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Fabricated Stories About World War II Still Known by Many

Khalid Elhassan November 15, 2019 35 min

German atrocities such as this one were routine in Eastern Europe. Daily Mail

6. Resistance in Eastern vs Western Europe

Nazi occupation was not the same everywhere. The disparity between the resistance movements in Eastern Europe and the Balkans versus those of Western Europe was due to the manner in which the Germans treated their conquered subjects in different parts of Europe. German occupation in Western Europe was severe, but Jews excepted, it never approached the levels of psychotic cruelty and mindless brutality meted out to the conquered in Eastern Europe and the Balkans.

A common scene during the German occupation of Eastern Europe. University of Hawaii

Western European communists made a drastic turn from acquiescence to German occupation during the period of Russo-German friendship to fierce resistance after Hitler attacked the USSR. However, the bulk of the occupied Western European civilian populations in the main did not exhibit a willingness to risk the horrific reprisals and atrocities the Germans were prepared to inflict upon restive subjects.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.