I see your point and have thought about things like this before. My dad was in WWII in the 82nd Airborne 508th over in Germany and fought to get concentration camp prisoners realeased. He is now 80 years old and doesn't talk about the war but many years ago he was very anti-foreign and all American with what he purchased. my next door neighbors are German and have lived in the USA now for around 15 years. They are in there 60's and I have to say are the nicest people I have ever met and the best neighbors I have ever had. If we all gave up on buying products from country's we fought against we as Americans would not be able to purschase much of anything.

 

Very.

 

I don't understand that last sentence. Why own any German car for that matter?

I have many fellow Jewish friends who fall on both ends of the spectrum---some still harbor hatred toward all things German, while others, myself included, have moved on and are accepting of people's roles in history. Not that we all agree with it, but it is history.

Hell, if I could get my hands on a Tiger tank, I'd buy one.

Shalom,
Adam

 

Regarding the Soviet vs German tanks, I would suspect training (or lack of) for the operators played a huge role in the outcome. I suspect the Russians put warm bodies in the drivers seat with far less training than the German tank driver/operators had. Watch the movie "Enemy at the Gates". It is chilling looking at the war from a Soviet soldier's perspective.

Regarding the evils of **** Germany and the Holocaust, I would ask if one would also not buy anything Japanese made. A thorough study of the horrible attrocities the Japanese military commited on prisoners and civilians alike throughout Asia from the 1930's through 1945 is very chilling. They just never got as much bad press as the ****'s did for some reason. Probably because Imperial Japan slaughtered and tortured indiscriminantly and not so much based on religion/ethnicity of one group.

 

The Patton armor museum at Fort Knox, KY has a Tiger that was sunk in a swamp and later recovered. They also have Sherman tanks. I do not recall a T-34, but they do have some examples of later Soviet tanks. At any rate, seeing the Tiger and Sherman side by side was very interesting. Later US tanks were clearly patterned after the German design. If anyone is ever in the area, it is a nice museum about two miles north of the gold depository.

 

Enemy at the Gates was a Hollywood version of the eastern front. Just like Ben Afleck did not win WWII for the USA the suicidal tactics of the Red Army did not really exist. But in general the German army did have more complicated machinery that required more sophisticated training of operators.

You should ask the Chinese about what they think of Japanese during WWII. For them the Germans did not even exist.
The ***** did one up the Japanese, though. There was a whole list of ethnicities in line for extermination. The Jews were just the beginning of the list. The Slavs were also systematically killed for similar reasons. If the ***** treated Russians and Ukrainians just like they treated the French or English they would have won the war. But their barbaric prideful philosophy is what did them in.

 

While they're a rapidly disappearing breed, every one of my late father-in-law's friends who fought in the Pacific during the Second World War hated the Japanese right up until the day they died. These were all very nice family men, but - even in their 70's +, you could see their blood rise when a conversation got around to the war and the "Japs".

 

Andrei,

Some Chinese did know about the Germans. There was a German named Rabe, who actually chronicled the Japanese atrocities at Nanking and who risked certain death to help save many Chinese civilians. You can read about him here: www.moreorless.au.com/heroes/rabe.html

 

And presumably that would include goods that cross the Mason-Dixon line!

 

Keep in mind a good many people DID say no. Many fled. Many didn't and still said no and paid for their convictions with their lives.

 

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing"
So true. I'll see you that one with:
"Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it"
As I get older (not old, older ). I see so many things happening today that help me understand how things got so out of hand back then. How good German people allowed such things to happen in the name of their motherland.
Just look at the horrors in Africa today? And the horrors of Cambodia in the 70's? Why didn't we stand in horror then? My guess? Because there's no oil in them their hills...
Just my opinion, I'll now shut up.

 

Interesting question this brings up (and this thread is quickly headed to Off Topic-type discussion)...

If Hitler hadn't been so outwardly aggressive and invaded other countries, would we have even noticed or done anything about his atrocities? It isn't like we went after Stalin. How long did we let Sudam muck around in his country until he invaded Kuwait? The perennial question, is should we/outsiders intervene in the name of humanity, oil or no oil?

 

DrJupeman. We think alike.
Off topic or not

a disgruntled conservative

 

No, George, everyone on both sides of the M/D was American. And, of course, everyone on both sides was "right".

 

I just hope the next time we decide to spread democracy, we get a cost estimate (money and lives) before we go so we can decide if that's how we want our money spent. That's real patriotism.
That's how they did WWII. And that's how we run my business.
Ok, I'm so off topic, it's rediculous...sorry...