1945, German Prisoners of War reacting to a film about what happened at concentration camps
By 1945 the Allied powers were not only aware of German’s concentration camps, but they were doing everything in their power close them, save the remaining inhabitants, and document their existence to make sure that something so horrific never happened again. With each concentration camp that they found, films were made of the findings and shown to German POWs as a way to show them the menace that their work accomplished.
Not just a way to spite the German military, this form of “denazification” forced German soldiers to accept the full weight of what they’d done throughout the war. The Allied program didn’t stop at footage, but included visits to nearby concentration camps, and posters displaying dead bodies of prisoners hung in public places.
The process of making German soldiers confront the actions of their government was truly chilling, but they needed to know the horrible things they were fighting for.