German Awareness during WWII

[Dizzieblonde]

Don't want to raise any bad memories, or cause any trouble - just genuinely interested...

Do any German ABers, or those with German friends or relatives, know what public awareness there was of the atrocities during World War II? I can understand that Hitler was voted into office originally, and possibly *why* he was, but find it odd that the German general public weren't aware of the extent of what the Nazi party was doing? Does anyone know if they *did* know, but kept quiet about it (through misunderstanding, fear etc.), or that it was all conducted in remote areas and kept covered up by the party?

[shaneystar2]

My family are German ..my Mum in law who is now 88 says that they had an idea ..especially when friends of theirs (Jewish ) were taken away suddenly in the middle of the night never to be seen again.She also had distant relatives who disappeared . They thought they were being taken to a camp of some sort but the people were brainwashed into thinking they were going there to work. Munitions and so on.All Germans had to prove their ancestry going back a couple of generations .It wasn't until the end of the war that the general public really became aware of what was happening .Those in the vicinity of the camps though must have known what was going on. These camps though were in the fairly remote places Also the old propaganda machine was rife "Arbeit macht Frei " and all that sort of nonsense..Like any country at war your ordinary citizen wasmore worried about day to day living and staying alive than what was going on under their noses..
My father in law was in Russia ,frozen half to death with not even a greatcoat. He is gone now but was a lovely man who could not understand why he had to go and fight for a cause that did not interest him in the slightest.He didn't speak much about the war only to say that Adolf Hitler could kiss his backside !

[Grunty]

You would be interested in a book called "They thought they were free" by Milton Mayer, published by the University of Chicago Press. I think my paperback copy cost around �15 because I had to order it from the US. It says very much the same as Pickle says above, but obviously in much more detail. The book tells of ten people who lived in Nazi Germany and compared their prewar and postwar attitudes.

[Big Al1st]

Hi Dizzie, Very interesfting question and one that I have often thought about. What ever I say please understand that I may have worded it wrongly, and mean no offence.
Firstly I think that alot of people did know that something was going on but did not want to believe it. Certainly I think that there was too many people involved in the situation not to know. e.g., the people who manufactured the ovens, the guards, the transport personnel ect. However it is arguable as to whether we, in England would have said or done anything different under the same circumstances.
I also belive that the majority of people who did know were from the "upper" class, Officers, Company Directors ect. After all Schindler must have been aware.
For alot people who did know they probably carry alot of guilt and wonder if there was anything they could have done. But with the type of people running Germany at the time it is quite easy to turn a blind eye.
I think that the main thing is to try and stop this happening again although, on a much smaller scale, it is happening all over the world. I think that future generations should be kept aware of this infamous part of history.
On a slightly different tact, and again this is my opinion and I hope not to have upset anyone, I am sometimes surprised at the antics that the Israelis get upto. They have their own unique problems but the way they sometimes go about resolving them makes me wonder if they have forgotten what happened not so long ago.
Apologies if anyone disagrees. It is very easy to upset people when discussing a subject like this. However at least we live in country where we can discuss things ( at the moment any way)
Rgds Al

[Dizzieblonde]

Thanks very much all - I was tempted not to post it at first, but really have been wondering.

After reading something the other day about the film 'Cabaret' (apparently, pre-war, Berlin was quite cosmopolitan, and more liberal than most people would imagine), and then something on another thread earlier about Belmarsh Jail and the current terrorist suspects, it got me thinking whether they knew all along and were too scared (or found it too unbelievable to take seriously), or genuinely had no idea what was happening. It's one of those subjects you have to word carefully though, or avoid altogether! lol

[Golden Shred]

I have first-hand knowledge of this. Firstly, you cannot separate "the German general public" and "the Nazi party". At that time 99.99999999999% of Germans were active or passive Nazi's, and were very proud to be so. The concentration camps were not in particularly remote area's, and there was certainly no active attempt to cover up what was going on. You have to remember that large numbers of people in Europe were very actively anti-Jew, and that includes Britain where there were many laws discriminating against Jews, the last one's of which were not repealed until the 1970's. The German "Final Solution" was the German extension of this. Generalities are misleading, but most of the thinking German's knew what was going on and accepted that the "Final Solution" was the way to rid Germany of it's unwanted. The non-thinking German's could not care less, many actively participated. You also have to understand that German mentality is completely different to the British. German's were not alone in rounding up the Jew's - France, for instance welcomed the German's into their country and then happily joined in the capturing and shipping off of Jew's. The Dutch likewise - visit Amsterdam and go to the remains of the Jewish ghettoe there and imagine. I was amongst the first to actually see a camp, non of it happened by accident or against the will of the German's. The majority knew and approved all right.

[Dizzieblonde]

Interesting Golden Shred - it just got me thinking, say in ten or twenty years time, it's suddenly proved without any doubt that the entire 9/11 etc. situation was set-up as a means of declaring war (I'm not saying it was eitherway, just using it as an example). People would probably ask "Well, how could you *not* know?", but the majority of British people probably really wouldn't know for certain