[ChristianK]

Hi Adriano,

I can't speak for Mr Prien, but you have to bear in mind that for many Germans who were born after or during the war a Wehrmacht soldier (no matter if Luftwaffe or not) is anything but a hero who's story is worth telling. Those guys participated in a war of aggression that killed or uprooted millions of people, devastated thousands of cities and shook the geographical, economical and ethnic foundations of Europe for decades, sometimes the repercussions last until today. Hitler couldn't have done what he had done without his soldiers. It doesn't matter if you have been a General of the army, a fighter pilot or some office clerk in a supply unit. If you cling to this mindset, the highly decorated veterans actually are the worst, because they made personal gains from all of this AND, atop of it all, most of them enlisted voluntarily.

At least since the late 1960s this is the common public opinion in Germany, and this is even true when it comes to one's own relatives. There is some leniency in regard to the very young draftees in the last years of the war, but certainly not for people like, say, Galland, Hartmann, Steinhoff or Rudel. Most Germans nowadays see those guys as murderers, not heroes. In fact, it makes a vast difference how you got into a war and what you were fighting for...