Posted on Apr 13, 2016
Gardelegen Massacre 13 April 1945 - photos of prisoners burned in a barn
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I caution anyone who opens this post and read. Graphic pictures of the horror of war...
Gardelegen Massacre 13 April 1945 - photos of prisoners burned in a barn
Posted from scrapbookpages.com
Warfare
WWII World War Two
Military History
World History
World Affairs
Posted 8 y ago
Responses: 5
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When I first read your post I was thinking of the Massacre at Malmédy during the Battle of the Bulge SGT John " Mac " McConnell. There were so many massacres committed by SS and Waffen SS units in WWII. Cities and towns were massacred for reprisals from the June 10, 1942 massacre at the small village of Lidice, Czechoslovakia because of the killing of security police chief SS Obergruppenfuhrer - Reinherd Heydrich.
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SGT John " Mac " McConnell
I was somewhat shocked that I just happend on this article. Thanks LTC Stephen F.
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This was really sad. The things that go on in war, and the things that sick people do
Thanks for sharing
Thanks for sharing
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PO3 Donald Murphy
SGT John " Mac " McConnell - Well sadly, most/all of Europe was anti-semetic and the Jews (being predominantly the wealthy elite of any society) were an easy scape goat for national failure. "Yes, we're poor but look at the Jews - they're rich." With depression hitting most of Europe after WW1, everyone wanted a reason "why" they were poor and broke and most politicians couldn't/wouldn't give one. Finding a scape goat was the best answer.
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PO3 Donald Murphy
Well SGT Groth, the "Final Solution" didn't happen overnight. Hitler attempted a euthenasia program, killing the retarded, crippled, etc, and even went so far as to commission films to be made using the German equivalent of Brad Pitt and Jennifer Anniston to star in these films. The public reeled at the thought and Hitler came to the conclusion that "killing was okay, but just needed to be done away from public eye." So for the most part, "concentration camp" was just that; a holding area. The movies of the day showed Jews being "concentrated" in areas of the country and the films showed them relaxing, tending their gardens and basically having a great time. And were you to have driven by Dachau, thats what you would have saw. And contrary to popular belief, the Gestapo didn't go door-to-door; they relied on neighbors ratting on neighbors. So as you knew your Jewish neighbor was not being killed, just moved somewhere else, you didn't really think twice of telling the police that your neighbors were Jews.
The actual killings were done at the "death" camps outside of Germany proper, like Auschwitz. As the war went on and more and more Jews fell under German control, a few of the German based camps like Dachau became "death camps" to handle the load of killing needed by the Final Solution. This could have been a problem, but German travel was restricted. You couldn't just jump in the car and drive from Hamburg to Berlin to visit mom and dad. You had to have papers and a pass. So its possible for a German to be living in Dusseldorf, and having never seen any Jews being killed in Dachau. And of course, the news footage of the day continued to report that Jews were being resettled. So few Germans had any reason to be suspicious. The camp system even generated letters to be sent "home" to German neighbors letting them know that they were living in a camp and how it was so great. So no one was any wiser.
As allied bombing was destroying roads, bridges and travel, it became impossible to leave ones' area for anything, let alone snooping around at a concentration camp. So a lot of the country had no concept what central government was doing. This is why killing Hitler was such a big problem for the planners. Who would believe you that he was bad? All of the media of the day showed nothing but German victories and good stuff.
The actual killings were done at the "death" camps outside of Germany proper, like Auschwitz. As the war went on and more and more Jews fell under German control, a few of the German based camps like Dachau became "death camps" to handle the load of killing needed by the Final Solution. This could have been a problem, but German travel was restricted. You couldn't just jump in the car and drive from Hamburg to Berlin to visit mom and dad. You had to have papers and a pass. So its possible for a German to be living in Dusseldorf, and having never seen any Jews being killed in Dachau. And of course, the news footage of the day continued to report that Jews were being resettled. So few Germans had any reason to be suspicious. The camp system even generated letters to be sent "home" to German neighbors letting them know that they were living in a camp and how it was so great. So no one was any wiser.
As allied bombing was destroying roads, bridges and travel, it became impossible to leave ones' area for anything, let alone snooping around at a concentration camp. So a lot of the country had no concept what central government was doing. This is why killing Hitler was such a big problem for the planners. Who would believe you that he was bad? All of the media of the day showed nothing but German victories and good stuff.
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