[Marissadad]

I sat down to watch Band of Brothers last night, expecting to be blown away by mortar shells and gunfire as I have been in the previous episodes, but was totally unprepared for what I was hit with: A surge of emotions & tears that I could not stop.


In the 70's I was in the Army, stationed in Germany & took a visit to Dachau, one of the Germans internment camps for the Jews. The day I visited was a cloudy, gray, cold day and the instant I walked through the gates of Dachau, I could feel the repression and pain that eminated through this camp through time.


It was a very humbling experience, something I have never experienced again since, until last night. Seeing those emaciated people and trying to imagine what they went through was just overwhelming. I still can't believe such a cruel, evil person as Hitler ever lived. How could another human do such atrocities to their fellow man?

 

[cwood]

Quote:

Originally posted by Marissadad I still can't believe such a cruel, evil person as Hitler ever lived. How could another human do such atrocities to their fellow man?

A good question, especially in view of the fact there are a number of individuals in the world, past and present, that have equalled or would surpass Hitler in cruelty. I think Stalin was responsible for over 30 million deaths, as I recall. And we know who some of the present Hitler-wanabes are.

 

[JeremyJ]

That was powerful TV! Really puts things into perspective (life has been good at that lately). In some ways I thought it was more powerful than "Schindler's List". It was so sudden, unexpected and overwhelming.


Jeremy

 

[Darrel Johansen]

Andersonville in the Civil War, the German Concentration camps in WWII, genocide cleansing in the Balkans and Africa, the Gulags of the Soviets, and the massacres done in Southeast Asia and China all show that this type of thing is not a rarity.


Until we understand how and why, we will not be freed from this endless cycle. I don't mean to wax Buddhist on this, but, instead, insist that we need to rationally understand what causes these types of mass mis-behavior. Obviously from this partial list, it's not particularly rare, and it's not hard to recognize sentiments today in many countries that wish to see their "enemies" eliminated.


WWII was a good cause, and Band of Brothers does a pretty good job of showing how Americans gave their lives to stop this particular evil. Now the fight is much tougher --and the particular solution is not so black-and-white.