The Savage Peace

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.....