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TIL that in order to avoid having to surrender to the Soviets, the German commander of Bornholm tried to get a single British soldier transferred to the island to surrender to (en.wikipedia.org)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You know things are bad when the leader of 12,000 men tried to get one guy in order to surrender to him. Based on Bucha, I understand why they didn't want to surrender to the Russians.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There was also the whole getting sent to "work camps" thing...

[+] [email protected] -19 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The British ran concentration camps too.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Up to a million German soldiers died in Soviet captivity. Being in Allied captivity was a walk in the park in comparison.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

The Reihnwiesen weren't exactly a walk in the park. But at least they were mostly temporary.

[+] [email protected] -18 points 1 year ago (2 children)

And many millions of Soviet citizens and communists in general were murdered by nazis.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Revenge and justice are two separate things and only one of those brings humanity forward. The whataboutism is pretty dangerous when it comes to justifying the former.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't see anybody denying this here but it's also not really the topic of the discussion.

[–] Candelestine 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah, I think even the most fervent USSR hater should be able to acknowledge their heavy losses in WW2. They may not have won the whole war themselves or anything, but they did make many sacrifices for those battles.

I'd even go so far as to say that if one's opinions were to lead one towards disrespecting their dead, who were just defending their homes, then one may have an unusually strong personal bias.

[–] SupraMario 1 points 1 year ago

Well considering they were with the Nazis until Hitler told them no thanks...

[–] Holyginz 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Your point is? We aren't talking about the British. Everyone knows they've done horrible things. But it doesn't give a pass for others.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Torture camps are awful no matter who is doing it, yes. You are incorrect in inferring that I’m defending either party there.

We are talking about history, Germany and Britain here so go and police someone else’s conversation.

[–] TheBlue22 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Russians have been on par, or worse, to surrender to compared to the WW2 Japanese for almost a hundred years.

Unlawful killing, warcrimes, and rape are accepted russian doctrine.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

And they will call you a nazi if you talk about it. This was barely discussed before the invasion of Ukraine, after which became acceptable to talk shit about them.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I'm pretty sure it was okay to talk shit about Russia before the invasion of Ukraine... they've been the bad guy in every movie, show, and video game for like a century now.

[–] TheBlue22 3 points 1 year ago

My grandparents and their parents suffered greatly under Russians, I was never scared to talk about them in the worst light imaginable