RE: Schumi joined the Third Reich?

Adding my two cents here. Of course, i never saw that ugly war, as I was born 35 years avter it ended, BUT, I’m living in the border area between Belgium and Germany. The elderly never forgot that war, and keep talking about it. Some were french speaking and had problems with the Germans, other were German speaking and had problems with the Allies. Then you have stupid stories like this: My grandfather was enrolled by the Belgian army to “defend his country” The war didn’t last long for the Belgians, and ther were made POWs, but after some weeks, they were released and dent to their families.
Unfortunately for him, he was living in that border area that the IIIrd Reich saw as a part of Germany, so, they became German, and guess what, he had to “defent his new country” against the Allies.
Then he was made POW again, and sent to jail by the Allies.

In short, he served both armies because he had NO choice (“you serve or you die”), and went 2 times to jail. Of course the whole region was ruined by that war, and for what? Nothing. The people didn’t want one or the other, they wanted PEACE. I could tell you many other absurd stories like that.

Why did the germans follow the politics of the nazis? Because, in the 30’s they were hungry, and that party gave work to everybody, and of course something to eat. They were happy. But then,the “logic” of their dictator brought them a war, many deaths, and misery.

the British and US families lost sons during this war, the Germans lost sons, but also daughters, fathers, mothers, children, babies. And not always because of a bomb dropped from a B-17 or a Lancaster.

Don’t get me wrong, I will never back what Germany did, but I won’t accept that the acual Germans are called nazis, nor the assumption that all germans living during that conflict were some. It would be like assuming all British football fans to hooligans, all North Irish men to rioters, or all young Americans to gang members.

A war is dirty, very dirty, and the responsible for that aren’t the soldiers, but the ones who lead the coutry to that war, and the ones who follow blindly their orders, often because of some cupidity, even if they will never admit that.

A french military who fought in Algeria said afterwards to his students (he had become teacher in an university): “I was sent to Algeria for a pacification mission, I would have preferred a war, it is less violent and bloody”. I think it summarises all, and shows us that history always repeats itself, with other countries.

Always respect the other, enen if he hasn’t the same opinion as yours.