Most Germans after the war would insist they knew nothing at all about the state-sponsored genocide of the Jews , yet very early in the war Kellner recorded this in his diary , showing that word of atrocities reached the average citizens even in the small towns : A soldier on vacation here said he was an eyewitness to terrible atrocities in the occupied parts of Poland .
He showed that even in the small towns , normal people knew what was happening : `` A soldier on vacation here said he witnessed a terrible atrocity in the occupied parts of Poland .