Colorized WWII photos

Yes, but then the majority of troops had no experience of the camps at all. The 1% of the event is indeed what remains in the mind. Also indeed perhaps the defeated civilians "deserved it", but many or most were powerless to influence events, so that is their tragedy too.

Anyway, thanks to all the dads and granddads who left their new wives and families, who suffered dysentery, who watched foxhole buddies get blown to bits, who ate canned rations for weeks on end in strange lands they never had a desire to see. Thanks to the “small percentage” who sacrificed their lives and/or limbs. Thanks to those who gave them something to get drunk on in the midst of all that. And thanks to reasonable and empathetic people throughout history for showing their appreciation and to most people for not minimizing the effort.

Something I have never and will never lose sleep over.

 

I’m sure my dad experienced plenty of those times but I know what HE lost sleep over was the percentage of time he spent discovering and cleaning up those camps. Small percentages are sometimes irrelevant.

 

I have no doubt that the US soldiers who liberated the nazi concentration camps and then had to do clean-up work you mentioned were horrified beyond description. I wonder how many of those soldiers were left with lingering, intense cases of PTSD.

I wonder how many of those soldiers were left with lingering, intense cases of PTSD.

I’m sure many did, though so many of those guys came home to a lot of support and opportunities to build good lives. We don’t call them the greatest generation for nothing, and their own grit as well as community and governmental support were a big part of that greatness.

 

Knowing my dad and his feelings about and empathy for newer generations of vets, he might have said that the color photos from the World Wars would be good to the extent they wake us up to the needs of vets who’ve served more recently than those wars. Younger vets, he felt, have not been well served by their communities or governments. It would be great if such historical photos would have more than an aesthetic effect. Ideally, they would inspire people and communities both to reach out to younger vets and to call, write, or storm the offices of local and federal officials who have been negligent or downright derelict in supporting them as well as my dad and his generation of vets were supported ... for the most part.

One obvious issue is that the WWII was "the good war", the others since have been on less certain ground, particularly Vietnam of course (to put it mildly). That may have some bearing on the whole issue.

One obvious issue is that the WWII was "the good war", the others since have been on less certain ground, particularly Vietnam of course (to put it mildly). That may have some bearing on the whole issue.

A coherent case cannot be made that a lost limb or paralysis resulting from a less justifiable battle is any less damage for the soldier than a lost limb or paralysis resulting from a more righteous battle.

 

Whether a soldier ought to be held responsible for a war, such as Vietnam, he was drafted into might be worthy of debate. Should he have conscientiously objected or gone to Canada? I, thankfully, missed having to make that choice (by one year!). I’ll be damned if I’m going to judge others for their choices in that one. Whether the unrighteousness of the Vietnam War somehow justifies the mistreatment either by the community or the government of those who fought is something I suppose each of us will answer. My answer is it does not.

 

Hopefully, whatever else these photos mean, color or not, they mean the remembrance and veneration of a brave generation.

We have been conditioned to react differently to color images as opposed to black and white.

 

How photographs are presented takes advantage of that. I'm pretty sure that some photos I've seen on the net were de-colorized in order to emphasize their historical nature. I wish I could point out specific examples but I can't. Color photography was pretty dominant by the 60's. So when I see a non-newspaper photo from the 80's displayed in B&W on some Internet article about the past I get suspicious.

 

Colorizing B&W photos has the opposite effect. It makes them look more contemporary.

 

I appreciate the colorization efforts even though I believe the original B&W photos are also priceless as they are.

Many German/Nazis/Japanese were brave (sacrificed their life for their comrades etc etc). It's not just winners who were brave or showed courage. A defeated nation has to learn how to deal with this. One can admire someone's courage but feel they were completely wrong. This is the origin of reunions of soldiers from both sides where they often get on famously. I think there are many rather naive thinkers about war and the involvement of their country in them.

Many German/Nazis/Japanese were brave

While the accepted definition of brave is something along the lines of "exhibiting courage," one of the more interesting etymologies of brave is from the Latin for cutthroat/villain or crooked/depraved. That might help in the somewhat eccentric (to be undeservedly kind) understanding of Nazis as "brave." [Note: gassing millions of people because of their religion isn't brave. It's pretty much the height of cowardice.]

It's also worth considering the difference between bravery (or courage) and boldness, as referenced by Stephen Pressfield in his work of historical fiction, The Tides of War, about the war between Athens and Sparta. Lysander speaking to his troops ...

We, Spartans and Peloponnesians, possess courage. Our enemies possess boldness.

Pay attention, brothers. Here is a profound and irreconcilable division.

The bold man is prideful, brazen, ambitious. The brave man calm, God-fearing, steady.

Boldness honors two things only: novelty and success. It feeds on them and without them dies. Boldness is impatient. Courage is long-suffering. Boldness cannot endure hardship or delay; it is ravenous, it must feed on victory or it dies. Boldness makes its seat upon the air; it is gossamer and phantom. Courage plants its feet upon the earth and draws its strength from God’s holy fundament.

 

The Greeks often associated virtues such as bravery with goodness. Their philosophy and language were infused with morality. Sometimes, not a bad idea.