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I've always wondered how much the average German civilian or Wehrmacht private knew about what was actually happening during the "resettlement" program. Surely they had to have suspicions about what was going on, even if the actual scale was beyond conception for a rational human being. What did they think happened to all of their Jewish neighbors? Where did they think those trains were going?

The German army provided support to the Ensatzgruppen and sometimes took part in roundups themselves. A lot of German civilians followed the armies east in search of land and opportunity. German civilians administered the conquered areas. German railway workers crewed the deportation trains. German manufacturers built the crematoria ovens. German corporations used slave laborers. If anyone didn't know, it was because they didn't want to know.

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As far as the "I was just following orders" argument goes, I'd think disobeying would be suicidal in Nazi Germany. US service members are schooled on what is an "illegal order" and what is not. I believe this training was ramped up after My Lai.

There's a book called "Hitler's Willing Executioners" that goes into this. The backbone of the Final Solution on the Eastern Front were ordinary German police who were put under SS command. Some of them were up to it, some weren't. The ones who couldn't bring themselves to carry out their assignments were given other duties or sent home. No disciplinary action taken. There were plenty of eager executioners. Most of them were never punished.

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Posted by White Roach

Member since Apr 2009

9466 posts

Posted on 11/22/13 at 9:01 am to Jim Rockford

I'll have to check out "Hitler's Willing Executioners" (Just what I need... Another Hitler/WWII book!)

I think the population of Germany was about 60 million around 1940. You're correct about private industry and civil servants being involved, Jewish officials even helped round up other Jews in some cases. But the entire population couldn't have been directly involved. I just wonder if rumors were running rampant in the bakery, barber shop or bar, or if little was spoken about it out of shame or fear of the Gestapo
putting you on the next train.

I completely agree that many civilians, especially in areas around the camps, had to have a very good idea of what was happening. I'd guess that a very large majority of those attempting to use the Sgt Schultz Defense - "I know NOTHING!!!" - were full of shite. But I also believe that there was probably some segment of the population, however small, that really and truly had no clue as to what was taking place.

Edit: 1940 population was 69,838,000. So I was only off by about ten million!

This post was edited on 11/22/13 at 9:11 am

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