When American troops liberated prisoners in the Dachau concentration camp, Germany, in 1945, many German SS guards were killed by the prisoners who then threw their bodies into the moat surrounding the camp.
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Known as the Dachau Massacre, a tragedy really, because the guards left the camp a few days earlier and left young draftees under an ss officer in charge. Those draftees wanted to leave the camp and withdraw but were convinced by the red cross of all things, to leave a small crew behind to prevent looting and riots. Those unlucky draftees who didn't really have anything to do with the camp were the ones murdered there for revenge. The people deserving of the revenge were long gone.
I don’t blame the Americans, as a soldier myself, it takes a lot of strength to not kill awful people on sight. We had fought the nazis and uncovered a genocide. At the end of the day, we are all just humans.
I probably would have killed an SS guard too. I don’t speak German, and I doubt many US soldiers back then did either. Their pleas were all for naught and simply sounded like a man crying because he had been caught doing something awful.
While history shows they may have been “innocent” intelligence at the time did not help their case.
The crew was conscripts of the Wehrmacht.
Service in camps was on a volunteer basis only, the Nazis didn't want to waste perfectly good soldiers who would rather be on the front by forcing them to murder Jews and Poles for 5 years.
That is true but plays no role in this instance because they were not camp guards, but regular soldiers given the order to guard a camp for a few days while the real guards fucked off somewhere they wouldnt get caught.
Even non-SS staff at concentration camps weren't conscripted outside of isolated incidents where they are sent to work there after a military court charge them with a crime.
Many German war criminals not only avoided punishment but also made a pretty good career in post-war Germany.
I don’t blame the Americans, as a soldier myself, it takes a lot of strength to not kill awful people on sight. We had fought the nazis and uncovered a genocide. At the end of the day we are all just humans.
I probably would have killed an SS guard too. I don’t speak German, and I doubt many US soldiers back then did either. Their pleas were all for naught and simply sounded like a man crying because he had been caught doing something awful.
While history shows they may have been “innocent” intelligence at the time did not help their case.
Depending on the unit, the gamut ran from "hardcore Nazi ready to die for the Fuehrer" all the way down to "drafted peasant."
First: they were not ss, the officer was. The crew was conscripts of the Wehrmacht.
Second: From 1943 onwards, the SS drafted people from the same pool the Wehrmacht did.
so you are wrong in this particular instance, and you are wrong in general.
Also, the SS conscripted ethnic Germans in Eastern Europe. Through earlier centuries, various rulers with more land than people invited German settlers there.
The crew was conscripts of the Wehrmacht.
Service in camps was on a volunteer basis only, the Nazis didn't want to waste perfectly good soldiers who would rather be on the front by forcing them to murder Jews and Poles for 5 years.
That is true but plays no role in this instance because they were not camp guards but regular soldiers given the order to guard a camp for a few days while the real guards fucked off somewhere they wouldnt get caught.
Even non-SS staff at concentration camps weren't conscripted outside of isolated incidents where they are sent to work there after a military court charge them with a crime.
Many German war criminals not only avoided punishment but also made a pretty good career in post-war Germany.
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- Other Apps
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