Hitler's Hidden Holocaust on National Geographic tonight

[question everything]

the Einsatzgruppen that killed in Eastern Europe and much was hidden by the Soviets.

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/hitler-s-hidden-holocaust-4333/Overview

And a report on NPR

http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=111388883&m=111388861

that 70% of the killed Jews died before Auschwitz became operational.

[alcibiades_mystery]

1. I still take Hilberg's statistics as fairly definitive

(Though he underestimates by about 900,000 killed). I agree, however, that the underestimation is mostly due to low estimates for the Einsatzgruppen (Hilberg puts that at 1.3 million; it's probably closer to 2 million).

The Einsatzgruppen killings also tend to put the lie to the great conceit of military history buffs, which is that the Wehrmacht had relatively "clean hands" relative to the party military operations. It's simply not true, as I think Hannes Heer has demonstrated quite well.

Thanks for the heads up.

[Call Me Wesley]

4. Hannes Heer is quite right.

There's also another legend lingering into our times, and that is the history of the German nobility during WWII, as if they always opposed Nazism, which was never true. Too many (including the fallen Emperor's son in the SA) were loyal to the regime, hoping that it would re-instate some form of monarchy where they could have their old positions back.

As Marion Countess von Dönhoff once so honestly stated, it was the actions of one of nobile descent, von Stauffenberg (Operation Valkyrie,) that historically pardoned all of the German nobility as opposition to Hitler's regime.

[rockymountaindem]

2. Sigh. Won't be watching that, unfortunately.

I wrote a big paper on this at the end of high school and I remember the subject well. I don't feel like getting dejected and angry tonight. Maybe I'll record it for another day, but that subject just makes me... I don't know.

[question everything]

3. Can't blame you.

I don't know how long I will be able to watch it. The report on NPR, though, was interesting.