--- In [email protected], "Seraphita" <s3raphita@...> wrote: > > > --- In [email protected], "authfriend" wrote: > > > > The brutality of that war was unimaginable. What a chilling > > story. > > > As a child (hell, as an adult) I was always horrified by the total > brutality of the German-Russian Eastern Front conflict during WWII - > including the use of prisoners as slave labour and their being worked to > death - both sides adopting the same approach. > In contrast, British and German prisoners were treated with comparative > respect. And for the Brits there were also the more romantic episodes of > war, for example, German battleships like the Bismark sinking British > cruisers but eventually being cornered themselves and being sunk. > The German-Russian barbarism was unspeakable, in the original sense of > that word: talking about it would degrade the speakers themselves. > But one day, someone mentioned to me something that - as soon as I heard > it - I recognised as true. If the Russians hadn't prosecuted the war > with such ferocity and callous disregard of life then when the Yanks and > Brits had landed at Normandy they would have had to adopt the same > degrading tactics. In a way, the Russians accepted the blood guilt and > maybe there's something of bad faith about striking superior attitudes > about western, more civilised, conduct. > (And let's not forget the controversial issue of the carpet-bombing of > German and Japanese civilian areas carried out by British and American > heavy bombers.) > Having said that, the mass-rape of German girls and women after the > surrender - carried out by Russian occupying forces - really turns my > stomach and has no possible justification.
Or the mass-rape of German culture by the Americans after the war. They weren't even allowed to sing their own national anthem in school ! And if their cities were not completely destroyed by allied bombing the new buildings built by architects from all over the world certainly has made the alienation complete. Just go to Berlin and see for yourself, it's a complete mess except for small enclaves dotted around the city that have hold on to some old charm.
