What Life Was Like Under Nazi Occupation

On September 1, 1939, nearly seven years after Hitler became chancellor, Germany invaded Poland. Over the next six years, Nazis invaded, occupied, and brutalized a considerable amount of Europe and Northern Africa. The German brand of military-industrial fascism imposed radical changes in the daily life of all those who came under its reign, though these changes were often specific to context. For instance, life in occupied France was very different from life in Poland under German occupation, which was different than the experiences of Norway or the Balkans. There were, however, some consistencies: food shortages, rape committed by German soldiers, the persecution of Jews, shipping Jews who weren't killed on the stop to concentration camps, and random acts of senseless violence.

#WWII #EuropeanHistory #WeirdHistory

[billphillips]

I fear that younger generations will forget or simply not believe the atrocities committed by the Nazis. After I graduated college, in my first real job, I was befriended by an elderly Jewish man who had been lucky enough to escape from 1940s Europe as a boy with only his mother, uncle and siblings. Some of the stories he told were incredible. He died in 1992 but I will always remember him and cherish the time I had with him as a friend and mentor.

[joellenmahs]

My father fought in WWII at Normandy and in the Battle of the Bulge. He rarely spoke of his time in Europe, certain thing would trigger his PTSD. He was 85 years old before the VA indicated that he had that. Sure, for almost 60 years! He had nightmares and flashbacks until he died in 2017 at age of 96. He went overseas as a young 23 years old and came back a very torn up 25 year old that saw things no one should see or do. I had great respect for my father.

[freememewhore]

My grandad told me the story of my great grandfather who was a parachuter for Britain in WW2 and how much war affected him after he came back. Every-time he would hear a loud noise he would drop to the ground into his firing position. Though he lived through the war it never left him.

[marshmilo]

Met an old lady, a patient, when I used to work at a hospital.. she had her numbers tattooed on her arm, spoke to her for about 20 mins. Told me how she survived auschwitz .. I'll never forget her

[honieebean]

The most heartbreaking part (besides the loss of life) is that friends and neighbours turned on each other to save their own skin, once their countries were taken over 😔

[mikenixon]

My mother-in-law was a German child during the war. I'm always amazed remembering stories she told of living under Nazi occupation, and what experiences she probably never told. After the war her family lived in the east so came under Soviet occupation until she and a friend escaped in 1955. As previously noted, it is amazing the similarities we see today, not only in Europe but around the globe. Unfortunately we children of the greatest generationn failed to get the lesson through to our kids and grandkids. Yes, the repeating of history is a result of not learning lessons from our past. The only difference is now we see it live on television and the Internet.

[jojon.]

My grandma who was 4 years old at the time remembers German soldiers knocking on their door and taking oil and any other food they could find. Luckily my grandma lived in a village in Greece and they had some resources to live by. My heart aches for those who lost their lives and suffered so much from the Nazi atrocities

[valeriejean]

I worked with a woman who spent her young womanhood in occupied Paris. She told me that neighbors would disappear and never seen again. She came to America 🇺🇸 as a war bride. She's gone now and I miss her.

[nassmatic]

Please make a video on how the Empire of Japan brutalized other Asian nations such as China and the Philippines with atrocities like comfort women and the Bataan death march. It's no surprise why Japanese students and teachers today skip over their WWII past in school subjects. Even people today forgot how Japanese soldiers brutally treated American, Chinese, Australian, and Filipino soldiers and civilians. During the Bataan death march, if a POW fell due to exhaustion, a Japanese tank would run them over or they would be bayoneted on the spot. In Nanjing (Nanking) China, Japanese soldiers even held a competition on how many Chinese people they can murder. I'm sure Japanese students today were never taught this in schools...That's why I thank you for your videos..."Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it." - George Santayana.

[marioreds]

An Italian writer, Primo Levi, wrote the book "Se questo è un uomo" ("if this is a person") to tell his experience in a Nazi Camp and added that knowing history is important because what happened in the past could happen again (history as cautionary tale). It's a must in all Italian schools, or at least it was when I attented it some 2 decades ago.

[wHw_Syxx]

World War II is my favourite piece of history but also so incredibly shocking, vile and sad. People forget that it hasn't even been 100 years since these events occurred as this is still modern history. As human beings, the world must come together to never let a government like the Nazis come to power ever again.

[mrfearsmom]

It would be interesting to get a video of what it was like as a teenager, not just in ww2 but also perhaps throughout history

[crazypath]

The key take away is not in how many nazis subjugated the Jews to this treatment, but how many normal citizens went along and actively participated in murder.

[okaygimmie]

It hasn't even been 100 years, yet some parts of the world we live in today have already projected the same chaotic war situations. Although on a different level of gruesome and scale ofc. But that doesn't mean it's less scary to know that, with this many horrors we've been through AND have learned in school, we still tend to repeat it. Somehow I think it's no longer mother nature which do the natural selection, it's humanity itself. I want to ask why to humanity but the answers always disappointing.

[butternutpickle]

I'm Jewish and I lost half of my family tree in the holocaust. SO utterly terrifying to even imagine what those people and my family went through. It is equally as terrifying how so many people deny the holocaust and how humanity as a whole, doesn't change much. I pray for all of those in Ukraine right now and I pray we do not enter WWIII.

[jessicae]

I got to meet Elie Wiesel twice in my lifetime before he passed away. We read his book Night in hs. Rest In Peace to the many lives who have suffered during this time of war 🙏🏽

[williamthompson]

I work in insurance and I had a Jewish couple (old) that would come into the office to pay directly and get a free soda. Somehow they made it through the war in hiding. They were VERY lucky some days. They’ve passed away and I miss them. At least they allowed me to interview them one day and record it.

[jlshel]

Listened to the audio book version of Wine & War about the impact of the war on French wine and how French wine influenced portions of the war. Funny moment was the Resistance stopping a Germany-bound train and they stole cases of the "best" wine. After drinking some, they found the wineries were sending the worse swill they could to Germany but sleeping on high dollar labels.

[fredvanweerd]

My father and his family were in the Netherlands during the occupation, he was the youngest and a small boy, but he told some stories of went on, they lived in Almelo until the migrated in 1949, the fact we're ignoring the same actions being done by our government is astounding to me, and people are welcoming it, as a side note my father in law landed D-day plus 4, him and thousands of other brave serviceman liberated my father, it's a small world sometimes.

[spins]

I am 23 years old and from the Netherlands. I think that the WW2 should not be forgotten. I personally think it is a very important and interesting subject for the future.