In the Fire of the Eastern Front: The Experiences of a Dutch Waffen-SS Volunteer, 1941-45

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[Dr. Erich Mende was a Member and Vice-Chancellor of Parliament from 1963 to 1966, and Chairman of the Liberal Party from 1960 to 1967.]

There is a Latin saying, “Vae victis!” i.e. woe to the vanquished, referring to the ‘Contempt of the Victor’, which Germany was made to feel at the end of World War II. It was confirmed once again, inasmuch that the German population stood under a collective guilt, for which every individual was penalised. The ‘victors’ released laws in all of the Allied occupied territories, for the annihilation of National Socialism and militarism, and with a total re-education programme. The Germans and their sympathisers had to learn from their mistakes and the error of their ways, and return to a liberal and lawful system of democracy.

A campaign of revenge also began against all those Europeans that had worked hand in glove with Germany, those who had lent a sympathetic ear. It lasted for years. Finally, with insight and common sense, politicians, unions, publishers, and the Church, led by Konrad Adenauer, Kurt Schumacher and Theodor Heuss, won the upper hand against false judgement and targeted insinuation, in order to achieve a balance of the truth.

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