Quote:
Originally Posted by GeoffW1
Well,
I suspect that much of the WWII German Army - the Heer - were just conscripted farm boys who knew little of Nazism. So that would be the distinction in my mind.
Cheers
|
I agree Geoff, most of those guys would have just been doing their duty, as they saw it, and just like the allies, most of them would rather have packed up and gone home. To simply call all German soldiers Nazis is simply wrong.
I think the following passage from Herman Goring's diary (1947 entry) sums it up nicely:
"Why, of course, the people don't want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship."
He went on to say "the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country." ............. And that is a scary thought.
