Article about: Like Bob said, it is extremely difficult to judge anyone from this war; while we sit at our keyboards, in our safe surroundings, with a stomach full of food. It should not be our pleasure to
Thanks for these interesting images. I think if one is concerned with the context of these unfortunate scenes, one does well to consider overall the level of death and destruction in central Europe of the final year of the war. This generalization applies especially in those areas that had perhaps seen less war in the years 1939-1942, that is, when the SS extended German power into the rest of central and eastern Europe. The Czechs also unleashed a wave of violence against the SS in the former Protektorat which was fairly brutal, to be sure. The story of the SS in the Protektorat and also in Slovakia is more than the sum of these images, to be sure.
But one must mention out of balance the other episodes of slaughter that unfolded in the final phases of the war. There is little utility in looking at the past as a score sheet in a sport's match of blame and guilt. Most everyone does this thing, surely, but I remain quite shocked by the explosion of violence at war's end, of which these men were the victims (along with millions of others in 1944-1945), but also at an earlier time were likely in another role, surely. The Soviets replied in kind to what the SS had meted out to them in years previous. A simple example of historical cause and effect.
These images are fairly accurate depictions of the horror of war in central Europe that gets lost on these websites far too frequently.
I have seen men shot in iraq, blown up also, but to be beaten to death like this is no way for any soldier to die, SS or otherwise. I suppose such was life and still is
Now way for anyone who they in the SS took a dislike to and murdered , as ye sow so shall ye reap.
War is composed of ordinary men in extraordinary circumstances. Some can become animals and do things that they could never seem capable of doing. Others cannot comprehend the level of violence and become battle fatigued.
We must remember the extreme level of violence, especially from 1943 to 1945, where huge civilian populations were decimated and the Third Reich geared up the mass murder and incarceration of those they found not worth of life or liberty.
There is most certainly a backlash to this level of violence and that resulted in both overwhelming violence against German soldiers, especially those of the Waffen-SS. One cannot properly comprehend that violence without living throufgh the carnage that became every-day occurances. It is only sane to hope that we never see such actions repeated, whichever side of military conflict one finds oneself.
It is sad that these barbaric episodes occurred, but we cannot easily sit back and judge those without having lived through the caludron of hell, that was the entire European continent.
Re: Dying SS Troops
by Ben Evans
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