Language:
German
Year of publication:
2012
Titel der Quelle:
Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft
Angaben zur Quelle:
60,10 (2012) 813-830
Keywords:
Germans History 20th century
;
Jews History 1939-1945
;
World War, 1939-1945 Prisoners and prisons
;
Prisoners of war
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Public opinion
Abstract:
Discusses what German POWs interned in Fort Hunt, near Washington DC, between 1942-46 knew about the Holocaust and Nazi war crimes, and how they related to them. The POWs were interrogated, and their private conversations were secretly recorded. The recordings reveal that the soldiers were well informed about the Nazi crimes, viewed them as immense, and feared Allied retaliation. The soldiers' knowledge concerned especially the mass executions of Jewish civilians during the German-Soviet war, and the offenses committed against Soviet POWs and the population in areas occupied in this context. The soldiers condemned the use of violence, but mainly out of fear of its consequences for themselves and Germany, not out of principle. They did not condemn the Nazi regime.
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