Quote:
Originally Posted by adaher
I was reading an autobiography of a German soldier on the Eastern front last week, and this question came to me. As a nation that has had to come to terms with a great deal of guilt, how do you regard your veterans of WWII, the average Wehrmacht foot soldiers or Luftwaffe pilots or U-boat crewmen? Are they considered heroes? An embarassment? Does the government take care of them? Do they have reunions? Or is it something you just try not to discuss?
I'd also be interested in the Japanese side of things, but as far as I know we don't have any Japanese posters. Sad, because the Japanese seem to have a very different view of their role in the war and I'd love to hear someone from Japan defend the conventional wisdom over there in regards to their war guilt.
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My two Grandfathers had been normal german soldiers on the Eastern Front. Both of them had have the luck to survive the war. The one who is living right now told me a lot of his experience but only because i asked. Normally the old people which were involved in WWII don`t speaking about the (for them horribly) time ... and noone of the youngers normally ask, understanding that it may be painful for them to remember. It is like an untold understanding: All Germans know about the horrible things happend during WWII and everyone is ashamed about it and is strived (the right word for "is looking foreward to..?:") to avoid thus crimes in future times. You although have to notice, that not every German Soldier was a Nazi. Mostly they were normal young peoples (a young farmer in the case of my Grandfather) who do not wantet Hitler nor the War nor the Holocaust. But when war came, they had have no other choice as to go out as a soldier and kill people they actually don`t wantet to kill. (If you denied to became a Soldier and to fight - you were seen as an traitor and would be executet by shooting.)
If somone really WAS a Nazi during WWII he shurely do not want to tell anyone about it, cause if he did, he wouldn`t have a nice time in Germany any longer...
so long....
Althir
