opened.
Of course, they were the ones not cafty enough to escape to Argentina.
A thought to consider is that Wernher Von Braun and some of his colleagues were at least as guilty as Speer on the slave labor issue, but there was never a thought of punishing them. Instead, they were given VIP treatment.
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