Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Ed Buckner's avatar

Already way too much to read--and now Pigliucci is piling on! (Thanks.)

Expand full comment
Willy's avatar

The battle of Castle Itter is an interesting tale, though I'm not sure I would call Hitler a coward for shooting himself, and the ending takeway is a little too "Clean Wermacht" if you ask me. Yes there were some exceptions of noble German personal, even rare officers who smuggled Jews out, but it'd also be a lie that "ordinary people" of the Wermacht didn't enthusiastically carry out atrocities or assisted in extermination campaigns for more than obligation and knowing the Eastern Front, they weren't small nasty exceptions to be expected of any military. Same on the opposite side, the mass rapes, tortures, and massacres by the Red Army can't be blamed solely on the Commissars or NKVD. As time went on into late war, SS fanaticism, volunteer status, and even combat competency also started to be less universal as desperation to fill out manpower quotas increased. The battle itself actually had one SS officer amongst the German defectors, agreeing to help lead due to the friendship he had developed with French PoWs, which is a detail which is while not crucial, is something I think should've been acknowledged.

Expand full comment
6 more comments...

No posts