The trauma of German war survivors was long a taboo subject. Now survivors of the Allied Forces' Operation Gomorrah that saw tens of thousands killed in Hamburg, open up about their experiences. See more reporters: www.dw.de/engli...
World War II seems to be an ancient war but many of the people who experienced it are still alive. Just shows you how recent it is. 70 years isn't such a long time.
No. It is alive, as the WWI is. Everything you now see in Europe is somehow a consequence of the War. You are surely not a european if don't understand that. It is everywhere. You can see everywhere the marks of the bullets in Berlin, Caen or Budapest. And the War has its many secrets, which are not part of the official version - but very well remembered by the locals and inherited from our garndmas and grandpas. It is here, everywhere, trust me.
@@balu998 i havent seen the war but my father did as a child. I can relate to this but our generation is the last to remember and thats a seriuos problem
@@patriciabrenner9216 Germans back then were monsters. Not a single tear from me cause those bombing were necessary to save the world from those monsters.
You are a real PO*****. You are everywhere and show that you are the one with murderous rage. And what has your government done to others even today that is murderous? You are responsible. @@patriciabrenner9216
Ah ja hier haben wir wieder den antideutschen Versager, der schön gegen Deutschland hetzt. Die Alliierten haben versucht, Deutschland nach dem 1.Wk völlig zu vernichten, militärisch und wirtschaftlich. Der Aufstieg der NSDAP war nur ein Resultat daraus. Außerdem hat die UdSSR doch viel mehr Menschen getötet und ganze Städte zerstört. Polen hat Deutsche getötet und den Krieg provoziert weil sie sich sicher gefühlt haben. Und die Franzosen und Engländer waren/SIND Imperialisten, die endlich mal gemerkt haben, was es heißt, anderen Schaden zuzufügen. Deutschland hat im Namen der ganzen Völker gesprochen, die hunderte jahre lang von den Engländern und franzosen tyrannisiert wurden. Und frankreich hat Deutschland dutzende Male angegriffen. Pfälzischer Erbfolgekrieg, Napolenische Kriege, 1870er Krieg, 1914....
We do and we should all learn from the past, many people seem to want to try to change it and lay blame when they themselves have no understanding of what happened.
My grandmother was in Coventry aged 17 when it was destroyed, the pavements melted and the heat was unbearable; this was THREE years before. its utterly tragic but you reap what you sow
@War Child the British specifically said that if Germany attacked Poland they would declare war. Germany did not regard Britain as friends, and the British bombed factories vital to their war effort, not civilians intentionally
@War Child also, the bombing of Rotterdam was not 'negligable', infact, it was borderline a warcrime. Herman Göering (in command of the Luftwaffe) dictated that the Dutch government sign a formal surrender to the Germans, or they would be bombed into submission. The Dutch signed, though nevertheless, Göering sent a large wave of bombings to the city, completely leveling it, and even organised another wave before it was called off after it became known the Dutch surrendered.
@War Child how is that relevant in any way? They were being invaded by a military 10x as powerful as their own, and they wanted a last stand. It's still not relevant to the bombings at all
Just think, if Germany hadn’t invaded Poland in 1939 - none of this would of happened….. however, my prayers are for the victims of Guernica, Warsaw, London, Coventry etc
@@TheClimberbob1 Imagine being a baby and a cruel German throw you into a room full of deadly gasses. Yes, Germans gassed millions of millions of children. So not a single tear from me.
....and Bristol, Hull, Liverpool, Sheffield, Derby, Leeds, Birmingham, and the list goes on. As Harris said, the Germans entered the war thinking they were going to bomb everyone else, and that no one was going to bomb them! They were wrong.
...as well as Darmstadt, Hamburg (started already in 1940), Duisburg, Kassel. Not to mention Tokyo, Yokohama, Kobe... and Stalingrad, Gdynia and so on. Every side has its dark register.
@War Child Unfortunately for you many of us know a bit more about it, like Churchill ordering the small bomb raids on Berlin airport in retaliation for the constant bombing of British cities which had caused close to 2,000 civilian deaths in England, some 1,075 in August alone. Sadly some people tell lies and others believe the lies.
1943 was a feverishly desperate point in World War Two. The USSR felt over extended and needed as much assistance as could be mustered if it was to solidify gains and get the upper hand. Without a second front in Europe the only way was to dramatically cut German production. Simply bombing factory cities was not enough raw materials had to be choked off. The majority of imports from Scandinavia came though Hamburg as Germany's major port. So it had to be closed permanently or greatly diminished. That meant flattening the port and worker housing as well as driving off the population. This was successful and due to that German war production changed significantly. Overall numbers of engines for aircraft and tanks dropped forcing the Germans focus on smaller number of stronger units. They tried make these more effective through sophistication but low numbers just allowed the Allies to swamp them larger numbers of cheaper armour. German slowed and crawled as a result of Hamburg making them vulnerable to BlitzKreig tactics.
Well, the Americans went more for the industry, but the British decided to kill as much of the German population as possible. They called that moral bombing.
@@patriciabrenner9216 the german people can’t be held responsible for either the war or the Holocaust just as not every person living in the Middle East is a terrorist. Grow up
My father was a B-24 pilot and bombed Hamburg 2x in 1 week. The 2nd run he was hit with flac from a German 88 , completed the mission, returned with 1 engine out. Received a purple heart & distinguished flying cross. MY mom said he would wake-up for 5 years screaming, not about the red hot metal that was in his chest & shoulder. It was guilt about how many "old men, woman and children he had killed" That was his PTSD. The internal pain far outlives the physical trauma.
@Laurence O'Connor You mean like the Germans did: murdered babies to old men. These Germans were accessories to mass murder and mass theft. This lot at least paid for their crimes.
Every view of the city I grew up in in the 60s is different today too...and we never had war there. Hamburg is an example why you need to be careful who you let in power, you never know what fights they will pick for you
It has always been incredibly ironic to me, that only 17 years after the horrifying bombing of Hamburg in 1943, and the death and destruction that left the entire city like Hiroshima ---- four young English teenagers called the Beatles, drove from Liverpool to Hamburg in August 1960, to play rock and roll at a club in the Red Light District. Today Hamburg has become more famous for the Beatles, than for the terrible bombing and suffering.
Lol. What about the evil in Washington, Moscow and London? The war should've continued until they too were destroyed. There were no good guys in that war.
@@hikingvietnam229 No it isn't. lol. Just because Europeans don't want BLM riots and Pakistani grooming ra pe gangs doesn't mean it's a return to the Hollywood version of what happened in the 1930s. lol.
My fatherˋs father bombed england while my motherˋs father had to survive this firebombing. What a strange family history. By the way, my fatherˋs father became a communist after the war.
Dont forget the bombings of english cities London Coventry Bristol Newcastle Scottish cities think of the civilians then don't forget history the young people of today de4 was at Holocaust on the Germans you have to remember they started this terrible War... don't forget that the amount of people that was severely displaced murdered executed by the Germans please don't forget
If only I could recall who invaded whom on 1 Sept 1939. Did Denmark, lead by an insane leader, invade Germany?? Or perhaps Sark lead a brutal airborne attack on peaceful bucolic Germany?? Something like that.
I have no pity for the German people regarding the bombing of Hamburg. My parents lost many of their cousins who were 17 and 18 year old American soldiers.
So it's the Hatfield and the McCoy's is it? Because they lived in a country where a maniac leader took over and lead by fear, no election, my mom,11 years old at the time, DESERVED to get bombed out of 3 different houses? Right, that doesn't sound too IGNORANT to me at all. So if you've got a cousin that murders someone, it would be justifiable for someone from their family to come after you? lol
@@painfan476 Wrong, Churchill ordered the bombing of Berlin airport after many civilian deaths, over 1,000 in August alone. The first bombing of Germany which was aimed at civilians was by the Luftwaffe, Freiberg on the 10th of May 1940, that was by the Luftwaffe.
Please feature Dresden as well. I think more people died there than in Humburg. Allied firebombing of German cities ad well as U.S. firebombing of Tokyo were unjustified I think.
Recently learned that my grandfather may have taken part in some of these atrocities, shot down over Belgium survived tho I never did meet him he was known to not talk about any of this, he was probably as sorry as I am for what took place..r.i.p. angels
that's such a sad viewpoint saying he took part . . . he had NO CHOICE. Either fight, or die. And he's fighting for all of us. If he hadn't, we'd all be speaking German today.
poor woman, another victim of Churchil's war crimes. Many British people opposed bomber command and the criminal churchill. That's one reason bomber command wasn't recognised or honoured after the war.
@@tancreddehauteville764 I do., I hold the whole of Germany guilty for German crimes. They didn't pay enough for their crimes. At least this bombing was a bit of retribution!
God Bless her Alitz & the fact that you are now on this planet & we are able to communicate. My Pa was shot down in May 1940 - over Hamburg, at night, bombing railway yards. He parachuted, landed in a canal & was held prisoner until 1945 in Stalag Luft 1B, his number was 181....!! He was treated with respect throughout his internment & held a love for the German people to the grave.... He regarded the war as a great tragedy for both our Nations, who should have joined ranks, the British are a Teutonic race, or - were....... Best Love & Regards to you & your family from mine here in Britain. Gus, London.
It was total war. No one knew if the allies could win. A race against time. Who could make the least mistakes. Who could stop the otherside from keeping up the fight? My great aunty was in East London during the Blitz. She always slept in a chair with all doors wedged open... a sympton of the fear of being trapped inside and burning alive. Her brother flew in Bomber Command to get the "bastards back". He went to Berlin 7 times. Flew 18 ops. But the dangers of aircrews flying over Europe were huge. He was killed. There are no winners in war. One side eventually stops the other side. And they get to write the history. We just hope that the next war is won by those who fight for freedom from oppression and dictatorship. "Evil triumphs, not when evil people do evil things. But when good people do nothing." "The tragedy of Germany was a third of my countrymen killing the other third, whilst the remaining third watched". "Bomber Harris turned a micky mouse Command into a awesome organisation. But his philosophy didn't waver. His blood thirst to stop the war, and give the hin the bloodiest nose so that they would never again try to conquor the world. I believe he should have been replaced after the failure ofending the war by attacking Berlin in 43 44." I hope the survivors of atrocities as this find peace.
@@tonybarde2572 most important German Churches or Cathedrals have Crosses made from Nails, which were sent there by English Church Leaders as a sign of reconciliation.
It was the efforts of the Soviets and targeted Allied raids on German oil and transport infrastructure that won the war. The terror bombing of civilian and cultural targets is indefensible.
Not only is it indefensible. It literally did the opposite of what the perpetrators wanted. It made the Germans and Japanese population support their states even more.
The bombing of civilians was necessary to intimidate the Germans who were still fighting and harming the soldiers. Germans tortured and killed 27 million Russian civilians. I don't hear any whining. Germans were monsters back then and now are playing the victim card.
Hamburg was a massive destruction on a large scale but Hamburg was a strategic military target and in 1943 if the allies had hit a few more places as hard the war would have been over much sooner, saving many thousands of lives. The targeting of ball bearings was a waste of time since Germany had plenty of stocks and was importing them. The bombing of fuel plants had an effect but not enough to end the war. Cities with no military value were spared, unlike the German bombing much of which was against towns and cities with no military purpose at all. I recall a little market town in Britain with no military that had the centre bombed with incendiaries. There are many more examples of this and of course the mass murder in death camps and concentration camps and the deliberate starving of civilians in occupied countries so the Nazi`s could get fat and so much more.
Hitting strategic military targets was not the primary objective. RAF just carried out the strategic plans of area bombing directive and the dehousing paper. As a result first target were the workers, their families, their homes (Barmbek, Hammerbrook).Well, they succeed in comitting a war crime.
@@kenkleinsasser8165 35000 were dead in Hamburg after fire storm, most of them civilians. Same war crime like in Dresden. Yes, it was necessary to bomb Hamburg because british military had no other opportunity to fight germany in europe until D-day. That was bomber command made for.
They did because they could. RAF regarded the attack as a holy ordeal and higher call. That's why the operation was called "Gomorrah" . In my opinion pure blasphemie and pure war crime because god wasn't there.
It is difficult to realize that a civilized race of people from whom many of us may be descendants could have allowed or even encouraged the twelve years of Nazi Germany. I have German friends and have been in Germany with the military. Seldom did I ever meet anyone who I would have thought could have allowed this to happen.
Thank you for posting this. The British used white phosphorous which ignites everything it touches. It was a truly sadistic practice. There was extensive film footage of the firestorm. The most significant fact historically is that Britain seized the footage after the war and has never let it be shown. Why is that we wonder?
***** Apparently the footage was taken by German civilians and seized after the war. Only small excerpts have been included in documentaries and on You Tube. The vast bulk of the film footage has never been released by Britain because the horrors it depicts are indefensible. The British used white phosphorous not only in the Hamburg firebombings, but also in Dresden on February 14, 1945. There were no military installations or machine works in Dresden, or in the center city of Hamburg either. Significantly, the British returned 12 hours later and bombed the already bombed out areas of both Hamburg and Dresden in order to kill first responders attempting to put out the flames and rescue any survivors.
Ted Bohn What evidence do you have that there's more footage the British are holding on to? Your logic doesn't make sense. The footage we've seen shows charred bodies, mangled bodies, bodies cut into pieces, bodies of children, bodies of adults, bodies of families, etc. I'm not sure what "indefensible horrors" you think are depicted in any remaining footage that hasn't already been seen. The British were pretty open about what they did. The only reason you know they used white phosphorus is because they told everyone they used white phosphorus. Everyone used white phosphorus at the time, including the German Luftwaffe when they bombed London and Coventry in 1940 and the American army all the way from Normandy to Czechoslovakia. There were plenty of military installations throughout both Hamburg and Dresden. Regardless, it was a total war and both sides were openly trying to harm the other's war effort in any way they could, regardless of the risk of civilian casualties. If, God forbid, we were ever in a situation where we had to stop a nation that had pillaged its way across a continent and killed millions, I'd have no problem doing the same thing again.
***** I suggest you watch some of the recent documentaries on efforts to assassinate Hitler. Several very high ranking and well connected military officials traveled to England and to France long before the end of the war to try to gain assistance. Both countries refused. To the best of my knowledge, your claim that Germany used white phosphorous in Coventry is inaccurate, but I will check this further. There were no military installations in Dresden or in center city Hamburg. You are simply wrong about that.
***** No you are inaccurate about there being military installations in Dresden. There were none. In fact, documents obtained from Britain about 15 years ago revealed that the very purpose of the mission was to inflict devastation on the civilian population alone. The Hamburg docks were not bombed until after the city center was hit. With respect to the efforts to assassinate Hitler, this too is inaccurate. The entire point of the military personnel who sought assistance from both Britain and France was that they would be prepared to step into the vacuum after Hitler was assassinated.
@@robrus6077 There is no relationship between Auschwitz and fire bombing on Hamburg. You just justify one war crime with another. Do you really think Hamburg was burned to ruins because of Auschwitz ?
Every view of the city I grew up in in the 60s is different today too...and we never had war there. Hamburg is an example why you need to be careful who you let in power, you never know what fights they will pick for you
