Prompt: Did World War II become more brutal as time went on? In what ways? Was the brutality on only one side?
Following Operation Barbarossa Hitler began implementing mass shootings of innocent minorities. Jews, Romani peoples, Slavs, and handicapped people of all sorts were made to dig their own graves and then be shot down into them. A reprisal shooting program was started to discourage harm against soldiers. Any time a German soldier was hurt or killed they would murder twenty to forty unrelated people. In 1939 the T4 program was created, its purpose being to eradicate everyone suffering from congenital diseases. They would take people from their homes offering medical assistance, then quietly murder them and tell their families they died naturally. The soldiers made into executioners began to feel an understandably burdensome mental tole, so the Nazi solution was to create a much more efficient and much less human mass murder method. They needed a way of killing deprived of all empathy, a way to slaughter hundreds like cattle without having to get a soldiers conscience bloody. In 1941 under SS Lieutenant Reinhardt Heydrich gas chambers were technologically perfected, swift and efficient chambers of death made to kill as many people as possible. People were worked to the point of death, then rounded up together and gassed. This was only the beginning of WWII’s brutality, and sweet lord I hate writing about this. But I have to so lets continue.
The Nazi’s were infamously brutal in their attempts to ethically cleanse their lands, but the British and Americans could be pretty inhuman as well. The major example of this were the bombings and air raids that were sent across Europe. In a twisted form of revenge for their fallen all sides began bombing their adversaries cities. The sole purpose of this was to murder and destroy uninvolved civilians. In this cacophony of chaos hell itself seemed to rise up as literal tornados of fire and debris ripped across the towns and villages. In 1945 thousands of people fled from the Soviets and were attacked by Britains Royal Air Force. They strategically dropped three waves of bombs upon the defenseless people, adamant about creating as much bloodshed as possible. Then they waited for rescue teams to arrive, and bombed them all again. Then the bastards waited AGAIN for rescue teams to arrive and bombed them once more. This horrendous bombing method resulted in 40,000 civilians, rescue workers, and Russian refugees dead on the streets.
Speaking of the Russian refugees I should make clear what exactly it was they were running from. If you thought the Nazi’s could act inhumanly psychopathic you don’t know much about what the Russians under Stalin were like. At least the Nazi’s murder methods were semi quick, guns and gas that sort of thing. The Soviets methods were a lot more.. whats the word… demonic in nature. Torture of innocents was not only encouraged, but rewarded with military advancement. The masses of Polish soldiers shot in the Katyn Forest got off easy compared to the “liberation” going on across Eastern Europe. Torture, rape, and murder of people between the ages of infancy to elderly became the norm. Pillaging innocents, stealing their homes and families, and murdering them in front of their loved ones with horrendously creative torture methods became the way for a Soviet officer to gain military honor and status. This meant those that rose to the top of the Soviet military were the most sadistic and bloodthirsty men around. Death became the goal, torture became the tool, and the grim reaper became the angel who could end your worldly suffering.
So in conclusion of this horrible topic around 80,000,000 people died during World War II, and no one besides the dead could hold the title of innocent. Nazi’s became the most infamous because of their death camps, murdering hundred of thousands of Jews, Romani, homosexuals, disabled people, congenitally diseased people, autistic people, Slavs, rival soldiers, and of course any and all German civilians standing up against the meaningless bloodshed. British and American troops acted sociopathically brutal as well, bombing thousands of innocent civilians in a vague and disgusting attempt at revenge. But in my mind the Soviets were the most unforgivable, as it seemed they hardly had any real motive behind their torture. They started out fighting for communism, but by the end they seemed to just enjoy the mindless violence. Strategy fell in importance to the Soviets as bloodlust clouded their minds, and their brutality was truly unrivaled. War is an immensely horrible thing, it can make almost anyone forget the value of a human life. WWII is a bloody example of that, displaying that even those fighting for justice can become enveloped by hatred and vengeance.
If you’ve read this far I commend you, this has certainly been the most difficult essay for me to write in quite awhile. Three and a half hours of sitting down and researching the details of the most destructive and murderous point in our history, not an afternoon delight by any means. I’d like to conclude this massive event of hopelessness with a heartfelt piece of hope. Each human life is extremely precious, each human life holds a spark of the holy creator, each human spirit should be regarded as miraculous and each individual should be given a chance to find happiness. War blinds us to this, it makes us forget that we are all part of a human collective and propels us to destroy the very essence of our own existence. I hope, God I hope, that these tragedies don’t repeat themselves and that we can be wise enough to learn from the past. For the sake of innocent life I pray that we can become better than this, and I pray that the souls that were unjustly ripped from their bodies can find peace in the beyond. Godspeed children of the light, may we create something better than this.
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