re: Did the common WWII German soldier know how evil Germany was?

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A lot of those sovereign nations had territory that had belonged to Germany before WWI. The average German soldier looked at it as getting their territory back and avenging WWI. It really was just a continuation of the first war. The United States considered the early phases of WWII to be a European border dispute. So no, the average German soldier didn't know how evil their regime was. Nor did the average Russian soldier.

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This.

I'm sure it was the same as it was for the Soviet soldiers who had a decision: run into German MG42 fire, or get shot by their own officers for retreating.

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My paw paw said many of them were decent guys. At least the POWs and ones he talked to. He said they considered the SS fanatics.

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I actually have heard this from a number of folks who fought in the various wars. When you get people away from the military role, they all become pretty nice and much more human.

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My gramps was in the German Army..he figured it out at 19 years old, frick this and bye.

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Unless he was in the SS or assigned to support them, no he didn't.

This is an interesting topic yet poor place for serious discussion.

When I was in post graduate school we had a fellow classmate from Germany. In year 3 we had a short project (which had zero to do with our field of study, basically to fill time while studying for and taking boards) which we wrote and presented to the class on the topic “Bring 3 people back to life for one meal. Who are they and why”.

One of the people he brought back was his grandfather, who was a “regular” in the German infantry during WWII.

He said his grandfather told them stories when they were growing up.

What we learned:
His grandfather was not a member of the Nazi party.
His grandfather did not support Hitler nor the Nazi party.
His grandfather was a factory electrician who was drafted into service and served mostly in Africa and along the eastern border.
His grandfather did not know about, nor has ever seen any of the concentration camps, although he said he did hear of them near the end when everyone was retreating back to Berlin.
He said they were told and believed their Jewish friends and neighbors were simply being kicked out of Germany and sent to Russia or England/France/USA.
The regular German soldier was commanded by regular German officers not of the SS or Nazi units.
The regular German soldier was the lowest on the ladder, treated like crap and had to barter for new boots, uniforms, weapons and ammo in the final year.
When his unit surrendered, they were documented by the British captors and released without weapons or food or water and told to walk home and stay out of future conflicts.
His grandfather walked 2 weeks, getting rides, sleeping in barns, eating horse meat, etc. Got back to his small town, the factory had been converted to a weapons plant and later destroyed. He found his wife and children with family in another town and worked on a farm for several years afterward.

You have to be shown better, to know better.

I’m sure most believed they were on the right side because it’s all they’ve known

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zatetic

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I watched your YouTube videos.

One actually referred to the holocaust as an accident.

You’re fricked in the head if you can’t see those for what they are.

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His grandfather was not a member of the Nazi party.
His grandfather did not support Hitler nor the Nazi party.
His grandfather was a factory electrician who was drafted into service and served mostly in Africa and along the eastern border.
His grandfather did not know about, nor has ever seen any of the concentration camps, although he said he did hear of them near the end when everyone was retreating back to Berlin.
He said they were told and believed their Jewish friends and neighbors were simply being kicked out of Germany and sent to Russia or England/France/USA.
The regular German soldier was commanded by regular German officers not of the SS or Nazi units.
The regular German soldier was the lowest on the ladder, treated like crap and had to barter for new boots, uniforms, weapons and ammo in the final year.
When his unit surrendered, they were documented by the British captors and released without weapons or food or water and told to walk home and stay out of future conflicts.
His grandfather walked 2 weeks, getting rides, sleeping in barns, eating horse meat, etc. Got back to his small town, the factory had been converted to a weapons plant and later destroyed. He found his wife and children with family in another town and worked on a farm for several years afterward.

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This same story can be told for the overwhelming majority of Wehrmacht soldiers who survived the war.

They were clueless cogs in a massive war machine.

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He said they were told and believed their Jewish friends and neighbors were simply being kicked out of Germany and sent to Russia or England/France/USA.

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You'd have to be very dumb to believe that one. Hitler kicking out guys like Einstein or Oppenheimer and handing him to the Americans you would have to be retarded to believe. No way you could believe that one.

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I wouldn't...or I'd find it highly unlikely.

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I do think Stalingrad was the turning point in the German populace as a whole on Hitler and the Nazi ideology, and that's my only point on this.