Learning how lenient and humane the Soviets were to Nazi PoWs, especially in contrast to the Nazi policy of mass extermination of Soviet PoWs and the propaganda of the Soviets as inhumanly ruthless, was shocking. Most Nazis survived soviet captivity and were re-patriated after several years of forced labor re-building the Soviet states. A lot of Nazis died, but it was almost all due to the horrifying food and supply situation in the war years ad the 46 famine. A huge chunk of those were Nazis who surrendered at Stalingrad and then immediately died because they were already in the fatal stages of starvation, exposure, and illness when they surrendered. And apparently the Nazi commander at Stalingrad is on the record having said that the Soviets treated his soldiers as well as he could have asked for given the horrifying supply situation and he couldn't find fault in their conduct.
To me that paints a picture of some kind of radical humanism i'm not sure I even understand. The Soviets could have rounded up ever signle Whermacht officer and soldier and ordered them to march to Kamchatka and wiped them all out. And they didn't. And they treated them relatively well and released them back to their home nations within a frew years after the war.
I try to bring it up sometimes when we're getting really bloodthirsty - do you really want to be less merciful and humanitarian than Stalin?!
Also reminds me; when the fourth Reich finally got their blood-stained hands on the legendary records of the hated and feared Stasi their anti-communist fanatic researchers apparently found seven extrajudicial murders in the 40 years the gdr existed. And then went berserk because how could the murderous Stasi have killed so few people?
I have heard some things along those lines, but haven't studied it much. Do you have any reading you'd recommend?
I think it was "Stasi State or Socialist Paradise? The German Democratic Republic and what became of it" by John Green...
It's a quick read, actually, of 128 pages!
For example, one of the big West German tabloid newspapers reported that in Stasi prisons more than 2,500 prisoners were murdered and thousands committed suicide. In reality, nobody was murdered and in almost four decades, 14 suicides took place in all the holding prisons of the State Security apparatus. [51]
Oh, that's on my list. Even have it loaded on my Kindle already.
I found a YouTube link in your post. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
Around 5.3 million German soldiers died in World War II, which is unfortunately a huge number when you think about it. WW2 was just a massive conflict with loads of tragic losses on all sides. Hope this info helps you out!
