German POWs being shown footage of Nazi concentration camps

Youtube react videos had humble origins

Guy in the far right is absolutely fascinated. "So that's how they did it in Dachau!"

I mean, if you get down to it, everyone in the picture was in the far right...
- Usually they don't ask about your political views at the conscription / draft office. Like, they didn't go "oh you voted for Humphrey? Well no Vietnam for you then son! Enjoy staying safe at home!"
- If this is the end of the war there are probably some end of war draftees. I can't speak for them. But generally speaking the enlisted soilder had not clue about the concentration camps
- Oh hey dad, you’re back! Didn’t know it took 20 years to walk to the corner store and back.

~~Who is being shown the footage? German prisoners of war?~~

Germans held as prisoners. Not people being held by Germans. Got it

...that's what the title says, yes?
- OH yeah ok I thought "German pow" was a prisoner being held by Germans. Not a German being held as prisoner by others.
That is what "POWs" is short for, yes.
- It requires context to determine whether "German" refers to the captor or the prisoner here. After all: if Germany captures a POW, it is their prisoner. Hence, it is a German POW.

Denazifizierung war zu der Zeit (nach dem Krieg oder in befreiten Gebieten) nicht mehr als Propaganda. Später haben sowohl BRD als auch DDR bereitwillig nationalsozialistische 'Fachkräfte' eingestellt oder beibehalten, Aufarbeitung sabotiert oder nicht verfolgt. Die 'Wehrmacht' hätte ja angeblich eine weiße Weste gehabt und in der 'SS' war angeblich niemand. Rechte Vereine wurden gegründet, die teilweise noch heute existieren oder erst vor Kurzem verboten wurden. Rechte Parteien sind mit Gründung in die Parlamente gezogen. Antisemitische Positionen blieben Grundkanon, rassistische, sexistische, klassistische Positionen weiteten sich noch aus und wurden in Gesetz, Kultur und Infrastruktur zementiert.

You see, Hans, if we act surprised, maybe they won't hang us for thinking we are insane.

Claus, we are in the Eastern front POW camp. We are all gonna die.

they don’t care. they’re just trying to hide their faces from the photographer. people always take this photo as an indication of shock or remorse, but in reality, they don’t want their pictures taken. That’s it., i’m sure.

I don't think their concern was their faces being seen. Cancel culture wasn't exactly a thing at the time. It was widely known in the German population that the Jewish population was being deported to prison camps, but the details of extermination were not necessarily well-known, or believed. These men are being confronted with the reality of what they fought for.
- Bro, most of the guys literally dont even cover their eyes if you look closer. They dont want fucking pictures taken.
  
  You dont need to have cancel culture to not want to be photographed as a POW while watching something disgusting. Its embarassing.
Source: trust me bro
- Source: human eyeballs.
The mayor of one of the neighboring towns to a camp hung himself after the forced tour of it post-liberation.

It's one thing to ignore authoritarians going after a minority group and turn a blind eye, especially when speaking up or opposing those authoritarians can get you killed.

But it's entirely a different thing to be directly confronted with the suffering you'd turned a blind eye to.

Just as we saw with the Milgram experiment that obedience to authority was not a 'German' thing but a 'human' thing, I wouldn't be so quick to 'other-ize' the flip side of the empathy of the POWs pictured here.
Yeah there's even a guy flipping the V to the camera
- Looks like he's resting his head on two spread fingers. You can see the dimple where it's pressing into his cheek.
  
  I mean, maybe it's a V sign, but I rest my head on two fingers like that when watching a presentation, so I'm inclined to interpret it as such.
- Oh my goodness, some of you guys hang on to any straw they can find. Amazing to see.