[STFrancis]

I am not trying to let anyone of the hook here. The statements were that Germans of that time period were victims of the Nazi's as well. Which in my opinion is correct.

If memory serves me right there were the same numbers of Germans executed in concentration camps as jews (Keep in mind memory is spotty here. I know the figure was in the multi-millions).

Now, remember that is NOT to say Germany did not bring a LOT of this onto themselves....

[muawiyah]

There were several different kinds of murders for which the Nazis were responsible. First there are the deaths of innocent people brought about by acts of war. Then there are the deaths of prisoners, whether military or civilian.

Within each broad category there are "details" and "subdivisions".

Rather than organizing the dead according to style of murder, it's probably best to tally the dead up by national and religious groups. Russians died in the millions. Then there were Jews of many nationalities. They, too, died in the millions. There were Polish people, both Jewish and non-Jewish, and they died in the millions. Even Germans died in the millions toward the end of the war.

Americans died in the hundreds of thousands, as did folks from the United Kingdom and it's dependencies, etc. Specialists can get into what went on in the Far East.

There are people who wish to believe this did not happen. Unfortunately, WWII did happen and it still has consequences.

[ellery]

Absolutely, I agree that any Germans who were on the run from the Nazis or thrown into concentration camps were victims. I'm talking about the Germans who fought for/supported Hitler, though -- were they victims? There's a good argument either way, of course -- as you pointed out, they were brainwashed. But on the other hand, many other people who have lived under regimes that tried to brainwash them have taken up arms against their regime. Most Germans didn't do that. I have to wonder, why not?