These are the most graphic and chilling pictures I have ever seen of this war. Incredibly clear and placed with many different situations. To be mentioned is the uprising of those same beleaguered Jewish people. This took place after the D Day landings. 13,000 occupants of the Ghetto died. They were to be transported to Treblinka concentration camp.
Somehow any sympathy I ever had for the Germans executed for war crimes evaporated. Always felt that following orders, maybe was a fact to be reckoned with. Still very hard to rationalize the actions of those in that war. I include the Allies to some extent.
It's why I shed no tears for what happened to Dresden.
As far as I'm concerned, the Germans got off easy.
Excellent post. My mom was a war baby (1938) in the London area. She has vivid memories of the later part of the war. I read your post with great interest. Thank you for sharing your experience.
This whole documentary (see link below), about a British pilot, was extremely interesting to me, but please see what he says from 37:50 (linked) to 42:40 about what he saw in Germany after the war. He had experience with the Germans before the war, too, and his meeting, when he was young, of a German ace pilot from WWI is why he, in part, became a pilot himself. But it is striking what he says his feelings toward the Germans were after he witnessed what he did at Bergen-Belsen.
BBC Britains Greatest Pilot The Extraordinary Story of Captain Winkle Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEe5ul37Q7g&t=37m50s