[PIMking]

Originally Posted by sa226

I don't mean to add fuel to the fire or anything,

but weren't a majority of the German soldiers unaware of the concentration camps? Did the average German citizen know about what their beloved fuhrer was up to? I don't know the answer I just think the accusations of brutality is relative.

Heck, the now famous Easy company, took on the persona of Iroquois Indians and shaved their heads into mohawks and some even skinned the heads of the Germans. Of course that part is cleverly left out of "Band of Brothers"

No country, Allied or Axis was above brutality.

Originally Posted by kermitology

To answer this bluntly, absolutely, they were aware of both. Having been to Dachau it became immediately clear to me that everyone knew about it. Especially those in Munich, it's practically right beside the city.

As for the larger concentration camps and the death camps, I suspect that many knew about them, but I came away from my concentration camp experience with the resolute feeling that there was absolutely nothing you could do about it. One voice does not resonate, it is quickly silenced. One voice is required to create a chorus, but there is no way anyone would be that voice.

This doesn't excuse the German people, but they were influenced by the smooth talking of a mad man. Hitler preyed upon the discontent of his country and turned that into something extremely powerful and scary. And one thing that seems lost in all of this is the anti-semitism of the rest of the world, not just in Germany.

Wrong,

I've got family that fought in ww2 for the Germans. They were forced at gunpoint at 12 and 14 year old boys in Munich to fight. The later fled west and surrendered to the Americans. There were rumors about it but nothing was set in stone. Got to remember that this wasn't the age of TV and Internet, so the information that was out wasn't that great. It would be hard to think that your leaders would be capable of trying to kill off and entire race of people.