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War Crimes
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
in General Chat
I realise I haven't posted for a while, but this has been niggling at me for a long time. I recently found out my grandad was guilty of war crimes while in service during ww2. He shot and killed a civilian in the street.
It has completely changed my opinion of him and I don't know what to think anymore. Obviously this wasn't the man I remember. He died a couple of years ago.
Does anyone know of any useful online information for people whose relatives committed war crimes.
Sorry I don't expect anyone will, but any feedback would be really appreciated.
Thanks
It has completely changed my opinion of him and I don't know what to think anymore. Obviously this wasn't the man I remember. He died a couple of years ago.
Does anyone know of any useful online information for people whose relatives committed war crimes.
Sorry I don't expect anyone will, but any feedback would be really appreciated.
Thanks
0
Comments
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If you can imagine being shot at, bombed etc for hours, days and weeks on end, something has to crack.
And young men are often guilty of extreme violence and bloodlust which is why they send young men to war.
I would be every wary of reacting badly to this. It happened a long, long time ago and he is almost certainly a completely different person now. He shot a civilian which is bad but in relation to the other war crimes that were committed by all sides, his action likely pales in significance.
However I'd ask how do you know? was it something he said and was he remorseful for it? was it something a relative said - perhaps one with a grudge? And what was the background - if he was on policing duties in 1946 Germany its a different context from if he'd just taken the town with 75% of his rifle company dead or injured.
I'd suggest that his being deceased would mean he is a completely different person.......:rolleyes:
Back to the OP, your grandad may have done something wrong during a time of war, something in the heat of the moment that he has lived with for 60 years, something he has taken to the grave.
Instead of thinking about the one thing he did do all that time ago, remember that he was still your grandad. I imagine he probably spent 60 years of his life trying to make up for what he did.
Oops! I missed that!
It was just a bit of a shock initially, butI'm getting my head around it now.