As a son of a Wehrmacht Veteran, who sufferd his whole life from his wounds and traumatic experiences, and who learned the vallues of freedom and democrathy the hard way, i really appreciate your excellent video! Thank you and best regards from Germany
Thanks. My dad was an American soldier who fought in France and Germany during World War Two. Like other draftees, he didn't particularly want to be there, but never had things about Wehrmacht soldiers, only the crazy, misguided ideology they fought for. So sorry to hear about your dad's issues. My father never suffered much trauma from World War Two as far as I knew, as he died when I was quite young, but my poor stepfather had horrendous nightmares all of his life from his World War Two service, and drank too much as a result. As a veteran myself, I realize that war is just a waste. I hope your dad found some measure of peace at the end.
@@susandalton7889 hallo Susan, thank you for your compassion. A war never ends. The following generations are more or less affected. It is so bad ,that people are apparently unable to grasp the implication of their actions and still follow despots and dictators. Good, that there are people like you , who can differentiate Herzliche Grüße aus Deutschland , Thomas
My father was in the Polish Army and at 20 years old he was fighting the invading Germans street by street in Warsaw in September of 1939.. After over four weeks and running out of food and ammunition the Polish Army surrendered. He was captured but escaped but life in Warsaw and the rest of Poland was about to get worse and the country became a huge slaughter house.He told me how fanatical and brutal the even the regular Wehrmacht Germans were not only to Polish army POWs but also the men women and children. It was difficult to get him to tell me stories but they weren’t good. The invaders called him Untermenschen and of course some people as we know had it even worse. One time I asked my father to describe again to me the day he and a wounded Polish soldier who’s stomach was falling out and my father was trying to hold his stomach back in tried to get down a street but were captured by a German soldier and he burst into tears. At 69 I still remember this and other things he told me and it still affects me. I have other stories from him and my mother who was from Austria. He was my hero.
I was stationed in Kaiserslautern Germany from 1990 to 1992 and have seen a lot of these types of artifacts. One thing I will say is, I could never judge these men who served in the German Army or the SS. This is something none of us can comprehend especially since we were not in their shoes. I will add that my friend and I were at a pub one night and an older man was sitting at the bar next to us. I was 18 and my friend was 19. I could feel this man looking at me and then he asked me if I was in the American military and I told him that we were. He told us, he is and was proud of the Americans and what we did and what we are doing. I was confused but he then told me and my friend that he was a Nazi SS soldier in WWII and that he has been living with such regret his whole life. He must have been 65 years old at the time. Anyway, he apologized to me and my friend for the things he has done and I told him not to apologize because he did what he was asked to do. I told him he did what he thought was right and that I would never judge him. For the remainder of our time at the pub, this man bought us many beers and then at some point during the night as it got late we had to leave. Before leaving we thanked him for getting us beers but also I shook his hand and told him I was just an 18 year old kid, it would be unfair to judge him or anyone and the things they did when I never was in his or their shoes. After we left I told my friend I said, "Man I just got out of high school and who would have thought it would take a couple of hours in a pub in a foreign country to get the best history lesson of my life." Believe it or not, I think of this man from time to time. I wonder what he did for the remainder of his life but I hope he found peace.
Oh man, I wonder whatever came of the 'just following orders' defense. Nice to know you'll never cast judgement on someone as long as you've never been in their shoes and/or they "did what they thought was right" - a line of logic which applies to all Nazis, Stalinists, Maoists, ISIS adherents, etc., not just their lowest subordinates. Seriously, practically no one thinks like a one dimensional supervillain, who simply does evil things for evil reasons, just to be evil.
@@TheHistoryUnderground The enemy that fights with great courage, no matter the odds, is always "fanatical" to the US military: Germans, Japanese, Koreans, Vietnamese, Islamic guerillas, etc.
06:40 The identification card states (from top to bottom) that Helmut Borchert was born on August 25, 1925 in the city of Essen (in the Ruhr area). By profession he was a plumber and fitter. He has no distinctive marks or changeable marks. The stamp on the left side is virtually the proof that the handling fee was paid. On the right side is Helmut Borchert's signature and the stamp of the police president of the city of Essen dated October 12, 1942.
My maiden name is Borchert. We pronounce the ch as a k and enunciate the T on the end. My grandfather’s and father’s first name is Herbert. My grandmother’s hobby was genealogy. I will have to ask my Dad for the records and research. I remember my grandmother telling me that we have descendant’s that were hessian soldiers and in the German military. What are the odds I would see the last name Borchert.
What a great presentation- told not only as a story of two German soldiers, but as young men whose lives, along with their families, were deeply affected by the events of WWII. The photos and letters tell so much about the way they were loved/valued by their families. We should never forget that tragic losses affected every nation. My father made a lifelong friend of a German POW who was sent to a little remote Canadian community during WWII. Most of these prisoners were relieved to have left the fighting and many were stationed as farm laborers while interned. Many of them even returned to make a life in Canada after the war. This young German who worked at the farm of my grandfather kept in touch with my father for the entirety of their lives. My father and mother visited him and his wife in Germany some decades later.
Great video. The story of the two soldiers was really interesting. Can't remember anyone doing the research and showing how one German soldier evolved, became a doctor and helped others!👍
A skillfully prepared presentation discussing the fate of two soldiers caught up in circumstances beyond their control. Sadness abounds for both soldiers, yet one is able to survive to denounce war and all of its evil. Moving, artistic, and thought provoking.
Thank you for such an interesting story of these 2 German soldiers. My friend Peter S. Rhodes of an artillery unit became a POW in Singapore Changi Prison HATED the Japanese, returned to Japan after many years to see his tormentors, wrote a book 'To Bury A Ghost' about his experiences. He was welcome warmly into the town where he worked the mines in Kyushu. He returned via the Pacific to the West and East Coast of US and cross the Atlantic to UK after the surrender. He became a good friend with Japan after burying his hatred of the Japanese.
That what really gets me. If somebody like Peter Rhodes can bury his hatred and forgive his enemies, it seems odd that somebody born decades later can just decide that they're going to harbor some venomous hatred for people of the past.
I love these stories in the comments section. You are probably familiar with a great book “Unbroken” which was made into a mediocre movie. But the book is great. Similar story about a guy who harbored hatred, “found God”, healed himself and led an exemplary remainder of his life.
@@your_royal_highness Yes I saw this movie. He forgive his captors, But Not the Japanese officer who made him suffered during his captivity. My friend Peter Rhodes guards welcome him with open arms. They will very apologic of the suffering the POWs had suffered. That's forgiveness to move forward in life.
I love history & am thankful for your stories of real people in real times. I too have a heart & sadness for those who who were not blessed with positive, helpful lives. Thank you.
This was incredibly fascinating. The individual stories are worth knowing. Thanks for another excellent video. Mr. Dorr is certainly a fountain of knowledge.
So good! What a powerful example of choices made! No life is un-redeemable! May we all be encouraged to choose wisely today and mend bridges of yesterday! Not all burdens must continue to be borne
My mother was a nurse in the US Army during the WW II and was based in England on the Isle Wight, 115 station Hospital. Later she was on the continent. To her dying day she talked about that "poor German boy", who bailed out of his burning fighter plane and was burnt to a crisp dying 3 days later. She said how he suffered.. Impacted Mom for the rest of her life...
JD & Erik.,.I have so much respect for you 2 men...your passion about history makes learning from y'all so knowledgeable...I love love love this channel.
On Wednesdays, I play Scrabble with a group of elderly French folk. This Wednesday, one of the ladies told a story about a German soldier who asked her mother if she would like some sweets. He bought some sweets, and gave them to (as she was then) the little girl. He told her mother that he had a little girl at home and he missed being able to buy her sweets, so for him, it was a pleasure to give some to another little girl instead. I think we all need to remember that which side each person was on was in many ways pure chance (especially for people in Alsace) and that all of the soldiers were somebody's son, husband, brother or friend.
meanwhile in Auschwitz German soldiers were helping terrorise strip beat gas and burn small children day after day after day after day....and yes these monsters were somebody's son, husband, brother or friend.
I visited La Cambe, a german cemetary in 2018. i will never forget the flowers laid down by an american group of visitors. The card atttached said: „you where also sons of mothers“. It struck me even more to learn the average age of the young german soldiers buried there.
Thank you JD & Erik. The take away for me on Mr Borchert was indoctrination. No one is born a racist or hating, it is learned. In fairness to this man, he did not live very long. Who knows where he may have gone or what he may have done. Mr Voges showed what I would call a sincere thankfulness in being alive and devoted the balance of his life helping others. I so throughly enjoy this channel. There’s always something extremely interesting and new to learn. Thank you again.
Well done, i just love stories like this. Many people i know tend to think of German WW2 soldiers as monsters. But if you listen closely to stories like this you discover that these are actually men like us. Keep educating is!
I thought I had watched all your videos over time but I don’t remember one. I’m so sorry these people had to fight for an evil cause. The personal stories just tear your heart out.
Very Interesting, wonderfully told story of these two soldiers! You Always bring the Best of the BEST to your channel! I greatly appreciate how much respect you showed to these German soldiers. Thank you!
Years back , I would stop in by the local pub in Milwaukee. A place called B & B lounge. The owner and bar tender was a fighter pilot from the USS Enterprise. We had a couple great conversations.
My grandfather was drafted and placed in the panzer division on the Russian Front. His younger brother was in the Hitler Youth (membership was compulsory for all children starting at age 10 in 1936), and he spent a few years trying to prove his Aryan ancestry. We're not sure if it was because he believed in the ideology or if it was to remove potential targets on his back (there were certain benefits to proving yourself), but we know he had expressed doubts about it to my grandfather while waiting for the trains that would separate them not long before he disappeared. My grandmother was in the female wing of the Hitler Youth (League of German Girls) when she was 14 because she scored very high on IQ tests. She worked in radar. They essentially tortured the girls into compliance by starving them a few days, then placing a cookie jar in their barracks and when one went missing in the morning, they dragged them all out and made them stand in the rain for nearly a full day before someone confessed. After the war, my grandparents immigrated to Canada. My grandfather became a pastor and gardener, wanting to turn his life around. He'd been taken out of the war by shrapnel in his hand, and he struggled to regain use of it for several years. When he thought no one else was looking, he would constantly practice and eventually regained use of it enough to garden. Meanwhile, my grandma took care of my dad and the other three kids. After my grandpa died, we found documentation that he'd lied about his rank, because he was slightly above the threshold to be prosecuted for war crimes. He was always a stubborn, aloof, irritable character and would disappear at random sometimes when my dad was growing up. A lot of it was due to PTSD (which they didn't even know existed back then), but I remember him as a charming, funny person on occasion with a somewhat hardened heart that was thankfully softened by my grandmother's influence. I've never really questioned the way I knew him, but my dad once told me a story how in Canada, there were a bunch of stray cats running around town. He took his brother-in-law out to collect them all, they placed them in a bag, sealed it, and tossed them in the lake to drown. 😭 My uncle felt very unsettled and horrible about this, and shortly after, one of the worst storms to ever whip through the town happened, which he viewed as God's judgment for what they did. I don't like to read too much into it, but that little story always made me question that if my grandfather could do that to cats, he could've done that to people during the war, and that's a terrifying thought to sit with. Loved the guy, but he was obviously very damaged, even had a high opinion of Hitler at times (most Germans couldn't argue Hitler revitalized the economy, but they didn't know the cost). But I try to remember how deeply the Nazis influenced him and the rest of Germany with indoctrination and propaganda. They're the reason his brother went missing, the reason my grandmother and her friends suffered, and so many millions died. They tainted and destroyed everything they touched. 😓 The fact some people still subscribe to the ideology today is deeply insulting to me, because they really have no clue.
It is so good to see stories and artifacts from the other side of the war. So many people get pulled into the evils of war and caught up in what's going on. A good lesson for us to learn about leaders and government leadership. Thanks for this great video.
I love how you get your research so well best history I have seen, I hated history until after joining the Army at 17 years old you grow up really fast I spent just shy of 9 years I do miss it but did things lot of people could only dream about. Keep up the great work God bless you.
Well done sir, WWII history is in my opinion fascinating. Learning the fate of soldiers, any soldiers and seeing photos of their families reinforces the fact that these men had relatively normal lives before the war and were coldly consumed as a resource. As bad as things were then during the war, it's difficult to watch this and not feel pitty and yet, sorrow simultaneously.
Excellent video! I think the history lesson here is war is brutal and tragic for everyone regardless of side. Thank you and Erik for bringing their stories to us.
Thank you again for bringing these stories for us to see. I think the majority of German soldiers were just doing their job like most of the allied soldiers and just wanted to go home. We hear so much bad things about the Germans from WW2, It's nice to see the other side of them. I'd love to see more stories like this in the future. Cheers!
Doing you job is perfectly okay but raping, massacring, gassing, torturing and enslaving millions and millions of innocent civilians is not. Only cowards do such things.
Fantastic stories , presentation is awesome . Great job on all your videos. The passion the curator has is also makes the stories enjoyable and gripping to hear .
Theses were soldiers who were under the command of a mad man. They had parents that cared about them just like every parent that cares about their child when they go off to war. You have to feel for them and what it must have been like being control by such an evil human being. It makes you wonder how many of these men really wanted to fight in this and would have if the hadn’t been drafted. Thank you for sharing JD and Eric. Awesome video.👍
I'm young and I can tell you that nobody can force me to torture and gas millions and millions of babies and small children. That's just diabolical. German willingly supported and helped that monster and when he was winning they were happy.
These POV and videos are more important more now then ever. We can't wash and erase the "bad" side of history (any history). It is critical to understand all sides especially those of the German, Nazi regime to better understand, learn and avoid these things from happening. Now more then ever...
Thanks for this video! Its true that you dont really learn or talk about individual stories of german soldiers of ww2 in Germany nowadays.. The "mourning card" of the parents of the first soldier actually states that he wasnt killed in combat but died in some kind of transport accident.
There are millions of similar stories from all sides of the war. One example you might recognize is Hans Goebler, a crewman on the U-505. His boat and crew were taken captive off Africa in 1944 and were kept segregated from other POW's until the end of the war. After the war Hans was pretty much single handedly responsible for keeping the 505 from becoming just another artillery target and because of his actions it can be visited at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.
Helmut was just sent to the slaughter only survived 2 weeks on the eastern front in 44 when the war was already pretty much lost for the Nazi's so really he never got a taste of being a ruthless SS officer, he really just ended up like an infantry man dying in battle. Herbert was a class act great video presentation.
Erik, these were both great back stories, sad what war can do to people. Helmut's life was cut short, not by his doing. Herbert's life seemed to be one of giving back to others for the rest of his life - war, at times can bring out the best in people. The B&W photos really bring the story home.....
Great video. Soldiers, from either side, were just trying to follow orders. However, some took it to extremes and were savages. Nice to hear of one who tried to do good with his life.
You and Erik do such a great job of not only bringing History alive, but bringing the people in that History alive! It's always interesting learning about the people from either side of the line! Thank you for letting us learn things!
Really love how you explore the nuance of history. It is never, black and white. It is also easy to judge or assume how we would have acted under the same circumstances.
I went up to Gettysburg on Tuesday and of course the Museum was closed… however I was able to take tours of the Shriver and Jennie Wade houses. Still a great day none the less. Need to actually make sure the museum is open next visit
Unlike most videos on youtube that I have seen, some of the best parts about your videos are in the comments. This one in particular. Essentially no idiocy, true curiosity, no trolling, and enlightening. Hope the channels take off. Love the production quality and I am sure I have mentioned this elsewhere, I am super jealous of what you have seen, get to see and likely will see. I had the opportunity a few years back to join a WW2 Museum sponsored luxury trip to various spots in the Pacific over a period of many days, including Iwo Jima etc. It was going to include a US and a Japanese war vet. It was damn near $18,000 per person but I could have afforded it. Wish I had not jumped at the chance. Having just returned from a way too short visit to Normandy i am completely obsessed. Burgett’s little book on Normandy, ironically titled “Currahee” was terrific and nearly unbelievable. He titled it of course over that little hill in GA but it was slightly ironic because he did not do his training there (or at least that is what I remember as I gave the book to a friend). His experience around Carentan in particular was unreal. He had gotten help at a great time from the tank that wound up sitting in Dear Man’s Corner right before that guy got killled. Really a good read.
Two horribly mislead youths stories told to the ones combat ending, the other trying to make amends after getting older and fully understanding what had occurred. Excellent that these stories were told about these soldiers regardless of for whom they fought for they were human with all the faults the rest of us deal with. Thank you and Eric so much for telling the soldier's story no matter the uniform. Thank you.
My Father was a Sgt. in the US Armies 160th Combat Engineer Battalion in WW2. One of his jobs was prisoner watch. He told me that the regular German soldiers hated the Waffen SS prisoners and vice versa. He said that they started killing each other and from then on, they were separated to stop the killing. I still have a German silver panzer badge and a nskk stickpin that he brought home and gave me.
Thank you so much for this wonderful video. I wish there were more places in Germany where you could see such pieces of history with the soldiers‘ stories attached.
Sounds like Helmet wasn't known for doing bad things , it seems he was just a young boy, proud of his homeland and brainwashed while in the Hitler youth. I feel bad for the boy he was before all the horror which also took his life. So many souls lost to war , what a shame for all lost soldiers/citizens from something as stupid as war. Think of all the young men sent to war with an average age in their 20's , How many of them might have become doctors , first responders, scientists etc. Maybe cancer would have been cured or maybe just maybe one of these young boys may have become some who helps end such things as war. We will never know... What a shame.
"Maybe cancer would have been cured" Many generations have come and gone, still no cure. Nature always wins. "Helmet", actually Hemut, was too young, still a teen, to have done "bad things".
Feel worse for the victims that these units came in contact with! Whatever motivated them. The mass graves, poisoned Wells, destroyed villages and infrastructure! Think of that! Instances of brutality do occur. Systemic and organized slaughter are organized as the top and work the way down to the very bottom! Millions of people died and suffered!
@@edwinsalau150 Oh i do , My Grandmother was from Poland and she was able to get out and come to the US. I do understand ALL the evil that happened. It's disgusting. And the SS were a big big part of that , there is no excuses, no reasons this ever should have happened and nothing that anyone could say or even think of with a clear mind to justify anything the german war machine did. I was just pointing out how the youth , fed by the monsters also became monsters themselves. I just wonder what if ... what if they were not fed such hatred at such a young age. I will never forgive , forget what they did. Thank You for commenting, when we stop talking memories fade, we must always remember the millions that suffered and died in hope this will never happen again.
Sorry but all and I mean all German soldiers committed atrocities cause it was an order from the big man, the Fuhrer. They had to get rid of all sub-humans.
Love all your videos sir, but i must confess i have a particular fondness for the ones you do at the GMH. Eric's a great addition to the content. Thanks as ever! :)
In our current environment, people forget that a soldier is a person too. If you look at the combats especially in the two world wars, most of them were just boys who in different circumstances would have perhaps been friends. Young men who, for right or wrong were sent to kill each other for an ideology. But in the end, most of them were just boys and your video demonstrated that about perfectly. Thank you!
I had substitute grandparents as a child (mine were thousands of miles away) in western Canada. The gentleman we'll call Tom, both German, Tom was in the Luftwaffe during the war. Both of them didn't have a mean bone in their bodies and were loved and respected by a majority European ex pat community, some of the older gents had visible and invisible scars from WW2. You just find yourself in a situation sometimes, you're bombarded with propaganda and your participation is coerced or forced. Maybe having to look at a situation where my substitute grandfather may have bombed my actual grandparents and relatives makes you look at the nature of war more closely, in the words of Harry Patch (was the last remaining British WW1 soldier) "War is legalised murder".
I would love to see more details on Helmut's Infantry Assault Badge (IAB) and Iron Cross 2nd class. Makers marks especially. At one time I specifically collected IAB's and EK's and these interest me! Thanks for the great video!
Great video. All to often we forget and tend to demonize the soldiers in the German army. I recently read a book titled "Blood Red Snow" about an infantrymans time serving mostly in Russia. It is full of insight and you see a commonality with US soldiers, they're fighting for one another rather then a great cause.
Precisely. I for one, am glad the French (at least the Normans) appreciate what the Americans did in helping their liberation but the soldiers were not there to help them per se, they were there to not let their comrades down. Amazing bravery and for a very basic, human reason.
I read All Quiet On The Western Front recently and it was so interesting and engaging. Thanks for all the book recommendations in this thread, going to check them out.
@@mrpolsco6872 yes I’ve read the Forgotten soldier written by Guy Sajer, brilliant book. As he wasn’t some fanatical SS soldier he was just a standard Whermacht infantry soldier who literally got thrown into every brutal battle you could think of..
All of the videos the past few weeks have been really truly amazing. This is a fantastic segment. I think a lot about what you talk about in the end. Of course, you want to condemn anyone that took part in such evil, but then you also have to consider how much of their lives were full of propaganda and lies. They were raised to take part in the atrocities and not think twice about it. It's a really weird complex to me and it's hard to know how to feel about dudes like this. It's just such a complex situation.
Fantastic story! The first guy choose the SS which we know was the worst of the worst. The second was infantry, probably wasn't a bad guy, just following orders like soldiers have to, but turned it around to not just help individuals, but try to help humanity! Thank you for sharing this one!
Bless these two soldiers. Cannot classify all of them for being evil. Young men fighting for a lost cause. So tragic that the one died after being on the eastern front for to weeks. Salute and Respect. May their blessed Souls RIP
This was a good video. The SS soldier is a life extinguished. Has no children, his parents and other family members are gone. He could have been a good man after the war trying to do good to reconcile some of the things that were done. Who knows. He never got the chance. I've read a lot of military history and of late I've read a lot concerning the eastern front. That was probably the most horrific, cruel front of the war. What the individual solders from both sides had to endure was just mind boggling. I feel sorrow for all the soldiers of that front. Getting wounded and sent back home would have been a blessing for them.
I live in Sandusky Ohio. In neighboring Ottawa County is Camp Perry which was a German/Italian POW camp during World War 2. Might be someplace you want to check out.
I am fortunate enough to only live 60 miles from Gettysburg Pennsylvania, living in Baltimore as I go up there all of the time , I half to make a visit at that museum up there to see this stuff ,, I know exactly where it's located at ,, this is very fascinating and sad , knowing how evil can easily brainwashed a generation and we must learn from it and must not allow it to happen again.
Great video again pal. Keep up the good work. Just as a matter of interest, theres an amazing story of an ex hitler youth & german paratrooper (5 medals & an iron cross) who was captured and sent to england as a POW. This man was a giant of a man and he used to help tend the local fields, where he fell in love with a local girl. After the war, he decided to stay on in england and they had a baby. Around this time, he was picked up by a local football (soccer) club as a goalkeeper for them. Unfortunately, his relationship broke down over his fears on how the english people would react to him having a baby with a local girl and what this would mean for his baby growing up. He was eventually signed up as a professional player by Manchester City (my club), but was again very wary on how he would be treated by our fans as a large amount of our fans were Jewish. After initial demonstrations and protests, he won over the majority of fans with his commanding performances. He went on to star in a FA cup final, where he broke his neck during the game and carried on playing until the end of the game. He died recently, but will always be a legend to our club and a lot of people in my home city of Manchester. He was awarded the OBE (order of the british empire) in later years for his work on anglo-german relationships through football. The mans name was "Bernhard Carl "Bert" Trautmann" EK OBE BVO , there is a film and many books about his amazing life story >>> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bert_Trautmann
Thanks JD very informative as always. My opinion of the SS is that they were probably looked at as an elite group and those who were patriotic wanted to join. All soldiers are told follow orders and we have seen in the past not all the orders are correct. The Gettysburg museum is a National Treasure Mr. Dorr has done an excellent job with it I hope to visit someday.
I have a luftwaffe helmet that came from Estonia with a bullet hole right through it . The condition looks exactly how I see in these videos when they did up graves . The real Erie thing is some of the guys hair is still there around the exit hole
Having a look at a single person is diffrent . I'm german ,and we do tal about our Grandparents and their stories . I wonder why people deny it ,we also have memorials for the missing ones in a lot of graveyards . Who can be sure what he had acted like if he was a german back then .
It has been several years ago, but I was an American Boy Scout leader in The Netherlands. Our troop went to a weekend scouting event at a castle near Frankfurt that was run by the German Scouts. I saw a framed letter in one of the hallways that was from the mid 1930's, complete with swastika letterhead and all. It was to the local boy scout troop stating that effective on a given date, the boy scout troop "XYZ" would officially become Hitler Youth group "XYZ" and that the new leadership cadre was in route. I'm sure that anybody who opposed this plan was delt with harshly.
As a son of a Wehrmacht Veteran, who sufferd his whole life from his wounds and traumatic experiences, and who learned the vallues of freedom and democrathy the hard way, i really appreciate your excellent video! Thank you and best regards from Germany
🙏🏼
Thanks. My dad was an American soldier who fought in France and Germany during World War Two. Like other draftees, he didn't particularly want to be there, but never had things about Wehrmacht soldiers, only the crazy, misguided ideology they fought for. So sorry to hear about your dad's issues. My father never suffered much trauma from World War Two as far as I knew, as he died when I was quite young, but my poor stepfather had horrendous nightmares all of his life from his World War Two service, and drank too much as a result. As a veteran myself, I realize that war is just a waste. I hope your dad found some measure of peace at the end.
@@susandalton7889 hallo Susan, thank you for your compassion. A war never ends. The following generations are more or less affected. It is so bad ,that people are apparently unable to grasp the implication of their actions and still follow despots and dictators. Good, that there are people like you , who can differentiate
Herzliche Grüße aus Deutschland ,
Thomas
My father was in the Polish Army and at 20 years old he was fighting the invading Germans street by street in Warsaw in September of 1939.. After over four weeks and running out of food and ammunition the Polish Army surrendered. He was captured but escaped but life in Warsaw and the rest of Poland was about to get worse and the country became a huge slaughter house.He told me how fanatical and brutal the even the regular Wehrmacht Germans were not only to Polish army POWs but also the men women and children. It was difficult to get him to tell me stories but they weren’t good. The invaders called him Untermenschen and of course some people as we know had it even worse. One time I asked my father to describe again to me the day he and a wounded Polish soldier who’s stomach was falling out and my father was trying to hold his stomach back in tried to get down a street but were captured by a German soldier and he burst into tears.
At 69 I still remember this and other things he told me and it still affects me. I have other stories from him and my mother who was from Austria. He was my hero.
Send my best regards to your fathers memory Sir…. 🙏
I was stationed in Kaiserslautern Germany from 1990 to 1992 and have seen a lot of these types of artifacts. One thing I will say is, I could never judge these men who served in the German Army or the SS. This is something none of us can comprehend especially since we were not in their shoes.
I will add that my friend and I were at a pub one night and an older man was sitting at the bar next to us. I was 18 and my friend was 19. I could feel this man looking at me and then he asked me if I was in the American military and I told him that we were. He told us, he is and was proud of the Americans and what we did and what we are doing. I was confused but he then told me and my friend that he was a Nazi SS soldier in WWII and that he has been living with such regret his whole life. He must have been 65 years old at the time. Anyway, he apologized to me and my friend for the things he has done and I told him not to apologize because he did what he was asked to do. I told him he did what he thought was right and that I would never judge him.
For the remainder of our time at the pub, this man bought us many beers and then at some point during the night as it got late we had to leave. Before leaving we thanked him for getting us beers but also I shook his hand and told him I was just an 18 year old kid, it would be unfair to judge him or anyone and the things they did when I never was in his or their shoes.
After we left I told my friend I said, "Man I just got out of high school and who would have thought it would take a couple of hours in a pub in a foreign country to get the best history lesson of my life."
Believe it or not, I think of this man from time to time. I wonder what he did for the remainder of his life but I hope he found peace.
Very interesting. I would have liked a few hours to sit down and talk to that guy.
Oh man, I wonder whatever came of the 'just following orders' defense. Nice to know you'll never cast judgement on someone as long as you've never been in their shoes and/or they "did what they thought was right" - a line of logic which applies to all Nazis, Stalinists, Maoists, ISIS adherents, etc., not just their lowest subordinates. Seriously, practically no one thinks like a one dimensional supervillain, who simply does evil things for evil reasons, just to be evil.
@@johnholmes1060 I knew "That Guy" would respond
@@TheHistoryUnderground The enemy that fights with great courage, no matter the odds, is always "fanatical" to the US military: Germans, Japanese, Koreans, Vietnamese, Islamic guerillas, etc.
Americans have a lot of apologizing to do for the amount of viciousness they carried out in various countries.
06:40 The identification card states (from top to bottom) that Helmut Borchert was born on August 25, 1925 in the city of Essen (in the Ruhr area). By profession he was a plumber and fitter. He has no distinctive marks or changeable marks. The stamp on the left side is virtually the proof that the handling fee was paid. On the right side is Helmut Borchert's signature and the stamp of the police president of the city of Essen dated October 12, 1942.
Thanks!
My maiden name is Borchert. We pronounce the ch as a k and enunciate the T on the end. My grandfather’s and father’s first name is Herbert. My grandmother’s hobby was genealogy. I will have to ask my Dad for the records and research. I remember my grandmother telling me that we have descendant’s that were hessian soldiers and in the German military. What are the odds I would see the last name Borchert.
What a great presentation- told not only as a story of two German soldiers, but as young men whose lives, along with their families, were deeply affected by the events of WWII. The photos and letters tell so much about the way they were loved/valued by their families. We should never forget that tragic losses affected every nation.
My father made a lifelong friend of a German POW who was sent to a little remote Canadian community during WWII. Most of these prisoners were relieved to have left the fighting and many were stationed as farm laborers while interned. Many of them even returned to make a life in Canada after the war. This young German who worked at the farm of my grandfather kept in touch with my father for the entirety of their lives. My father and mother visited him and his wife in Germany some decades later.
Great video. The story of the two soldiers was really interesting. Can't remember anyone doing the research and showing how one German soldier evolved, became a doctor and helped others!👍
Yeah, pretty interesting.
Everytime you show a episode with Erik it pushes the Gettysburg Museum up the bucket list. Outstanding as always. Thank you JD and Erik.
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We are visiting Gettysburg in early November and this museum is high on our list of places to go!
@@roberth5767 I got ten days off lined up this Thanksgiving and I've been dying to go. If you're from the Chicago area, wanna split the gas?
Very touching this narrative on these 2 soldiers. Different paths loved by their families. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you.
A skillfully prepared presentation discussing the fate of two soldiers caught up in circumstances beyond their control. Sadness abounds for both soldiers, yet one is able to survive to denounce war and all of its evil. Moving, artistic, and thought provoking.
What a day and night difference between these 2 guys shined a new light on German combatants so glad to have heard this story
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Thank you for such an interesting story of these 2 German soldiers. My friend Peter S. Rhodes of an artillery unit became a POW in Singapore Changi Prison HATED the Japanese, returned to Japan after many years to see his tormentors, wrote a book 'To Bury A Ghost' about his experiences. He was welcome warmly into the town where he worked the mines in Kyushu. He returned via the Pacific to the West and East Coast of US and cross the Atlantic to UK after the surrender. He became a good friend with Japan after burying his hatred of the Japanese.
That what really gets me. If somebody like Peter Rhodes can bury his hatred and forgive his enemies, it seems odd that somebody born decades later can just decide that they're going to harbor some venomous hatred for people of the past.
I love these stories in the comments section. You are probably familiar with a great book “Unbroken” which was made into a mediocre movie. But the book is great. Similar story about a guy who harbored hatred, “found God”, healed himself and led an exemplary remainder of his life.
@@your_royal_highness Yes I saw this movie. He forgive his captors, But Not the Japanese officer who made him suffered during his captivity. My friend Peter Rhodes guards welcome him with open arms. They will very apologic of the suffering the POWs had suffered. That's forgiveness to move forward in life.
I love history & am thankful for your stories of real people in real times. I too have a heart & sadness for those who who were not blessed with positive, helpful lives. Thank you.
This was incredibly fascinating. The individual stories are worth knowing. Thanks for another excellent video. Mr. Dorr is certainly a fountain of knowledge.
Many thanks!
So good! What a powerful example of choices made! No life is un-redeemable! May we all be encouraged to choose wisely today and mend bridges of yesterday! Not all burdens must continue to be borne
Agreed.
After watching your videos I took my girl we spent a weekend up there, amazing trip. That museum is absolutely amazing. The town is cool as hell too.
Awesome!!!
My mother was a nurse in the US Army during the WW II and was based in England on the Isle Wight, 115 station Hospital. Later she was on the continent. To her dying day she talked about that "poor German boy", who bailed out of his burning fighter plane and was burnt to a crisp dying 3 days later. She said how he suffered.. Impacted Mom for the rest of her life...
JD & Erik.,.I have so much respect for you 2 men...your passion about history makes learning from y'all so knowledgeable...I love love love this channel.
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Very interesting this report is very moving thanks for sharing
On Wednesdays, I play Scrabble with a group of elderly French folk. This Wednesday, one of the ladies told a story about a German soldier who asked her mother if she would like some sweets. He bought some sweets, and gave them to (as she was then) the little girl. He told her mother that he had a little girl at home and he missed being able to buy her sweets, so for him, it was a pleasure to give some to another little girl instead.
I think we all need to remember that which side each person was on was in many ways pure chance (especially for people in Alsace) and that all of the soldiers were somebody's son, husband, brother or friend.
It's not always as black and white as we'd like for it to be.
meanwhile in Auschwitz German soldiers were helping terrorise strip beat gas and burn small children day after day after day after day....and yes these monsters were somebody's son, husband, brother or friend.
I visited La Cambe, a german cemetary in 2018. i will never forget the flowers laid down by an american group of visitors. The card atttached said: „you where also sons of mothers“. It struck me even more to learn the average age of the young german soldiers buried there.
Have no sympathy for you Germans.
Thank you JD & Erik. The take away for me on Mr Borchert was indoctrination. No one is born a racist or hating, it is learned. In fairness to this man, he did not live very long. Who knows where he may have gone or what he may have done. Mr Voges showed what I would call a sincere thankfulness in being alive and devoted the balance of his life helping others. I so throughly enjoy this channel. There’s always something extremely interesting and new to learn. Thank you again.
Well done, i just love stories like this. Many people i know tend to think of German WW2 soldiers as monsters. But if you listen closely to stories like this you discover that these are actually men like us. Keep educating is!
Thanks!
I thought I had watched all your videos over time but I don’t remember one. I’m so sorry these people had to fight for an evil cause. The personal stories just tear your heart out.
Fantastic video!! Two German soldiers , two different pads … great to know your museum and channel are keeping this legacy!! Kudos to you guys!!!!
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Very Interesting, wonderfully told story of these two soldiers!
You Always bring the Best of the BEST to your channel! I greatly appreciate how much respect you showed to these German soldiers.
Thank you!
Years back , I would stop in by the local pub in Milwaukee. A place called B & B lounge. The owner and bar tender was a fighter pilot from the USS Enterprise. We had a couple great conversations.
It's interesting to put a human face on the other side. It doesn't glorify what they did or diminish what we did. It's just history. Well presented JD
Exactly. Thank you.
My grandfather was drafted and placed in the panzer division on the Russian Front. His younger brother was in the Hitler Youth (membership was compulsory for all children starting at age 10 in 1936), and he spent a few years trying to prove his Aryan ancestry. We're not sure if it was because he believed in the ideology or if it was to remove potential targets on his back (there were certain benefits to proving yourself), but we know he had expressed doubts about it to my grandfather while waiting for the trains that would separate them not long before he disappeared. My grandmother was in the female wing of the Hitler Youth (League of German Girls) when she was 14 because she scored very high on IQ tests. She worked in radar. They essentially tortured the girls into compliance by starving them a few days, then placing a cookie jar in their barracks and when one went missing in the morning, they dragged them all out and made them stand in the rain for nearly a full day before someone confessed.
After the war, my grandparents immigrated to Canada. My grandfather became a pastor and gardener, wanting to turn his life around. He'd been taken out of the war by shrapnel in his hand, and he struggled to regain use of it for several years. When he thought no one else was looking, he would constantly practice and eventually regained use of it enough to garden. Meanwhile, my grandma took care of my dad and the other three kids. After my grandpa died, we found documentation that he'd lied about his rank, because he was slightly above the threshold to be prosecuted for war crimes. He was always a stubborn, aloof, irritable character and would disappear at random sometimes when my dad was growing up. A lot of it was due to PTSD (which they didn't even know existed back then), but I remember him as a charming, funny person on occasion with a somewhat hardened heart that was thankfully softened by my grandmother's influence.
I've never really questioned the way I knew him, but my dad once told me a story how in Canada, there were a bunch of stray cats running around town. He took his brother-in-law out to collect them all, they placed them in a bag, sealed it, and tossed them in the lake to drown. 😭 My uncle felt very unsettled and horrible about this, and shortly after, one of the worst storms to ever whip through the town happened, which he viewed as God's judgment for what they did.
I don't like to read too much into it, but that little story always made me question that if my grandfather could do that to cats, he could've done that to people during the war, and that's a terrifying thought to sit with. Loved the guy, but he was obviously very damaged, even had a high opinion of Hitler at times (most Germans couldn't argue Hitler revitalized the economy, but they didn't know the cost). But I try to remember how deeply the Nazis influenced him and the rest of Germany with indoctrination and propaganda. They're the reason his brother went missing, the reason my grandmother and her friends suffered, and so many millions died. They tainted and destroyed everything they touched. 😓 The fact some people still subscribe to the ideology today is deeply insulting to me, because they really have no clue.
08:00 The obituary states that Helmut Borchert was killed in an accident on April 12, 1944, while on duty as a dispatch rider.
Thank you very much for translating the obituary.
Another great job JD very moving story of the two soldiers
It is so good to see stories and artifacts from the other side of the war. So many people get pulled into the evils of war and caught up in what's going on. A good lesson for us to learn about leaders and government leadership. Thanks for this great video.
Absolutely. Thank you.
I love how you get your research so well best history I have seen, I hated history until after joining the Army at 17 years old you grow up really fast I spent just shy of 9 years I do miss it but did things lot of people could only dream about. Keep up the great work God bless you.
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at 8:00 it says on the larger right clipping he died during an accident on 12 -4 1944. (verungluckt means accidental, including road accidents)
Thanks.
Well done sir, WWII history is in my opinion fascinating. Learning the fate of soldiers, any soldiers and seeing photos of their families reinforces the fact that these men had relatively normal lives before the war and were coldly consumed as a resource. As bad as things were then during the war, it's difficult to watch this and not feel pitty and yet, sorrow simultaneously.
Very interesting stories! Great video!
Excellent video! I think the history lesson here is war is brutal and tragic for everyone regardless of side. Thank you and Erik for bringing their stories to us.
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Another great episode JD moving stories about 2 different Soldiers.
Thank you again for bringing these stories for us to see. I think the majority of German soldiers were just doing their job like most of the allied soldiers and just wanted to go home. We hear so much bad things about the Germans from WW2, It's nice to see the other side of them. I'd love to see more stories like this in the future. Cheers!
Doing you job is perfectly okay but raping, massacring, gassing, torturing and enslaving millions and millions of innocent civilians is not. Only cowards do such things.
Fantastic stories , presentation is awesome . Great job on all your videos. The passion the curator has is also makes the stories enjoyable and gripping to hear .
Many thanks!
Another great presentation JD .... love the channel
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Theses were soldiers who were under the command of a mad man. They had parents that cared about them just like every parent that cares about their child when they go off to war. You have to feel for them and what it must have been like being control by such an evil human being.
It makes you wonder how many of these men really wanted to fight in this and would have if the hadn’t been drafted.
Thank you for sharing JD and Eric. Awesome video.👍
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I'm young and I can tell you that nobody can force me to torture and gas millions and millions of babies and small children. That's just diabolical. German willingly supported and helped that monster and when he was winning they were happy.
These POV and videos are more important more now then ever. We can't wash and erase the "bad" side of history (any history). It is critical to understand all sides especially those of the German, Nazi regime to better understand, learn and avoid these things from happening. Now more then ever...
Thanks for this video! Its true that you dont really learn or talk about individual stories of german soldiers of ww2 in Germany nowadays..
The "mourning card" of the parents of the first soldier actually states that he wasnt killed in combat but died in some kind of transport accident.
There are millions of similar stories from all sides of the war. One example you might recognize is Hans Goebler, a crewman on the U-505. His boat and crew were taken captive off Africa in 1944 and were kept segregated from other POW's until the end of the war. After the war Hans was pretty much single handedly responsible for keeping the 505 from becoming just another artillery target and because of his actions it can be visited at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.
Should also mention that you can tour the whole U-Boat as well.
Awesome video. Keep up the great work
Helmut was just sent to the slaughter only survived 2 weeks on the eastern front in 44 when the war was already pretty much lost for the Nazi's so really he never got a taste of being a ruthless SS officer, he really just ended up like an infantry man dying in battle. Herbert was a class act great video presentation.
The museum does good work. Unvarnished history! Thank you!
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Thank you. Love your music choices. Makes me wonder what all gos into these pieces you produce. Thank s again.
Thanks. I won't lie. It's a decent amount of work. :)
Both stories were very interesting and enlightening. Thanks for sharing.
How cool to get a personal tour of Gettysburg Museum from Erik himself. You're a lucky dude.
Erik, these were both great back stories, sad what war can do to people. Helmut's life was cut short, not by his doing. Herbert's life seemed to be one of giving back to others for the rest of his life - war, at times can bring out the best in people. The B&W photos really bring the story home.....
Glad that you enjoyed it. Much to take from their stories.
@@TheHistoryUnderground Erik, If I lived in Gettysburg, I would love to be a docent in your museum. Thanks for your time and work.....
Exceptional content. Every person in uniform has a story to tell. Great video. Much appreciated.
Great video. Soldiers, from either side, were just trying to follow orders. However, some took it to extremes and were savages. Nice to hear of one who tried to do good with his life.
Interesting to gain a little insight into who they were and what happened to them.
Great stuff ! Very interesting stories ! Love it !
Glad you like them!
Thank you for all the video's you make
I am from Holland and a great fan from these video's
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You and Erik do such a great job of not only bringing History alive, but bringing the people in that History alive! It's always interesting learning about the people from either side of the line! Thank you for letting us learn things!
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Really love how you explore the nuance of history. It is never, black and white. It is also easy to judge or assume how we would have acted under the same circumstances.
It’s always more complicated than we’d like for it to be.
Every soldier has a unique story.
Absolutely.
That was a great story, very fascinating enjoyed.
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You never disappoint when it comes to your history videos. Always interesting and full of information for the younger generation to learn.
Thanks!
Very good video. Much appreciated. I think those relics should be returned to the families/relatives of those soldiers.
Really amazing video,honor and respect for them..fantastic items for your museum!
Every video enjoyed thoroughly!
I went up to Gettysburg on Tuesday and of course the Museum was closed… however I was able to take tours of the Shriver and Jennie Wade houses. Still a great day none the less. Need to actually make sure the museum is open next visit
It's worth the trip.
Unlike most videos on youtube that I have seen, some of the best parts about your videos are in the comments. This one in particular. Essentially no idiocy, true curiosity, no trolling, and enlightening. Hope the channels take off. Love the production quality and I am sure I have mentioned this elsewhere, I am super jealous of what you have seen, get to see and likely will see. I had the opportunity a few years back to join a WW2 Museum sponsored luxury trip to various spots in the Pacific over a period of many days, including Iwo Jima etc. It was going to include a US and a Japanese war vet. It was damn near $18,000 per person but I could have afforded it. Wish I had not jumped at the chance. Having just returned from a way too short visit to Normandy i am completely obsessed. Burgett’s little book on Normandy, ironically titled “Currahee” was terrific and nearly unbelievable. He titled it of course over that little hill in GA but it was slightly ironic because he did not do his training there (or at least that is what I remember as I gave the book to a friend). His experience around Carentan in particular was unreal. He had gotten help at a great time from the tank that wound up sitting in Dear Man’s Corner right before that guy got killled. Really a good read.
Two horribly mislead youths stories told to the ones combat ending, the other trying to make amends after getting older and fully understanding what had occurred. Excellent that these stories were told about these soldiers regardless of for whom they fought for they were human with all the faults the rest of us deal with. Thank you and Eric so much for telling the soldier's story no matter the uniform. Thank you.
Many thanks.
My Father was a Sgt. in the US Armies 160th Combat Engineer Battalion in WW2. One of his jobs was prisoner watch. He told me that the regular German soldiers hated the Waffen SS prisoners and vice versa. He said that they started killing each other and from then on, they were separated to stop the killing. I still have a German silver panzer badge and a nskk stickpin that he brought home and gave me.
Thank you so much for this wonderful video. I wish there were more places in Germany where you could see such pieces of history with the soldiers‘ stories attached.
Great video and story thank you
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Sounds like Helmet wasn't known for doing bad things , it seems he was just a young boy, proud of his homeland and brainwashed while in the Hitler youth. I feel bad for the boy he was before all the horror which also took his life. So many souls lost to war , what a shame for all lost soldiers/citizens from something as stupid as war. Think of all the young men sent to war with an average age in their 20's , How many of them might have become doctors , first responders, scientists etc. Maybe cancer would have been cured or maybe just maybe one of these young boys may have become some who helps end such things as war. We will never know... What a shame.
"Maybe cancer would have been cured" Many generations have come and gone, still no cure. Nature always wins.
"Helmet", actually Hemut, was too young, still a teen, to have done "bad things".
Feel worse for the victims that these units came in contact with! Whatever motivated them. The mass graves, poisoned Wells, destroyed villages and infrastructure! Think of that! Instances of brutality do occur. Systemic and organized slaughter are organized as the top and work the way down to the very bottom! Millions of people died and suffered!
@@edwinsalau150 Oh i do , My Grandmother was from Poland and she was able to get out and come to the US. I do understand ALL the evil that happened. It's disgusting.
And the SS were a big big part of that , there is no excuses, no reasons this ever should have happened and nothing that anyone could say or even think of with a clear mind to justify anything the german war machine did. I was just pointing out how the youth , fed by the monsters also became monsters themselves. I just wonder what if ... what if they were not fed such hatred at such a young age.
I will never forgive , forget what they did.
Thank You for commenting, when we stop talking memories fade, we must always remember the millions that suffered and died in hope this will never happen again.
Sein Name war Helmut.
Sorry but all and I mean all German soldiers committed atrocities cause it was an order from the big man, the Fuhrer. They had to get rid of all sub-humans.
Love all your videos sir, but i must confess i have a particular fondness for the ones you do at the GMH. Eric's a great addition to the content. Thanks as ever! :)
Glad you like them!
Another Great show Boys. You made my day.
Glad you enjoyed it!
In our current environment, people forget that a soldier is a person too. If you look at the combats especially in the two world wars, most of them were just boys who in different circumstances would have perhaps been friends. Young men who, for right or wrong were sent to kill each other for an ideology. But in the end, most of them were just boys and your video demonstrated that about perfectly. Thank you!
Outstanding amazing video thank you JD and congratulations on 300k subscribers JD
Thanks!
Very very interesting video. Please keep up the good work. Greetings from Germany 👋
Thank you very much!
Keep up the great work guys.
Well Done. Thanks.
Thanks for watching!
Great job, thank you.
Thanks for watching!
Interesting, thanks, also congrats on 300k subs
Thank you for a great video
I had substitute grandparents as a child (mine were thousands of miles away) in western Canada. The gentleman we'll call Tom, both German, Tom was in the Luftwaffe during the war. Both of them didn't have a mean bone in their bodies and were loved and respected by a majority European ex pat community, some of the older gents had visible and invisible scars from WW2. You just find yourself in a situation sometimes, you're bombarded with propaganda and your participation is coerced or forced. Maybe having to look at a situation where my substitute grandfather may have bombed my actual grandparents and relatives makes you look at the nature of war more closely, in the words of Harry Patch (was the last remaining British WW1 soldier) "War is legalised murder".
Excellent. Would have loved a more detailed, biographical account showing where they served and battles they fought in. 👍
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This would be a good follow up please
I would love to see more details on Helmut's Infantry Assault Badge (IAB) and Iron Cross 2nd class. Makers marks especially. At one time I specifically collected IAB's and EK's and these interest me! Thanks for the great video!
OK I was mistaken, the IAB and EK2 belonged to Herbert. Sorry for the mix up :)
As a German-American, I find this fascinating. My family are PA Dutch and were American by the time of WWII, and fought against NAZIs.
Great video. All to often we forget and tend to demonize the soldiers in the German army. I recently read a book titled "Blood Red Snow" about an infantrymans time serving mostly in Russia. It is full of insight and you see a commonality with US soldiers, they're fighting for one another rather then a great cause.
7th of
Precisely. I for one, am glad the French (at least the Normans) appreciate what the Americans did in helping their liberation but the soldiers were not there to help them per se, they were there to not let their comrades down. Amazing bravery and for a very basic, human reason.
Yes read it as well as many many others including: The Forgotten Soldier, Tiger Tracks, The Last Panther.
I read All Quiet On The Western Front recently and it was so interesting and engaging. Thanks for all the book recommendations in this thread, going to check them out.
@@mrpolsco6872 yes I’ve read the Forgotten soldier written by Guy Sajer, brilliant book. As he wasn’t some fanatical SS soldier he was just a standard Whermacht infantry soldier who literally got thrown into every brutal battle you could think of..
Love your content!!
Thank you!
Great video JD!
All of the videos the past few weeks have been really truly amazing. This is a fantastic segment. I think a lot about what you talk about in the end. Of course, you want to condemn anyone that took part in such evil, but then you also have to consider how much of their lives were full of propaganda and lies. They were raised to take part in the atrocities and not think twice about it. It's a really weird complex to me and it's hard to know how to feel about dudes like this. It's just such a complex situation.
Thanks!
Very neat documentary.
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Great video mate so sad 😭😭 can't wait for the next video mate 👍🌟
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Fantastic story! The first guy choose the SS which we know was the worst of the worst. The second was infantry, probably wasn't a bad guy, just following orders like soldiers have to, but turned it around to not just help individuals, but try to help humanity! Thank you for sharing this one!
I doubt he chose the Waffen-SS. He was probably "voluntold" because he appears to have been brought up with athletic ability in the Hitler Youth.
Bless these two soldiers. Cannot classify all of them for being evil. Young men fighting for a lost cause. So tragic that the one died after being on the eastern front for to weeks. Salute and Respect. May their blessed Souls RIP
This was a good video. The SS soldier is a life extinguished. Has no children, his parents and other family members are gone. He could have been a good man after the war trying to do good to reconcile some of the things that were done. Who knows. He never got the chance. I've read a lot of military history and of late I've read a lot concerning the eastern front. That was probably the most horrific, cruel front of the war. What the individual solders from both sides had to endure was just mind boggling. I feel sorrow for all the soldiers of that front. Getting wounded and sent back home would have been a blessing for them.
I live in Sandusky Ohio. In neighboring Ottawa County is Camp Perry which was a German/Italian POW camp during World War 2. Might be someplace you want to check out.
Thanks!
I am fortunate enough to only live 60 miles from Gettysburg Pennsylvania, living in Baltimore as I go up there all of the time , I half to make a visit at that museum up there to see this stuff ,, I know exactly where it's located at ,, this is very fascinating and sad , knowing how evil can easily brainwashed a generation and we must learn from it and must not allow it to happen again.
Great video again pal. Keep up the good work. Just as a matter of interest, theres an amazing story of an ex hitler youth & german paratrooper (5 medals & an iron cross) who was captured and sent to england as a POW. This man was a giant of a man and he used to help tend the local fields, where he fell in love with a local girl. After the war, he decided to stay on in england and they had a baby. Around this time, he was picked up by a local football (soccer) club as a goalkeeper for them. Unfortunately, his relationship broke down over his fears on how the english people would react to him having a baby with a local girl and what this would mean for his baby growing up. He was eventually signed up as a professional player by Manchester City (my club), but was again very wary on how he would be treated by our fans as a large amount of our fans were Jewish. After initial demonstrations and protests, he won over the majority of fans with his commanding performances. He went on to star in a FA cup final, where he broke his neck during the game and carried on playing until the end of the game. He died recently, but will always be a legend to our club and a lot of people in my home city of Manchester. He was awarded the OBE (order of the british empire) in later years for his work on anglo-german relationships through football. The mans name was "Bernhard Carl "Bert" Trautmann" EK OBE BVO , there is a film and many books about his amazing life story >>> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bert_Trautmann
Interesting!
Thanks JD very informative as always. My opinion of the SS is that they were probably looked at as an elite group and those who were patriotic wanted to join. All soldiers are told follow orders and we have seen in the past not all the orders are correct. The Gettysburg museum is a National Treasure Mr. Dorr has done an excellent job with it I hope to visit someday.
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Great story Thank You
Got a good laugh out of the "boy scouts but worse" ..... Love your stuff man!
I have a luftwaffe helmet that came from Estonia with a bullet hole right through it . The condition looks exactly how I see in these videos when they did up graves . The real Erie thing is some of the guys hair is still there around the exit hole
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Having a look at a single person is diffrent .
I'm german ,and we do tal about our Grandparents and their stories .
I wonder why people deny it ,we also have memorials for the missing ones in a lot of graveyards .
Who can be sure what he had acted like if he was a german back then .
It has been several years ago, but I was an American Boy Scout leader in The Netherlands. Our troop went to a weekend scouting event at a castle near Frankfurt that was run by the German Scouts. I saw a framed letter in one of the hallways that was from the mid 1930's, complete with swastika letterhead and all. It was to the local boy scout troop stating that effective on a given date, the boy scout troop "XYZ" would officially become Hitler Youth group "XYZ" and that the new leadership cadre was in route. I'm sure that anybody who opposed this plan was delt with harshly.
Interesting.