Germans After The War. Ethnically Cleansed From Other Countries

[tzijlstra]

If he had of been recruited to the SS i doubt he's had been allowed to live.

 

Yes that is quite likely. Most non-German SS recruits were from Eastern Europe I believe and were drafted in because they wanted to fight on the East Front.

 

I grew up believing the Germans were evil reincarnated, and a lot of the things the Nazi's did, particularly to minorities, were evil. But as a kid you always fail to see both sides of the coin and I regret now that I spent the first 25 years of my life with a bad feeling in my stomach whenever I met Germans, hell I even threw all my German exams at school because I didn't want to learn the language, took me years to realise how dumb I had been.

 

I speak German now, am proud to say I have German and Austrian friends (oddly more Austrians) and have worked well with Germans in the past.

[L00b]

I grew up believing the Germans were evil reincarnated, and a lot of the things the Nazi's did, particularly to minorities, were evil.

Most of them were not evil as such...but there are nooks and crannies of continental Europe where the hate still runs deep for historical reasons.

 

The small corner of France I'm from has alternated between France and Germany four times since 1870 (that's how and why the Alsatians were conscripted in the 1940s and the "too French for the Gauleiter's liking" were kicked out: they weren't "French under occupation", they were turned into bona fide Reichsvolk in September 1940). Just about every old-established local family has been split/torn between both over the past century and a bit.

 

Besides the Alsatian great uncle I mentioned on page 1, I also have (well, had) at least 2 great great uncles, born French then naturalised German after 1870, who AWOL'd to the US in 1914 to avoid being force-conscripted into the Imperial Army and sent to the Western front. They went to the US to avoid repercussions upon their families staying behind (which the families would have, if they'd gone over to France or the UK instead).

 

My great aunt lived through it ('technically' born German in 1916 or 1917 IIRC, then French of course, eventually kicked out with my grand-dad and their mum in September 1940, winding up in Lozère as refugees and eating nothing else but Jerusalem artichokes for weeks on end). She never forgave the Germans, and there 's a fair few more like her around still.

I speak German now, am proud to say I have German and Austrian friends (oddly more Austrians) and have worked well with Germans in the past.

Same here...but the dog still eats off the Nazi plate every day.

 

Family tradition since 1945 (1941 swastika-emblazoned Bavaria-made plates were all that was left in my grand-dad's family house, when they eventually came back after their 1940 eviction). We have a few spares, just in case one gets broken

Edited May 26, 2015 by L00b

[Tyranna]

Thought I'd share this with fellow forum dwellers. Its well worth a watch but very distressing.

 

To be honest I never had a clue what happened to Germans after the war. I'm talking about those who lived in other European countries for generations. People who had been settled there and were part of the country they lived in.

 

Many tens of thousands suffered the same fate as Jews. They were imprisoned in camps, raped, starved and murdered. Men women and children.

 

After this when the authorities gained more control the Germans were cleansed from these countries. They lost everything, property belongings and relatives.

 

Children were living wild in woods "Wolf Children" they were called.

 

I'm a big hard man, but I have to admit it made me cry...

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b05x30lb/1945-the-savage-peace

 

 

Interesting thread; it is no surprise that atrocities are visited in a retaliatory manner against those who once visited them upon others; for example the treatment of collaborators in postwar France.

 

Interestingly, my own father's German Jewish family, which was settled in Bavaria for over 4 centuries, had become, like all established German Jews, as German as those who might regard themselves as ethnically German or 'saxon' etc. The only difference being that they maintained their religious lifestyle and generally lived close to the Synagogue, while becoming prominent in every area of German society; the arts, crafts, aristocracy, industry and of course banking. Many of them, including my father's father fought for the Kaiser in WW1. And yet all this fell to pieces once the Nazis decided to target a scapegoat, despite German Jews most definitely being first and foremost full German citizens who had pretty well every right and recognition of their status as their Christian fellow citizens.

[L00b]

Interesting thread; it is no surprise that atrocities are visited in a retaliatory manner against those who once visited them upon others; for example the treatment of collaborators in postwar France.

That proved about as summary, and terminal, as the ethnic Germans of the OP. Between 9,000 and 10,000 collaborators (actual or set-up for gain) executed without trial in the days immediately following the Liberation, plus approx 1,600 by trial (800 by civil penal courts, as much by military tribunals). The French Gvt just cleaned it all up with 3 successive 'Amnesty' Acts.

[JFKvsNixon]

Life became very cheap during WW2, and this undoubtedly led to actions becoming acceptable that would be far beyond the pale nowadays. For example, the Allied bombing campaign against occupied Europe was said to have killed between 50,000 and 60,000 French civilian lives.

[MikeFrank]

By co-incidence we've taken dad to the Town Hall today to receive a medal from the Lord Mayor for services to country... Think there's only 8 Korean veterans left in the city. Very nice day. Most pleased that there were 4 Korean young teachers there from Sheffield. I didn't even know there was a Korean school in Sheffield. All the kids go to English schools during the week and to the Korean one on Saturday mornings.. Quite touching that they came to thank the old timers for what they had done... Dad was telling us that when he and his mates were called up when they were 18 they didn't even know where Korea was so they had to get on to a bus to town and go to the library and look at a map of the world to see where they were going.

 

We are so lucky these days. Lets hope wars like these never come back.....

Edited May 26, 2015 by MikeFrank

[Harleyman]

Life became very cheap during WW2, and this undoubtedly led to actions becoming acceptable that would be far beyond the pale nowadays. For example, the Allied bombing campaign against occupied Europe was said to have killed between 50,000 and 60,000 French civilian lives.

 

Caen was bombed to rubble in order to expedite the removal of the Germans who had put up a stiff resistance to Montgomery's attempts to advance further into Normandy following D-Day.

 

I was a visitor to that city years ago. At that time some of the oldest among the population still held bitter feelings over that episode.

 

Miraculously the several fine old historic churches in that city were restored almost intact to their former condition

 

Not all among the French were happy to see the liberators arrive either. They would have preferred to remain living a peaceful life under Nazi occupation rather than see their homes and property destroyed during the course of intense fighting