Ethics of pilots fighting for the sides in WWII

[Wutz]

Originally Posted by WTE_Galway

Indeed:

"Ich schwöre bei Gott diesen heiligen Eid, daß ich dem Führer des Deutschen Reiches und Volkes Adolf Hitler, dem Oberbefehlshaber der Wehrmacht, unbedingten Gehorsam leisten und als tapferer Soldat bereit sein will, jederzeit für diesen Eid mein Leben einzusetzen."


"I swear by God this sacred oath that I shall render unconditional obedience to Adolf Hitler, the Führer of the German Reich, supreme commander of the armed forces, and that I shall at all times be prepared, as a brave soldier, to give my life for this oath."


However that is not quite the same as the Waffen SS which required "Aryan ancestry and National-Socialist beliefs ":

http://www.lonesentry.com/articles/ttt07/waffen-ss.html

Actually I would normally not write in a thread like this, but certain comments are a little naive, and most likely written because the writers know only part of the picture. Give this also some thought, there where plenty put to the choice concentration camp or front line service. Give that some thought now, with all the hind sight we have. How you would have choosen in that situation and only knowing rumors what is going on in those camps?
Also there where more than enough that didn´t give a hoot about the political big wigs, but where there where they where, because they hoped so to protect their families and homes. That they where misfortunate to be fighting on the side of a cruel system is what we know now, but when you are given only the choice certain death, and high risk of death which would you choose? That there where also exceptions that knew full well what was going on, and believed that was right so is also known, but these are also more the nut jobs. I am just trying to say look at the individuals and don´t throw all in the same pot. As that is how many thought during the fourties, we should know better now.

[WTE_Galway]

Originally Posted by Wutz

Actually I would normally not write in a thread like this, but certain comments are a little naive, and most likely written because the writers know only part of the picture. Give this also some thought, there where plenty put to the choice concentration camp or front line service. Give that some thought now, with all the hind sight we have. How you would have choosen in that situation and only knowing rumors what is going on in those camps?
Also there where more than enough that didn´t give a hoot about the political big wigs, but where there where they where, because they hoped so to protect their families and homes. That they where misfortunate to be fighting on the side of a cruel system is what we know now, but when you are given only the choice certain death, and high risk of death which would you choose? That there where also exceptions that knew full well what was going on, and believed that was right so is also known, but these are also more the nut jobs. I am just trying to say look at the individuals and don´t throw all in the same pot. As that is how many thought during the fourties, we should know better now.

I completely agree.

I was pointing out the Wehrmacht may have had a compulsory oath to Hitler as leader but nothing else. It was just part of the formality of joining or being conscripted. Everyone swore the oath whether they truly believed in Hitler or not.

On the other hand the Waffen SS did require a genuine commitment to National Socialist beliefs.