re: Judgment at Nuremberg is on TCM @ 9:45 pm (Eastern)

WR, the average German soldier probably didn't know what was going on in concentration camps, or at least know to the extent murders were occurring. This is why I say that the architects of the "Final Solution" undoubtedly deserved the death penalty. My guess is some lesser involved Germans were also put to death.

Civilians around the camps had to know what was going on with all of the ash that was being created. But as you say, what were they to do? Protest meant death.

So many ethical/moral decisions come into play during war. I recall the scene from "Glory" when the 54th went out with a colonel who had renegade troops. He ordered Shaw to torch the town. Shaw declined. The colonel told him that it was an order and Shaw said it was an immoral order that did not have to be obeyed. The colonel told him that if he didn't follow the order he would bring him up on a court martial and would take over the 54th. Shaw acceded. Did he do the right thing? I don't know.

"Judgment at Nuremberg" made me think of a lot of things. Apparently, it made you think, too.