You'd think that the Nazis would know how nationalism works... well, it turns out that when Hitler's fantasies of race meet the very real nationalism of the old European monarchies, race doesn't have the trump. Now, in 1940 nationalism isn't that old, but it's anchored in old traditions that the monarchies now occupied by the Nazis have managed to reconcile with modernity rather successfully. And here's an important point: nationalism is often decried as the root of all of these conflicts, and perhaps it is, but in some places it's also proved to be fertile ground for modern democracy. Perhaps there's a lesson to be learnt somewhere in there, and maybe that's that in the end it's not _what,_ but _how_ that makes a difference. What's particularly interesting, in for instance the Netherlands with the February Strike or in the Germany resistance rings, is that when faced with a common enemy to the nation, patriotism unites people across the political spectrum, well except those obsessed with the idea of race. *RULES OF CONDUCT* STAY CIVIL AND POLITE we will delete any comments with personal insults, or attacks. AVOID PARTISAN POLITICS AS FAR AS YOU CAN we reserve the right to cut off vitriolic debates. HATE SPEECH IN ANY DIRECTION will lead to a ban. RACISM, XENOPHOBIA, OR SLAMMING OF MINORITIES will lead to an immediate ban. PARTISAN REVISIONISM, ESPECIALLY HOLOCAUST AND HOLODOMOR DENIAL will lead to an immediate ban.
It was nationalism that allowed the Norwegian resistance fighters to have the strength to fight the German invaders. Why would they resist an invasion if not for the deep-seated love of their own country? The reality is that the kind of militant nationalism that engages in imperialistic warfare is not the norm when it comes to nationalism, it is the exception. And that's a good thing.
The younger ones of us are going to find out if multicultural ideas will really work out for all of us, most of the post-war generation probably won't (have to?).
@@Hooga89 Nonsense, people first and foremost fight for their homes and farms. It's not nationalism when an enemy comes to take it from you, it's choice.
@@maxben3391 Except that's not how it worked in practice. The Germans didn't come to steal Norwegians farms, they came to make Norwegians into Germans, and the Norwegians didn't want to be Germans.
Being over 70 years old and casually riding about in Copenhagen greeting the Danes not giving a damn about some German occupation is one of those rare forms of hilarious, passive-aggressive middle fingers.
At one point, Hitler even sent a long, congratulatory telegram to the king for his birthday. Christian X merely replied with a couple words and his signature. Hitler was pissed.
It's hilarious because the king knew that the Nazis couldn't do anything to him. Forget about arresting or harming him - even stopping his daily ride, they'd come off looking like the oppressors they were.
@@Raskolnikov70 The one thing they could do is probably set up a massive escort convoy for him whenever he goes out. But it's hard to decide whether that would make the Danes believe he's being guarded from them or whether they want to separate him from his people or whether they just want to make a guarded spectacle of it.
Things are hardly ever as simple as only to be summarized by "You are either with them, or against them with us" - Thus I am glad you speak of the people who just try to survive when horrible things unfold, and even for the ones choosing their sides continue to portray things more realistically than just the (almost) insultingly over-simplified split of "With us or with them" Thank you once again for a phenomenal job!
I remember Lindybeige did a good video on the French Resistance which brought to light just how perilous actively resisting the Nazi regime was. Not only were you putting your own life at risk, but you were putting the lives of your family, colleagues, or in some dark examples, entire villages; often for little gain.
@@thisTG G'day, Welcome to ; "Something MUST Be Done...! "This, is SOMETHING...., so let's do that ! "Well, that was REALLY Something...., huh ?" (When in Danger..., If in Doubt...; Run, in Circles, Scream, and Shout...!"). And, they'll say that that-all will be mush more betterer than watchin', and waitin' ; for Stupidity's inevitable endin'... Remarkable...(!). Just(ifiably ?) sayin', ;-p Ciao !
These are the truths that modern people SHOULD take heed of, but dont. And in their refusal to pay attention they allow the tyrants of today to pull the same wool over the people’s eyes
When I first read about the Danish King I instantly loved the guy. Riding around, with no guards, in the face of Nazi occupiers, to say hello to your people. Top bloke.
He was very unpopular before the occupation. He damn near brought about the downfall of the Danish monarchy in 1920, when he fired the elected government, when the stateminister, C. T. Zahle, refused his demand to call for extraordinary elections. That triggered a general strike and had Christian X not backed down, Denmark would have been a republic today. However, his stubborn defiance earned him respect during the occupation, because it was now aimed at the Germans. And today, most people have forgot the Eastercrisis of 1920 and only remember his attitude towards the occupiers.
My grandfather was a young man in Copenhagen during the war and saw the king on multiple occasions. He remained and avid royalist the rest of his life and would tell and retell the stories of how much it meant to him and the others during the days of the occupation, to see the king riding his horse through the streets.
My grandfather's family was from a the border region in Slesvig with members that spoke both Danish and German (mostly german though). My family was aggressively opposed to "the Prussian," which means the old conservative autocratic system of government. They viewed the German empire as a occupying force of lands that would be better off in the more liberal Denmark. My grandfather fled to Denmark in the first world war and lived here during the second, he died when I was young but my dad always explained his position, that he saw the Danish king as a symbol of democracy, a thought that might seem absurd to many other nationalities. That a monarch could symbolise representative rule. No specific stories about the king, but even my mom who's from a communist, family views the royal family as rightful representatives for our country and government. That says something about us as a people I think.
@@Nikolaj11 Okay - I fess up. I vote Enhedslisten - as do my kids. But my family still starts new years eve at 6 pm. When I met my wife, who is from Germany, she asked how we could still be a monarchy. She still remembers my answer; There is only ONE people, who should decide if the queen stays. And that is us. As long as we are happy - STFU. Later, when my youngest was seven, we were standing in Copenhagen at an absolutely gorgeous summers evening. We could see Amalienborg and see, that the queen was at home. Junior let out the most contented sigh, you could imagine. Everithing was in order. For that moment of pure bliss in a kid, I happily pay 50 kroner a year.
@@mochtegerndane7097 I've voted for Enhedslisten on occasion, I vote pretty widely depending on the nature of the election in question. For me the monarchy is not so much about personal contentment as I see it as a tool of stability. I think the function of the Danish monarchy, as wardens of our democratic process, is actually a sensible one, even if I agree with the ideal that there shouldn't be social class differences based on bloodlines and dynasties.
@Jeff Marye No, that's an urban legend. The way the Danish government cooperated with the Germans meant that, unlike in other countries, the Jews weren't getting picked up and deported to Germany. It wasn't until '43, when the relationship between the Danish government and the Germans started to deteriorate and the Germans took over power, that the deportations started. Because of the cooperation-policy, the Danes were still in control of things like the police and the harbour guards which meant that they would turn a blind eye / be bribed to let fishermen sail most of the Jews to Sweden. Most of the Danish Jews, ~7500 people, managed to escape, around 450 were caught., but again because of the cooperation from the Danish government, the people who did get send to concentration camps were much better treated than other Jews, so in the end 51 of the Danish Jews died in concentration camps, most from illnesses or old age (probably would've lived longer if they'd been home). It's still a hotly contested subject in Denmark; was the government right to cooperate instead of resisting the Germans? It seems like the further away from the war we get, the more people see it as a bad policy, but the Danish Jews and their descendents can probably thank the Danish government for making that choice.
Regarding the Danish king's ride through Copenhagen, a reporter purportedly asked a passerby about his lack of bodyguards. The passerby explained "You don't understand - all of us are his bodyguards."
Indeed I'm not saving it in my mind like the First World War Against Humanity and the Second World War Against Humanity. When my nephews ask me who lost my answer shall be HUMANITY!
The Danish King was bad ass. Riding about his horse in Copenhagen... when some German raised their flag, the King went to it and raised his flag under threat of being shot.
Me makes me believe in the en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs#Self-actualization A king should be raised by a king. Expensive proper education. Hes lower needs from the piramid should be satisfied and then he - having a human mind - will try to become "the best that he can be". The bad thing about that is than he may not share other views what is the best for others. Unlike kings dictator views are far more often shaped by "lower needs". Thats why they see some group of people as enemies. But this king is what royalty truly should be. He goes into the city knowing that people know he does his best for the Danish people.
HITLER had already given orders that the King of Denmark could not be touched so he had immunity which he abused carefully to undermine the occupation. The best protected Royal Family was ex King Edward & Mrs Simpson, in Paris. Hitler had given instructions that they were "untouchable", ie your whole family would die if they were even insulted.
My grandfather sailed jews from Copenhagen to Sweden. We still have his nazi issued permit to fish in the Øresund between DK and Sweden and his resistance arm band.
Cool :)) I still have the spoon my grandfather had with him when he was caught hiding jews at his farm and was sent to Sobibor. He survived luckily, freed by the russians. :))
@@landersen8173 The most admireable part of it all was he did forgive the NSB guy for turning him in. That's something i really admire. If he can forgive something like that! Who am i to not forgive?
Even if this is 80 years after the fact, this gives me hope and a warm feeling in my heart. That my great grandfather took part in resisting the evil of Europe and defending Norway from the attackers makes me proud. Thanks so much for this love the channel and project as a whole!
My family is Danish and is related to Vice admiral Aage Helgesen Vedel, responsible for scuttling the Danish fleet in 1943. He was an active member of the Danish resistance movement and my family still has his resistance band today including the Kings pins. We are very proud and he was just recently depicted on a danish television series
This episode highlights the depressing truth in that while most people aren’t necessarily cowards, very few will stick their neck out and try to keep under the radar. This would particularly be the case if one was married and/or had a family which no doubt the Nazi’s and their collaborators would threaten at the slightest whiff of suspicion.
Heck even if they DIDN'T threaten your family directly... that's got to weight heavily on your mind. Leaving a widow and orphans behind to fend for themselves is hard enough at the best of times, imagine that happening during though times like a world war. That makes the few who chose to make a stand all the more heroic, it takes spine of steel to walk down that path.
@@TheStephaneAdam I spine of steel, or just someone young enough to not fully comprehend the danger he/she are exposing themselves and their loved ones to. I am by no means trying to belittle the courage and abilities of the many people fighting in the resistance movements all across Europe during the war, but a lot of them were young people (kids in some instances) that were to some degree not fully aware of the potential consequences of their decision to fight. My uncle was one of those people, he was 16 or 17 when the war ended and served as a lookout for a resistance group (I am not aware if it was a sabotage or recieving group), along with some of his friends. He came through without getting in trouble, but from conversations I had with him, he really regretted later in life exposing his family to that kind of danger.
I can't blame people who look out for their family first. Your actions directly effect their well being, but being executed after blowing up a rail way isn't exactly winning the war.
Im of Dutch descent, all my grandparents went through the occupation, and various things happened. my fathers parents were too young to do much of anything active, but they remember seeing the Germans on the street, and people turning away from them, not acknowledging them, and the constant hunger and not knowing where the next meal was coming from. my mums parents were older, her mother worked as a servant for German officers billeted in her home town, as she spoke German and had a German last name (generations back they were from over the border). the reason she and her family came out ok, a German cook would give her the scraps to take home, rather than feed to pigs as was the order from above. my grandfather was a forced/slaved worker, in his late teens and early 20s, was forced to clear allied bombs from the airfield and surrounding area he was assigned to. He took the oppotunity to help people escape the Germans any chance he could, he took a bullet to the leg doing so at one point, but the nurses at the hospital said he was on his deathbed and the Germans couldn't take him away to finish it off. Mysteriously he disappeared from the hospital, along with the records, and went into hiding with alot of the other males in his family. Its crazy to think that if any of them hadn't survived, none of their descendants would be here (between my family, cousins etc there are 50+ of us). And all because of a couple of people who had a conscience, I have never known the name of the nurses or that cook with a heart, resistance isn't always about picking up a gun and shooting back, sometimes all it takes is realising that we are all humans and helping fellow man.
@@redwater4778 nope learn some history king albert 1 was there whit the belgian army the usa did not so mutch in belgium in ww1 it was the belgian army the GB army and commonwealth countrys and france not the usa
for the people that want to know a bit about the dutch recistance, i would recomend a dutch film called resistance banker. it is about a banker in WW2 who sets up an underground banking system to facilitate strikes, sabotages, and assassinations, and helps to fund the manny underground newspapers. as of now there is a English Dub on netflix.
Dieser Film ist sehr gut. Leider war es auch so das viele Belgier, vor allem Flamen sowie die Holländer starke SS Verbände stellten. In den Niederlanden entstand hierdurch eine gegenseitig Hass Situation, es folgten nach Kriegsende eine blutige Abrechnung, Belgien vollstreckte mehr Todes Urteile als Frankreich. Ich stamme aus der Gegend EupenMalmedy-St. Vith bis 1918 Deutsch, das Verhalten der Belgier von 1918 bis 1940 war leider nicht gut, was dazu führte das die "Heim ins Reich" Bewegung stark und Aktiv war. 1945 wurden wir wieder Belgier, die Belgier hatten aber aus der Vergangenheit gelernt, wir behielten unsere Sprache und zusätzlich Französich, Heute sind (fast) alle stolze Belgier und Königstreu. Es geht auch anders. Gott zum Gruss
Resistance has a complex heritage which is still often debated about here in the Netherlands. Many families have stories about collaborators, passive or active resistance, hope, sadness and much more. It's also a good sign that many families who have a dark history of collaboration are allowed to open up about their experiences during WWII without immediate condemnation (as of recently). As we near the 75th anniversary of our 'Remembrance day' (4 May), what it means to resist tyranny and what 'doing the right thing' means are still questions we ask ourselves.
Am I the only one who was both distracted and highly amused by the giant working clock behind Spartacus? From that clock, I can make several observations: It took him 27 minutes to record this 17 minute video, which is actually pretty danged impressive. :) The largest time skip in the record occurred when he had to pronounce the names of several Belgian cities where factories protested the deportation of Jews to concentration camps. A 20 second interlude that took just under 5 minutes (I'm guessing multiple takes. :) ). He made this recording either fairly early in the morning or late in the evening. I have the worst case of ADHD - instead of SQUIRREL, substitute "OOH, COOL CLOCCK!"
Edvard His name became a synonym in his time. I have read a Dutch resistance newspaper from 18 may 1940, and it used Quisling as a synonym for traitor.
Betrayal is merely a matter of perspective As an example, the US founding fathers were traitors to their king and country, but they're still honoured as heroes by the Americans
@@ardshielcomplex8917 so what you say is that more then 20% of the Dutch joined the SS, please I hope you understand yourself that this remark is way out of line. You just made us Dutch look like Nazis themselves and I really feel disturbed by your remark.
@Ardshiel Complex there where somewhere between 20 thousand and 55 thousand dutch members of the waffen ss. the netherlands had a population of 9 milion. how is that in any way most of the able bodied men? are you saying that there weren't that many able bodied men in the netherlands? or are you saying that only members of the waffen ss are able bodied? or both? either way what you said is quite horrifying.
I find these specials quite insightful. They try to show the situation from both sides of a coin, but at the same time show that the overall situation is not a simple metaphorical representation of said coin, but rather a complex cube which is ever so changing.
i just found out that my grandfather might have been doing some work with the danish resistance. im now working on finding out if it is true. his brother was also involved if the stories are true. but unfortunately my grandfather and his brother are both dead and nobody can remember any specifics ( i guess they never talked about it ) so i have contacted a museum and the curator has agreed to help me in my quest for answers :)
@Gary Daniel No suprise! One my grandfathers was also an active member in the resistance and never talked about it. What I know is from one of his best friends, who was in the same group as my grandfather. His job is to steal and deliver the food stamps to feed the Jews who were hiding. He was almost killed when a German soldier threw a handgranate, but one of his buddies jumped on it to safe the other 3. My other grandfather had 2 Jewish families hiden on his farm. I didn't know about this till his funeral when I met these families.
Spartacus, you absolutely nailed the pronunciation of those Dutch names of people and towns! I really appreciate these episodes, especially now that it is about my home country. It is said that this February Strike is the only massive strike against the Germans in the war, but it did cost a lot.. Keep up the good work! Greetings from Holland.
Calling Wilhelmina instrumental to The government in exile is an understatment. When Dutchmen fled Nazi occupation to England (around 4000 during The war), she invidet every single one of them over for tea to discuss The State of affairs. Churchill called her “ The Only real man among a bunch of old wives”, revering to The rest of The Dutch government in London.
Crown Princess Juliana and her children were sent to Canada during the Blitz. Her third daughter was born there, though the hospital was briefly ceded to the Dutch so technically she’d enter the world in her home country. After Normandy, Canadian soldiers fought mainly along the north coast of continental Europe and were responsible for the liberation of the Netherlands. Every spring, The Dutch Royal Family sends tulip bulbs to Ottawa for a festival of friendship and commemoration.
Finally some news about the dutch (or benelux), I have been waiting for this since day 1 of the occupation of the Netherlands, I really am interested in hearing more of the strikes ( mostly the netherlands but also in any other country) and at best I would love to hear about the strike in the merwede area (where I live), it was basicly a small scale strike by mostly shipyards on the 16th of may 1944.
Great stuff. Your TH-cam offer only gets better. A very interesting episode which managed to comprise much in a tiny time frame. My ex wife is Norwegian and her grand parents took part in the six weeks war/the following resistance also known as the Home Front (Hjemmefronten). Many fascinating stories. - Also agree with several others about Christian X:s resistance by daily riding. A very clever - and Danish - way of opposition.
It's funny how they could underestimate danish nationalism, afterall danes in Slesvig/Schleswig, bred a red pig with a white cross over it's back, making it look like the danish flag (after the war in 1864). If a people is going to breed something like the protest pig, they're in it for the long haul, the germans could win the battle, but never the war.
@@vrenak "If a people is going to breed something like the protest pig, they're in it for the long haul" Amazing. This won the internet for me today ;)
@@hannesbaumann8509 It was not the king, but the government and the German delegate who rejected the use of the German Jewish laws in Denmark - if Jewish laws or the death penalty were introduced, the Danish government would pass and Werner Best would lose his political power in Germany The "oversight management" in Denmark went so well that the BBC started a campaign against Werner Best. He was a dangerous man who haunted the Danes asleep.
Sparticus is doing a great job, I've been watching this series since the beginning and you can clearly see a marked improvement in his confidence and style. Thank you for your hard work bringing such a dark but important chapter of our history home to us! Also, I love the polo sweater, but is that a clip-on tie? *gasp* ^v^
Thank you for the kind words... but clip on tie??? Never, not ever! It's a collar pin you're seeing (Astrid got sick of our collars being in disorder if she doesn't keep a constant eye on them, but let's just say that while it seems to work for Indy, for me this was a failed experiment to solve that problem).
@@spartacus-olsson haha well in that case I'm so sorry for the slanderous accusation! Astrid has been doing a maahvelous job you guys keep up the good work!
I love the English newspaper that puts Belgian King Surrenders His Army next to How to Grow Beautiful Gladiolus ( @8:34 ). Why did Hitler ever think he could beat the English?
I'm fairly certain you come from one of the resisting countries mentioned in the video. There is a certain passion in your voice I haven't felt in other videos.
Hi, first of all I would like to thank you for your great work, its really one of the best historical channels on TH-cam. I have a question, would you consider making a similar video about the resistance in Poland? Like the Home Army, the Council to Aid Jews with the Government Delegation for Poland, and in the future The Warsaw uprising? Thanks again, and the best of luck
I respect my Grand Grandpa for his actions. I mean we are Germans but he refused, even under pressure, to join the NSDAP and he deserted the Volkssturm. He had seen the horrors of WW1 and i think it shaped him
Ja es gab Sie, diese tapferen Frauen und Männer, mein Grosvater hat sich, immer, geweigert die Nazi Fahnen raus zu hangen und wurde durch Gestapo und NACHBARN verprügelt, diese waren 1945 alle im Wiederstand. Er verlor 3 seiner Söhne im Krieg. nsere Famillie wurde eingedeutscht (bis 1918 Deutsch) er hat unter Einsatz seines Lebens Juden und später Piloten über die Grenze nach Belgien geschmugelt. Ich erfuhr hiervon als 40 Jähriger Mann zufällig, er selbst hat nie darüber gesprochen.
@Troy Staunton I think its easy to say that you'll stay true to your principles but its easy to say that from a distance. However, especially for the young people its hard. If you grew up in a system, where you get indoctrinated from a very young age, can you be truly guilty then?
Just one thing to correct here: You mentioned "widespread resistance" in the beginning. Even though you later nuance that statement, I do like to nuance it a bit further, from the perspective of a Dutchman. There was no "widespread" resistance in my country, even though our government likes to make everybody believe that there was. The NSB had 75.000 members at the end of 1941, whereas our organized 'resistance' had around 35.000. In other words, more than double the amount of people collaborated actively and openly, rather than resisted. Also, 75.000 members is A LOT. Especially considering the current member totals of political parties in our country. I believe that the party with the most members right now is FvD, at ~50.000 members. (Take into account that we had population booms, so with 2/3 of the current population, the NSB could still reach such numbers back then). There is A LOT of propaganda in our Dutch history classes, applauding our brave resistance, whilst in reality there was a substantial part of the population that collaborated. I'm not saying that the collaboration was "widespread" instead, because that is also not the case. However, unfortunately, active collaboration was more commonplace than active resistance in the early parts of the war. This is not to say we do not have our glorious acts of resistance (for example, we set some records in succesfully hiding and protecting jews and other 'enemies' of the nazi-regime). However, in schools and daily life in the Netherlands, we like to put only that perspective of history in the limelights, and that is wrong. In reality, as stated in the video, most people just lived their lives as normal and the expectation was that the British would surrender, peace deals would be made, and the Netherlands would become independent again, albeit probably in the form of a German puppet state. Only after the war (and because of resentment of Germans created during the hunger winter of 1944-1945) people tried to desperately associate themselves with the resistance. Speak to a random Dutch person today, and surely they have a story of some 'resistance hero' in their family, even though it is statistically far more likely they had collaborators. I think we shouldn't look away from the active collaboration that a substantial part of the populace partook in and acknowledge that the national-socialism was very popular across Europe, not only inside of Germany. If we don't acknowledge it, we refuse to look into WHY it appealed to people and are doomed to make the same mistakes again. Either way, I think I made my point, I rest my case.
From what I have heard, The Number of collaborators vs resistance fighters in The Netherlands was about the same, somewhere around The 100.000. Also, When most of the Dutch people did Just Go on to live their lives as normal, that also meand that they didn’t bother to eknowlige or joining any of the pro Nazi festivities, actions and manifestations, to The point that in late 1941, The German authoritys admitted that The Nazification of Holland was a complete faillor. Also, de Nederlandse Unie (The Dutch union) was founded in The summier of 1940 in order to counter The Much dispised NSB to The point that it had almost 1 million members ( of a population of around 8 million) making It The biggest political movement in Dutch history, until disbanded by the Nazis in late 1941.
TSAOH! I think comparing membership of the nsb to membership of parties today and drawing conclusions from it is a mistake. Under occupation people might hope to gain a advantage by joining the nsb. I expect a large percentage of dutch nazis were registred party members. Today membership of a party gives you very little, so members are a very small group compared to sympathizers. If during occupation you sympathized with nazis you might aswell join and hope to gain from it.
This post hit the nail on the head. The number of books/movies in the Netherlands about the resistance are limitless, while the resistance was in truth very limited. The vast majority just went about their normal daily lives as best they could. It should also be noted however that there is a big difference between the early war years and 44/45. When the war started to go badly for Germany, resistance increased. The economy also played a major role in this regard. In the early years there was a bit of a boom. In the later war years, economic dislocation, confiscations, property damage, shortages of all sorts, etc. etc. all accompanied by increasing German brutality fueled the anger towards the Germans.
Even if differing in detail the overall picture is the same in Norway. After a two month long defensive campaign, what did not evacuate to England of our governing bodies chose the practical path of cooperation with the occupation power. In itself it is nothing wrong with that. After surrender in war you do need to cooperate in some way. But some cooperated rather enthusiastically. Then there were the collaborators. One group collaborated economically. Mostly big business and some small business wanting to get bigger. Another group was the Norwegian fascists. They rose to a stunning 90.000 during the war. In a country of 3.000.000 inhabitants. Some 15.000 volunteered for military service, of whom between 5 and 7.000 saw action fighting alongside the Germans in Russia, on the Balkan and at the end in Berlin. Even so the Germans lost the fight for hearts and minds eventually. Norwegian nationalism, longing for freedom and democracy was stronger than opportunism and pan germanissm even from the start and grew stronger for each year of occupation. In the end you had a large and well functioning pro German front in Nasjonal Samling under Quisling, that were dvarfed by a tventy times larger unified anti German population.
Yes, you are correct. We used this picture of the Wawer massacre because it showed the systematic harsh measures the German occupiers applied on resistance fighters. We wanted to show that being in the resistance was a very dangerous job, even in The Netherlands, Belgium and Scandinavian countries and eventually could get you killed, just like the resistance fighters in Poland in 1939. But yes, we have to admit that we should have used a caption explaining where and when the picture was taken. That would make it more transparent.
@@WorldWarTwo but then still it doesn't represent what you want to tell... You have described what happend in Wawer pretty well here: th-cam.com/video/SkdMsQV2c-g/w-d-xo.html so you know it was not linked to any resistance action. On the picture we can see Antoni Bartoszek restaurant owner who was beaten and hang on the door of his own restaurant where two German officers had been shot by criminals. He was a civilian used as example by Germans. Unless you can tell me that same severe panishment was imposed in Belgium, the Netherlands or Luxemburg I still dare to call usege of the photo inaccurate. Nevertheless I still enjoyed the video and thank you for your work...
In 1943 there was a second general strike in the Netherlands in Twenthe. In 1944 there was a general railway strike when Operation Market took place, after a coded message was read on Radio Oranje.
My great grand fathers oldest brother was part of the resistance in Yugoslavia. From what I understand for his service he was given the slovene title equivalent of the English duke.
It is gratifying to hear of these few bright lights during the dismal descent into the darkeness of depravity. Sometimes listening what happened to the Jewish people, Poles, Slavs, Romanis and others can leave me wondering how humans can sink so low and become inured to, or even joyful in other's suffering. In my related research I've come upon the story of the Merchant Ship St. Louis... Where the free world turned its back and basically told the refugees to "go home and die". Sometimes I have to walk away from all this and clear my head before delving back in. Sometimes history is hard.
I was born in Denmark, to American teachers. Several Danish close family friends were in the Danish Resistance, esp: Dr Poul Kirketerp. He was the head of Resistance newspaper distribution for the Aarhus to Horsens area. In the hospital basement they also printed a local supplement. The Resistance organizational network also relayed communications, e.g., assisting with relaying Danish Jews to Copenhagen or north Jutland to be smuggled to Sweden. A Mr. Hollanbro was in Anti Collaborationist Activities. Dr. Poul was arrested by the Nazis in the later war. When he refused to be 'Turned,' or name names he was imprisoned in Germany till war's end. Fellow Resisters smuggled in parts to build a radio. In prison, they listened to the BBC Danish Service.
Since you are covering restistance movements, it would be cool to cover the biggest WW2 resistance movement. The Greek Restistance and its accomplishes!
@@WorldWarTwo I have the feeling that, in less than two months, Nazis will intervene in the Greco-Italian war and save Mussolini. But I can tell you that Greeks are already getting prepared for resistance against Germans, Italians and probably Bulgarians.
Being a dane my grandmother told me that during the war a German soldier once asked a Danish teen , how our king could ride around the city like that without some form og protection, the teen replied he didn't need it, because the Danish people protect him.
Great episode! Will you do more and/or special episodes about the monarchist resistance in Europe? For example about those Monarchists in Austria? And will you do a special episode about Kaiser Wilhelm the 2n?
Now a days the monarchy is not very popular among young people in the Netherlands, but my grandma loves the monarchy. Always when i ask her why she loves the monarchy, she always mentions ww2 and Wilhelmina. She says that she was the one who gave them hope and that we need someone like that if a similar event like ww2 will happen again we need the monarchy.
All the more ironic when you bear in mind the Netherlands as a nation was, somewhat uniquely among nations today, founded as a Republic, only later becoming a monarchy. I mean, sure the Stadtholders were at times de facto monarchs, but still...
My dad was a plumber in Washington DC and during the war he had the job of renovating the plumbing in a property that was to be used by Queen Wilhelmina when she was in the city. One item that showed up was a fixture completely unknown to the crew, a bidet. They called around and the only guidance they got was that it goes in the bathroom off the bedroom. They hooked it up and finished the job. After occupancy by the queen, my dad's company (Joe High) was asked to come back, which my dad did. He asked what the problem was and was told that the water for the bidet was hooked up bass-ackwards and was shown how the unit was used. They couldn't hold it in and much snickering ensued before the problem was rectified.
This episode was top quality as always Spartacus. I look forward to the episode on Polish resistance as I have been absorbing a lot of polish content on WW2 recently. A book called "They Did Not Fight In Vain." 1939-1945. It is a compilation of firsthand accounts from polish resistance and partisans, interestingly all the stories were taken from Poles residing in South Australia post-war.
The Arcadius Project I really hope your jimmies recover . Spartacus might have made some effort but was speaking so fast to cover a lot of ground in 17 mins . I have to re watch the video because so much was said , including how to pronounce some words . That is the nice thing about being exposed to other Countries and Languages . Thank you for pointing this out
99% of the danish jews survived after an evacuation supported by the government and the citizens of Denmark. The resistance sailed more than 7.000 jews across the sea to Sweden where they were safe. That is something the Danish and Swedish people are really proud off.
Queen Wilhelmina sounds just like I expect old Dutch people trying to speak English to sound. Guess they are just repeating what they heard when they were young XD
I'm impressed by Spartacus' pronunciation in different languages. I get the impression he's better than Indy in languages (not meant as criticism of Indy, who's way above average anyway, but rather praise of Spartacus)
Where do you find the footage of partisan activity? People firing out of windows and occupying the streets. its incredible to me the feats these people went, but very hard to find. like, there's only a few seconds shown but there's got to be a stock film or something that all these come from. I've looked forever to find something like that but not much luck.
07:51 For me, as a Swede, I fell ashamed that our government (at that time ) refused to let king Haakon in to our country. And even worse when we (in the future) have to agree by letting the Germans to transit on our railroads between Germany - Norway/Finland. I hope that when you start with the country specials and when it’s about Sweden that the later discussion over Sweden’s actions and decisions during the war is still being discussed to this day.
Isak Ferm Didn’t Sweden take part in The evacuation of The intire jewish population of Denmark in 1943? Also, The Dutch (myself included) remember Sweden as one of The first to send food aid to the starving Netherlands in januari 1945.
Karst Reitsma yes we did. It was actually the danish resistance who got word of that the Nazis was going to start arrest Jews. They succeeded in evacuating 7220 of Denmark’s entire 7800 Jewish population. By this time, in late 1943, Sweden began to take a stand towards the Germans and the Swedish government proclaimed that Sweden will accept all Jews. However the discussion I mention is for example: Sweden’s iron ore mines was the main reason for the German invasion of Denmark and Norway. Then the transit rights of unarmed German soldiers. And finally the transition of the engelbrecht-division, who was armed and heading for a war zone and violated international law of neutrality. Then in the end and after the war many began speculate that Sweden could have done much more and some countries, especially Norway, criticized that we could have taken an more active stand against Germany. Those are the discussions that is still being discussed
Actually he is wrong about Leopold III who was removed - la question royale - after WWII, as he did not fight as his predecessor, Albert 1 le roi soldat, did in WWI.
There was even a group of three young men from Belgium, who were also childhod friends, who stopped a deportation train and told everyone on the train to flee. One of them was Jewish, the other two where gentile Belgians, and all three were unite in their opposition to the Nazi regime. Unfortunately I don't know their names, and iirc at least one member of the group died as a consequence of his resistance.
@@johncarroll5450 That's dumb. Obviously Britain condemned a group that had been attacking and killing its troops and citizens and fighting against its interests. It just so happened the same tactics became useful to use against another enemy.
@@johncarroll5450 -Hey, I have this wonderful idea that would help organise the partisans in various countries and help us win the war! -But isnt that the same tactic the IRA used? -Oh shit, back to the drawing board
the only thing i really struggle to agree, is that Belgium is a nation-state, even today the differences between the flemish and the walloons is striking.
Lol thats what the media says but ask some real belgian's and not immigration peopel that became belgian they would say we hate wallonia but e real belgian says we are 1
The empty barrels are always those who make more noise and precisely the collabos and their heirs are also those who want to break-up Belgium, all in the extreme-right, although their last incarnation, the N-VA tries to be politically correct to avoid the cordon sanitaire that has been applied to their predecessors, the VB.
@@commando2113 exactly. And it's quite ironic how the N-VA, which is the heir of the collaboration, now sprinkle their list with a few abducted migrants to look more politically correct while their real bosses keep being on the extreme-right and doing very fascist things and politics, precisely in immigration. They are their Uncles Tom...
It really is amazing what humans can do in the face of adversity. Also, it strikes me how similar the heroics of these people are so similar to events in the ancient past; so often I feel like we think there is some kind of separation between us and the humans of 2000 years ago, but really those people felt and lived almost exactly the same way we feel and live today. The more things change the more they stay the same
@Spartacus Olsson any chance to make a video about the resistance of the Balkan countries against the Nazis and Italian occupation armies?The atrocities that did to this countries?Thank you for your superb videos.
That info network was part of the plot in the Hogan's Heroes tv series (which I have on dvd). If you know anything on printing a newspaper I could really use the info.
I used to live near Elstree film studios during the war there was a hotel near by called the Thatch barn. It was from here the SOE agents used to be trained. Staff from the studios where used to help the agents eg barbers cut male agents hair in a pre war fashion. (I only know this as my Grandfather mate was a barber there) I now live near what was RAF Tempsford where agents where flown into Europe there's a barn there which was the parachute store where the agents used to collect there parachutes before going to wherever. Now it's a memorial to those who didn't make it back.
This is nice… Royals and passive resistance….. My grandfathers picked up guns, one went to the mountain killing Nazis, and the other with a puny fishing boat would go back and forth to Cyprus bringing guns and ammo saving the odd Jew every now and then….
@@Willy_TepesI guess the situation in each country was different. Keep in mind that we in Greece beat the Italian invasion but we were beaten back by the Nazis as it was impossible to defend a double front. The army capitulated, but the rank and file (as my grandparents were) did not accept it, and immediately resistance was formed. And I'll add a guess, and if I’m wrong please feel free to correct me. I have the feeling that the northern countries did not put much of a resistance because Germans and German culture was not very far from their (your) own.... Language basically the same (not Norwegian and Danish of course, but Dutch and Flemish), cultures similar, even you look (take that with a grain of salt) similar. And, that is 100% certain; they treated you much much differently. To give you an example, the areas of Greece that were occupied by Italians people were treated way much better that the ones occupied by the Germans, or the areas occupied by the Bulgarians (like mine) which were the worst. There was almost no organized resistance in the Italian parts…. But in the rest of Greece: starvation, mass executions, torture, evictions, terror.... what else could one do but fight?
@@Willy_Tepes Ok, that might sound patronizing, but there we are. I have spent some time around Norwegian and Danish people when I was younger. I could tell you a whole lot of characterizations for them, but fear, of anything, would not be one. Complacency, yes: “let’s not make too much fuss, ok” (which for Greeks is exactly the opposite) , but fear, never. Have you thought that the Nazis were treating you nice just because they were absolutely terrified of the idea of thousands of Norwegians armed and hostile up in the mountains? Btw you should know that Norwegians in exile, Utefronten, did performed brilliantly !!! Einar Gleditsch, skipper of the Kosmos II decided to ram U-123, ordering full speed ahead… that’s guts. The two Spitfire squadrons, 331 and 332., ten ships in D day, the Norwegian Independent Company 1, and the 5th Troop of the No. 10 Commando unit and thousands of Norwegians sailors that manned the convoys from US to UK… many of them met a watery death…. As I told you : the situation in each country was different. My Dad, Captain of the Greek Merchant fleet, many years retired now kept telling me: a sober Scot in the engine room and a sober Norwegian in the wheel house, and you have nothing to worry but alcohol reaching them…
@@Willy_Tepes "official reasons" are political compromises.... Peace came eventually and you had to keep on going, as we had to. Rebuild your country and move on. We did the same, only we had a civil war to go thought, national division, a junta, restoration, and eventualy a some short of democracy in the land that gave bith to this idea. We are still struggling while you have a great democratic country, enjoy peace and prosperity. Good for you, you worked for it and you deserve it. We are still fighting the gosts of the past. As my dad said: Have a sober Norge on the helm and keep him away from the boose.... And to lighen the mood here is a rather famous Greek song by my favorite poet about a Nowregian pilot in Colombo, I'll traslate it if you like. th-cam.com/video/eR2vqgGiQgo/w-d-xo.html
Great video as always!! Yet, I think it lacksemtioning that people in the resistance didn't only risk their own lives. After sabotage or assassination attempts it was common practice for the Nazi gouvernement to execute a few random bypassers as reprisals. This too was a reason not to join a resistance group for many. It also made resistance groups think twice before taking any action.
You'd think that the Nazis would know how nationalism works... well, it turns out that when Hitler's fantasies of race meet the very real nationalism of the old European monarchies, race doesn't have the trump. Now, in 1940 nationalism isn't that old, but it's anchored in old traditions that the monarchies now occupied by the Nazis have managed to reconcile with modernity rather successfully. And here's an important point: nationalism is often decried as the root of all of these conflicts, and perhaps it is, but in some places it's also proved to be fertile ground for modern democracy. Perhaps there's a lesson to be learnt somewhere in there, and maybe that's that in the end it's not _what,_ but _how_ that makes a difference. What's particularly interesting, in for instance the Netherlands with the February Strike or in the Germany resistance rings, is that when faced with a common enemy to the nation, patriotism unites people across the political spectrum, well except those obsessed with the idea of race.
*RULES OF CONDUCT*
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It was nationalism that allowed the Norwegian resistance fighters to have the strength to fight the German invaders. Why would they resist an invasion if not for the deep-seated love of their own country? The reality is that the kind of militant nationalism that engages in imperialistic warfare is not the norm when it comes to nationalism, it is the exception. And that's a good thing.
The younger ones of us are going to find out if multicultural ideas will really work out for all of us, most of the post-war generation probably won't (have to?).
@@Hooga89 Nonsense, people first and foremost fight for their homes and farms. It's not nationalism when an enemy comes to take it from you, it's choice.
Do you think deporting immigrants that commit crimes is an example of the good kind of nationalism or the bad kind?
@@maxben3391 Except that's not how it worked in practice. The Germans didn't come to steal Norwegians farms, they came to make Norwegians into Germans, and the Norwegians didn't want to be Germans.
Being over 70 years old and casually riding about in Copenhagen greeting the Danes not giving a damn about some German occupation is one of those rare forms of hilarious, passive-aggressive middle fingers.
At one point, Hitler even sent a long, congratulatory telegram to the king for his birthday. Christian X merely replied with a couple words and his signature. Hitler was pissed.
It's hilarious because the king knew that the Nazis couldn't do anything to him. Forget about arresting or harming him - even stopping his daily ride, they'd come off looking like the oppressors they were.
Total old guy move
@@Raskolnikov70
did they have to?
unlikely-
@@Raskolnikov70 The one thing they could do is probably set up a massive escort convoy for him whenever he goes out. But it's hard to decide whether that would make the Danes believe he's being guarded from them or whether they want to separate him from his people or whether they just want to make a guarded spectacle of it.
Things are hardly ever as simple as only to be summarized by "You are either with them, or against them with us" - Thus I am glad you speak of the people who just try to survive when horrible things unfold, and even for the ones choosing their sides continue to portray things more realistically than just the (almost) insultingly over-simplified split of "With us or with them" Thank you once again for a phenomenal job!
I remember Lindybeige did a good video on the French Resistance which brought to light just how perilous actively resisting the Nazi regime was. Not only were you putting your own life at risk, but you were putting the lives of your family, colleagues, or in some dark examples, entire villages; often for little gain.
@@thisTG
G'day,
Welcome to ;
"Something MUST Be Done...!
"This, is SOMETHING...., so let's do that !
"Well, that was REALLY Something...., huh ?"
(When in
Danger...,
If in
Doubt...;
Run, in
Circles,
Scream, and
Shout...!").
And, they'll say that that-all will be mush more betterer than watchin', and waitin' ; for Stupidity's inevitable endin'...
Remarkable...(!).
Just(ifiably ?) sayin',
;-p
Ciao !
"Fool me once, shame on ... shame on you. Fool me... You can't get fooled again!" - George W Bush
Only a Sith deals in absolutes.
These are the truths that modern people SHOULD take heed of, but dont. And in their refusal to pay attention they allow the tyrants of today to pull the same wool over the people’s eyes
When I first read about the Danish King I instantly loved the guy. Riding around, with no guards, in the face of Nazi occupiers, to say hello to your people. Top bloke.
sadly he fell of his horse and died in 1947
@GeoHistoria Heart attack into fall maybe?
@GeoHistoria he did die naturally but he fell of his horse while carrying a 5 year old girl in 1944
He was very unpopular before the occupation. He damn near brought about the downfall of the Danish monarchy in 1920, when he fired the elected government, when the stateminister, C. T. Zahle, refused his demand to call for extraordinary elections. That triggered a general strike and had Christian X not backed down, Denmark would have been a republic today.
However, his stubborn defiance earned him respect during the occupation, because it was now aimed at the Germans. And today, most people have forgot the Eastercrisis of 1920 and only remember his attitude towards the occupiers.
@@LarS1963 i wanted to say that:(
My grandfather was a young man in Copenhagen during the war and saw the king on multiple occasions. He remained and avid royalist the rest of his life and would tell and retell the stories of how much it meant to him and the others during the days of the occupation, to see the king riding his horse through the streets.
My grandfather's family was from a the border region in Slesvig with members that spoke both Danish and German (mostly german though). My family was aggressively opposed to "the Prussian," which means the old conservative autocratic system of government. They viewed the German empire as a occupying force of lands that would be better off in the more liberal Denmark.
My grandfather fled to Denmark in the first world war and lived here during the second, he died when I was young but my dad always explained his position, that he saw the Danish king as a symbol of democracy, a thought that might seem absurd to many other nationalities. That a monarch could symbolise representative rule.
No specific stories about the king, but even my mom who's from a communist, family views the royal family as rightful representatives for our country and government. That says something about us as a people I think.
Oh, he was a truly ''hero''. Not these ''wild Rossiyans bar-bares,'' who destroyed Nazis Army.
@@Nikolaj11 Okay - I fess up. I vote Enhedslisten - as do my kids. But my family still starts new years eve at 6 pm. When I met my wife, who is from Germany, she asked how we could still be a monarchy. She still remembers my answer; There is only ONE people, who should decide if the queen stays. And that is us. As long as we are happy - STFU.
Later, when my youngest was seven, we were standing in Copenhagen at an absolutely gorgeous summers evening. We could see Amalienborg and see, that the queen was at home. Junior let out the most contented sigh, you could imagine. Everithing was in order. For that moment of pure bliss in a kid, I happily pay 50 kroner a year.
@@mochtegerndane7097 I've voted for Enhedslisten on occasion, I vote pretty widely depending on the nature of the election in question. For me the monarchy is not so much about personal contentment as I see it as a tool of stability. I think the function of the Danish monarchy, as wardens of our democratic process, is actually a sensible one, even if I agree with the ideal that there shouldn't be social class differences based on bloodlines and dynasties.
@Jeff Marye No, that's an urban legend.
The way the Danish government cooperated with the Germans meant that, unlike in other countries, the Jews weren't getting picked up and deported to Germany. It wasn't until '43, when the relationship between the Danish government and the Germans started to deteriorate and the Germans took over power, that the deportations started.
Because of the cooperation-policy, the Danes were still in control of things like the police and the harbour guards which meant that they would turn a blind eye / be bribed to let fishermen sail most of the Jews to Sweden. Most of the Danish Jews, ~7500 people, managed to escape, around 450 were caught., but again because of the cooperation from the Danish government, the people who did get send to concentration camps were much better treated than other Jews, so in the end 51 of the Danish Jews died in concentration camps, most from illnesses or old age (probably would've lived longer if they'd been home).
It's still a hotly contested subject in Denmark; was the government right to cooperate instead of resisting the Germans? It seems like the further away from the war we get, the more people see it as a bad policy, but the Danish Jews and their descendents can probably thank the Danish government for making that choice.
Regarding the Danish king's ride through Copenhagen, a reporter purportedly asked a passerby about his lack of bodyguards. The passerby explained "You don't understand - all of us are his bodyguards."
I think the War Against Humanity series is essential to WW2. You cant just talk about WW2 Military and leave out the Atrocities.
Some say that Hitler killed the Jews while fighting a war; others say that Hitler fought a war while killing the Jews.
@@kirbyculp3449 let us not forget the non-jewish ppl whom the nazis deemed undesirable who r so often forgotten
Can't wait to see how will Japan catch-up with the German atrocities.
How many wars in Europe were started by the monarchy's?
Indeed I'm not saving it in my mind like the First World War Against Humanity and the Second World War Against Humanity. When my nephews ask me who lost my answer shall be HUMANITY!
The Danish King was bad ass. Riding about his horse in Copenhagen... when some German raised their flag, the King went to it and raised his flag under threat of being shot.
He was a nutter.
Me makes me believe in the en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs#Self-actualization
A king should be raised by a king. Expensive proper education. Hes lower needs from the piramid should be satisfied and then he - having a human mind - will try to become "the best that he can be". The bad thing about that is than he may not share other views what is the best for others. Unlike kings dictator views are far more often shaped by "lower needs". Thats why they see some group of people as enemies. But this king is what royalty truly should be. He goes into the city knowing that people know he does his best for the Danish people.
HITLER had already given orders that the King of Denmark could not be touched so he had immunity which he abused carefully to undermine the occupation. The best protected Royal Family was ex King Edward & Mrs Simpson, in Paris. Hitler had given instructions that they were "untouchable", ie your whole family would die if they were even insulted.
@@trevorhart545 Actually Edward was sent to the Bahamas as Churchill and the Royal Family did not want the two anywhere near England...
@@mochtegerndane7097 yes, U R right. He was at the Bahamas... Lucky him. Its good to be the (ex) King....
My grandfather sailed jews from Copenhagen to Sweden. We still have his nazi issued permit to fish in the Øresund between DK and Sweden and his resistance arm band.
Cool :))
I still have the spoon my grandfather had with him when he was caught hiding jews at his farm and was sent to Sobibor. He survived luckily, freed by the russians. :))
@@Romin.777 I´m glad your grandfather survived! What a brave man. Sobibor was hell and luckily my grandfather didn´t get caught.
@@landersen8173 The most admireable part of it all was he did forgive the NSB guy for turning him in.
That's something i really admire. If he can forgive something like that! Who am i to not forgive?
@@Romin.777 That´s amazing! Some legacy to live up to!
@@landersen8173 As you might expect i'm the forgiving kind of guy. :))
When you started watching WW2 for Indy but remained for Sparty and Indy
I'm here for cats on vacuum cleaners.
Even if this is 80 years after the fact, this gives me hope and a warm feeling in my heart. That my great grandfather took part in resisting the evil of Europe and defending Norway from the attackers makes me proud. Thanks so much for this love the channel and project as a whole!
And you should be proud ! His blood is your blood. He lives on in you.
My family is Danish and is related to Vice admiral Aage Helgesen Vedel, responsible for scuttling the Danish fleet in 1943. He was an active member of the Danish resistance movement and my family still has his resistance band today including the Kings pins. We are very proud and he was just recently depicted on a danish television series
This episode highlights the depressing truth in that while most people aren’t necessarily cowards, very few will stick their neck out and try to keep under the radar. This would particularly be the case if one was married and/or had a family which no doubt the Nazi’s and their collaborators would threaten at the slightest whiff of suspicion.
Heck even if they DIDN'T threaten your family directly... that's got to weight heavily on your mind. Leaving a widow and orphans behind to fend for themselves is hard enough at the best of times, imagine that happening during though times like a world war.
That makes the few who chose to make a stand all the more heroic, it takes spine of steel to walk down that path.
Hence the phrase is "It only takes a good man to do nothing..."
@@TheStephaneAdam I spine of steel, or just someone young enough to not fully comprehend the danger he/she are exposing themselves and their loved ones to.
I am by no means trying to belittle the courage and abilities of the many people fighting in the resistance movements all across Europe during the war, but a lot of them were young people (kids in some instances) that were to some degree not fully aware of the potential consequences of their decision to fight.
My uncle was one of those people, he was 16 or 17 when the war ended and served as a lookout for a resistance group (I am not aware if it was a sabotage or recieving group), along with some of his friends. He came through without getting in trouble, but from conversations I had with him, he really regretted later in life exposing his family to that kind of danger.
I can't blame people who look out for their family first. Your actions directly effect their well being, but being executed after blowing up a rail way isn't exactly winning the war.
Very true. Great majority adapt and try to make the best of a bad situation.
Im of Dutch descent, all my grandparents went through the occupation, and various things happened. my fathers parents were too young to do much of anything active, but they remember seeing the Germans on the street, and people turning away from them, not acknowledging them, and the constant hunger and not knowing where the next meal was coming from. my mums parents were older, her mother worked as a servant for German officers billeted in her home town, as she spoke German and had a German last name (generations back they were from over the border). the reason she and her family came out ok, a German cook would give her the scraps to take home, rather than feed to pigs as was the order from above. my grandfather was a forced/slaved worker, in his late teens and early 20s, was forced to clear allied bombs from the airfield and surrounding area he was assigned to. He took the oppotunity to help people escape the Germans any chance he could, he took a bullet to the leg doing so at one point, but the nurses at the hospital said he was on his deathbed and the Germans couldn't take him away to finish it off. Mysteriously he disappeared from the hospital, along with the records, and went into hiding with alot of the other males in his family.
Its crazy to think that if any of them hadn't survived, none of their descendants would be here (between my family, cousins etc there are 50+ of us). And all because of a couple of people who had a conscience, I have never known the name of the nurses or that cook with a heart, resistance isn't always about picking up a gun and shooting back, sometimes all it takes is realising that we are all humans and helping fellow man.
Thank you for sharing such pitifull *yet* heart warming events Walkato, much appreciated here!
As a Belgian history buff, this was thoroughly enjoyable to watch. Thanks, Spartacus and the rest of the crew!
As a Luxembourger, we should of formed an alliance with the Netherlands and Belgians like you...
@@luxembourgishempire2826 Belgians don't play well with others. We can't even do it among ourselves.
@@gianniverschueren870 It's sad really. The Benelux alliance would of been awesome!
USA took Belgium in WW1
@@redwater4778 nope learn some history king albert 1 was there whit the belgian army the usa did not so mutch in belgium in ww1 it was the belgian army the GB army and commonwealth countrys and france not the usa
All for Norway!
Alt for Norge! Haakon VII
Remember: nobody knew that the war would last five years. None of these sympathizers knew what they could -- or could not -- get away with.
And that is some excuse? Really puzzled by your comment
@@fuzzyhair321 I think he means that those who collaborated with the Germans had no idea that the Reich would only last 5 years.
@@thebog11 so if they knew they wouldn't collaborated?
J C the German Reich lasted for 12 years
@@JohnJohn-pe5kr Right, but I was talking about those who had been conquered in 1940.
for the people that want to know a bit about the dutch recistance, i would recomend a dutch film called resistance banker. it is about a banker in WW2 who sets up an underground banking system to facilitate strikes, sabotages, and assassinations, and helps to fund the manny underground newspapers.
as of now there is a English Dub on netflix.
Dieser Film ist sehr gut. Leider war es auch so das viele Belgier, vor allem Flamen sowie die Holländer starke SS Verbände stellten. In den Niederlanden entstand hierdurch eine gegenseitig Hass Situation, es folgten nach Kriegsende eine blutige Abrechnung, Belgien vollstreckte mehr Todes Urteile als Frankreich. Ich stamme aus der Gegend EupenMalmedy-St. Vith bis 1918 Deutsch, das Verhalten der Belgier von 1918 bis 1940 war leider nicht gut, was dazu führte das die "Heim ins Reich" Bewegung stark und Aktiv war. 1945 wurden wir wieder Belgier, die Belgier hatten aber aus der Vergangenheit gelernt, wir behielten unsere Sprache und zusätzlich Französich, Heute sind (fast) alle stolze Belgier und Königstreu. Es geht auch anders. Gott zum Gruss
Add "The Black Book " to your film list. It's a true story of resistance, espionage and betrayal in occupied Holland with a shocking ending.
Have you seen " The Dog of Flanders ` Best Dutch movie ever.
In Norway the recistance just robbed banks when they needed money :-)
I just finished watching Resistance Banker on your recommendation. Great film! Walraven was a very brave man.
Resistance has a complex heritage which is still often debated about here in the Netherlands. Many families have stories about collaborators, passive or active resistance, hope, sadness and much more. It's also a good sign that many families who have a dark history of collaboration are allowed to open up about their experiences during WWII without immediate condemnation (as of recently). As we near the 75th anniversary of our 'Remembrance day' (4 May), what it means to resist tyranny and what 'doing the right thing' means are still questions we ask ourselves.
Am I the only one who was both distracted and highly amused by the giant working clock behind Spartacus? From that clock, I can make several observations:
It took him 27 minutes to record this 17 minute video, which is actually pretty danged impressive. :)
The largest time skip in the record occurred when he had to pronounce the names of several Belgian cities where factories protested the deportation of Jews to concentration camps. A 20 second interlude that took just under 5 minutes (I'm guessing multiple takes. :) ).
He made this recording either fairly early in the morning or late in the evening.
I have the worst case of ADHD - instead of SQUIRREL, substitute "OOH, COOL CLOCCK!"
Those cities are all in the Netherlands.
@@Lttlemoi see? ADHD. :)
Unless it was reset...............
O
Lol I am fascinated by what fascinates people. Also, I can imagine myself drifting off: "Mhm... huh... clock..."
Quisling betrayed so much that his mere name is now synonym with betrayer in modern times.
If he didn't do it, someone else would have done it. It was inevitable.
@@dragosstanciu9866 does not make him right tho, still a traitor.
@@TheCornFarmer1989 I didn't say he was right, I said that if he didn't do it someone else would have done it.
Edvard His name became a synonym in his time. I have read a Dutch resistance newspaper from 18 may 1940, and it used Quisling as a synonym for traitor.
Betrayal is merely a matter of perspective
As an example, the US founding fathers were traitors to their king and country, but they're still honoured as heroes by the Americans
"" Churchill described her (Queen Wilhelmina) as "the only real man among the governments-in-exile" in London ""
''You majesty, the radio station is under air attack. You cannot hold your speech.'
Wilhelmina; 'My presence will deter the enemy bombs!'
Well most of the able bodied Men in the Netherlands had enlisted in the Waffen SS.
@@ardshielcomplex8917 so what you say is that more then 20% of the Dutch joined the SS, please I hope you understand yourself that this remark is way out of line. You just made us Dutch look like Nazis themselves and I really feel disturbed by your remark.
@Ardshiel Complex there where somewhere between 20 thousand and 55 thousand dutch members of the waffen ss. the netherlands had a population of 9 milion.
how is that in any way most of the able bodied men? are you saying that there weren't that many able bodied men in the netherlands? or are you saying that only members of the waffen ss are able bodied? or both?
either way what you said is quite horrifying.
@@ardshielcomplex8917 The entire membership of the Waffen-SS (of any national origin) was less than a million. There's no way that is true.
this is why i love this channel they talk about things no one else talks about
That is why we love our community, because they watch what no one else watches ;-)
I find these specials quite insightful. They try to show the situation from both sides of a coin, but at the same time show that the overall situation is not a simple metaphorical representation of said coin, but rather a complex cube which is ever so changing.
i just found out that my grandfather might have been doing some work with the danish resistance. im now working on finding out if it is true. his brother was also involved if the stories are true. but unfortunately my grandfather and his brother are both dead and nobody can remember any specifics ( i guess they never talked about it ) so i have contacted a museum and the curator has agreed to help me in my quest for answers :)
@Gary Daniel No suprise! One my grandfathers was also an active member in the resistance and never talked about it. What I know is from one of his best friends, who was in the same group as my grandfather. His job is to steal and deliver the food stamps to feed the Jews who were hiding. He was almost killed when a German soldier threw a handgranate, but one of his buddies jumped on it to safe the other 3.
My other grandfather had 2 Jewish families hiden on his farm. I didn't know about this till his funeral when I met these families.
I enjoy the War Against Humanity series. You guys do such a great job, thank you !
Thank you.
My fave film on this topic is The King's Choice, a norwegian film from a few years ago.
I really enjoyed this, as well as Max Manus.
Thanks :)
Spartacus, you absolutely nailed the pronunciation of those Dutch names of people and towns! I really appreciate these episodes, especially now that it is about my home country. It is said that this February Strike is the only massive strike against the Germans in the war, but it did cost a lot.. Keep up the good work! Greetings from Holland.
Calling Wilhelmina instrumental to The government in exile is an understatment. When Dutchmen fled Nazi occupation to England (around 4000 during The war), she invidet every single one of them over for tea to discuss The State of affairs. Churchill called her “ The Only real man among a bunch of old wives”, revering to The rest of The Dutch government in London.
Crown Princess Juliana and her children were sent to Canada during the Blitz. Her third daughter was born there, though the hospital was briefly ceded to the Dutch so technically she’d enter the world in her home country. After Normandy, Canadian soldiers fought mainly along the north coast of continental Europe and were responsible for the liberation of the Netherlands. Every spring, The Dutch Royal Family sends tulip bulbs to Ottawa for a festival of friendship and commemoration.
Wow...all of your episodes are great, but this one is absolutely outstanding (and inspiring too!). Keep up the great work!!
"Grandma is eating our sweets"
You know what that means chaps. Time to raise hell
Jean has a long mustache
Mr.Dalliard, we've been activated!
Goddamnit grandma, enough is enough, no more sweets for you
Lock and load
Finally some news about the dutch (or benelux), I have been waiting for this since day 1 of the occupation of the Netherlands, I really am interested in hearing more of the strikes ( mostly the netherlands but also in any other country) and at best I would love to hear about the strike in the merwede area (where I live), it was basicly a small scale strike by mostly shipyards on the 16th of may 1944.
Great stuff. Your TH-cam offer only gets better. A very interesting episode which managed to comprise much in a tiny time frame. My ex wife is Norwegian and her grand parents took part in the six weeks war/the following resistance also known as the Home Front (Hjemmefronten). Many fascinating stories. - Also agree with several others about Christian X:s resistance by daily riding. A very clever - and Danish - way of opposition.
When your a super nationalist nation underestimates nations nationalism
Bruh
It's funny how they could underestimate danish nationalism, afterall danes in Slesvig/Schleswig, bred a red pig with a white cross over it's back, making it look like the danish flag (after the war in 1864). If a people is going to breed something like the protest pig, they're in it for the long haul, the germans could win the battle, but never the war.
We're special. No other people could love their own like we do.
@@vrenak "If a people is going to breed something like the protest pig, they're in it for the long haul"
Amazing. This won the internet for me today ;)
Just the episode I've been waiting for! The Danish King also wore a star of david on his coat when the germans implemented that policy.
It's a myth! Werner Best (German representative / ambassador) made sure that the Jewish star was not in use in Denmark.
@@formstrup Supposedly because the king threatened to don the star himself.
@@hannesbaumann8509
It was not the king, but the government and the German delegate who rejected the use of the German Jewish laws in Denmark - if Jewish laws or the death penalty were introduced, the Danish government would pass and Werner Best would lose his political power in Germany
The "oversight management" in Denmark went so well that the BBC started a campaign against Werner Best. He was a dangerous man who haunted the Danes asleep.
Sparticus is doing a great job, I've been watching this series since the beginning and you can clearly see a marked improvement in his confidence and style. Thank you for your hard work bringing such a dark but important chapter of our history home to us! Also, I love the polo sweater, but is that a clip-on tie? *gasp* ^v^
Thank you for the kind words... but clip on tie??? Never, not ever! It's a collar pin you're seeing (Astrid got sick of our collars being in disorder if she doesn't keep a constant eye on them, but let's just say that while it seems to work for Indy, for me this was a failed experiment to solve that problem).
@@spartacus-olsson haha well in that case I'm so sorry for the slanderous accusation! Astrid has been doing a maahvelous job you guys keep up the good work!
Wow, so well explained, thank you
Drinking game: take a drink every time Spartacus adjust his glasses.
ironic that sparticus seeing straight will lead to drinkers not seeing straight.
Frightfully sorry, we can not afford that much drink.
It's subconscious for us four eyes folk
I love the English newspaper that puts Belgian King Surrenders His Army next to How to Grow Beautiful Gladiolus ( @8:34 ). Why did Hitler ever think he could beat the English?
'Its impossible to monitor millions of people every moment' China: hold my beer!
I'm fairly certain you come from one of the resisting countries mentioned in the video. There is a certain passion in your voice I haven't felt in other videos.
Actually he doesn't - he was born in Sweden (neutral during the war) - raised in France, and is a naturalized German.
Hi, first of all I would like to thank you for your great work, its really one of the best historical channels on TH-cam. I have a question, would you consider making a similar video about the resistance in Poland? Like the Home Army, the Council to Aid Jews with the Government Delegation for Poland, and in the future The Warsaw uprising? Thanks again, and the best of luck
Yes, we will!
I respect my Grand Grandpa for his actions. I mean we are Germans but he refused, even under pressure, to join the NSDAP and he deserted the Volkssturm. He had seen the horrors of WW1 and i think it shaped him
That's definitely a display of courage and admirable integrity above and beyond what most people have.
Ja es gab Sie, diese tapferen Frauen und Männer, mein Grosvater hat sich, immer, geweigert die Nazi Fahnen raus zu hangen und wurde durch Gestapo und NACHBARN verprügelt, diese waren 1945 alle im Wiederstand. Er verlor 3 seiner Söhne im Krieg. nsere Famillie wurde eingedeutscht (bis 1918 Deutsch) er hat unter Einsatz seines Lebens Juden und später Piloten über die Grenze nach Belgien geschmugelt. Ich erfuhr hiervon als 40 Jähriger Mann zufällig, er selbst hat nie darüber gesprochen.
@Troy Staunton I think its easy to say that you'll stay true to your principles but its easy to say that from a distance. However, especially for the young people its hard. If you grew up in a system, where you get indoctrinated from a very young age, can you be truly guilty then?
@@Daniel-kq4bx even indoctrinated, one is Always responsible for ones own actions as a sapient beeing.
Just one thing to correct here:
You mentioned "widespread resistance" in the beginning. Even though you later nuance that statement, I do like to nuance it a bit further, from the perspective of a Dutchman. There was no "widespread" resistance in my country, even though our government likes to make everybody believe that there was.
The NSB had 75.000 members at the end of 1941, whereas our organized 'resistance' had around 35.000. In other words, more than double the amount of people collaborated actively and openly, rather than resisted.
Also, 75.000 members is A LOT. Especially considering the current member totals of political parties in our country. I believe that the party with the most members right now is FvD, at ~50.000 members. (Take into account that we had population booms, so with 2/3 of the current population, the NSB could still reach such numbers back then).
There is A LOT of propaganda in our Dutch history classes, applauding our brave resistance, whilst in reality there was a substantial part of the population that collaborated. I'm not saying that the collaboration was "widespread" instead, because that is also not the case. However, unfortunately, active collaboration was more commonplace than active resistance in the early parts of the war.
This is not to say we do not have our glorious acts of resistance (for example, we set some records in succesfully hiding and protecting jews and other 'enemies' of the nazi-regime). However, in schools and daily life in the Netherlands, we like to put only that perspective of history in the limelights, and that is wrong. In reality, as stated in the video, most people just lived their lives as normal and the expectation was that the British would surrender, peace deals would be made, and the Netherlands would become independent again, albeit probably in the form of a German puppet state.
Only after the war (and because of resentment of Germans created during the hunger winter of 1944-1945) people tried to desperately associate themselves with the resistance. Speak to a random Dutch person today, and surely they have a story of some 'resistance hero' in their family, even though it is statistically far more likely they had collaborators.
I think we shouldn't look away from the active collaboration that a substantial part of the populace partook in and acknowledge that the national-socialism was very popular across Europe, not only inside of Germany. If we don't acknowledge it, we refuse to look into WHY it appealed to people and are doomed to make the same mistakes again. Either way, I think I made my point, I rest my case.
From what I have heard, The Number of collaborators vs resistance fighters in The Netherlands was about the same, somewhere around The 100.000. Also, When most of the Dutch people did Just Go on to live their lives as normal, that also meand that they didn’t bother to eknowlige or joining any of the pro Nazi festivities, actions and manifestations, to The point that in late 1941, The German authoritys admitted that The Nazification of Holland was a complete faillor.
Also, de Nederlandse Unie (The Dutch union) was founded in The summier of 1940 in order to counter The Much dispised NSB to The point that it had almost 1 million members ( of a population of around 8 million) making It The biggest political movement in Dutch history, until disbanded by the Nazis in late 1941.
TSAOH! I think comparing membership of the nsb to membership of parties today and drawing conclusions from it is a mistake. Under occupation people might hope to gain a advantage by joining the nsb. I expect a large percentage of dutch nazis were registred party members. Today membership of a party gives you very little, so members are a very small group compared to sympathizers. If during occupation you sympathized with nazis you might aswell join and hope to gain from it.
This post hit the nail on the head. The number of books/movies in the Netherlands about the resistance are limitless, while the resistance was in truth very limited. The vast majority just went about their normal daily lives as best they could. It should also be noted however that there is a big difference between the early war years and 44/45. When the war started to go badly for Germany, resistance increased. The economy also played a major role in this regard. In the early years there was a bit of a boom. In the later war years, economic dislocation, confiscations, property damage, shortages of all sorts, etc. etc. all accompanied by increasing German brutality fueled the anger towards the Germans.
Even if differing in detail the overall picture is the same in Norway. After a two month long defensive campaign, what did not evacuate to England of our governing bodies chose the practical path of cooperation with the occupation power. In itself it is nothing wrong with that. After surrender in war you do need to cooperate in some way. But some cooperated rather enthusiastically. Then there were the collaborators. One group collaborated economically. Mostly big business and some small business wanting to get bigger. Another group was the Norwegian fascists. They rose to a stunning 90.000 during the war. In a country of 3.000.000 inhabitants. Some 15.000 volunteered for military service, of whom between 5 and 7.000 saw action fighting alongside the Germans in Russia, on the Balkan and at the end in Berlin. Even so the Germans lost the fight for hearts and minds eventually. Norwegian nationalism, longing for freedom and democracy was stronger than opportunism and pan germanissm even from the start and grew stronger for each year of occupation. In the end you had a large and well functioning pro German front in Nasjonal Samling under Quisling, that were dvarfed by a tventy times larger unified anti German population.
Correct assessment...but why is it that israel is PLAYING ALONG the myths ? Always CELEBRATING the dutch for their help for the jews...
To be precise on 11:16 the picture shows part of the Wawer massacre in Poland and it isn't linked to what is being described in the video
Yes, you are correct. We used this picture of the Wawer massacre because it showed the systematic harsh measures the German occupiers applied on resistance fighters. We wanted to show that being in the resistance was a very dangerous job, even in The Netherlands, Belgium and Scandinavian countries and eventually could get you killed, just like the resistance fighters in Poland in 1939. But yes, we have to admit that we should have used a caption explaining where and when the picture was taken. That would make it more transparent.
@@WorldWarTwo but then still it doesn't represent what you want to tell... You have described what happend in Wawer pretty well here: th-cam.com/video/SkdMsQV2c-g/w-d-xo.html so you know it was not linked to any resistance action. On the picture we can see Antoni Bartoszek restaurant owner who was beaten and hang on the door of his own restaurant where two German officers had been shot by criminals. He was a civilian used as example by Germans. Unless you can tell me that same severe panishment was imposed in Belgium, the Netherlands or Luxemburg I still dare to call usege of the photo inaccurate. Nevertheless I still enjoyed the video and thank you for your work...
Random and/or arbitrary reprisals of this kind were used across all the occupied areas.
In 1943 there was a second general strike in the Netherlands in Twenthe. In 1944 there was a general railway strike when Operation Market took place, after a coded message was read on Radio Oranje.
Market Garden, sorry.
We will get there eventually!
Spartacus, please make more of these episodes - these are great!
Thank you - I most certainly will.
My great grand fathers oldest brother was part of the resistance in Yugoslavia. From what I understand for his service he was given the slovene title equivalent of the English duke.
That was Austria/Hungry at the time not Yougslovia
Excellent episode. That quote i in the end threw me off tho, Woodrow Wilson is one of the most authoritarian presidents.
Holland: " the usurpers system based on slavery!"
Indonesia: cool story bro
East Timor: Indonesia, yah, cool story bro.
@@dabda8510 And the cycle continues..
Yaknow, maybe we're all just cunts
It is gratifying to hear of these few bright lights during the dismal descent into the darkeness of depravity. Sometimes listening what happened to the Jewish people, Poles, Slavs, Romanis and others can leave me wondering how humans can sink so low and become inured to, or even joyful in other's suffering. In my related research I've come upon the story of the Merchant Ship St. Louis... Where the free world turned its back and basically told the refugees to "go home and die". Sometimes I have to walk away from all this and clear my head before delving back in. Sometimes history is hard.
I was born in Denmark, to American teachers. Several Danish close family friends were in the Danish Resistance, esp: Dr Poul Kirketerp. He was the head of Resistance newspaper distribution for the Aarhus to Horsens area. In the hospital basement they also printed a local supplement. The Resistance organizational network also relayed communications, e.g., assisting with relaying Danish Jews to Copenhagen or north Jutland to be smuggled to Sweden. A Mr. Hollanbro was in Anti Collaborationist Activities. Dr. Poul was arrested by the Nazis in the later war. When he refused to be 'Turned,' or name names he was imprisoned in Germany till war's end. Fellow Resisters smuggled in parts to build a radio. In prison, they listened to the BBC Danish Service.
Since you are covering restistance movements, it would be cool to cover the biggest WW2 resistance movement. The Greek Restistance and its accomplishes!
Hasn't happened yet, we're in February 1941 and as far as we know Greece isn't occupied... they're making advances in Albania - will that end badly???
@@WorldWarTwo I have the feeling that, in less than two months, Nazis will intervene in the Greco-Italian war and save Mussolini. But I can tell you that Greeks are already getting prepared for resistance against Germans, Italians and probably Bulgarians.
Being a dane my grandmother told me that during the war a German soldier once asked a Danish teen , how our king could ride around the city like that without some form og protection, the teen replied he didn't need it, because the Danish people protect him.
According to the clock, 25 minutes passed. TIMEGHOST STRIKES AGAIN!
Amazing the attention the clock attracts
We want an out takes episode.
Great episode! Will you do more and/or special episodes about the monarchist resistance in Europe? For example about those Monarchists in Austria? And will you do a special episode about Kaiser Wilhelm the 2n?
14:16 "Blessent mon coeur d'une langueur monotone."
Now a days the monarchy is not very popular among young people in the Netherlands, but my grandma loves the monarchy. Always when i ask her why she loves the monarchy, she always mentions ww2 and Wilhelmina. She says that she was the one who gave them hope and that we need someone like that if a similar event like ww2 will happen again we need the monarchy.
All the more ironic when you bear in mind the Netherlands as a nation was, somewhat uniquely among nations today, founded as a Republic, only later becoming a monarchy.
I mean, sure the Stadtholders were at times de facto monarchs, but still...
My dad was a plumber in Washington DC and during the war he had the job of renovating the plumbing in a property that was to be used by Queen Wilhelmina when she was in the city. One item that showed up was a fixture completely unknown to the crew, a bidet. They called around and the only guidance they got was that it goes in the bathroom off the bedroom. They hooked it up and finished the job. After occupancy by the queen, my dad's company (Joe High) was asked to come back, which my dad did. He asked what the problem was and was told that the water for the bidet was hooked up bass-ackwards and was shown how the unit was used. They couldn't hold it in and much snickering ensued before the problem was rectified.
Again, pure gold!
Thank you
*delivering strong statement*...touches glasses.... everyone: wooooow ;)
This episode was top quality as always Spartacus. I look forward to the episode on Polish resistance as I have been absorbing a lot of polish content on WW2 recently. A book called "They Did Not Fight In Vain." 1939-1945. It is a compilation of firsthand accounts from polish resistance and partisans, interestingly all the stories were taken from Poles residing in South Australia post-war.
In Belgium Leopold III is quite unpopular and seen as quite collaborationist.
Thank you Spartacus. I feel the wind of change like it was happening right now 🙂
Great video, learned some things about the resistance in other country's in europe as well.
Wilhelmina said "severe trial of the Occupation," not "severe triumph" as the subtitles indicate.
The pronunciation of the Dutch names rustle my jimmies.
Because it's bad or good?
@@Macieks300 Could be worse, at least he's trying. But don't they have a Dutch guy in their crew? They could have consulted him...
@@Macieks300 it's sort of bad, but it's very much not an english or american accent. it shows Spartacus did try so that makes me smile!
The Arcadius Project I really hope your jimmies recover . Spartacus might have made some effort but was speaking so fast to cover a lot of ground in 17 mins . I have to re watch the video because so much was said , including how to pronounce some words . That is the nice thing about being exposed to other Countries and Languages . Thank you for pointing this out
@@markcantemail8018 Considering he makes like 4 episodes per year. This is not an accomplishment.
Great video.
I think the lighting was a bit off, but great watch.
99% of the danish jews survived after an evacuation supported by the government and the citizens of Denmark. The resistance sailed more than 7.000 jews across the sea to Sweden where they were safe. That is something the Danish and Swedish people are really proud off.
Love this channel, keep 'em coming! And thanks.
Spartacus has a long moustache, je repete, Spartacus has a long moustache
Spartacus, look up Major Hubal (Henryk Dobrzanski). He was one of the few who decided to go on fighting in Poland after September 1939.
We are very familiar with him - quite a hung ho guy.
Queen Wilhelmina sounds just like I expect old Dutch people trying to speak English to sound. Guess they are just repeating what they heard when they were young XD
Thank you Sparty. Brilliant as always
Thank you!
This series is very interesting keep up the good work.
Thanks!!
And so, the 'Commandos' were born... Congrats Sparty for a great episode!
Thank you!
I knew about Norway, but I've always thought that there was no resistance in the Benelux. Thanks for showing me that I was wrong.
I'm impressed by Spartacus' pronunciation in different languages. I get the impression he's better than Indy in languages (not meant as criticism of Indy, who's way above average anyway, but rather praise of Spartacus)
Where do you find the footage of partisan activity? People firing out of windows and occupying the streets. its incredible to me the feats these people went, but very hard to find. like, there's only a few seconds shown but there's got to be a stock film or something that all these come from. I've looked forever to find something like that but not much luck.
16:36 is from Paris summer 1944, I believe.
Yes, Pal is right, it is Paris 1944.
will there be an episode about austrian resistance?
Such a great channel thank you
Thanks for watching! -TimeGhost Ambassador
07:51 For me, as a Swede, I fell ashamed that our government (at that time ) refused to let king Haakon in to our country. And even worse when we (in the future) have to agree by letting the Germans to transit on our railroads between Germany - Norway/Finland. I hope that when you start with the country specials and when it’s about Sweden that the later discussion over Sweden’s actions and decisions during the war is still being discussed to this day.
Isak Ferm Didn’t Sweden take part in The evacuation of The intire jewish population of Denmark in 1943? Also, The Dutch (myself included) remember Sweden as one of The first to send food aid to the starving Netherlands in januari 1945.
Karst Reitsma yes we did. It was actually the danish resistance who got word of that the Nazis was going to start arrest Jews. They succeeded in evacuating 7220 of Denmark’s entire 7800 Jewish population. By this time, in late 1943, Sweden began to take a stand towards the Germans and the Swedish government proclaimed that Sweden will accept all Jews.
However the discussion I mention is for example: Sweden’s iron ore mines was the main reason for the German invasion of Denmark and Norway. Then the transit rights of unarmed German soldiers. And finally the transition of the engelbrecht-division, who was armed and heading for a war zone and violated international law of neutrality.
Then in the end and after the war many began speculate that Sweden could have done much more and some countries, especially Norway, criticized that we could have taken an more active stand against Germany.
Those are the discussions that is still being discussed
"What use is a Monarchy?" this video shows some good examples.
Yep, too bad the Dutch royal family absconded as a whole. The queen, at least, could have stayed.
Perhaps but French and Polish resistance show that you don't need a monarchy to have a strong national spirit
Actually he is wrong about Leopold III who was removed - la question royale - after WWII, as he did not fight as his predecessor, Albert 1 le roi soldat, did in WWI.
There was even a group of three young men from Belgium, who were also childhod friends, who stopped a deportation train and told everyone on the train to flee. One of them was Jewish, the other two where gentile Belgians, and all three were unite in their opposition to the Nazi regime. Unfortunately I don't know their names, and iirc at least one member of the group died as a consequence of his resistance.
Apparently the British took their cues on how to organize the resistance from the IRA. They knew how effective such a resistance could be.
Is'nt that just typical of the British! They condemn the IRA when it suits them and then they emulate the IRA when it suits them.
@@johncarroll5450 That's dumb. Obviously Britain condemned a group that had been attacking and killing its troops and citizens and fighting against its interests. It just so happened the same tactics became useful to use against another enemy.
@@johncarroll5450 -Hey, I have this wonderful idea that would help organise the partisans in various countries and help us win the war!
-But isnt that the same tactic the IRA used?
-Oh shit, back to the drawing board
"Here is our plan to win the war."
"Uh, the Nazis use guns and tanks to wage war. We can't be hypocrites."
I assume Carroll 's comment was a joke, guys. Stop raging.
the only thing i really struggle to agree, is that Belgium is a nation-state, even today the differences between the flemish and the walloons is striking.
Lol thats what the media says but ask some real belgian's and not immigration peopel that became belgian they would say we hate wallonia but e real belgian says we are 1
The empty barrels are always those who make more noise and precisely the collabos and their heirs are also those who want to break-up Belgium, all in the extreme-right, although their last incarnation, the N-VA tries to be politically correct to avoid the cordon sanitaire that has been applied to their predecessors, the VB.
@@commando2113 exactly. And it's quite ironic how the N-VA, which is the heir of the collaboration, now sprinkle their list with a few abducted migrants to look more politically correct while their real bosses keep being on the extreme-right and doing very fascist things and politics, precisely in immigration. They are their Uncles Tom...
It really is amazing what humans can do in the face of adversity. Also, it strikes me how similar the heroics of these people are so similar to events in the ancient past; so often I feel like we think there is some kind of separation between us and the humans of 2000 years ago, but really those people felt and lived almost exactly the same way we feel and live today. The more things change the more they stay the same
I wish that you create a similar episode for Greek resistance during occupation.
Patience, patience...
Great video! I always enjoy learning new things about ww2!
@Spartacus Olsson any chance to make a video about the resistance of the Balkan countries against the Nazis and Italian occupation armies?The atrocities that did to this countries?Thank you for your superb videos.
Yes, we will
The tenacity of the human will, once pushed over the edge is something that is the most beautiful about us yet also the most terrifying.
Great job, Spartacus!
Thanks!
That info network was part of the plot in the Hogan's Heroes tv series (which I have on dvd). If you know anything on printing a newspaper I could really use the info.
Thank you for including Luxembourg!
Though I wished he talked about Grand-Duchess Charlotte and her radio messages too, like he did for the other countries.
I used to live near Elstree film studios during the war there was a hotel near by called the Thatch barn. It was from here the SOE agents used to be trained. Staff from the studios where used to help the agents eg barbers cut male agents hair in a pre war fashion. (I only know this as my Grandfather mate was a barber there) I now live near what was RAF Tempsford where agents where flown into Europe there's a barn there which was the parachute store where the agents used to collect there parachutes before going to wherever. Now it's a memorial to those who didn't make it back.
A very good and well researched episode.
This is nice… Royals and passive resistance….. My grandfathers picked up guns, one went to the mountain killing Nazis, and the other with a puny fishing boat would go back and forth to Cyprus bringing guns and ammo saving the odd Jew every now and then….
They sound like good men.
@@Willy_TepesI guess the situation in each country was different. Keep in mind that we in Greece beat the Italian invasion but we were beaten back by the Nazis as it was impossible to defend a double front. The army capitulated, but the rank and file (as my grandparents were) did not accept it, and immediately resistance was formed. And I'll add a guess, and if I’m wrong please feel free to correct me. I have the feeling that the northern countries did not put much of a resistance because Germans and German culture was not very far from their (your) own.... Language basically the same (not Norwegian and Danish of course, but Dutch and Flemish), cultures similar, even you look (take that with a grain of salt) similar. And, that is 100% certain; they treated you much much differently. To give you an example, the areas of Greece that were occupied by Italians people were treated way much better that the ones occupied by the Germans, or the areas occupied by the Bulgarians (like mine) which were the worst. There was almost no organized resistance in the Italian parts…. But in the rest of Greece: starvation, mass executions, torture, evictions, terror.... what else could one do but fight?
@@CarrotConsumer They were desperate, hungry, terrorized, humiliated and proud...
@@Willy_Tepes Ok, that might sound patronizing, but there we are. I have spent some time around Norwegian and Danish people when I was younger. I could tell you a whole lot of characterizations for them, but fear, of anything, would not be one. Complacency, yes: “let’s not make too much fuss, ok” (which for Greeks is exactly the opposite) , but fear, never. Have you thought that the Nazis were treating you nice just because they were absolutely terrified of the idea of thousands of Norwegians armed and hostile up in the mountains? Btw you should know that Norwegians in exile, Utefronten, did performed brilliantly !!! Einar Gleditsch, skipper of the Kosmos II decided to ram U-123, ordering full speed ahead… that’s guts. The two Spitfire squadrons, 331 and 332., ten ships in D day, the Norwegian Independent Company 1, and the 5th Troop of the No. 10 Commando unit and thousands of Norwegians sailors that manned the convoys from US to UK… many of them met a watery death…. As I told you : the situation in each country was different.
My Dad, Captain of the Greek Merchant fleet, many years retired now kept telling me: a sober Scot in the engine room and a sober Norwegian in the wheel house, and you have nothing to worry but alcohol reaching them…
@@Willy_Tepes "official reasons" are political compromises.... Peace came eventually and you had to keep on going, as we had to. Rebuild your country and move on. We did the same, only we had a civil war to go thought, national division, a junta, restoration, and eventualy a some short of democracy in the land that gave bith to this idea. We are still struggling while you have a great democratic country, enjoy peace and prosperity. Good for you, you worked for it and you deserve it. We are still fighting the gosts of the past.
As my dad said: Have a sober Norge on the helm and keep him away from the boose.... And to lighen the mood here is a rather famous Greek song by my favorite poet about a Nowregian pilot in Colombo, I'll traslate it if you like.
th-cam.com/video/eR2vqgGiQgo/w-d-xo.html
Great video as always!! Yet, I think it lacksemtioning that people in the resistance didn't only risk their own lives. After sabotage or assassination attempts it was common practice for the Nazi gouvernement to execute a few random bypassers as reprisals. This too was a reason not to join a resistance group for many. It also made resistance groups think twice before taking any action.
Well done.
Beautifully done Spartacus!
Glad you liked it