It was a very difficult documentary to watch as it reminded me of the horror stories my grandfather, grandmother and their siblings recalled about post World War 2 Europe. The horrors and evils of the Nazi party were rightfully ended, but savage retaliation against ethnic Germans began. While some reviewers on here elude to it being propaganda, the horrific events that happened to family members of mine were well-documented, corroborated by other witnesses, and discussed extensively in medical records. The documentary was well done and I think it reminds us that violence doesn't necessarily end with the war.
11 Reviews
Misery Has A Long Memory
OregonTraveler26 July 2019
This documentary mainly concentrates on the reprisals of the Czechs against its German-speaking population following the end of WWII. The creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918/1919 from the Australia-Hungarian Empire was a country of Bohemians, Moravians, Slovaks, Hungarians, and Germans. Hitler used the issue of Sudetenland Germans to force the country to cede portions of the country to Germany in 1938, as France and Great Britain reneged on their commitment to protect Czechoslovakia's sovereignty.
Six months later, the Germans invaded the country and created a protectorate, brutalizing its slavonic-speaking population. In 1945, after 7 years of abuse and humiliation, the revenge against Nazis and all Germans was swift, violent, and equally deadly.
The film also refers to the Polish revenge of its German-speaking population as well as the Russian Army's brutality against German civilians, especially women.
A wake up for anyone aware of current events
nseducator31 May 2019
Warning: Spoilers
The atrocities committed by the " honorable and victorious allies" deserves to be called into question. These leaders and their criminal cronies took a horrific calamity and used it as a device for their own twisted ethnic and political schemes. This documentary explicitly describes these atrocities from first hand eyewitnesses, film footage as well as the victims themselves. It truly sheds light on the Kalergi Plan of ethnic cleansing of the German peoples as well as the ethnic redrawing of Europe BY FORCE that we now see today has resulted in turning Europe into an ethnically violent tinderbox. A truly eye opening documentary to start from that may drive the viewer to dive deeper into study of the topic. All of this is well documented and anyone even remotely interested in post war history already knows about these atrocities committed by "the good guys". This doc shoots straight and doesn't pull any punches. A great starting point!
The part of World War 2 they never talk about
m-ozfirat12 May 2016
Warning: Spoilers
Most of the documentaries we watch on television are about three key things Antiquity, World War 1 and especially World War 2 all of which are told from the Anglo-American perspective which borders on the Anti-German and all of their war crimes. This long overdue documentary shows and reminds us during the Second World War the Axis powers had their fair share of suffering and the Allies did their fair share of war crimes one of which everyone knows about Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
This is its equivalent in Europe the expulsion and ethnic cleansing of Germans in the East of the continent is exposed. Contrary to popular belief in present day Poland and the Czech republic Germans were a semi-majority who wanted to be part of Germany not the Nazi regime or the new states created by the treaty of Versailles. After 1945 many Germans were expelled from these areas 12 million people commissioned by Britain, America and Russia to create the map of Europe as they wished and not how it actually was as an act of Anti-German sentiment reinforcing the 1918 treaty more brutally. This is the story of the victims of these decisions and hopefully for a more realistic view of the WW2 more documentaries will be made.
This reminds us that victors not only write History from their perspective they make convictions and arbitrary charges on their perspectives and interests in running the world. perhaps a moral lesson from this is that the UN is built on hypocrisy and soft imperialism.
A relevant side note to this documentary during WW1 people make accusations against the Turks for the wars against the Armenians yet we are never told of Armenian acts of terrorist atrocities or the the ethnic cleansing of the Circassians who make up 40% of Turkey's population.
This is its equivalent in Europe the expulsion and ethnic cleansing of Germans in the East of the continent is exposed. Contrary to popular belief in present day Poland and the Czech republic Germans were a semi-majority who wanted to be part of Germany not the Nazi regime or the new states created by the treaty of Versailles. After 1945 many Germans were expelled from these areas 12 million people commissioned by Britain, America and Russia to create the map of Europe as they wished and not how it actually was as an act of Anti-German sentiment reinforcing the 1918 treaty more brutally. This is the story of the victims of these decisions and hopefully for a more realistic view of the WW2 more documentaries will be made.
This reminds us that victors not only write History from their perspective they make convictions and arbitrary charges on their perspectives and interests in running the world. perhaps a moral lesson from this is that the UN is built on hypocrisy and soft imperialism.
A relevant side note to this documentary during WW1 people make accusations against the Turks for the wars against the Armenians yet we are never told of Armenian acts of terrorist atrocities or the the ethnic cleansing of the Circassians who make up 40% of Turkey's population.
Vengeance is mine says the Lord-untold story of reprisal and revenge on Ethnic Germans by Russians and Serbians
don-e-stecher5 January 2023
The unspeakable horror of 7 million deaths at the hands of Germans during World War II it's no better or worse than what happened to the Germans by the Serbs and Russians. It is not trumped or negated by the 20 million that Stalin killed. It is not trumped nor negated by the pole pot killing Fields in Cambodia. Murder of innocents (Some members of my close family) is abhorrent.
I grew up with this story, and felt a degree of vindication by it being told well here. No one is exonerated. Everyone is capable! Ellie Wiesel told us he was shocked by the fact at Eichman's trial he was not a monster, and just like us.
I've seen many WW II concentration camp documentaries, and visited Dachau twice. This movie was different in that it made No attempt to disguise or hide the brutality, rather ruffled in it. That made it horrible with a twist!
Well done, heretofore largely unknown and ignored.....
I grew up with this story, and felt a degree of vindication by it being told well here. No one is exonerated. Everyone is capable! Ellie Wiesel told us he was shocked by the fact at Eichman's trial he was not a monster, and just like us.
I've seen many WW II concentration camp documentaries, and visited Dachau twice. This movie was different in that it made No attempt to disguise or hide the brutality, rather ruffled in it. That made it horrible with a twist!
Well done, heretofore largely unknown and ignored.....
Too easy to look back now
maldrichm20 July 2023
The information and video feeds of this film are produced from a time immediately after the end of WWII and particularly after Nazi occupation has ended. As with everything in history, it is easiest to put goggles on based on today's standards. It must be remembered that none of us were there and none of us suffered under the Nazi occupation.
I believe this documentary to be well filmed, well edited and well narrated. Along with the other documentaries such as "Einsatzgruppen", this film shows the horrors of what humans can do to one another. I believe it to be important as it indeed shows a different side of the attrocities committed by humankind.
I believe this documentary to be well filmed, well edited and well narrated. Along with the other documentaries such as "Einsatzgruppen", this film shows the horrors of what humans can do to one another. I believe it to be important as it indeed shows a different side of the attrocities committed by humankind.
an interesting watch but it lacks balance,context
ib011f9545i13 December 2022
Warning: Spoilers
I watched this the other day on PBS America,a tv channel in the UK.
I had seen it before on the BBC.
Given it's unbalanced content it surprises me it was ever shown on the BBC.
Anyway to the programme.
It concerns the awful treatment received by the German speaking minorities in eastern europe after nazi Germany lost world war 2.
The good thing about this programme is that it details the bad treatment and forced resettlement of the German minorities.
But in reporting individual atrocities it fails to get the point across that millions were forced to move hundreds of miles in bad conditions.
The film also fails to explain that while nazi Germany lorded it over eastern europe the German minorities lived high on the hog.
When the tables were turned the film seems surprised that the German minorities were then persecuted by the majority who had been oppressed by Germany.
I had seen it before on the BBC.
Given it's unbalanced content it surprises me it was ever shown on the BBC.
Anyway to the programme.
It concerns the awful treatment received by the German speaking minorities in eastern europe after nazi Germany lost world war 2.
The good thing about this programme is that it details the bad treatment and forced resettlement of the German minorities.
But in reporting individual atrocities it fails to get the point across that millions were forced to move hundreds of miles in bad conditions.
The film also fails to explain that while nazi Germany lorded it over eastern europe the German minorities lived high on the hog.
When the tables were turned the film seems surprised that the German minorities were then persecuted by the majority who had been oppressed by Germany.
Unbalanced Revisionism
mkamel-221857 May 2021
Warning: Spoilers
It does not take a degree in history to understand that peace is often a difficult process, since it almost always involves a winner and a loser. Yes, some of the winners did exact revenge on the Germans and the Nazis. Yes this retribution was sometimes as brutal as the nazis. But the mere idea that it could be comparable in scale, planning, duration or brutality to Nazi Germany's behaviour during World War II reeks of revisionism. I was shocked the maker of this "documentary" thought it wise to include testimony from a German "witness" who openly says Auschwitz, with its 1.1 million murder victims of state sponsored extermination, was a "holiday camp" when compared to the Zogda czech prison camp, where "almost third" of 6,000 germans died of disease, famine and mistreatment. Horrible yes, but it's a ludicrous comparison. Only worth watching to see how NOT to report on the subject.
Attempt to Rewrite History
alienspecimen12 November 2017
Reading between the lines, what I got out of this movie was that the USA, UK and Russia decided to commit "the biggest genocide in history of humanity" as labeled by the creators by expelling the German-speaking population from Eastern European countries and reducing the size of Germany by a third.
The other point I got was that there was a reprisal against the civilian German population that was actively involved in aiding Nazis in terms of committing atrocities.
The so called documentary reached its lowest point when the creators used as a witness a former Nazi youth organization member, still enamored with the Hitler's personality.
The only truthful part of the story was the description of the atrocities committed by the Russian soldiers, but that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.
The other point I got was that there was a reprisal against the civilian German population that was actively involved in aiding Nazis in terms of committing atrocities.
The so called documentary reached its lowest point when the creators used as a witness a former Nazi youth organization member, still enamored with the Hitler's personality.
The only truthful part of the story was the description of the atrocities committed by the Russian soldiers, but that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.
Propaganda rises
chiotelis_kostas26 April 2020
Warning: Spoilers
This is a bad attempt to re-write history. This film compares the prisoners and the victims of German troops ,captured invading other lands, and innocent citizens who who where killed or captured from their home by Germans. It is not just referring to a specific period but the film literally presents Germans as the victim of the W.W.2 (and why not ww1 since Germany started this one too)
Entitlement sores to new heights.
tansea28 December 2018
The underlying theme throughout this travesty is the over arching sense of entitlement in these peoples voices. "Don't they know I am German?" The same voices that followed German troops into these countries and claimed it as their living space, while the troops herded the former owners off to their deaths.
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