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| Known as Generation War in English (German with English subtitles.) |
Eye opening. Absolutely riveting...
History is my thing. This is a look at World War II through the eyes of five young men and women.
Friends.
From Berlin.
Germany.
Well worth your time.
Generation War (German: Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter, literally "Our mothers, our fathers") is a German World War II TV mini series in three parts. It was commissioned by public broadcasting organization ZDF, produced by the UFA subsidiary TeamWorx, and first aired in Germany and Austria in March 2013. The series tells the story of five German friends, aged around 20, on their different paths through Nazi Germany and World War II: As Wehrmacht soldiers on the Eastern Front, war nurse, aspiring singer, and Jewish tailor respectively. The narrative spans over five years starting in 1941 Berlin, when the friends meet up for a last time before embarking on their journeys, enthusiastically vowing to meet up again the following Christmas. The story's conclusion is set in a time shortly after the end of the war in 1945/46. Wikipedia
Made a little storm around here, making out Polishe resisatnce as band of antisemites and Germans as innocent victims drawn into war... note that it starts in 1941... as long as everything went Sieg in Feldzug it was OK?
ReplyDeleteI recall it generating some controversy in Europe. I think the protests against it were overblown and over dramatized. Well balanced? Probably not. A glimpse at normal Germans in war time? Yes it is.
DeleteAntisemitism was rife in Europe, in all countries, from Britain to the USSR. Were the Germans who made the series trying to excuse the behavior of the SS and Gestapo, the Sicherheitsdienst, the Einsatzgruppen and the Totenkopfverbaende? I certainly hope not, there was no excuse for that. Even to suggest that other nation's behavior approached that would be ludicrous.
Every German veteran I met, circa 1965, "Served on the Russian Front".
ReplyDeleteAs the bulk of the Wehrmacht was in Russia that would not be a surprise. Combat units were rotated away to the West and back to the East as needed.
DeleteLike Well Seasoned, I met veterans who only had fought on the eastern Front. Used to wonder just who we fought from Normandy onward, post June 6th, '44.
ReplyDeleteOnce, maybe 1985, after being in Berlin for years I ran into a German WWII vet who admitted fighting US Army forces. This was in a pizzeria we used to frequent. He was an unrepentant Nazi and had been a 14 year old member of the Hitler Youth at war's end. He boasted of killing several Americans before the surrender. He bought me a beer and then spoke of hating the Russians and actually being glad to now be living under American auspices. I drank the beer . . . thanked him for it and left. Never saw him again.
Like I mentioned, the bulk of the German military was in the East. Units rotated out to be reconstituted. Many of the units we fought in the West had spent time in Russia. Once we were firmly ashore and driving east the infantry units tended to stay in place while only the panzer units would rotate.
DeleteMany Germans grew up knowing nothing but Hitler and the Nazis. Such fanaticism can be seen today in North Korea.