[Colorized] A group photo of 12 Wehrmacht soldiers partying together. The bottom 9 are all Regular infantry while the top three are Pioneer ( essentially engineers ) They all wear M36 uniforms. Photo taken 1939. [1193×998]
These 12 men served in the army of the Third Reich and fought for the Nazi cause, if they were not Nazis themselves.
Why? Perhaps it was love of country. I think we all see a lot of misguided patriotism (much closer to nationalism these days). Perhaps they felt it was their civic duty. Perhaps they came from a poor family and being in the military paid the bills. Regardless, they were all fighting for the Nazi cause.
So if they were decent human beings, why didn’t they get out? You know the penalty for desertion is death, don’t you? We can chat on this little space saying that we would have rather died than contributed to the Holocaust, but is that really true? I don’t think it is. We aren’t all heroes. Most of us just try to survive day to day.
While we all focus on surviving, there is a humanitarian crisis on the Mexican border because of the way the refugees are being treated by the American government. We can’t do anything about it on an individual level, and it’s hard even at a collective level, so we don’t. Besides, we have at will employment and barely make enough to make ends meet, and our boss may be a Trumper anyhow. Is it really worth risking my job over it?
And this is how the Fourth Reich begins…
Remember, we’re all people, and most Nazis or soldiers of the Third Reich weren’t bad people necessarily, they just found it much easier to go with the flow than to fight back against injustice. If we don’t recognize that people tend to go down the path of least resistance, then we will fail to recognize the threat to mankind emerging all around us. It doesn’t take but a few bad people to get a Fourth Reich, if there’s a lot of misguided people that fervently believe as well as a lot of people that take the path of least resistance. That’s all it takes.
You know…if you look at the human behind the uniform (and maybe behind the ideology since these are Werhmacht and not strictly NSDAP), this is a really candid picture. Dude on the left made it his god-given mission to chug that bottle, the guy to his right is enjoying showing off his drinking prowess and loves showing off, Pioneers on the upper row know each other enough to become stalwart drinking buddies, guy on the center with his tongue out is having a gay old time, and then there’s Bill on the far-middle-left, the new kid that still feels awkward and shy but is giving drinking night a shot.
I like this pic. A damn lot, actually. It’s candid, happy, joyful, and maybe a tad rambunctious. Super positive vibes from this bunch, and I like that pictures like this exist. A small snapshot of a good night between a loosely-connected family.
I sound weird being so whimsical about Werhmacht soldiers, but, they’re just being joyful-joes in this one specific moment, and I prefer to look at that side of history.
If it means anything to anyone who thinks I’m a Nazi supporter or something my next post actually happens to be a holocaust photo colorized in remembrance of those murdered in the Holocaust
petrov76
I wonder how the war turned out for these 12 guys.
There’s a fascinating video where John Green talks about this issue for WW1 soldiers on their way to the "dance":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AVNhTi9pzM
The-Light-Swich
Anyone else notice the death stare from the bottom right guy
pawnographer
Looks like something from Inglorious Bastards
saltySOB
Yes I see the "who am I" cards on ze table.
redzoneernie
Printing this out would make for great target practice.
Historynsnz
For anyone who has questions about colorization or just stuff like that in general please feel free to reply to this comment :))
Rayei1
Me and the boys after executing an entire village of innocent people.
ouroboro76
These 12 men served in the army of the Third Reich and fought for the Nazi cause, if they were not Nazis themselves.
Why? Perhaps it was love of country. I think we all see a lot of misguided patriotism (much closer to nationalism these days). Perhaps they felt it was their civic duty. Perhaps they came from a poor family and being in the military paid the bills. Regardless, they were all fighting for the Nazi cause.
So if they were decent human beings, why didn’t they get out? You know the penalty for desertion is death, don’t you? We can chat on this little space saying that we would have rather died than contributed to the Holocaust, but is that really true? I don’t think it is. We aren’t all heroes. Most of us just try to survive day to day.
While we all focus on surviving, there is a humanitarian crisis on the Mexican border because of the way the refugees are being treated by the American government. We can’t do anything about it on an individual level, and it’s hard even at a collective level, so we don’t. Besides, we have at will employment and barely make enough to make ends meet, and our boss may be a Trumper anyhow. Is it really worth risking my job over it?
And this is how the Fourth Reich begins…
Remember, we’re all people, and most Nazis or soldiers of the Third Reich weren’t bad people necessarily, they just found it much easier to go with the flow than to fight back against injustice. If we don’t recognize that people tend to go down the path of least resistance, then we will fail to recognize the threat to mankind emerging all around us. It doesn’t take but a few bad people to get a Fourth Reich, if there’s a lot of misguided people that fervently believe as well as a lot of people that take the path of least resistance. That’s all it takes.
wakato106
You know…if you look at the human behind the uniform (and maybe behind the ideology since these are Werhmacht and not strictly NSDAP), this is a really candid picture. Dude on the left made it his god-given mission to chug that bottle, the guy to his right is enjoying showing off his drinking prowess and loves showing off, Pioneers on the upper row know each other enough to become stalwart drinking buddies, guy on the center with his tongue out is having a gay old time, and then there’s Bill on the far-middle-left, the new kid that still feels awkward and shy but is giving drinking night a shot.
I like this pic. A damn lot, actually. It’s candid, happy, joyful, and maybe a tad rambunctious. Super positive vibes from this bunch, and I like that pictures like this exist. A small snapshot of a good night between a loosely-connected family.
I sound weird being so whimsical about Werhmacht soldiers, but, they’re just being joyful-joes in this one specific moment, and I prefer to look at that side of history.
Red-Montagne
"Hans… are we the baddies?"
Historynsnz
If it means anything to anyone who thinks I’m a Nazi supporter or something my next post actually happens to be a holocaust photo colorized in remembrance of those murdered in the Holocaust
VFsv6
One second from the right sitting has had to much pervitin