Far too many people compare the war crimes carried out by Nazi Germany during World War 2 to those done by the Allies. This is a false equivalency and you should stop doing it.
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Stop comparing Allied war crimes to those of the Germans during World War II I see this all the time on YouTube and it is just an mindblowing thing to see anytime the German numerous war crimes are discussed someone or multiple people will bring up all the Allies did you know
XYZ that is just a false equivalency and I see it nonstop and it drives me crazy to say that these things are the same is just disingenuous German war crimes were a matter of policy they were carried out by all branches of the Vermont Army Navy Air
Force and the SS you should look up the myth of the clean vermark if you don’t believe me that the German military overall committed these war crimes that’s a postwar thing that people tried to cover up and and blame the SS when they themselves were doing it too and
This goes again for all of those famous German Army commanders that so many people idolize so to say that that the Allies were the same is just not even true when yes of course there was occasionally war crimes committed by the allies and shooting PWS and the heat of
Battle that kind of thing but it doesn’t even come close to what the Germans did another thing that drives me crazy is the comparisons of scale you’ll be talking about thousands or millions of PWS say murdered by the Germans and then someone will bring up you know an urance of five
German PS being shot on a battlefield somewhere like they’re the same thing they’re not even close to the same thing German war crimes were carried out all across Western Europe uh places like wormhout across Normandy malmy and those are the ones just off the top of my head
Uh they also killed African soldiers fighting for the French in 1940 and this doesn’t even include what’s going on in the Eastern Front particularly early in the war against poles also into the Balkans and in Yugoslavia this doesn’t even get into what they did in the Soviet Union again
War crimes particularly in the East were a matter of policy you have things like the extermination orders of PWS where they were ordered to be starved to death in the millions or just outright murdered you have the commissar order which is very famous for the beginning of Barbarosa where any political
Officers who were captured would be outright shot by German soldiers that one is countlessly documented and seen across all kinds of places and then of course there the countless murders of civilians across the Soviet Union Germans are killing civilians in huge numbers which this is of course not even
Getting into the Holocaust which to sees the murder of millions so to say that these things are the same that the allies and the Germans are the same because war is war is just wrong and of course I know there’s going to be people coming for me in comments saying like oh
The Allies bomb German cities yes they did I’m not denying that and it’s a morably reprehensible act I don’t disagree with that it it’s something that is awful and an all CIS shouldn’t be done but was it a crime at the time unclear but to say it’s the same as not
They were trying to hit industrial targets I say it all the time they were infamously bad at doing so so they just resulted to area bombing and trying to hit these things and then of course civilians get killed if you bring up you know Dresden or Hamburg or whatever on a
Video or something you see about the murder of say Soviet PWS and the millions that’s just wrong it’s not even close to the same thing it’s just mindblowing and again this brings up the confusion of well of the western allies and what the Soviet Union did I’m not denying again that the
Soviet Union was not awful I know they were awful they committed all kinds of crimes in their march across Eastern Europe at the end of the war what I’m mostly talking about here as the Western allies to compare what you know Britain and France and Canada and you know UK
And other Commonwealth Nations did to what the Germans did I don’t know how you can square what the Germans are doing where they’re killing Millions shooting civilians and PS outright and then say Oh a couple of Allied soldiers who were not following orders and popped off a
Few PWS is the same thing it’s just Bonkers to me doesn’t even make any sense it just shows that people don’t have a proper understanding of history and they’re learning at things like memes and and poor YouTube videos from channels who don’t know what they’re talking about and just produce clickbait
So saying things like it’s not a war crime if you win that’s just not true that doesn’t make any sense all kinds of war crimes have been tried and looked at and and all of these things and the Allies carried out executions of their own people for carrying out war crimes
And then the one that makes no sense whatsoever in the second world war context is history is written by The Victors if you know anything about how the second world war was written you know that’s not true countless German generals SS members Nazi Party members who survived wrote their experiences
Changing them factually making things up just to make themselves look better that happened all the time it really influences how people in the west view the war so to say that history is written by The Victors so therefore the Allied war crimes are not talked about
Is not true that’s not true at all they are talked about they’re talked about at length if you’re not looking for it of course you’re not going to find it you just want it to be part of this narrative that you have in your head
That the Allies are just as bad as the Germans or sometimes people claim that they were worse for things like the bombing of Germany or bombing like things in France as part of the D-Day Landings like that one just boggles my mind when I see oh they bomb KH so
They’re just as bad or worse than the Germans it’s like what are you talking about that’s just Neo-Nazi nonsense not saying that Ally War crime shouldn’t be discussed what I’m saying is comparing them to those of the Germans is downright wrong don’t do it it doesn’t
Make you look cool doesn’t make you look smart makes you look ignorant and like you have no idea what you’re talking about so to say these things and somehow trying to better the image of Nazi Germany makes you look ignorant it’s not going to work for you it
Doesn’t make you look good and you’re just basically supporting the crimes of an awful regime that killed Millions by saying oh the Allies did it too no they didn’t you’re wrong it’s not the same not even close to it all so stop doing that and think before you type
26 Comments
As the World gradually dumbs down, substantial portions of the population believe that the Holocaust (for example) is some fake news concoction.
This subject really stuck in your craw. For good reason.
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PREACH. Thank you for hosting another great YouTube history channel. I see your comments on WW2TV, as well.
100% in agreement. When people make statements like that I question their motives.
There is no fair comparison or simple answer and the axis (fascists/ultra nationalists and imperialists) were the worst over all.
However, the soviets had invaded and purged more peoples than the axis by 1940; soviets were not in accord with geneva convention and soviets killed at least as many russian/russian speaking folks than the axis did between 1935-1946. The communist and nationalist Chinese killed nearly as many folks as the Japanese. Poland was left to twist in the wind having been subjugated by both nazis and commies (toll free) and western colonials continued trespassing and subjugating far east and mid east for years after the war. The west committed war crimes also and should not be shoveled overboard on account of how aweful the axis was. Lets be honest and objective, for the moment. Its not a contest, although the details may be debatable. You do seem fixed on your sentiments and i understand it, but still. I hope the world may yet recover.
EXACTLY! Oh man the amount of 'what about…' comments I get makes me so angry
False equivalency is a comfortable refuge for those experienced in deflection, deception, and gaslighting.
Spot on. Well done, Brad.
I completely support you on this one. A "Clean Wehrmacht" is absolutely a myth. It cannot be repeated enough. There is nothing excusable or redeemable about the the Third Reich. At no point was Nazi Germany ever fighting a justifiable war. Regarding the performance of the Allies during the war there are issues that are highly debatable. I will just throw out a few like Sir Arthur Harris and Bomber Command as well as the decision to use the atomic bomb. However, we live in a world in which these things can be and are hotly debated. I seriously doubt that we would be debating anything of substance had the war gone the other way. Whenever I see people on Youtube supporting the deeds of the Axis Powers, I am always reminded of the dialogue in the film "Schindler's List." There is a scene that indirectly explains antisemitism. Amon Göth is addressing the SS and talks about the Jews in Krakau. He acknowledges that they "flourished." Then he emphasizes that after the work of the SS is finished that Jews and their achievements will only be a "rumor." It is absolutely sickening. This cannot be compared to so called Allied war crimes or even the occupation of Germany after the war. Germany is still country with its culture in tact and has some of the foremost research about the war itself and the holocaust.
I like this video, and I am glad you are addressing this topic again. But it is of course sad that it has to be addressed again.
Everything you said goes double for Japanese war atrocities.
I tried to comment something agreeing with you and utube has deleted it, I am 100% convinced that utube has never been run more by a more INCOMPETENT team than in this day an age. 🤬
"Testify, Brother Brad!"
Whataboutism…the last refuge of those who have no argument to make.
Well said, Brad!
Western Europe and the lands of the former Soviet Union are littered with memorials to the victims of their " heroic" deeds. There would be many moreexcept Hitler had many WW1 memorials destroyed or confiscated, that put Germany in a bad light. Dinant and the Reims Bronze group stand out.
Any thoughts on
Wehrmachtsausstellung 1995 and 2001 by the Hamburg Institute for Social Research.
Größte Härte: Verbrechen der Wehrmacht in Polen September/Oktober 1939 by the Deutsches Historisches Institut Warschau
Edit
Wehrmachtsausstellung 1995 "War of Extermination. Crimes of the Wehrmacht 1941 to 1944"5 travelled to 34 German and Austrian cities and caused a shitstorm, protests and a huge rift between Germans.
The exhibitions were instrumental in furthering the understanding of the myth of the clean Wehrmacht
I like your assessment,Brad.
Regarding Japanese war crimes,it isn't surprising that the Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo is historical revisionism at it's worst.
I have heard people say over the years,that the Japanese people will never fully admit their guilt,and won't teach successive generations the truth. Definitely a subject I would like to see you cover.
A comprehensive summary. Well said Brad.
We will add any comment we see fit. Get over it princess
Seeing the same thing brought up in regards to Ukraine and Russia a lot for a more contemporary example. It's frustrating when context and nuance are ignored in favour of whataboutism, especially because we can actually watch it happen in real time. We don't even have the excuse of it having happened decades ago and on the edge of living memory.
Completely correct and put in a way that I couldn't. Thank you again.
I think it's not worth your time to argument with those people since they're obviously following their very own agenda. It's the same like repeating the statement "history is written by the victors" all the time. Just a plain stupid "argument" to stop all sort of argumentation.
This is difficult. In war, on this subject no nations hands are clean. Where the difference lies is where does it start. The Final Solution was ordered from the very top. The execution of the guards at Dachau was local. The rapes on Okinawa were local I doubt there was a memo from MacArthur ordering it. But there were orders in China, and Korea and else where by Japanese Commanders. I am sure that I could fill several pages of examples of acts committed by all sides, but I won't. But I will say. That if one Nation starts a war of aggression against a neighbour, and who's only goal is to exterminate and or subjugate that population. You will always be in the wrong! To bad, but I don't think you'll have enough time on your trip to go to Oradour sur Glane and tell the story.
I could not agree more with you. Keep the good videos coming, handsome.
Thank you Brad for your channel and your interesting contributions to contemporary history. I agree with your assessment that history is not written by the victors, but by those who write it down. As a result, German war criminals were able to trivialize or even glorify their terrible deeds, and the false myth of a "clean" Wehrmacht was created. However, I believe that your rant is not helpful and cannot solve a complex issue such as war crimes. First of all, I would like to say that I am German and may not be able to evaluate every aspect objectively. I share your view that it makes a difference whether a warring party uses its own ideology and indoctrination to achieve its inhuman war aims. This applies to the German Reich, for example, which pursued its atrocious policy of exterminating Jewish life or the mistreatment and murder of millions of Russian prisoners of war as alleged "sub-humans" until the end of the Second World War. The Western campaign of 1944-1945 was not free of this either, but (white) British, Americans and Canadians, for example, were not "sub-human" according to Nazi racial ideology. It remains a fact, however, that war crimes were committed by the warring parties in the West during the immediate fighting and that at times even a kind of equilibrium was established in the West, in which, for example, at times no or hardly any prisoners were taken or soldiers were cowardly shot after being captured.
4:26 "All kinds of war crimes have been tried" Were any members of the allied military put on trial for war crimes? Genuinely curious. I was taught that no one can be put on trial for a war crime unless their own country hands them over to the international court. And I just assumed that the Germans who stood trial in Nuremberg did so because they were handed over by the occupying allied countries who controlled Germany after the war. I agree whole-heartedly that war crimes/atrocities committed by different military powers are never 1:1 in any conflict and especially in WWII and the egregious barbarism of the axis powers cannot be understated. And brushing it off for any excuse is inviting it to happen again. Thank you for all the knowledge you share! 🙏
But war crimes are a matter of both US & British policies up until today… Nothings changed… The Germans are a nation, the Nazis were a political movement that hijacked the narrative & did unspeakable things… I have both German & Russian heritage & all nations are to blame for atrocities… Lets not measure, collectively we all shameful… I lost family across a large spectrum of the theatres of the war… Humanity needs a holistic revision…