Comments by "Arthur Mosel" (@arthurmosel808) on "The Evacuation of East Prussia – German Refugees in World War II (1944 – 1945)" video.

  1.  @patriciabrenner9216  I pray that you and you never feel the results of seeds of hatred that your hatred sows. The point that you dismiss is that all people suffered and lost in that war; and not all have let the bitterness create lasting hatred. You need not respond, i already know what its nature will be, and I need no more vitriol. I wish you well; no matter how much I feel you are traveling done the wrong path of life. The God that I believe in gave us the right to chose our path.
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  2.  @patriciabrenner9216  Ms. Brenner, needless your consistent harping on justifying your hate is to convince yourself of the need to hated. Lets start with China, how much do you know about the Warlord period that took place as the initial republic that replaced the Manchus fell apart? Almost every crime the Japanese were accused of took place during this period, including the slaughter of civilians, war in Asia was never as rule bound as war in Europe. Did you know before the Japanese took Manchuria that the Soviets fought and won a war with the Chinese government there and gained concessions. Remember the Rsso-Japanese War in 1904-05 was as much sparked by Imperial Russian moves into the same area. Russia been expanding at the expense of both Japan and mainly China for going on 350 years at that point (violating agreements reached with both constantly). As to Death Marches, read the book "War Without Mercy". Remember the Russians marched the prisoners from Stalingrad 240 miles in the Russian winter after seizing what food and medicine that they had. The Bataan March was shorter, the Japanese never planned for the number of prisoners, the prisoners themselves actually made matters worse by lack of discipline with the first prisoners at each food site grabbing as much as possible of the food and water and ruining the rest because fighting over it; as to Japanese cruelty, the problem was indiscipline there as well, with one unit going by actually giving out food while another unit beat prisoners. By the way, the Japanese had comfort women who were Japanese as well; by the way the French army had a history of using field brothels as well (two of them were at Dien Bein Phu I. 1954). FDR wanted to fight Germany, so by July 1941,he had taken actions that were aimed at forcing Japan into war. Several of these were acts that were actually acts war under international law even then. Not normally discussed in US books, mentioned in some by Naval Institute years ago (I have the titles somewhere in my notes. Does any of this make what the Germans or Japanese right, no; but it does indicate there are no real 100% good guys if you dig beyond the superficial hype. Even things such as the Rape of Nanking make more sense when you discover that Chinese troops and civilians both were shooting at the Japanese (the problem was the troops were wearing civilian clothing as well). Did that make all the Japanese behavior right, no; but does it help to explain why they were out of control. I have been studying military history and wars for going on 60 years, and while I may dislike one side or another; I can not hate the people. I can detest governments though.
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  3. One crime does not excuse another.
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  4. If you believe in revenge if the law doesn't give you the justice you desire, than laws mean nothing. Should justice be fair and impartial, yes. If it isn't being done remove the people subverting justice from office. Act within the law.
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  5.  @patriciabrenner9216  If justice was done fairly the firebox campaigns in Europe and avalanche would have been war crimes. None Soviet 240 mile death march of the prisoners taken at Stalingrad wa s worse than the Bataan Dea th March, and the mass rapes and murders commented by Soviet troops as they march to and took Berlin matched anything done by the Nazis. The forced expulsion of people of German descent fr om Eastern Europe and the parts of Germany siezed by the Soviets and given to the Poles to replace the lands that the Soviets took from them (the Soviets siezed the. Part of Poland that had been part of Imperial Russia). I suggest you read the book "War Without Mercy"; it makes it hard to feel moral superiority belongs on either side. Remember war crimes are decided by the victors. An example from another war; the North Vietnamese treatment of US POWs or South Vietnamese officers and officials, as well as their families. No one was ever brought to account for that, and the US Government suppressed facts. The POWs who returned were required to sign non-disclosure documents, I knew one of them and that is first had knowledge. I also had contact with several others and know what was done to them. I suspect that no US Government would have survived the public anger at ignoring those crimes.
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  6. It should have read "fire bomb campaigns in Europe and Japan"
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  7.  @patriciabrenner9216  Hatred is hatred. You have your reasons for hatred, those soldiers had their reasons for their hatred. To me, theirs had no justification, but I understand how it developed. Yours has some justification, and I understand how it developed. In the end however, hatred breeds hatred, and it becomes a cycle. Break the cycle, and there will be less hatred in this world. It is each of our duty to do that. My wife's mother was from Hiroshima, and she harbored hatred toward the US; nor did she raise my wife and her siblings that way.
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  8.  @patriciabrenner9216  Your attitude shows with your "blah blah" comment. Again, I point out that all sides have hatreds, some more justified than others. How many Getmans died when their cities were razed and firebox Ed (remember we tried Germans as war criminals for similar acts)? Was the expulsion and mistreatment of ethnic Germans less bad than their treatment of people were Jews under the Nurenburg Laws? Was the loss of half of Germany and the seizure of their land less wrong than the seizure of property by the Germans? As I said my wife's mother was from Hiroshima (luckily she and her family were out of town bartering for food that day). She helped with casualty/body recovery. My wife's father's health was permanently damaged by the war and his brother worked downtown in Hiroshima when the bomb exploded, and his body never found. Despite that I felt no hatred when I visited them, they had no concern over her marrying a USAF officer, the widow of his brother welcomed me when we visited; in other words they placed their hatred aside years before I met my wife and never let it affect her and her siblings. My point is hatred is a poison, both to the person who hates and to those that someone takes revenge on. Was what happened to your family a horror, YES. Should it have happened, NO! Does hatred change anything that happened, No. So what does hatred do positive, Nothing. Spend that emotional strength doing something positive and make sure that horror can never happen again.
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  9.  @patriciabrenner9216  Where did I justify those crimes or support them? I provided facts that explain some of them, where did I say that they were right. By the way your example for the French brothels clearly shows your vindictiveness. You didn't state any crimes the wife committed; unless you forgot to state them, she was punished for being married. How is that different from what the NAZIs or Vichy French did? I still say an end to violence means you end unreasonable hatred.
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