Why do Americans only blame Germans for terrifying crimes even though they also did them during WW2?
Even though Germans committed atrocities during World War II, Americans continue to place sole blame on Germans. The atrocity committed by the United States in January 1945 at Chenogne, Belgium, came to mind. The American atrocity was in revenge for the massacre of 80-plus American soldiers, many of them captured and lined up and shot by German SS troops near the Belgian town of Malmedy in December 1944. Some American units fought without taking any prisoners for a while, but eventually they returned to their usual tactics. About 60 German soldiers, including one officer, were captured by the Americans in the deep snow at Chenogne, and there lined up and shot.
When American forces
also committed atrocities during the same war, why do people associate German
crimes with World War II? The primary factor is that, in contrast to the
atrocities committed by the Germans, which were all planned from the top of the
Nazi regime and budgeted and carried out to the extent that the regime was able
to do so, resulting in the killing of millions of people, the crimes committed by American
soldiers occurred outside of the parameters of their official orders. Most
importantly, history is written by the winners.
In the Nuremberg Trials, the Allies tried the Germans, but not the Americans.
The German attorney for German Admiral Karl Dönitz cited American Admiral
Chester Nimitz's similar attacks on Japan in his defense of Dönitz's
unregistered attacks by German submarines. The American press focused on the
admiral's guilt on other counts and the heroism of the American sailors,
even though he was found not guilty of that charge. I’d appreciate an
upvote if you find it helpful and informative.
Dachau concentration
camp was liberated on 29th April 1945 by the American forces. They were greeted by fifty train cars full of
decaying bodies. Within a few minutes, the site was in disarray. The GIs formed
a firing squad and fired at the SS men through a barracks' coal wall. However,
the majority of soldiers gave the hungry prisoners guns, pickaxes, and iron
pipes before releasing them. The men of Dachau who were angry caught up the SS
officer Heinrich Wicker, who had attempted to surrender the camp, and killed him
in the mud.
Kapos, who had been
chosen by the SS to serve them, received additional food, and the prisoners
also lynched them. For instance, in Buchenwald, a mob dragged a group of Kapos
behind a barracks, and then hanged them from the wire of the camp's perimeter.
Jewish Avenger groups found and executed many of the remaining SS men. In particular, Jewish survivor Abba Kovner established a covert Jewish organization in 1945 called Nokmim (Avengers). They found escapees, including SS guards, all over Germany until the end of 1945, when they sent hundreds of contaminated loaves to the Stalag 13 prison camp, infecting all of the former SS guards who had been taken prisoner. According to military law, captured enemy are to be protected by their captors, but such were not the circumstances in the concentration camps. There, they broke all the rules of war and wrecked their hated enemies, even the most seasoned soldiers, with inhumane cruelty. If you find it useful and informative, I would appreciate an upvote.
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