My Ukrainian grandfather was part of the SS black skull brigade and his call sign was "Jew Slayer" and now you are all telling me he's a fascist? Wow. He fought for YOUR freedom to be free from Putin style fascism and now he's the bad guy. It really hurts.
Anyone who puts up with that many grenades deserves a salute.
Though we shouldn't have pity parties for troops, it's worth mentioning (in cases where they aren't, like, SS freaks) that some of them are alienated from a healthy understanding of the meaning of what they are doing and that is something that can be reversed and has even happened spontaneously, for example:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading_Railroad_Massacre#16th_Regiment
There are many reasons for bootcamp being largely a process of traumatizing soldiers into seeing their targets as non-human and orders as unquestionable, and among them is that people have a tendency for compassion that can even emerge spontaneously and lead them to not carry out their job as butchers for the empire.
Just something I had been meaning to mention but didn't have a chance to.
Ukrain was part of ussr back then so why should he fight on the nazis side. Even if he managed to flee to Germany they would have never even let him get such a rank, because he wasn't German.
Wait until you hear about volunteer foreigner SS divisions including SS Galician, which was Ukrainian volunteers.
The real question is why you felt even remotely qualified to speak on the subject when the words you vomit out make it extremely clear that you have done literally zero research on it
Type "14th Waffen SS Galicia" into Google and see what you find
Hint
spoiler
It's Ukrainian Nazis
Ukrain was part of ussr back then so why should he fight on the nazis side
It's called collaborationism. Countries that are invaded often have people on the inside of that country who side with the invaders, for opportunist, ideological, and/or material reasons.
Even if he managed to flee to Germany they would have never even let him get such a rank, because he wasn't German.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/14th_Waffen_Grenadier_Division_of_the_SS_(1st_Galician)
The 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Galician) was a World War II Nazi Germany military formation made up predominantly of military volunteers with a Ukrainian ethnic background from the area of Galicia, later also with some Slovaks. Formed in 1943, it was largely destroyed in the Lvov–Sandomierz offensive, reformed, and saw action in Slovakia, Yugoslavia, and Austria before being renamed the first division of the Ukrainian National Army and surrendering to the Western Allies by 10 May 1945.
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