Figure 1.--Here a young German soldier amuses himself by cutting the beard of an elderly Jewish man. Note that he not only does it for amusement, but wanted a permanent record made, presumably to put in an album that many German soldiers kept of their military service so they could share with family and friends. It is virtually inceivable how a soldier could be proud of humiliating a defenseless lold man like this. Unlike other Holocaust actions, the humiliation action targets were almost always men. The main exception was German Jewish school children.

The Whermacht sport of humiliating Jews along with killing actions operations began from the day the Panzers crashed across the Polish border. Much of the worst (but not all) of the killing operations were conducted by the SS, still a relatively small force. But in every Polish town the Wehrmacht passed through, large numbers of Wehrmacht soldiers amused themselves with humiliating Jews in every way they could imagine. Jews were rounded up and forced to clear the rubble and debris caused by the Germans. They had to hand over their valuables. Some had to entertain their German captors by bing forced to dance, sing or doing strenous exercizes. Many devout men had their beards or hair cut off. Here is just one of coutless such actions (fugure 1). The Jews had no choice, but to comply as it all occurred admist mass murders and systematic executions. The more Jewish they looked or dressed, the more likely they were to become targets. We know this not only because of countless reports, but because the Germans so enjoyed the activity that they kept an extensive photographic record of what they were doing. In some cases his was done before killing the helples Jews. In other cases it was just done for sport. German soldiers liked to find Jews that fit the NAZI propaganda image and photograph them. Often they had themselves photographed by such individuals. German soldiers liked to keep photographic albums recording their military assignments. Often included in these albums are photographs of Jews, including their humiliation of them. Older men with beards were a popular target. Even the Germans did not focus on the children here. (The children vwere a high priority for killing, but not for humiliation sport.) Wehrmacht soldiers liked to cut them off as an act of hmiliation. Once the ghettoes were formed, the concentrated Jews became subject to such treatment with German soldiers visiting the ghettoes as a kind of tourist activity to photograph their sport. Wehrmacht apologists can attempt to defend the organization by claiming that they were just carrying out orders. These inumeral acts of humiliation and the the enjoyment that German soldiers felt as well as their desore to rcord it shows just how deeply embedded anti-Semitism was in he hearts of large numbers of Germn soldiers. And the fact tht they were willing to share these actions not only with fellow German soldiers, but with family bck home speaks volumes. This is not to say that every German soldier thought and behaved this way, but it it does show how widespread and ebgrained these beliefs were and why the Wehrmacht could become such an important cog in the Holocaust.

Created: 2:49 AM 11/30/2015
Last updated: 2:49 AM 11/30/2015