Auschwitz

[i kne albert davy]

Some truly horrific eyewitness accounts,the horrible truth is Hitler would never have stopped until the last Jew was dead.

it would not have ended there though, because if Hitler had eliminated the Jews and won the war it would then have been all coloured people facing mass genocide, then after that every human with brown eyes, and after that all with hair that was not blonde, basically they would have slaughtered a very large percentage of the human race

Don't think he would have slaughtered everyone without blond hair unless he'd nipped to the ladies hairdressers for a tint first.

 

[Hamann Pineapple]

What happens in Germany on days like this ? The new generations must want to be disassociated with their country's past.

 

[CTID1988]

I went to Auschwitz & Birkenau a few years ago, Auschwitz itself was a strange place. Didnt feel respectful to me. Teenage girls posing for photos infront of bullet riddled walls used by firing squads, groups of people laughing and joking while they take photos of a mound of shoes of people that had died there. It was all really surreal, like some bizarre Disneyland.
Birkenhau was where it really hit me, the place was massive so easy to get away from the hoardes of people. I had a walk up one of the viewing towers and just looking at the sheer size of the place it was hard not have a moment

 

[Ronnie the Rep]

What happens in Germany on days like this ? The new generations must want to be disassociated with their country's past.

I was in Munich today and it wasn't mentioned

 

[M18CTID]

I went to Auschwitz & Birkenau a few years ago, Auschwitz itself was a strange place. Didnt feel respectful to me. Teenage girls posing for photos infront of bullet riddled walls used by firing squads, groups of people laughing and joking while they take photos of a mound of shoes of people that had died there. It was all really surreal, like some bizarre Disneyland.
Birkenhau was where it really hit me, the place was massive so easy to get away from the hoardes of people. I had a walk up one of the viewing towers and just looking at the sheer size of the place it was hard not have a moment

Have to agree with this. There were some shocking sights at Auschwitz but it was a little like a circus - people being asked not to take photos, etc, out of respect yet some still did.

Birkenhau was far more disturbing as you had time to take it all in, with the help of our excellent tour guide who painted a genuine but horrific feel for the place. The temperature was in the mid-90's when I was there and when you're walking around Birkenhau in that heat you begin to imagine how much of a hell hole it must've been. Of course, the hot summers are tempered by the bitterly cold winters which would've been equally unbearable.

 

[Ronnie the Rep]

I Watched The Hidden Holacaust last night on Sky

It covered Auschwitz but also the Germans retreat from the USSR Belive me they murdered anything And Everything,
im not Squemish but some of the Camera Footage was Vile to say the least

IT MUST NEVER,EVER HAPPEN AGAIN

Just to counterbalance this. My father served on the Russian convoys for a time during the war and the Russians treatment of the ordinary german POW was as bad as the death camps. Several times the British crews were confined to the ships after fights with the locals over their inhuman treatment

The Russians hadn't signed the Geneva Convention I believe so treated the German POW's badly generally. However, Germany had signed it and therefore should have treated Russian POW's well but they didn't. The Jewish ones were executed along with many others who were politically or racially suspect. Nearly 60% of Russian POW's (over 3m) were killed in German hands.

As Germany had taken and mistreated vast numbers of Russian prisoners long before the Russians captured large numbers of Germans, you could understand the rationale, even if you didn't agree with the brutality of the treatment.

In Bert Trautmann's autobiography, he talks about the brutality of the Eastern Front but then when he was captured by British soldiers, the first thing they did was offer him a cup of tea. He immediately felt they were his sort of people.

I can only say what my father told me. The Germans were basically worked to death in extreme cold conditions wearing just tunics. He wouldn't have anything to do with the Russians
80% of german POWs didn't make it home from Russia

 

[marco]

Just to counterbalance this. My father served on the Russian convoys for a time during the war and the Russians treatment of the ordinary german POW was as bad as the death camps. Several times the British crews were confined to the ships after fights with the locals over their inhuman treatment

The Russians hadn't signed the Geneva Convention I believe so treated the German POW's badly generally. However, Germany had signed it and therefore should have treated Russian POW's well but they didn't. The Jewish ones were executed along with many others who were politically or racially suspect. Nearly 60% of Russian POW's (over 3m) were killed in German hands.

As Germany had taken and mistreated vast numbers of Russian prisoners long before the Russians captured large numbers of Germans, you could understand the rationale, even if you didn't agree with the brutality of the treatment.

In Bert Trautmann's autobiography, he talks about the brutality of the Eastern Front but then when he was captured by British soldiers, the first thing they did was offer him a cup of tea. He immediately felt they were his sort of people.

I can only say what my father told me. The Germans were basically worked to death in extreme cold conditions wearing just tunics. He wouldn't have anything to do with the Russians
80% of german POWs didn't make it home from Russia

some of the German solders caught on the battlefield were shot in the head and placed upside down in the snow 'feet sticking up in the air' as a warning to other Germans, they were instantly frozen in the -30 tepratures

 

[Alex - City Matters]

I think what says it all, is that as the Soviets were advancing towards Krakow and Auschwitz itself there was a mass exodus of all senior Nazi's at the camp. Now you don't do that if you know you've done nothing wrong? Granted the Russians were brutal. Mengele himself was the camp leader, some of the stuff he supposedly did can't even be wrote on here.
In relation to another comment earlier about the tour guides being great, I'd have to agree. They are. Credit to what we must do, never let the memory fade.

 

[foetus]

I think what says it all, is that as the Soviets were advancing towards Krakow and Auschwitz itself there was a mass exodus of all senior Nazi's at the camp. Now you don't do that if you know you've done nothing wrong?

The Nazi's at the camp tried to burn down and destroy all the kilns before fleeing. You can still see the ruins when you visit. They definitely knew what they were doing was beyond horrible..even when compared to what else was happening during WW2.

 

[without a dream]

I went to Auschwitz & Birkenau a few years ago, Auschwitz itself was a strange place. Didnt feel respectful to me. Teenage girls posing for photos infront of bullet riddled walls used by firing squads, groups of people laughing and joking while they take photos of a mound of shoes of people that had died there. It was all really surreal, like some bizarre Disneyland.
Birkenhau was where it really hit me, the place was massive so easy to get away from the hoardes of people. I had a walk up one of the viewing towers and just looking at the sheer size of the place it was hard not have a moment

I went to Dachau when over for the game last year. There was a group of school kids laughing and spitting on their way round, pretty disgusting.

Obviously it's not on the same scale as Aufschwitz but it was still very chilling when away from the school party.