War Crimes Committed by Germany During World War 2
By: Andrei Tapalaga
Tags: WIB History, History, War, Holocaust, Ww2

This is a list of all of the war crimes that have been committed by Germany between 1939 and 1945. Germany was the first nation to fire a bullet and therefore start the war. They are also the nation that has been accused of most War Crimes in history, however, some of which historians have not accounted for.

I will not mention things such as killing, murdering, raping or torturing civilians as they are pretty clear that they have happened.

Invasion of Poland

This is pretty much straightforward and it is the first rusty nail to be set in Germanies coffin that was to be closed. Their first target was Poland because that is where the majority of Jewish people lived at the time in Europe. On 1st of September 1939, the German army has:

Bombed Hospitals around Poland

Shot refugees

Executed wounded soldiers

Murdering civilians

execution of Polish POWs (Prisoners of war)

Violation of the Treaty of Versailles

This was the most important treaty that was been every signed as it hs brought peace and the end of the first World War. The Treaty was bringing the war guilt clause to the German power which yet again was found to be the Axis power and to start the war for various reasons. The Treaty was signed between Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Japan, and Russia to declare that Germany is found guilty of certain war crimes and that they will have to pay for all the damaged cause.

The reparation costs came up to 31 billion US dollars which in today’s economy comes up to 422 billion US dollars. The most important thing that has been agreed upon with this treaty that was actually violated was to maintain the peace within Europe and other western countries.

Violation of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye

Also known as the treaty of peace between the allied powers and Austria was pretty much the same thing as the treaty of Versailles however this treated affected Austria directly. As they were a different Axis power, they were accused of their own war crimes and their own reparation costs.

Now I know why you may ask so how does this treaty been violated by Germany? Well because Austria was taken by force to be a part of the German force in the second world war and after the second world war they have not been accused of anything as they did not have any military influence of their own that would oppose the allied forces.

Invasion of France

France was an easy target that tried to oppose some resistance until it has realized that it is futile, the German force was too powerful and with their blitzkrieg tactic, it was impossible to resist. In this invasion over 40,000 civilians have been killed and there have been reports of SS soldiers raping underaged girls which would also bring the case of paedophiles within the SS force.

Pacification Actions in German-occupied Poland

During the invasion of Poland, the German Reich was going through with pacification, this is terrorizing the population of Poland by threatening them with the use of military power to execute anyone that would disobey their orders as well as rules that have been set by Germany in the occupation of Poland.

The Annihilation of the Czech city of Lidice

This action has been taken to avenge the assassination of Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich, which was a high ranking SS officer as well as the German police official at the time. The city of Lidice has been left as a ghost town after a series of bombing sessions and the last clean out by the German forces ensuring that all civilians have been killed. It is sad that such atrocities are being forgotten as they are shadowed by the Holocaust.

Violation of Restricted Submarine warfare

After the first world war, the submarines were seen as a deadly weapon in naval warfare so it has been decided to put a restriction on submarine warfare as it has seen too powerful at the time. The German U2 Submarine has a notorious reputation for drowning over 500 allied ships in the second World war. This is the reason why for the most part of the war the axis had control of naval warfare.

The Commando Order

This order was given to the special german troop's named commando to follow some orders that were not quite humane and which would contravene with the international convention of Geneva. One such order was to not capture any allied soldiers but to execute them on the spot even if they were unarmed or even if they have surrendered. The Geneva Convention has stated clearly that it is a war crime to shot a soldier or even civilian that is surrendering.

Destruction of Warsaw

The warsaw resistance was the only line of defence before Poland has been completely overtaken, the resistance was formed mainly by civilians and there were even some boys younger than the age of 18. The resistance was putting up a good fight until the German army decided to subsequently level the whole city. This has to lead to the gruesome death of Polish citizens and the annihilation of the whole city.

The Holocaust (committing a Genocide)

Known as the worst genocide that the world has ever seen, the holocaust is known as a plan to eliminate the Jewish population within Nazi-occupied Europe. The gassing of these people with Zyklon B which was a cyanide-based pesticide that would kill a person in minutes in a very gruesome way. The Germans have also been accused of torture to death as some of the victims would not die initially from the gas and they would be burned alive.

The holocaust was the biggest crime committed as in this process over 6 million Jewish people have been murdered. It is just something that Germany will never be able to pay for.

However

Do not think that just because they were the head of the Axis power they were the only ones to commit such atrocities. Sadly, every country that took part in this war has committed a war crime no matter if intentionally or unintentionally.

If you would like to see the war crimes committed by other nations please follow History of Yesterday as there are more to come.