How could the Nazis do it?

I've been reading up a lot more on some of the lesser known crimes, the execution of whole villages in barns by setting fire, starving POWs deliberately, all those ****ed up things, and what I think is how?

Did hunger get to their heads? I mean, as twisted as it is, I kind of understand crimes of a sexual nature in wartime, the motivation is clearly that you haven't seen a woman in ages and you're aware of your mortality, you've got power, you're horny and you're a bit of a ****, but these kind of crimes? Why? How?

Reply 1

04MR17

Volunteer Section Leader

22

Original post by tashkent46

I've been reading up a lot more on some of the lesser known crimes, the execution of whole villages in barns by setting fire, starving POWs deliberately, all those ****ed up things, and what I think is how?

Did hunger get to their heads? I mean, as twisted as it is, I kind of understand crimes of a sexual nature in wartime, the motivation is clearly that you haven't seen a woman in ages and you're aware of your mortality, you've got power, you're horny and you're a bit of a ****, but these kind of crimes? Why? How?

People have done ****ed up things throughout the course of history. The romans burnt Christians as human candles. It's still a mystery as to the exact psychological motivations. I blame the parents.

Reply 2

gjd800

20

My Granddad's mate was a POW under the Japanese and he came home in a right state. People do bad things, especially in times of war. Many would say that we didn't need to annihilate Dresden, but we did it.

Reply 3

CTLeafez

22

You've got to remember Hitler came to power in 1933 and the 2nd World War didn't begin until 1939 and then lasted for 6 years.

There was a lot of propaganda made which indoctrinated the general population, which were then conscripted into the standard army or voluntarily joined the SS, into believing the enemies of the 3rd Reich are sub-human so don't deserve the same level of compassion and morality.

If you believe something to not be human then it's a hell of a lot easier to do terrible things to them. e.g. People generally could squish a spider in their room without moral reservations, but certainly couldn't kill a human. The spider is perceived as lesser than humans so morally easier to harm/kill.

A point to note though; the Wehrmacht (German Army) generally didn't commit war crimes and actually followed the Geneva Convention. It was the SS who committed the war crimes and governed the concentration camps.

The SS were indoctrinated even further than the general population during training, so that probably made it easier for their conscience to do such horrible things.

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 4

tashkent46

OP

20

Original post by CTLeafez

You've got to remember Hitler came to power in 1933 and the 2nd World War didn't begin until 1939 and then lasted for 6 years.

There was a lot of propaganda made which indoctrinated the general population, which were then conscripted into the standard army or voluntarily joined the SS, into believing the enemies of the 3rd Reich are sub-human so don't deserve the same level of compassion and morality.

If you believe something to not be human then it's a hell of a lot easier to do terrible things to them. e.g. People generally could squish a spider in their room without moral reservations, but certainly couldn't kill a human. The spider is perceived as lesser than humans so morally easier to harm/kill.

A point to note though; the Wehrmacht (German Army) generally didn't commit war crimes and actually followed the Geneva Convention. It was the SS who committed the war crimes and governed the concentration camps.

The SS were indoctrinated even further than the general population during training, so that probably made it easier for their conscience to do such horrible things.

The last point isn't strictly true, the army tended to copy the SS but was officially discouraged as the German high command thought it might be bad for morale and control. Nonetheless the German army did terrible things, just as bad as the SS, and they were sanctioned to do it providing they didn't bring disgrace to the idea of German blood.

Reply 5

tashkent46

OP

20

Original post by 04MR17

People have done ****ed up things throughout the course of history. The romans burnt Christians as human candles. It's still a mystery as to the exact psychological motivations. I blame the parents.

It just baffles me, all that screaming, the clear distress, killing children and putting them in graves, all that terror - how could u even do it?

Reply 6

Sataris

21

Original post by 04MR17

People have done ****ed up things throughout the course of history. The romans burnt Christians as human candles. It's still a mystery as to the exact psychological motivations. I blame the parents.

People have done ****ed up things throughout the course of history mostly cos it didn't seem ****ed up to them at the time. You have to wonder what stuff we casually do today that future generations will consider barbaric

Reply 7

tashkent46

OP

20

Original post by Sataris

People have done ****ed up things throughout the course of history mostly cos it didn't seem ****ed up to them at the time. You have to wonder what stuff we casually do today that future generations will consider barbaric

But Germany was a fairly advanced industrial society, the kind of society where you'd think killing children with bayonets wouldn't pass. In the past some of them didn't know any better, it was normal, everyone did it, Romans for example, brutality everywhere, how did they know any better? But the Germans????

Reply 8

CTLeafez

22

Original post by tashkent46

The last point isn't strictly true, the army tended to copy the SS but was officially discouraged as the German high command thought it might be bad for morale and control. Nonetheless the German army did terrible things, just as bad as the SS, and they were sanctioned to do it providing they didn't bring disgrace to the idea of German blood.

Both sides of the conflict committed war crimes, Allies and Axis militaries.

What I'm saying is the SS committed the majority of the war crimes committed by the German military. The Wehrmacht may have committed similar crimes of severity but it certainly wasn't to the same frequency.

Erwin Rommel's troops under his command in Africa were never convicted of war crimes or infringing the Geneva Convention, which then gained him the respect of Monty.

Reply 9

Sataris

21

Original post by tashkent46

But Germany was a fairly advanced industrial society, the kind of society where you'd think killing children with bayonets wouldn't pass. In the past some of them didn't know any better, it was normal, everyone did it, Romans for example, brutality everywhere, how did they know any better? But the Germans????

Heat of the moment, on a much longer and wider scale

Reply 10

StriderHort

21

Original post by tashkent46

Did hunger get to their heads? I mean, as twisted as it is, I kind of understand crimes of a sexual nature in wartime, the motivation is clearly that you haven't seen a woman in ages and you're aware of your mortality, you've got power, you're horny and you're a bit of a ****, but these kind of crimes? Why? How?

I suspect rape in wartime is more of a terror tactic than personal urges. To be blunt, a traumatised potentially pregnant victim requiring medical attention takes up a lot more resources than a corpse and proper spreads the fear.

Probably brought to you by the same lovely people that had the idea of launching a missile/mortar at a crowed civilian target....then hitting the exact same place again 20 mins later.....just to make sure you wipe out as many medical and humanitarian staff as possible.

Reply 11

Realitysreflexx

22

How can we on TSR still discuss it once weekly in 2018. Thats the real mystery :confused:

Reply 12

999tigger

19

Original post by tashkent46

I've been reading up a lot more on some of the lesser known crimes, the execution of whole villages in barns by setting fire, starving POWs deliberately, all those ****ed up things, and what I think is how?

Did hunger get to their heads? I mean, as twisted as it is, I kind of understand crimes of a sexual nature in wartime, the motivation is clearly that you haven't seen a woman in ages and you're aware of your mortality, you've got power, you're horny and you're a bit of a ****, but these kind of crimes? Why? How?

You really need to read more history and understand that countries in conflicts have always meted out a lot of death and misery.

Reply 13

Reality Check

22

Original post by Realitysreflexx

How can we on TSR still discuss it once weekly in 2018. Thats the real mystery :confused:

It's an improvement on once daily, which we had in 2016...

Reply 14

04MR17

Volunteer Section Leader

22

Original post by Sataris

People have done ****ed up things throughout the course of history mostly cos it didn't seem ****ed up to them at the time. You have to wonder what stuff we casually do today that future generations will consider barbaric

Pineapple on Pizza. :rip:

Reply 15

MrSuavetopia

19

Check out the stages of genocide: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide#Stages_of_genocide,_influences_leading_to_genocide,_and_efforts_to_prevent_it

They give off a good idea as to how, over time, the Nazi's were able to sway public opinion to such an extent that they ultimately succeeded in dehumanising their targets, such that many felt that such crimes were completely normal. You can think about the obvious examples of things the Nazi's did at each level of the stages of genocide. As @CTLeafez says, they had years to drive up that sentiment before ultimately putting such plans into motion.