Quote:
Originally Posted by FalkeEins
I disagree. The author explains that we have largely 'rehabilitated' the Luftwaffe - the 'chilvarous' foe in the Battle of Britain - and thereby glossed over the crimes committed by certain sections of this branch of the Wehrmacht. This was possible because opposing airmen imagined post war that they had shared a common experience, whereas in fact one group was fighting for freedom, the other for a tyrannical dictatorship. I think that's what she's saying...
|
I have to disagree with your disagree. The author once again makes a bland statement that we have largely 'rehabilitated' the Luftwaffe. Who is the 'we' that is being referred to? I have never attempted for a second to rehabilitate the Luftwaffe in all of my writing. All I have ever done is carried out research in an objective way, presented the findings, and have not passed any kind of judgement on a single person who was in the Luftwaffe. I believe that that is also correct for other researchers and writers, but they can obviously speak for themselves on here if they wish to do so. Also, I have never glossed over any crimes, since I have not known of any. Victoria Taylor has entered an area on page 325 which has no relevance to the BoB whatsoever. Yes, we were fighting for freedom, and the Third Reich was a tyrannical dictatorship. So was Stalinist USSR, but they were the 'good guys & gals' since they were fighting the Third Reich.
And yes, opposing airmen did share a common experience: that of each time they took off the fear of being wounded or killed was there with them. It wasn't 'imagined' at all.
The further in I go reading this book...