That's a great story about Popeye. It's easy to demonize those folks on the enemy side. Our government made a significant effort to do that to inspire us Americans. When I look at some of the propaganda posters they issued/created and how they depicted the Germans and the Japanese, it makes me ashamed of some of the actions our government took.
But, as demonstrated by Popeye, there were some real/compassionate people on the German side. They were just not the ones manning the valves at Auschwitz. Popeye probably hated his job as much as your Dad hated being there.
My father didn't talk much about his experience in WWII, either as a pilot or a prisoner. However, he did talk about his prison camp reunions. When I got older I've thought about that dynamic and I don't admit to understanding it even now. But where Popeye is concerned I think you must certainly be correct as to his disposition and desire to be where he was. And I know what yo mean about feeling shame also. Yet I remember I've never in my life felt the kind of existential danger that my parents and others during WWII must have felt so I don't judge too harshly.
What do you make of the argument that part of the reason for dropping the bombs on Japan was in part to impress upon the Soviets that this was available to Americans...just in case?
Definitely, Tom, that was a minor/background rational for the drop.
But at that time, we were unaware of Klaus Fuchs espionage and that the Soviets knew everything about our nuclear program, including all the design details. But that knowledge would not have made any difference in Truman's decision to drop.
Handsome man, Tom. He looks so innocent.
That's a great story about Popeye. It's easy to demonize those folks on the enemy side. Our government made a significant effort to do that to inspire us Americans. When I look at some of the propaganda posters they issued/created and how they depicted the Germans and the Japanese, it makes me ashamed of some of the actions our government took.
But, as demonstrated by Popeye, there were some real/compassionate people on the German side. They were just not the ones manning the valves at Auschwitz. Popeye probably hated his job as much as your Dad hated being there.
Tom
My father didn't talk much about his experience in WWII, either as a pilot or a prisoner. However, he did talk about his prison camp reunions. When I got older I've thought about that dynamic and I don't admit to understanding it even now. But where Popeye is concerned I think you must certainly be correct as to his disposition and desire to be where he was. And I know what yo mean about feeling shame also. Yet I remember I've never in my life felt the kind of existential danger that my parents and others during WWII must have felt so I don't judge too harshly.
To be sure, Tom.....those were different times & we don't know how threatened folks felt then.
When I look at some of those propaganda posters & their depiction of the Germans & Japanese in
them, it always gives me a sense of unease that Americans didn't view them as what they were...propaganda
designed to solicit their support for the war effort.
At the same time, in the latter few yrs of the war, the US war effort had changed to inflicting on the German &
the Japanese the maximum number of civilian casualties possible (as witnessed by the bombing of Dresden &
the fire bombing of Tokyo; where the military benefits of the attacks were not entirely the focus of the targeting).
This was a strategy pushed by the US Military high command, based on the presumption that the populace would
rise up and overthrow their governments. And Roosevelt & Stimson went along w/ that strategy.
I have no problem w/ the atomic bombing of Hiroshima & Nagasaki. The number of those deaths don't compare to those
casualities inflicted by the firebombings. I've known men whose lives were most likely saved from not having to invade
Japan. Yet, apparently, Harry Truman had some second thoughts about the civilian casualities that would result
from the atomic bombings. But you have to put yourself in his position. If, after all the $$'s that were invested in the
Manhattan Project, not to use them to rapidly end the war would have had dire consequences in his being reelected
as President. Such is not the time to take humanitarian/statesmen stands!!
But there is some support for the American policies towards the end of WWII as constituting war crimes. Not a whole
lot different from what the Russians are inflicting on the Ukraine. A number of historians at the Lab I've addressed
that question to just sorta shrug the shoulders & respond that the victors in war are never charged w/ war crimes.
No easy/simple answers.
Tom
What do you make of the argument that part of the reason for dropping the bombs on Japan was in part to impress upon the Soviets that this was available to Americans...just in case?
Definitely, Tom, that was a minor/background rational for the drop.
But at that time, we were unaware of Klaus Fuchs espionage and that the Soviets knew everything about our nuclear program, including all the design details. But that knowledge would not have made any difference in Truman's decision to drop.