Little known WWII story....

[cowart]

What? You didn't know there was a German point of view about an English ship hitting an iceberg?

They blamed it on the Jews. "Greenberg, Iceberg, its all the same".

 

[Bruce51]

WWII Headhunters!

There is a most interesting story of survival and headhunters during WWII.

It is a good documentary about an aircrew down in Borneo.

I highly recommend watching this story.

Headhunters of World War II(full documentary)HD - YouTube

BLM

 

[Dennis The B]

It would be nice to hear the Japanese govt. admit some guilt at least once however.

The modern government of Japan, as well as Italy, Germany, etc., are a reflection of the people who live in those countries now. The leaders of those governments did not lead those countries during WWII. I would no more expect the current prime minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, to continue to atone for the sins of Tojo, than I would Angela Merkel, to continue to atone for the Hitler regime.

 

[cmort666]

The modern government of Japan, as well as Italy, Germany, etc., are a reflection of the people who live in those countries now. The leaders of those governments did not lead those countries during WWII. I would no more expect the current prime minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, to continue to atone for the sins of Tojo, than I would Angela Merkel, to continue to atone for the Hitler regime.

The difference is that the post-war German government has admitted the culpability of the German nation, in contrast to the Japanese government which is wont to blame the victims of its atrocities for their own misery.

I'm currently reading the book "Soldiers". It's a book about the surreptitious recording of German POWs in British camps. I've previously read Heinz Hohne's "Order of the Death's Head", probably the best history of the SS written in any language. Had Japanese authors written similar books on the Rape of Nanking or Unit 731, they would have been, at the least, subject to a barrage of death threats, and in fact, likely killed. If they were lucky, they wouldn't have been able to find anybody to publish the books at all.

No matter whatever else you can say about Germany's governments since 1945, you CAN'T say that they've had the sheer odiousness to try to portray THEMSELVES as the "victims" of WWII. That's not a claim the Japanese can make.

 

[YogiBear]

Aloha,

Several years ago a University of Hawaii professor wrote a book,

"Death By Government", by R J Rummel

This is the website:

DEATH BY GOVERNMENT: GENOCIDE AND MASS MURDER

He has since died and I do not know how much longer this will be up.

It has Everything you didn't want to know about almost Every

killing by Government. Many of the photos are NSFW.

To bad th entire site is not on a DVD for sale or distribution.

 

[Dennis The B]

The difference is that the post-war German government has admitted the culpability of the German nation, in contrast to the Japanese government which is wont to blame the victims of its atrocities for their own misery.

I'm currently reading the book "Soldiers". It's a book about the surreptitious recording of German POWs in British camps. I've previously read Heinz Hohne's "Order of the Death's Head", probably the best history of the SS written in any language. Had Japanese authors written similar books on the Rape of Nanking or Unit 731, they would have been, at the least, subject to a barrage of death threats, and in fact, likely killed. If they were lucky, they wouldn't have been able to find anybody to publish the books at all.

No matter whatever else you can say about Germany's governments since 1945, you CAN'T say that they've had the sheer odiousness to try to portray THEMSELVES as the "victims" of WWII. That's not a claim the Japanese can make.

What we had at the end of WWII, was a "peace" that was conducted with two entirely different societies. The Germans were a European society that had some cultural commonality with most everyone they fought. The Japanese, on the other hand, despite a lot of westernization, were still practicing the Samurai method and a corrupted version of Bushido.

As the war crimes trials proceeded, the German war criminals were tried and punished post haste, with execution occurring within two years of the end of the war. The Japanese war crimes trials didn't start until 1946, and the process was quite a bit different than the Nuremberg Trials. While there was commonality among the western powers, the Chinese conducted their own trials.

The Japanese have issued a number of what they term apologies. But if anyone expects a prostrate admission in front of an international "altar", that will probably never happen, as the Japanese have carefully separated the actions of the government in declaring war, and how the military actually executed it.

 

[dcxplant]

Just when you think you have heard it all about the Nazis, another outrageous story appears.
Like have you seen the one about them attempting to breed an old line of wild 'Germanic' cows?
How bout the massive effort to make a film about the Titanic? From the German point of view, of course. What? You didn't know there was a German point of view about an English ship hitting an iceberg?

Bad times... the cow story is new one for me, but I saw a documentary of the Nazi's version of Titanic.

The director, Herbert Selpin, was quite the subversive, and pulled a fast one on Himmler making the plot into a very subtle anti-facist message. Selpin also (purposely) used an amazing amount of resources and money, and a big vessel that otherwise would be helping the Nazi war effort. He was murdered before the film was finished.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Heard a WWII vet tell about his misadventures.
He was a crew member on a US Bomber. They got lost and shot down on a raid. He wound up on the ground in territory occupied by the Soviets.
As some of you already know, our friends the Soviets weren't that friendly.
They took him to an interment camp in the USSR. He managed to escape.
Some other evaders convinced him that their best chance was to go South to Iran. So they rode trains and walked South.
After a long scary trip, they managed to get to the Iranian border.
The Brits were in charge there. They were more than skeptical when he told his story. They interrogated him pretty intensely.
Finally, he was turned over to U.S. Military and they confirmed his identity.
It took a while longer to get transport back to the CONUS.