Listening to schindlers list at the moment
Made me think about the holocaust and the horrific things the Germans did during the war period and before
I really can’t get my head around it
Did it really happen, I mean I know it did , but Christ
A 14 year old exchange student told my daughter last year that the holocaust never happened and it was all made up by the allies.
I hope he was joking, but she said he was serious
What do modern day Germans think of it all

Errr what?

Only right wing lunatics say it was made up. No idea how many of them live in modern Germany, but there are plenty elsewhere

I mean I really know it did happen
But do some people still really believe it was made up by the allies
I can’t believe they do,
I can’t get my head around the systematic killing of a race of people

David Irving famously believes it is made up. There are quite a few who do.

A 14 year old exchange student told my daughter last year that the holocaust never happened and it was all made up by the allies.

Where was he from – Germany? It’s illegal there to deny the holocaust – not sure I agree with that policy. But yes, it did happen.

I recently read ‘all hell let loose’ by Max Hastings. It’s the first war book I have read. It includes accounts from both sides and is an upsetting read. The suffering was unbelievable. Hopefully we never have a war of this magnitude ever again.

Lot of left wingists are holocaust deniers, too. Anti-zionists mainly.

I was working at a video/film post production facility in the UK when footage taken from a newly liberated German WWII concentration camp that had just been released from its 50 year Official Secrets Act clause was being worked on.

It was horrific.

Perhaps the scene that typified that horror more than any other was an Allied serviceman using a huge military bulldozer to clear the piles of rotting and diseased bodies away. I always wonder how that driver coped later in life.

But…

The only real truths in life are things we can prove ourselves. For things we can’t prove ourselves we are reliant on other people. We know governments lie, particularly in times of war.

I don’t know what happened in the concentration camps. I’m fairly sure you don’t either. Therefore I support no versions of events, I’m open minded.

I’ll go ahead and deny the existance of such utter idiots.

It’s illegal there to deny the holocaust – not sure I agree with that policy.

It’s a very worrying policy, not too far removed from Nazi party mindset.

I don’t know what happened in the concentration camps. I’m fairly sure you don’t either. Therefore I support no versions of events, I’m open minded.

I know what you mean, but all one really needs to know is that some seriously evil people tried to wipe the Jews out in the most horrific ways possible and it must never be allowed to happen again. The rest is neither here nor there.

I watched the program on a few weeks ago. An account of life in several camps by a young girl. If it weren’t for the Wife sitting with me I’d have cried openly. There’s an image burned into my head now, of some children queueing up with suitcases.

I was born and educated in Germany until I started ‘gymnasium’ (secondary school). In Germany they drill into you how evil the Nazis were. In every year I was taught history and there was always a segment on WWII and Hitler. I can’t describe how much they teach it and also to the degree they take it. Even when watching TV- you can flick through a few channels and there is guaranteed to be a history movie on WWII.

In contrast, when I came to England I was amazed at how little it is mentioned over here and also how it is taught. Try doing a Nazi salute in Germany. The village will outcast you. I think it’s impossible for a German to deny it.

Hopefully we never have a war of this magnitude ever again.

i’ve not googled it, but i think you’ll find that we’ve (britain) has not been involved in much peace since 1945. all wars are of the same magnitude, for the victims….

also think there was an ulterior motive for ww2 involving the acquisition of german long range rocket knowledge, apart from the annexing of poland

But do some people still really believe it was made up by the allies

I’ve heard it described as the ‘comfort of being a rebel’.

I think 1968 was the only year since (forever?) ww2 that no one in the British forces died in action.

Ska – interesting info – I had a German pal, born in 1966, and he was desperately ashamed of what happened.

Sort of like this, but serious.

Harry Enfield

Edit – double negative

A 14 year old exchange student told my daughter last year that the holocaust never happened and it was all made up by the allies.

Austrian, perhaps? There’s still a strong right-wing element there.

spchantler – Member
also think there was an ulterior motive for ww2 involving the acquisition of german long range rocket knowledge, apart from the annexing of poland

Seriously? You actually believe that we went to war with Germany to obtain technology that nobody knew about when the war started? You are completely nuts.

been to Dachau. It’s an odd experience. There’s a museum, and so on. At first when the Nazis were shooting the prisoners, (the industrialization of the whole thing came much later) there were worried reports sent back and forth from the camp to HQ and so on with regards to the obvious detrimental effects it was having on the soldiers. It’s a strange squewd otherwordly view they had to have…

weirdly the camp before was a regular police station, during the war occupied by the gestapo, then after the war, the regular cops moved back in again!!…In all I came away just none the wiser about how a group of well educated modern western otherwise normal people (not the Nazis, normal germans) did this….

I don’t know what happened in the concentration camps. I’m fairly sure you don’t either. Therefore I support no versions of events, I’m open minded.

I suppose if you want to drift through life shrugging your shoulders and not making any commitment then that is a fine stance. I think it a bit odd, but there you go.

also think there was an ulterior motive for ww2 involving the acquisition of german long range rocket knowledge, apart from the annexing of poland

If you’ve not got those words all mixed up and I misunderstand you, then you are rather mixed up and I really don’t understand you.

I’m not sure what’s more frightening.

The views purported above or these people have the right to vote or perform jury service……..

It’s a very worrying policy, not too far removed from Nazi party mindset.

I think it’s fairly understandable really, as a Country it’s a way of standing up and taking responsibility for past events, and in doing so, learning from it.

We have a very different view of it here, we make jokes about the Wars, French surrender jokes etc. My German friend wouldn’t dream of making any sort of joke about the wars, it would literally turn his stomach to think about it.

(I appreciate not all people from Germany have the same view, but that’s the way he looks at things)

Did you ever go to school ?

Stayed in Krakow 16 years ago and yep even then none of the
apartments had been changed nor painted because incase the Jewish
descendants may come back and claim there family homes back

The Jewish synagog is still closed off for what reason i have no idea why

Went to Aushwitz in which was a Polish army Barracks and then 30 mins down the road
is Birkenau and yes unfortunately it did happen.
Average life expectation was one month unless you was under 1metre height

Stayed there with wife’s friend and wife whom is German and apologised to us for
forgiveness for not wanting to go. She says its a subject everyone must learn when at school.

The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. There will have been a holocaust, but it wont have been to the numbers that the allied forces reported.

been to Dachau. It’s an odd experience. There’s a museum, and so on. At first when the Nazis were shooting the prisoners, (the industrialization of the whole thing came much later) there were worried reports sent back and forth from the camp to HQ and so on with regards to the obvious detrimental effects it was having on the soldiers. It’s a strange squewd otherwordly view they had to have… weirdly the camp before was a regular police station, during the war occupied by the gestapo, then after the war, the regular cops moved back in again!!…In all I came away just none the wiser about how a group of well educated modern western otherwise normal people (not the Nazis, normal germans) did this….

Banality of evil init, even the most extreme & horrific actions can become routine..

Good reading, well its a horrible but good reading all the same is – those were the days by Ernst Klee. Banned in Germany for years. Based on primary sources such as diary entries and soldiers letters on how it all started, also you develop a lot of sympathy for the young lads (some) who carried out the early mass killings.

Link (i think) http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1070138.The_Good_Old_Days

My uncle’s Mother in Law was Polish and at the age of 13 was captured and taken to Auschwitz.
She was not Jewish, however they branded her arm with numbers that she showed to me when I was a child. Horrifying to witness the marks and some of the tales that she told were hard to believe, believe them I did.

She was a much loved, clever lady who never got over what happened during the war.

There will have been a holocaust, but it wont have been to the numbers that the allied forces reported.

Reference for that, or just another tinfoil-hat wearer?

Tootall – Are you stalking me?

What? You post something really quite odd on a thread I have already posted on, which I question, and come back with that?

Perhaps now that TJ etc have gone the odd things you say stand out more so I comment more on them. You’re certainly not worth the effort of stalking. You’re not my type.

I visited Sachsenhausen concentration camp when doing my A-levels and it was an eerie place.

When I was at uni I did a work placement at a company in a small town called Helmbrechts, North Bavaria. A couple of the people working there asked me & the other student I was there with why we wanted to come to Germany & didn’t we hate the Germans because of the war?
It wasn’t until several yrs later that I learnt that Helmbrechts was the site of a ‘halfway house’ concentration camp I think for people being moved to aushwitz.

Lovely place though, Helmbrechts & lovely people. It saddened me somewhat to know that there were young people there who were burdened with what had gone before & really worried about how others viewed them because of that.

I highly recommended this for anyone interested in the holocaust.

Only right wing lunatics say it was made up. No idea how many of them live in modern Germany, but there are plenty elsewhere

This- seems to be mainly right wing nationalists who deny it and some fanatical muslims who think it was a western lie to justify Israel

Lot of left wingists are holocaust deniers, too. Anti-zionists mainly.

I doubt it tbh – source?

The only real truths in life are things we can prove ourselves. For things we can’t prove ourselves we are reliant on other people.

For this reason I never go to doctor nor a mechanic nor do i speak to anyone who may be an expert in an area I am not. I mean if i dont know its true then hey it might not be and it snot like they know more than me. Ps I have never been to the North pole so I guess i will stay open minded on whether it is cold. What odd “logic”

We know governments lie, particularly in times of war.

and we know goverenment tell the truth at times – have you any evidence one way or the other regarding this issue?

I don’t know what happened in the concentration camps. I’m fairly sure you don’t either. Therefore I support no versions of events, I’m open minded.

So you wathced video of someone in a bulldozer moving bodies and you still remain open minded as to what happened. 😯

It’s illegal there to deny the holocaust – not sure I agree with that policy.

It’s a very worrying policy, not too far removed from Nazi party mindset.

There is is some distance from banning saying something that is untrue and being a right wing racially motivated party who exterminates inferior raices for the benefit of the ayran fatherland. Its about as far away as your view is from reality and logic but nice troll.

Look into what happened in Rawanda too. Its amazing.

There’s some very, very odd comments on this thread.

I can certainly see why it’s law in Germany to not be able to deny the holocaust.
And if it’s not real, why worry about denying it?
I thought the estimates were for around 5million people, Glupton, do you have any links to show it wasn’t? Really interested in this.
To say you can’t possibly decide on something because you havn’t personally witnessed it it utterly batshit mental.

glupton1976 – Member

The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. There will have been a holocaust, but it wont have been to the numbers that the allied forces reported.

Well, Eichmann himself came up with the figure of 6 million, just for the Jews killed.

Where do you get your information from?

The exact number of people killed by the Nazi regime is still subject to further research. Recently declassified British and Soviet documents have indicated the total may be somewhat higher than previously believed. However, the following estimates are considered to be highly reliable.

5.6-6.1 million Jews
3.5-6 million Slavic civilians
2.5-4 million POWs
1-1.5 million political dissidents
200 000-800 000 Roma & Sinti
200 000-300 000 handicapped
10 000-250 000 homosexuals
2 000 Jehovah’s Witnesses

Info from http://www.world-war-2.info/holocaust/

From what I have read, the Germans were meticulous in their record keeping and the surviving records give some of the extent.

Some of the denial comments above are, indeed, worrying: Either they are genuinely delusional or they are arguing for the sake of arguing.

“I thought the estimates were for around 5million people, Glupton, do you have any links to show it wasn’t? Really interested in this.”

Do you have any links to say that it was 5 million people? Links that are not written by biased sources?

My comment was merely that the truth is always in the middle of the extreme opposites in any debate.

Some folk say no holocaust happened some folk say 5 million were killed – truth could be anywhere in the middle. 2.5 million folk killed is still genocide though.

Thought i was on irantrackworld for a moment
ajiminijadalibad would be proud

“I thought the estimates were for around 5million people, Glupton, do you have any links to show it wasn’t? Really interested in this.”

Do you have any links to say that it was 5 million people? Links that are not written by biased sources?

My comment was merely that the truth is always in the middle of the extreme opposites in any debate.

Some folk say no holocaust happened some folk say 5 million were killed – truth could be anywhere in the middle. 2.5 million folk killed is still genocide though.

Unbiased sources you say? http://www.its-arolsen.org/en/homepage/index.html

You can go see the evidence for yourself, if you’d like.