World War II

[SteveAJones]

1 hour ago, IpMan said:

Oye Vay !!!

You disagree? You'll see. It'll be a shit hole in less than 20 years.

  

[Victor]

I've stood in the middle of Auschwitz-Birkenau in sheer disbelief that a place like that could exist. Its on a massive scale, theres even a railway line to get from one side to the other. How can this have happened?!. It's not some psycho that went into a mad frenzy in the heat of the moment. It's a planned factory for processing and disposing of humans, brought in by a legitimate government, and still in living memory of some people today.

Russia officially lost over 27 million people, the real number is probably alot higher. That means that most of the Russian soldiers pushing the Nazis back across Eastern Europe must have lost someone if not whole families, whole villages. I can understand the need for revenge, although not the need to rape.....but it wasnt just revenge they raped and pillaged across europe indiscriminately. 

The Japanese had a very strong sense of honour and warrior code, surrender was unacceptable even though it did happen. So take for example the surrender of the British at Singapore. I think it was 11,000 surrendered to about 3000 Japanese as they thought they were surrounded without any hope. The Japanese must have thought this was an act of animals without any honour, and so treated prisoners with sheer contempt. .... but their cruelty was without equal.

Most of the individuals that were tried after the war for war crimes showed no remorse and still thought they were justified in their actions.

I can not get my head round all this. Humans can be vile.   

[chef free]

Agreed!  That's why it's tough for me to have much sympathy for the people of Germany, they went along with the program!  They knew what was happening and most did nothing.  They allowed and supported having all their problems be blamed on a small group of their own people (the Jews).  American soldiers who liberated the concentration camps just let the freed prisoners kill the guards, and them marched the townspeople through the site to make them see it up close and personal.

[redrum]

4 hours ago, chef free said:

Agreed!  That's why it's tough for me to have much sympathy for the people of Germany, they went along with the program!  They knew what was happening and most did nothing.  They allowed and supported having all their problems be blamed on a small group of their own people (the Jews).  American soldiers who liberated the concentration camps just let the freed prisoners kill the guards, and them marched the townspeople through the site to make them see it up close and personal.

Slightly different story in 'The Savage Peace.'

[cryingbluerain]

10 hours ago, SteveAJones said:

You disagree? You'll see. It'll be a shit hole in less than 20 years.

  

Yet again, history repeats itself.  Yes, let's flood our homeland with millions of unemployed, military age males with zero loyalty to and hostile toward our cultural values.  What could possibly go wrong?

[Walter]

^ Shit that mostly sounds like the Trump supporters right now + the old folks suckered in... 

[IpMan]

On 1/26/2018 at 8:41 PM, cryingbluerain said:

Yet again, history repeats itself.  Yes, let's flood our homeland with millions of unemployed, military age males with zero loyalty to and hostile toward our cultural values.  What could possibly go wrong?

 

[cryingbluerain]

Keep "resisting",  fools.

[redrum]

Recently watched 'Downfall.' It was hard to watch the satanic Mrs. Goebbels poison her 5 children.

[SteveAJones]

3 hours ago, redrum said:

Recently watched 'Downfall.' It was hard to watch the satanic Mrs. Goebbels poison her 5 children.

She's was a diabolical bitch alright. Perhaps interesting to note her son from her first marriage, Harald Quandt, survived the war and his descendants now share a fortune worth at least six billion dollars.

[redrum]

8 hours ago, SteveAJones said:

She's was a diabolical bitch alright. Perhaps interesting to note her son from her first marriage, Harald Quandt, survived the war and his descendants now share a fortune worth at least six billion dollars.

Funny how things work out. The actor who played Goebbels has to be one of the creepiest looking dudes ever.

[IpMan]

On 2/6/2018 at 1:40 PM, redrum said:

Funny how things work out. The actor who played Goebbels has to be one of the creepiest looking dudes ever.

Well Goebbels himself was damn creepy looking as well. Extremely angular features paired with a very skinny, short frame. Ironically he looked exactly like one of those cartoon rat-men the Nazi's used to prop up as an example of a typical Jew. In fact, if the majority of the Nazi hierarchy simply looked into the mirror on occasion, staring back at them would have been exactly the template of the person they so dearly wanted to eliminate. 

[redrum]

6 hours ago, IpMan said:

Well Goebbels himself was damn creepy looking as well. Extremely angular features paired with a very skinny, short frame. Ironically he looked exactly like one of those cartoon rat-men the Nazi's used to prop up as an example of a typical Jew. In fact, if the majority of the Nazi hierarchy simply looked into the mirror on occasion, staring back at them would have been exactly the template of the person they so dearly wanted to eliminate. 

He also had the club foot which pretty much made him a 'physical undesirable.' I could see Mel Brooks doing a comedy called 'Chancellor For A Day' like the old TV show 'Queen For A Day.'

 

[IpMan]

7 hours ago, redrum said:

He also had the club foot which pretty much made him a 'physical undesirable.' I could see Mel Brooks doing a comedy called 'Chancellor For A Day' like the old TV show 'Queen For A Day.'

 

Between Goebbels club foot, Hitler's one testicle (supposedly), Goering's obesity, Himmler being a chicken farmer, and Morrell's propensity of never bathing and mixing his own super-meth, you could not find a more motley crew. Even Motley Crew does not come close to these misfits.

[redrum]

On 2/8/2018 at 8:03 AM, IpMan said:

Between Goebbels club foot, Hitler's one testicle (supposedly), Goering's obesity, Himmler being a chicken farmer, and Morrell's propensity of never bathing and mixing his own super-meth, you could not find a more motley crew. Even Motley Crew does not come close to these misfits.

The motley-est with an army of motley followers.

[Kiwi_Zep_Fan87]

Hi everyone!

I am bring up this thread as I have a favour to ask.

I am very interested in social history. I am always interested in reading about how people lived during a particular era.

I would be most grateful, if one of you could recommend books on World War Two that focus on the personal stories of Civilians living during that time. I already have a book detailing the lives of a Jewish family who fled Poland for Germany and Germany for Holland and then Holland for Belgium and what life was like, under German occupation in Belgium. I experienced a plethora of emotions - fear, anger, sadness and sheer fascination at the courage of this family. I am in the early stages of the book and I make it a point to finish at least one chapter, everyday. The book in question is Among the Reeds: The True Story of how a Family Survived the Holocaust

Thanks (in advance).

[paplbojo]

The Diary of Anne Frank

[Kiwi_Zep_Fan87]

^^Thanks for that. That was one of the first books on Social history during WWII that I read. 

If you do have anything else in mind, do let me know. 

[paplbojo]

I would highly recommend Schindler's List too.

[apantherfrommd]

3 hours ago, paplbojo said:

I would highly recommend Schindler's List too.

Schindler's List is excellent.

Man's Search for Meaning Book by Viktor Frankl

This book is amazing. Save your eyes. Here's an audio version.

It's about trying to make sense out of your suffering and accepting the fact that regardless of circumstances, you always have options. To live is to suffer. To survive is how you see meaning in the suffering.

"Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl's memoir has riveted generations of readers with its descriptions of life in Nazi death camps and its lessons for spiritual survival. Between 1942 and 1945 Frankl labored in four different camps, including Auschwitz, while his parents, brother, and pregnant wife perished. Based on his own experience and the experiences of others he treated later in his practice, Frankl argues that we cannot avoid suffering but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with renewed purpose. Frankl's theory-known as logotherapy, from the Greek word logos ("meaning")-holds that our primary drive in life is not pleasure, as Freud maintained, but the discovery and pursuit of what we personally find meaningful."

 

[paplbojo]

Wow, just added that^ to my list. 

[redrum]

[Kiwi_Zep_Fan87]

The only known recording of Hitler's normal speaking voice

 

[rm2551]

Have a great ANZAC day tomorrow all.

 

Lest we forget.

[TheMadIrishman]

The prelude to WWII was started when the Nazi political party started to grow in 1925. Hitler, who had being released from imprisonment, wrote a book during his sentence and outlined the perfect ideals for a German Society and blamed the Jewish people for the pitfalls of Germany. This led him to rally, organize and control people to gain power within the Reichstag. Once the Chancoller of Germany died in 1932, Hitler assumed the roll of Fürher of Germany. This then led to his “peaceful” expansion of Germany into former parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Most countries agreed to these treaties and union but Poland refused to join. Now, enter Great Britain and France- the British had been severely impacted by the depression and WWI and France had never really recovered either. However, they stated that if Germany continued its aggression, they would launch an Act of War. With this being set, September 25th of 1939 started WWII

Now we look at Japan. The Japanese had started to go through a series of reforms to upgrade and expand their country and economy- known as the Meiji Restoration. With this, the Japanese empire was born and Japan became a military dictatorship. In 1917, Japan had launched war against China and Russia and won. They took over massive parts of land. Fast forward a couple of years of building opon their military, and Japan started to take over small Pacific Islands and with this attacked Pearl Harbor in December of 1941. They then strode to control the entire world in their Empire. 

With Russia, WWI had severely impacted the country. Communism had spread and started and they ended hundreds of years of an Empire. Whilst now under a new communist ideology, Russia began building and creating a new industrial country. They built their army up to massive amounts. But, when Hitler started to invade foreign countries, then leader Josef Stalin  feared they would attack. With this, he made a secret agreement with Hitler of peace. However, Hitler thought Russia was still weak so if stricken at the right time, he just might be able to take the country. But no one could stand against the Power of the Red army so in 1940, Russia was attacked by Germany.