Bomber boys - bbc one

[WTE_Galway]

Do remember a little history in these discussions.

The first concentration camp, Dachau, was setup in March 1933 and immediately started processing "dissidents" including academics, writers, unionists and members of the communist party.

By June 1934 the only force capable of opposing Hitler was Ernst Röhm's SA (an exceptionally unpleasant organization in its own right) that was quickly and ruthlessly eliminated in the Night of the Long Knives when all of its upper leadership were imprisoned and executed.

By the time of the invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 the concentration camps had been operating for 6 years and anyone even slightly critical of Hitler was efficiently rounded up and bundled off.

It is simply not true that ordinary Germans failed to oppose Hitler. Between 1933 and 1945 approximately 3.5 million ordinary Aryan German citizens were sent to concentration camps simply for opposing the Nazis and 77,000 of those were executed.

Note those 77,000 executed people were NOT members of persecuted groups such as the gays, gypsies or Jews and they were not criminals. These were ordinary Germans who opposed Hitler.