Alliedassault - View Single Post

01-11-2002, 03:23 AM

There was an article last week in the NY Times about the Nazi symbols and SS units being used in Wolfenstien, and how it is bound to happen in a WWII sim.

I just feel that people like to play the bad guy, just like when kids played cowboys and indians back when it was commonly believed that Indians were Godless heathen savages who raped and pillaged, and I am sure kids liked being the Spanish or French when playing war back when England was locked in deadly conflicts that including burning each other at the stake because of one's religious beliefs.

The idea that only the S.S. did bad things in WWII Europe is fantasy. Executions of civilians, and sometimes whole villages where massacred to the last child, in retaliation for sabotage and resistance activities were very common and it was not only the S.S. who did such things. Likewise there were plenty of Americans and their allies raping and pillaging civilians and murdering unarmed prisoners. But that happens in all wars. The major difference between the Allies and their enemies is that the Germans and Japanese did such things as a matter of policy, as a way of crushing resistance, as a way of conquering other societies. The Soviets actually had little or no mercy for the German civilians either, but on the whole the idea that Germany was going to rule Europe for a thousand years and could do what ever they wanted was prevalent throughout most of the population. There has been a lot of memory loss about that since 1945.

Not every conscript or even volunteer fighting for the Fatherland was an official Nazi or racist. But a lot of otherwise civilized human beings will do, and have done, the most unspeakable things in times of war, when trained to give up their former sense of self for unthinking discipline and the following of orders. Especially when you are 19 and caught up in the patriotic fervor of your country “right our wrong”, and the idea that you are doing God’s will by killing all those who oppose you. There simply were not enough S.S. to go around to be responsible for all of the atrocities.

I do not mind the S.S. units on here. I think everyone knows they represent the elite “green berets” of the German army and not the ideology behind them.

	(#1)
Guest Posts: n/a	01-11-2002, 03:23 AM There was an article last week in the NY Times about the Nazi symbols and SS units being used in Wolfenstien, and how it is bound to happen in a WWII sim. I just feel that people like to play the bad guy, just like when kids played cowboys and indians back when it was commonly believed that Indians were Godless heathen savages who raped and pillaged, and I am sure kids liked being the Spanish or French when playing war back when England was locked in deadly conflicts that including burning each other at the stake because of one's religious beliefs. The idea that only the S.S. did bad things in WWII Europe is fantasy. Executions of civilians, and sometimes whole villages where massacred to the last child, in retaliation for sabotage and resistance activities were very common and it was not only the S.S. who did such things. Likewise there were plenty of Americans and their allies raping and pillaging civilians and murdering unarmed prisoners. But that happens in all wars. The major difference between the Allies and their enemies is that the Germans and Japanese did such things as a matter of policy, as a way of crushing resistance, as a way of conquering other societies. The Soviets actually had little or no mercy for the German civilians either, but on the whole the idea that Germany was going to rule Europe for a thousand years and could do what ever they wanted was prevalent throughout most of the population. There has been a lot of memory loss about that since 1945. Not every conscript or even volunteer fighting for the Fatherland was an official Nazi or racist. But a lot of otherwise civilized human beings will do, and have done, the most unspeakable things in times of war, when trained to give up their former sense of self for unthinking discipline and the following of orders. Especially when you are 19 and caught up in the patriotic fervor of your country “right our wrong”, and the idea that you are doing God’s will by killing all those who oppose you. There simply were not enough S.S. to go around to be responsible for all of the atrocities. I do not mind the S.S. units on here. I think everyone knows they represent the elite “green berets” of the German army and not the ideology behind them.