The After Effect Of War 1945-50

arnhem44

All we ever hear about is the war itself,what were the real implications on the people themselves and the governments that had to pick up the pieces after the war,mass movement of people,starvation,labour camps or even the attitudes of the people towards ethnic minorities.Just wondered could anyone shed some light on this subject??

Morlar

In the immediate aftermath many atrocities were committed against germans which went un-punished, soldiers and men, woman and chlidren alike.

European cities were bombed basically to dust inflicting massive suffering on already impoverished civilian populations. The industries of the ruhr gutted, German gold going east & German patents going west. The brain-drain from Germany. It is a marvel that they recovered as soon as they did.

I think the most important effect (for europe at least) was what Hitler had always warned about, and was one of the reasons for the war, the spread of communism across Europe.

The subsequent loss of freedom by almost half of europe. Communist State suppression of personal liberty at the national level right down to the minutiae of an average citizens life. Gulags for POW's (where without checking I believe the SS Survival rate was something like 3%). State surveillance & oppression for decades to the point where it became an integral part of the fabric of society. Corruption and croney-ism on a scale probably never seen before (the high life for the communist party people and a very different life for the peasant workers). The suppression of christianity. The using of the concentration camps to justify the creation of the state of israel and the resulting turmoil in the middle east which has led to subsequent wars and global terrorism. The victors writing history from a position of total dominance (with no voices of dissent) to make 'germans bad allies good' the mantra to this day. I think the legacy of it is still with us.

arnhem44

Is it true that thousands of women and children were sent to work camps in Siberia after the war? and sujected to brutal violences by the Russians.For any country picking up the pieces can't of been easy,I belive that alot of the remaining German populations left in the once occupied countries were in alot of cases expelled to add further problems to the German aftermath,mass movement of people with nowhere to go.I take the Americans funded the most money to restructure Germany on the Allies side but were other countries left to deal with there own problems?,its well known America already had industries established in Germany before the war ever started.The gold you mentioned going east,was this gold theres to start with or the gold they already plundered.Theres quite a considerable fallout after any war but as you mentioned the state of Isreal being set up has got to be ranked up there as one of the main problems to have come out of World War II

ejmaztec

Apart from the civilian tragedies of post-war Europe, I think that in many cases the victors got a raw deal, in particular those Central and Eastern Europeans who decided to return to their home countries after fighting alongside the allied forces to liberate Europe. A lot of them returned as heroes, but then, after the "democratic" elections, ended up being treated like animals by the communists, who suspected them of being enemies of the state. The Czech communists particularly liked putting them to work in the uranium mines, along with anyone else they didn't trust, unless they found an excuse to execute them in the meantime.

This is an example of just one of these people, who somehow managed to reach 89.

http://www.radio.cz/en/article/90021
WWII war hero, RAF pilot Antonin Spacek dies at 89

[04-04-2007 13:42 UTC] By Daniela Lazarová



One of the country's greatest Second World War heroes, RAF pilot Antonin Spacek has died at the age of eighty-nine. We look at the life of a man who spent his life serving his country and who remained true to his principles in the face of great adversity.
Antonin Spacek, photo: CTK
Born in 1917 in the town of Hradcany Antonin Spacek grew up dreaming of becoming a professional soldier. He was a lieutenant in the Czechoslovak army when the war broke out and he left his homeland via the so called Balkan route going through Hungary, Yugoslavia and the Middle East to join the free Czechoslovak units in France. He fought in France and later served in Britain's RAF, returning to Normandy on D-Day with an armored Czechoslovak brigade. Military historian Eduard Stehlik says that Spacek was a soldier his country should have been proud of:
"Antonin Spacek was a man who always thought of others first. Before he left the country he was active in the Resistance and undertook several very dangerous missions in Slovakia. And when he fought abroad he created a home base for other Czechs and Slovaks who served with the allies. He was a truly courageous person."
While in Britain and France Antonin Spacek was a respected war hero he received no recognition at home. In 1948 the communists took power in his homeland and the role of Czech pilots who served in the RAF was played down - because they had fought in the West. Spacek attempted to flee the country with his family in order to avoid communist persecution but only his British-born wife and child managed to get out. Antonin Spacek was sentenced to ten years in a show trial and was sent to work in the country's uranium mines. More than half a century was to pass before he gained recognition. On the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings he was awarded the Legion of Honour by President Jacques Chirac and last year he received the highest Czech state distinction from President Klaus - the Order of the White Lion. However beside the medals there was little else. In an interview for Radio Prague in 2001 he complained bitterly that 56 years after the war society had little interest in giving its heroes a dignified old age.
"Most of us are around 80 years of age - I am 86 - and many of us are alone. We need some help in our old age and nobody cares about it, you see? "

Although he had reason to complain about the years of persecution and neglect the thought uppermost in Antonin Spacek's mind was to leave a legacy for the young generation.
"The thing is how to carry these ideas over to the young generation. The problem is that the teachers don't know about it / our freedom fight/ they were educated during the communist regime. They never heard about what happened. There are many people now who say the last time a Czech soldier fought was at the Battle of the White Mountain, they never fought, they are cowards and so on. And they don't acknowledge us. We were the only army- among the allied group of armies- which was composed of volunteers. The fight against the Nazis was fought here in the Czech lands. We must persuade the young generation to keep in mind that the Czechs are not cowards, that they know how to fight and when to fight for independence and democracy. That is the message we would like to leave after our deaths for the young generation."

arnhem44

Thats a fascinating story,that poor man spent a life of hardship due to communism,how many other innocent people were affected just like him by the same hand,I think your spot on with the raw deal side of things,many of these people went to fight for the allies and ended up being persecuted for most of there adult life.Whilst the countries being occupied by the Russians after the war,is there much documented evidence about what they got up to,its well known that Stalin was responsible for the deaths of millions after the war and its well known what they got up to on the advance into Germany,what must it of being like after.

ejmaztec

And those nice Russians again, hanging on to the allied POWs that were unfortunate enough to have been incarcerated in areas over-run by the Soviets before the end of the war. If the information on the following link is to be believed (a website with an agenda?), many of these POWs spent the rest of their lives in the Gulags.

http://www.fff.org/freedom/0895a.asp

FiSe

Americans POW in Gulag? That's the first time I have ever heard of this one.
I've heard the opposite alright, about GI's liberated by the red Army and spending the war fighting on the tanks bearing the red star...

From the other hand, is well know truth that Soviet Union was re-build not only on the sacrifices of Soviet population but on the blood of 100's of thousands Wehrmacht and ex Red Army slave labourers. Be it POWs of both sides or end of the war detainees /not POWs at the right sense of the title/. And with the help of machinery taken from the occupied territories, mainly Germany.
The Axis POWs and general German population was used all over the Europe to eliminate the consequences of the just finished war. Cleaning the rubble, repairing infrastructure, mine clearing operations, latter working on building sites, mines and in heavy industry.
I think that US and UN help /Marshall's plan, UNRA/ was once again vital for the Europe.

Oh, try to get a Nikolai Tolstoy's book called 'The victims of Yalta'. It's about Cossacs repatriation to their homeland. Quite unreal.

In Asia, I think the situation was similar to that in Europe, but the damage probably wasn't as big as the infrastructure and industry wasn't as developed.
But, as a whole, Japan and Germany were the most war damaged countries recovering very slowly.

Good book is Nikolai Tolstoy's 'Victims of Yalta'