Right.. I kinda hope that wouldn't have happened though.. (that he would have gotten hate for saying that..) Just a correction you meant to say "not all German soldiers", as many obviously were nazis..
Thank you. A friend of mine was stuck in a Wehrmacht uniform and sent to the eastern front, as all youngsters of his age near the end. He made it through and had a long musical career. He was no Nazi.
My grandfather came from such a camp. He was so indebted to the soldiers who saved him he named my dad and his brothers after three of them and had me, my brothers, and my cousins named after them too.
My grandfather was a Wehrmacht Pilot (Luftwaffe). He was captured by the Russians in 1942 and was ~3 years held in a Gulag in Siberia. Before his conscription he was a postman/farmer in rural area in west Germany.. He never talked about WW2 at all and also not about the time in Siberia until his death in the early 2000s.
My father was a member of a Medical Battalion that was assigned to take care of the prisoners at one of the sub-camps near Dachau. It alway made him mad as hell when people would deny that any of this took place. He said several thousand prisoners would die each day from starvation and illness. until the Medical personnel could get them stabilized.
I think that Band of Brothers was one of the few WWII dramas that really brought home the horrific reality of the Holocaust. There's no limit to man's inhumanity to man.
Ron, read the link I gave. It explains what happened. British government in India tried to convince Churchill. Churchill did not listen. This thankless behavior was going on when 2.5 Indian soldiers were fighting alongside the Allies against Nazis, Italy and Japan. Nothing changes the fact that Churchill was a piece of sh**. After India got independence, he predicted that India will disintegrate. He also predicted that Pakistan will become a strong nation. Look at the reality today. LOL. India is on its way to becoming a global power while Pakistan is counted amongst failed states like Zimbabwe.
Ron, you can parrot British propaganda all you want, the truth is out for everyone to see. The kind of lame logic I read about in that article you have presented to me, is exactly the kind of logic the British of today use to justify the horrors of colonialism and the damage it caused in the colonies. I respect the Germans and the Japanese much more than I do the British because even though they committed such horrific acts, after they lost the WWII, they tried to reform their own societies and succeeded in doing so. The Germans and Japanese of today are still apologetic for the crimes of their forefathers. And even their forefathers have apologized profusely for all that they did. Meanwhile the British still peddle the myth of Colonialism that you actually helped us by colonizing us. You are too proud to say sorry just because you won the world war, mostly due to your allies and colonial soldiers. You people will remain unapologetic even though you looted us for 200 years and then even refused to pay the war debt of WWI and WWII that you owed to us. Your conceit shows when you give millions of pounds to India every year as aid, not as reparations.You give aid to a country that is about to overtake you in sheer economic heft? And then you come to India as tourists and the only places you go to are the slums. We have a term for that in India: poverty tourism. And then you go back to Britain rich with stories of how poor and dirty India is. The only reason you do this is so that you can feel superior to us. Fine. Do whatever you retched people want to do. Its already 2018. Current trends show that we are on track to eradicate poverty by 2030. Lets see how long you people can delude yourself.
Samuel Culper The fucked thing is that the acts of the Nazis was in fact human! we have been doing this to ourselves since the first humans learnt to fight.
this kinda of details that often get overlooked are a trait of spilberg, in saving private ryan there ate 2 aparently german soldiers that were surrendering and get killed by american soldiers, they were polish , saying they werent germans.... it just makes the whole think go up to another level once you knew thet killed people that were forced to join the german army
@@gerardovelazquez724 No those were Czechs, one of them was yelling "Don't shoot I haven't killed anyone" I have no idea how a Czech converted soldier made it all the way to Normandy, but either way, it was really surprising to hear some dude speak in Czech all of a sudden.
@@gerardovelazquez724 Will never forget a story shared by a Friend and WW 2 Veteran Johnny Marino. He fought with the Second Infantry Division under Gen. Patton's 3rd Army. As they rolled into the town of Pulsing in Czhec. The saw Civilians chasing Germans with 2x4s, Tire Irons, and Baseball Bats. The Civilians wanted payback. For the Germans taking everything from them at the beginning of the War. General Patton gave the Order? Leave the Civilians Alone.
The "shame swap" (for want of a better term) between Nixon and the German General's wife was a really good bracket on the episode. First he breaks into her home looking for booze and commits a petty act of vandalism, giving her the moment of standing over him imperiously and shaming him with her gaze...and then later he has his moment where she can't look HIM in the eye. Very well done.
I thought that scene was extremely well done as well. Especially the part where the Dog is barking and he looks at the dog thinking about the Wife that just divorced him , taking his Dog with her.
I read a comment on a youtube video that the actors were not let to see the set before they were actually shooting the camp scene. So the reactions and expressions were somehow genuine.
Imagine just going through Bastogne, and then some fresh recruit comes in all hungry, saying "where's the action at?" Frank blowing up at him was very cathartic.
Exactly, this is just one occurrence but frank whether he did this or not in real life, he seen hoobler die, heard about guarnere, toye, muck, penkala, and some melt wants to fight, I don’t fault frank
I remember reading they used terminal cancer patients as some of the extras for the camp scene, because it was the only way to get close to how the prisoners looked at the time.
I'm not sure about that. You might be thinking of amputees who played soldiers with severe injuries (that guy getting his leg blown off in Carentan in episode 3, for instance). I can't believe any doctor would allow his terminally ill patient to leave a hospital for several days of filming...an attendant and meds would always have to be at the ready. Of course, it was filmed in England so who knows what's allowed in their health care system. In reality it's not at all hard to find extras who are naturally thin and with makeup you can do some amazing things. Shave their heads, put comparatively baggy clothing on them to emphasize the thinness, and you tell them to suck in their gut for about 30 seconds. Plus some tinting and CGI work on the film can do wonders to make one look emaciated.
There are pictures of people in the camps that you don't see very often if you don't study this history. There are pictures of "people" that were alive when the photos were taken but did not survive. You can't tell if they are male or female. Starvation means your body literally begins to consume itself.
@@Farbar1955 Yes, there where terminal ill patient with end stage cancer. It is not the doctors buissnes to decide what poeple have to do with there life. And the patients, said, this part of history is so importent, we do volunteer, that all can see how horrible the camps are (and be). And what is the porpus to stay in the hospitel? wait to die? In europe a lot of dying people in europe leave the hispotal, to day at home, in a special house ore in nature.
Thanks for sticking it out. I don't want to overstate the matter, but I think this is one of those series that works on all of the usual levels, but in addition to this, I think it gives us an emotional understanding of the events that were so pivotal in our recent history. I think watching it really does make us... broader, deeper people.
Few bits of trivia for this episode: 1. In most interviews of the show, the reaction the actors had the first time they came upon the camp set, none were told of it and the scenes used in the episode were the genuine reaction when they first saw it. 2. The actors playing the camps survivors, were actually mostly cancer patients. The team had talks with many of them and when they heard what scene they were to be in they could none refused. 3. The reason we see Lebgot break down even more after telling the men to head back into the camp - which is already a heartbreaking thing to do - but he was also Jewish. And doing that to his own people he was damn brave. 4. The date they have for Hitlers death is 3 months early. Dude was still happily sitting around in his bunker. Wasn’t till the Soviets were pretty much ontop of the Reich chancellory that he decided to pop himself.
Leibgott wasn't actually Jewish. I think he was actually Catholic. But if I remember correctly irl he never corrected any of his fellow soldiers that he wasn't Jewish, and so they all assumed he was, until it came up in later research that he actually wasn't.
Greg S Oh, thanks for the knowledge. Surprised he never said, but in truth it probably didn’t come up much and in the whole spectrum of things it didn’t really matter either. So I can see why
@@gregs4748 From what I've read, the Liebgott family came to America because of the rising Nazism in Germany. Anti-Semitism was fairly common in America at the time, so the family converted to Roman Catholicism on arrival. Liebgott was ethnically Jewish, and only a generation or two at most from being in that camp himself.
From an interview with Liebgotts and the actor...Liebgotts family was Jewish but "converted" to Catholicism while they were still in Europe to avoid persecution....so he was both....unless I understood that wrong...
The scene with Liebgott having to tell all those desperate prisoners that they were going to be locked up again tore a piece of my soul out...just heartbreaking.
we Soldiers are portrayed as being tough as nails all the time, always ready for the next fight. but in the end, we're human just like everyone else. we see things, do things, and feel things most people could never truly understand.
Great video, it strikes me as funny how you and Juliette (the only other youtuber with a band of brothers reaction series) had the exact same reaction to that shot of the camp coming through the trees. The second it clicks you both just say "Oh shit..." In truth there aren't too many ways to react to something of that magnitude.
Unfortunately, a search for band of brothers on their page only returns videos for 'All the interviews' and 'Ronald spiers'. I don't see any reactions to the show itself. :(
@@mickey245 Exactly what makes it so powerful. Especially because Liebgott has shown himself to be this tough as nails soldier who doesn’t take anyone’s shit. To see him break down like that...man.
we Soldiers are portrayed as being tough as nails all the time, always ready for the next fight. but in the end, we're human just like everyone else. we see things, do things, and feel things most people could never truly understand.
@@jamesdick2580 Oh I understand where you're coming from. I'm just saying...in the show, you never really see Liebgott break down like that until now. It was just a powerful scene to me, seeing someone so headstrong and mentally stable breaking down and crying like that.
Agreed, afaik mostly the same team did BoB, The Pacific, and Generation Kill and quite honestly, it's worth watching all three especially if you already have watched one of them. They all have a similar style while still portraying the conflicts perfectly. BoB shows the horrors of a true war in Europe, The Pacific shows the hellish slog that is the island hopping of The Pacific Campaign during WW2, and Generation Kill shows the modern struggles of US soldiers in the middle east, during the Invasion of Iraq in 2003
Generation Kill was made by David Simon (of The Wire fame), if I recall correctly while The Pacific is made by the same people behind Band of Brothers. But they're both excellent shows that would be wonderful follow ups to BoB!
I remember Generation Kill had some different people but afaik the actual production crew was the same. Could be wrong but I swore there was a large portion of people who worked on BoB and Pacific who worked on GK as well
My father was a WW2 veteran. When he returned home, some of his own family tried to tell him that he didn't see what he thought he saw. Later, when he had us (his children), he told us this story and how he saw things like this with his own eyes. He told us it was real, it happened, and to never forget. He did a good job concealing it, but the horror of the war was with him until he passed. The men and women who fought this war and liberated those camps carried a heavy burden for us.
It was the guy at 8:53 that got me. He was hugging the soldiers out of the sheer sense of relief that his hell was over. I couldn’t imagine what it took to survive that long and seeing what he had seen. I think the word evil gets thrown around too often nowadays but what happened in those camps was literal evil.
Just a random statement about the soldier interview and commentary. Not all Germans were Nazis. The Nazis were the political party ruling over the Third Reich. He most likely was speaking about the (a) German soldier.
Jimmy Macram - not directed at you good sir. Was for the discussion board/comments. It is a sad but true reality that many people are not very knowledgeable about history in general. You are obviously not one of those people.
@J holy shit! I've seen that name before in a book i have that i found many years ago, has the names of all the major people in Nazi Germany, i gotta look that name up again, sucks how that went down, shows how truly screwed up that whole situation was, Rommel and your great uncle Alfred Gause were serving their country in this war and Hitler being the incompetent dipshit he really was had that happen, that's why when that SS officer tried to rally those prisoners that my great uncle was in charge of they wanted no part of it or him! they had probably experienced that kind of crap from those SS pricks too
You should look up what the oath was for that era's Wehrmacht. They weren't strong enough to stand up to Hitler, only to those who would. I will say you should look up Wilhelm Canaris though. Pay particular attention to what made him flip his opinion of the Nazi party. Nevermind the garbage like the Luftwaffe strafing civilian refugee lines, bombing an unarmed town for practice etc. Nevermind the journals and messages that joke about disappearing into concentration camps for acting up and other things.
That look at @3:02 is one of my favorite moments in the series. You can see in just one expression so much pent up anger but also regret at taking out on O'Keefe. Fun fact: James Madio, who plays Perconte, is from my neighborhood in NYC and one of my buddies knows his brother.
As tragic as this episode is it's the best in the series and one of the best I've ever seen on TV. The episode starts up happy-the soldiers are shagging the women, joking and singing. Then they find the camp out of nowhere and everything becomes gloomy and dark and no one even smiles for the rest of the episode. The writing and acting is all top notch-especially the camp scene.
5:40 Tom Hardy nervously hugging and consoling the weeping Jewish survivor had my eyes watering up all over again. A scene that always gets me is when Liebgot is asking one of the camp prisoners who they are, he says "Juden". Liebgot translates, "Jews". That's the answer to the episode question, "why we fight".
My great uncle was in the 101st 506 PIR. He survived D-Day, Carentan, Bastogan, and market garden. But the camps is what broke him. One night maybe a couple weeks before he died, he just started talking to me about it. Afterwards I finally understood why he was the way he was. It gave me nightmares, cant imagine what it did to him. And to think theres people today that deny it ever happened.
Long time fan man, I was looking forward to seeing you watch this episode. As people have pointed out, some of the prisoners were real terminal cancer patients. I love the respect for this horrible situation that the show put into this.
Ron Lewenberg Makes sense. I thought that was probably the case. Your comment was well thought out so I thought it was either misplaced or I had missed something 😊
What Shifty Powers was meaning in the beginning was that them as a German not as a Nazi but because of the circumstances they was enemies. One thing that made the concentration camp scene rough was when they had Joseph Liebgott translating and he found out they was Jews because he was also a Jew. That's why he was so upset when he had to tell them they have to keep them in the camp so they can keep an eye on their food, water, an medicine intake. Some movies I suggest that is touching stories about the concentration camps during WWII you should watch the movies Schindler's List (1993), Anne Frank (2001), and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008).
The world in the last 100 years. Yes, the Holocaust, one of the most horrific things. Among many. Pol Pot. Vietnam Darfur. Idi Amin. Chinese Nationalist Movement. NorKor. and on and on. Thank you for reflecting on this in a meaningful way.
I'm a veteran of Iraq. I have lost brothers due to suicide and death and yet I still don't hate anyone. I went to the JCC (Jewish Community Center) for daycare as a child so I can speak Hebrew also (and Japanese-- taught myself). I'm American though so my native language is English. My wife is Thai. I hope you know that this is based on real life and... war is hell. It really is.
Many battle hardened troops who weren’t affected by much, broke down in tears upon seeing the condition of the people in the concentration camps. That is why many of the SS were shown no mercy when engaged.
3:27 Interesting enough. Both Ford and General Motors at the time had subsidiaries in Germany before the war began. Both of them sort of lost control of their German factories once the Nazi party took over but Ford, interesting enough, hinted that he was anti-semitic and a Nazi sympathizer, going so far as firing a Jewish manager and also being awarded a metal from the Nazi regime themselves. General Motors was quick to help with the Allied war support but Ford was reluctant once fighting began. But once Pearl Harbor was hit all that changed and both supported the Allies from then on.
Great idea for a video! Every year around Christmastime I watch Band of Brothers...it's kind of a tradition at this point. The most emotionally powerful TV series / miniseries I've ever seen.
thank you for doing this reaction; I watched them all(except the 1st and will watch 10 after this); I was born in Ukraine and my great-grandfather went to Poland on a business trip during the week the German Blitzkrieg happened and we never heard from him again; my grandma always used to tell me that story; my great-grandmother died when I was 4, I was a naïve kid and never talked to her but really regret that and wish I had... on my mothers side most of her family died in ww2, so as part polish/Jewish I really appreciate the Americans help and perhaps am alive today because of their heroism and love this show bc it portrays the other side of the war and know their fight was the fight my family was fighting for survival in Ukraine and know Americans gave us the breathing room to survive... you should also do reaction to "the defiance", literally how my fathers family survived in the forests of Ukraine and I visited some of the bunkers as a kid, they are all over the place in Ukraine and "Enemy at the gates", another great moving from the soviet side... you know growing up you hear all the stories and just kind of take it for granted... and then growing up in America after 10 and then seeing all this stuff on video later in life it really hits hard remembering what my grandmother was telling me of my families survival and realizing how lucky I am to even be alive... Edit: my mothers great-grandparents died at auswitsh… so this episode hits really hard... the crazy part is the survivors looks way worse, you just couldn't get people to that level because it would be a death hazard... in 98 they didn't have the CGI technology to portray how bad the survivors actually looked...
"Why We Fight" has more death in it then all the other episodes combined and there are only three shots fired. It was the only part of the story that none of the veterans would talk about. They said things like "that's close enough" after they watched it.
Band of brothers is truly the best depiction of war and a company of men fighting with in it. Why we fight just hits home to exactly why taking the fight to the Germans was so massively important.
My father was a Glider Trooper in the 17th Airborne that participated in Operation Varsity (the operation Nixon described to Winters when Winters informed him of his demotion). His unit also stumbled across a death camp in Germany towards the end of the War in April 1945. He wouldn't even speak of what he saw other than to say it was the saddest and ugliest thing he's ever seen. God bless the men of the Greatest Generation.
Great reaction Jimmy! The camp they discovered was probably one of the sub camps of Dachau. If you will look for photos, you will also find the exact scene with the train. All in all, the show did amazing in picking those little details. I think that it's the best portrayal so far on films. And yes, in concentration camps were also political prisoners, all of them besides the Jews. That is why he mention that there are Polish there too. But then, photos can't tell you the full story. When you listen and read about it, you discover how demented humans can be. One more episode to go... I'm sad that it's over, but then there is the Pacific. I hope you'll watch it next. 2:47 Regarding this part, well the invasion to Germany wasn't smooth, there were still many very extreme battles. Especially trying to break through the Siegfried Line. Tough fights in many town, many Allies soldiers died. And that is after the battle of the bulge . So right now, everyone just want to be over it, because the end of the war is so close.
Jimmy, I think that your review and comments are on point. I have watched this series more times than I can count so to speak. I think that this series really brought thing into perspective although it was much worst then portrayed but it got it's point across. Thank you for taking the time to review this series and for giving these few men the credit and respect they deserve. They are truly the greatest generation.
I’m glad to see you watch this show. It’s hard to believe, but silence is a form of complicity. The German people allowed Hitler to rise to power so they could revel in their nationalism. We cannot forget.
I got the opportunity to visit the Dachau concentration camp near Munich in 1979. Walking along the manicured grounds where the prisoner barracks were was surreal...to think of the horrors that happened there only 34 years earlier I actually started to cry. Visitors and tourists in an area where the worst of mankind had been on display and at the same time hidden from the world for several years. It was the strangest thing and here it is, now 2018, and I haven't forgotten that feeling.
Your summing up at the end was spot on, especially your observation how some people today deny the events happened. Perhaps they can't face the truth of what people are capable of doing to each other.
“...moral nuance...” I agree!! To date, for me, Band Of Brothers is THE ultimate tribute to WWII. We NEED to be “reminded”....evil DOES exist and educating and thinking for ourselves is imperative!!
I really hope that you do Generation Kill. It's one of the funniest and, from all accounts, most accurate depictions of modern day soldiers and warfare. In my opinion it is the third part of the "HBO War Trilogy."
Thanks for doing this episode by episode commentary. FYI - the camp inmates were people recruited from hospitals and those in chemotherapy for cancer and who were truly thin, ill, weakened, etc. 😔
Love that you are watching this. I'm now watching your comments on game of thrones. This was the 1st big series from hbo that I recall made an impression on television.
0:39 Many german soldiers were not nazis at all (in the Wehrmacht (the general army), not talking about the SS), as conscription became mandatory you had to enlist when you reached conscription age regardless of your beliefs (or be shot for cowardice/desertion), and in the case of german officers, many of them (especially higher officers and generals) were old school military professionals who were inherently anti-nazi and hated them very much.. The divide between the armed forces and the nazi party was sometimes so great that in the german navy there were even places where you couldn't get in if you were a nazi party member..
No bro they honestly were not all like that.. Many obviously were indoctrinated with all the nazi craziness (among the common ground troops it was probably the majority of them) but those germans who belonged to the minority that remained sane and peace loving had to go on and serve in the military all the same.. and among the commanders and the officers the common mentality was usually that of military honor and fair fighting, not nazi hatred and bigotry.. (and as I mentioned before most of the german high command opposed the nazi party..) I'm an Israeli from a jewish family and I'll be the first to say how insane the nazis were, but we must never forget that among all that craziness there were always those germans who remained humans, and not only didn't partake in the insanity but even resisted bravely against the evil dictatorship, at the risk and often at the price of their own lives..
That is true.. throughout most of the war the cowards of the SS usually stayed in the captured territories and killed civilians rather than fight on the front lines.. it's only when the end was near that they would all be sent to actual fighting against actual armies..
Yeah, this one and episode 7 , Breaking point, with Joe Toy and Guarnierre were probably the 2 hardest, though I think 7 is probably also the best. It's hard going through these, but when you realize these are events that happened you almost feel obliged to sit and watch and get a feel of what these men went through. Getting to episode 10 is worth it though.
"It´s easier to think people are liars, rather than they´re evil..." What a comment. Right on point... sadly. This show is simply brutal and maybe we are "seeing" just a minimum % of what really happened... Fckn wars man. Awesome reaction compadre...
13:21 Desensitized?; Demoralized?; Disheartened?; All of the above. Everything in that scene was tragic & horrible, but when they were told that they needed to put them back inside the fences (for their own health & safety, of course), I sobbed. Logically, I knew it was the best for them, but it hurt my heart so much, that it had to come down to that decision. Thanks Jimmy. Good job keeping it together. The finale of this series has it's feel good moments. 😊❤️
I kinda wish more people saw Band Of Brothers. More specifically that episode because I'd personally like for people to see what REAL hatred and racism looks like. My ancestors suffered through that and when people react they way you did, I think that it's nice people can actually understand and see what real horror is and appreciate the life they have. Thank you for this video and you earned a new subscribers man.
I started watching this by chance today.. I think it’s mostly for men tbh but I still find it good.. heartbreaking but so proud of what these men did. My great grandpa fought in the war. If we ever had to fight a war like this again we’d be screwed.. our country has lost what we used to have
My Uncle who married my Aunt is Jewish and I remember meeting some of his relatives for the holidays in December when I was little and they still had their numbers tattooed on them. Was a moment I'll never forget seeing. My parents still have war stamps and the newspapers from the the surrender. My parents had me late in life so they were a bit older than my other parents friends.
Not what I expected. Very well said. Right on target. You won a subscriber! One of my favorite films. Can you imagine being an 18 or twenty year old infantryman and walking into this!? Changed forever. To all the Nazi excusers, if you fought on the side with a swastika you were a Nazi. Period
That type of black and white logic is exactly why the Nazi party came to to power making sweeping generalized statements just points to a lack of understanding. Were all the conscripted young men Nazis?Were the people conscripted from annexed territories nazis? Were the labours supplying the army nazis? Were the random farmer's trying to stop the Russians from raping their wives and daughters nazis? Were all the German army officials trying to oust Hitler nazis? While what happened in concentration camps is morally wrong to try and act like it was some unique act is comical each and every major nation has done similar and much worse acts. The Brits rounded up the borers into camps and systematically wiped them out compare the images of the two events and they're indistinguishable. The USA proclaimed that any infant with a drop of Japanese blood was tainted and had to be round up. Does that logic sound similar to anyone? War is a terrible horrible thing that no one should go through however its never black and white.
The American company IBM, through the company Dehomag, provided the Nazis with calculating machines for the registration and counting of Jews in concentration camps. Throughout the war, they provided calculators and support to the German authorities. They counted the prisoners and their executions and cremations. And Henry Ford: The relationship between Hitler and Ford was very deep and full of admiration from both sides. Ford, for example, is mentioned very favorably in Mein Kampf, and Heinrich Himmler wrote of him as one of "the most valuable, most important and funniest fighters." In Germany, Ford's anti-Semitic articles he wrote for The Daerborn Independent, a newspaper he founded himself, received a great response. Hitler had a large portrait of him over his desk and spoke of him as his great inspiration.
If you want to watch a VERY good series made about the second world war look up "World At War". It was a series made in the 70's or 80's and is regarded as one of the best if not the best factual accounts of that war ever made. I think the showing of programmes such as this should be mandatory viewing for all children from every nation that fought. It makes my blood boil to hear todays millennials calling anybody and everybody a Nazi as though the term was just some nasty word to call someone. They have lost or not gotten any idea of what the Nazis stood for and did. It cheapens what thousands died for.
This is the part of WW2 that I have to argue. My grandfather was in the arctic convoys, His ship was sunk and was left adrift for days until a U-boat picked him up, that same U-boat was the one that sunk his ship. They treated him with respect and the captain said that it would be murder to leave them behind. That same captain defected in the closing days of the war and was shocked by the holocaust but said he knew things like that happen just not on that scale, Many Germans were against Hitler and the third reigh, Anyone who spoke against them would suffer the same fate as those camps weren't just for Jews. But also for those deemed a threat to the Nazi cause.
People sometimes forget that evil exists. That there are those among us capable of terrible things and have no remorse about doing them. It is a horrific fact of life.
suncore598 the Final Solution was evil on an industrial level. How could any sane human being go along with it, baffles me. 6 million plus.... dead because of hate.
This whole series is brilliant but Episode 9 stands out in its own way. It is gut wrenching without the death of a major character and heartbreaking in it's portrayal of complete demoralization juxtaposed against the suffering of those in the camps and the willful ignorance of the German citizens. I've had friends whose children have reached the point in school where they study the Holocaust and I've recommended this episode to watch (also recommended the parents watch first). It's had a powerful impact on all of them. Thanks for the review vids!
Does anyone know why Nixon said "That's not Mozart, it's Beethoven." at the beginning of the episode? I know Mozart is Austrian and Beethoven is German but I don't really understand the message.
Thought about it a little more and was wondering if the German government outlawed Beethoven's work? So they're playing it in defiance or celebration now that Hitler was dead?
Just starting your feed, I love this series & am glad that your showing it! I know you're trying to be funny in your opening comments on Swifty's looking back about his enemy & you made a joke about a white man thinking he & a Nazi may have been friends. Jimmy I hope you can rewatch that interview & see what Swifty was actually saying. It really was quite insightful & deep. He was saying, had it not been for war, had we not been thrown at one another to kill eachother, had they met under different circumstances, he & his enemy may have actually had a lot in common. His enemy may have liked to fish, to hunt, to do things that Swifty liked to do. Under different circumstances, hell, they may have actually been good friends. He was not saying "I'm white & even though I & all of my friends are fighting & dying against the Nazi's, we are actually Nazi's" (as your joke suggests). He is saying " I don't hate my enemy, he tries to kill me, so I kill him, his Country threatens mine, so I kill him, yet I do not personally hate the man, I don't even know him". Please don't make it a White Men are Nazi's thing, because those men fought & died, those who lived came home w/emotional & physical wounds. They did this because their Nation called. That's what Men did then. My Grandfather's day, when men went to fight because it right, because it was just & they all came home w/scars & that generation didn't bitch about it. They lived w/it the best they could. I truly hope you're not poking fun at this incredible generation of men who gave everything to do what was needed, what was right, I hope you're not minimalizing their sacrifice. They gave everything they had to fight on the side of the just, not because they were white, not because they were black, not because they were Christian, or Jewish, but because Wrong was happening in the World & we were powerful enough to do something about it. Please don't make a joke of it. Most (not all of them by any stretch) were white. Does that make their deeds & the sacrifice of their lives for OUR country any less? I should hope not.
& now I've seen your entire review of the episode & now I feel bad for scolding you. When our boys found the concentration camp, your reaction was exactly the same as mine was when I first watched this. I can see you have a good heart
I see a lot of people commenting about their personal connections to the war, so I'll share mine too. I'm from Latvia and it was occupied by the Nazi forces from 1941 to 1945, before the Soviet troops liberated it and it became a part of the Soviet Union. My great-grandfather on my grandfather's side was a Soviet soldier who was drafted in 1940, but my great-grandfather on my grandmother's side was involuntarily drafted for the German forces when they occupied it in 1941, when he was only 16. They both killed people, neither was proud of it. Cut to about 20 years into the future when their kids married each other, those men became really good friends, despite the fact that during the war they could have easily ended up having to fight each other to the death - that conundrum never really bothered them, and they didn't even talk about war that much according to my dad. Just goes to shows that it's completely possible for people who were on the opposing sides during the war to become friends in the future. So, that's my two cents.
For anyone curious about which camp easy company liberated in this episode, it’s Kaufering. It was the largest of the Dachau sub camps In southern Germany. It was a slave labor camp with the inmates being forced to build rail lines for other camps. The huts were constructed by the inmates themselves and were purposely built low and into the ground to avoid detection from allied bombing raids. They said the guards left that morning in the episode, but other Dachau sub camp guards were not as lucky, as many officers and guards would be executed without trial by American forces. Sometimes the Americans would give the inmates guns and let them do what they wished to the captured guards. General George S Patton was the military governor of Bavaria, which Dachau and its subcamps fell under, and when he received reports of these executions, he squashed all charges against American troops. He gave zero fucks
The Kaufering complex was composed of 11 camps and Easy Company participated in the liberation of only one of those camps, *Kaufring IV.* And Kaufering IV was actually liberated by the 12th Armored Division on April 27, 1945 (with Colonel Edward Seiller taking control of the camp) and the 101st arrived the next day.
Not for this episode specifically but I've loved your ability to watch a film, and then break down how its made you feel, what you think brought you more into it etc. You've definitley earned a subscribe and hope you keep up your reviews. They're incredibly fun to watch and dope to see your breakdowns.
My father told me this opening was his favorite scene in the series. Beethoven is German; Mozart, like Hitler, is Austrian. This particular piece was written later in Beethoven's life, after he had gone deaf. What the Germans are saying by playing it is that they are reclaiming their culture, their heritage, and their nation from Hitler and are rejecting him forever.
Your comments regarding racism nailed it with one stroke. When I see soldiers that have fallen I don't see white soldiers black soldiers Asian soldiers or Hispanic soldiers, I see American service people that have fallen. I am of mixed race, Asian American and I have a Portuguese last name because I was adopted. Without boring people with details I would be dead if I had not been adopted in brought to this great country. I am forever grateful to America and to my parents. The only parents I've ever known a Portuguese American and an English woman. My view on racism is that it's an equal opportunity employer. The only requirements being ignorance and hate.
Band of Brothers is not just a tv show. It's a tv representation of what really happened, some small stuff was altered and changed, glossed over, condensed and merged, because it's a tv show and not a documentary, however the show was made based on the the non-fiction book by Stephen E Ambrose a historian, which wrote his book after interviews with people that were actually there, like many of the soldiers portrayed in this show. All of the big things and the medium things were as portrayed in this series. The only things that the show got wrong was about Blithe dying from his wounds, he actually survived and served in Korea and died in 67 while still being a active member of the military, all the other simply never heard of him again and had assumed he died. And the other part was the shows representation of Dyke, which while unliked by all the soldiers like the show represented wasn't as terrible at his job as portrayed.
I used to live in some apartments when I was younger with my family. The family upstairs were a couple and their son, were born Polish Jews, survivors of the holocaust. When the war was over they moved to California and lived most of their life there. We got to know them well, they invited us to their home, gave some delicious meals, etc and they explained how they got where they were. It was so sad. They both had lost their entire families. They were the only survivors. A few years after that, the wife passed away. Only those that knew them, like us and the others that lived in the apartment and their son and husband attended the funeral. A few years after that the father passed away. It's so sad that many of the survivors lost everyone, I mean everyone that meant something in their life because of some egotistical, selfish view of a few. Even now it's a shame racism and bigotry still hasn't been stamped out.
I took notice when you said there was no middle ground anymore. The ground is there we just choose not to engage each other anymore,at that point. The funny thing is when rival factions head out in opposite directions,they tend to run into each other,with common reasons.
When I saw this episode, I straight up crossed myself. Even though I knew it was a recreation...it's accuracy was horrifying to me that this could happen.
It broke the men, especially when Peconte can’t even look at the bodies. Mind you these men have been fighting and scene death for about 2 years straight.
For me the hardest part was thinking of those who died in WWII fighting, BEFORE they got to see this. To see the impact their lives were making in war. And the evil that was happening, but never got to know. Their sacrifice meant something so huge, none of us can comprehend. ---- and yes, a lot of German's knew. But it as you say, becomes easier to look the other way. Selfish, and frankly makes you complicit. And guys forcing the locals to work there, good for them. Hopefully it branded them the rest of their days. But many were believers of German excellency the rest of their lives. And all the hate and racism that came with it.
I'm just going to point out one good aspect that came from Germany around that time. There was a company in the nazi army that actually helped people get away, and where trying to undermine the regime. And at the end turned on the regime's SS fighting alongside allied troops during a siege at a castle. (Cant remember what it was called I'll update when I do)
The history channel did a documentary that goes into first hand accounts of the average German citizen during and after the the war. It's called the Third Reich Rise/Fall. This was probably one of the best narrated docuseries that they did and it basically went through how people felt at the time and that most of them didn't know the camps existed until the end.
All German soldiers were not Nazis. I am aware. Was making a point about the polar reactions of today.
Right.. I kinda hope that wouldn't have happened though.. (that he would have gotten hate for saying that..)
Just a correction you meant to say "not all German soldiers", as many obviously were nazis..
Thank you. A friend of mine was stuck in a Wehrmacht uniform and sent to the eastern front, as all youngsters of his age near the end. He made it through and had a long musical career. He was no Nazi.
Jimmy Macram dont worry we fully understand. thanks for reviewing this masterpiece!!!!
Jimmy Macram the world saw a great evil develop and came together to defeat it.
WW2 was the dark against the light, and thank god the light won.
It is good that you said this because that's what I came here to saym
My grandfather came from such a camp. He was so indebted to the soldiers who saved him he named my dad and his brothers after three of them and had me, my brothers, and my cousins named after them too.
My grandfather was a Wehrmacht Pilot (Luftwaffe). He was captured by the Russians in 1942 and was ~3 years held in a Gulag in Siberia. Before his conscription he was a postman/farmer in rural area in west Germany.. He never talked about WW2 at all and also not about the time in Siberia until his death in the early 2000s.
My father was a member of a Medical Battalion that was assigned to take care of the prisoners at one of the sub-camps near Dachau. It alway made him mad as hell when people would deny that any of this took place. He said several thousand prisoners would die each day from starvation and illness. until the Medical personnel could get them stabilized.
Ian Moone that’s amazing so you’re named after a soldier
John Mars oh wow so your uncles were German American soldiers that’s wild
What camp may I ask if it's not to personal.
I think that Band of Brothers was one of the few WWII dramas that really brought home the horrific reality of the Holocaust. There's no limit to man's inhumanity to man.
Schindler's List.
Derek Coe - I did say "one of the few" and not "the only."
Ron, read the link I gave. It explains what happened. British government in India tried to convince Churchill. Churchill did not listen. This thankless behavior was going on when 2.5 Indian soldiers were fighting alongside the Allies against Nazis, Italy and Japan.
Nothing changes the fact that Churchill was a piece of sh**. After India got independence, he predicted that India will disintegrate. He also predicted that Pakistan will become a strong nation. Look at the reality today. LOL. India is on its way to becoming a global power while Pakistan is counted amongst failed states like Zimbabwe.
Ron, you can parrot British propaganda all you want, the truth is out for everyone to see. The kind of lame logic I read about in that article you have presented to me, is exactly the kind of logic the British of today use to justify the horrors of colonialism and the damage it caused in the colonies.
I respect the Germans and the Japanese much more than I do the British because even though they committed such horrific acts, after they lost the WWII, they tried to reform their own societies and succeeded in doing so. The Germans and Japanese of today are still apologetic for the crimes of their forefathers. And even their forefathers have apologized profusely for all that they did.
Meanwhile the British still peddle the myth of Colonialism that you actually helped us by colonizing us. You are too proud to say sorry just because you won the world war, mostly due to your allies and colonial soldiers. You people will remain unapologetic even though you looted us for 200 years and then even refused to pay the war debt of WWI and WWII that you owed to us.
Your conceit shows when you give millions of pounds to India every year as aid, not as reparations.You give aid to a country that is about to overtake you in sheer economic heft? And then you come to India as tourists and the only places you go to are the slums. We have a term for that in India: poverty tourism. And then you go back to Britain rich with stories of how poor and dirty India is. The only reason you do this is so that you can feel superior to us. Fine. Do whatever you retched people want to do. Its already 2018. Current trends show that we are on track to eradicate poverty by 2030. Lets see how long you people can delude yourself.
Samuel Culper
The fucked thing is that the acts of the Nazis was in fact human! we have been doing this to ourselves since the first humans learnt to fight.
The dude carrying his father was speaking Serbo- Croatian. He said: "help him please, he's still alive".. killed me.
this kinda of details that often get overlooked are a trait of spilberg, in saving private ryan there ate 2 aparently german soldiers that were surrendering and get killed by american soldiers, they were polish , saying they werent germans.... it just makes the whole think go up to another level once you knew thet killed people that were forced to join the german army
@@gerardovelazquez724 No those were Czechs, one of them was yelling "Don't shoot I haven't killed anyone"
I have no idea how a Czech converted soldier made it all the way to Normandy, but either way, it was really surprising to hear some dude speak in Czech all of a sudden.
I’m so glad I didn’t know that when I first saw it. It would’ve destroyed me. Now, it just hurts.
@@gerardovelazquez724 Will never forget a story shared by a Friend and WW 2 Veteran Johnny Marino. He fought with the Second Infantry Division under Gen. Patton's 3rd Army. As they rolled into the town of Pulsing in Czhec. The saw Civilians chasing Germans with 2x4s, Tire Irons, and Baseball Bats. The Civilians wanted payback. For the Germans taking everything from them at the beginning of the War. General Patton gave the Order? Leave the Civilians Alone.
@@Neo2266. Indeed, you'd think anyone from the eastern european countries would probably be on the Eastern Front, but i guess it's not impossible
The "shame swap" (for want of a better term) between Nixon and the German General's wife was a really good bracket on the episode. First he breaks into her home looking for booze and commits a petty act of vandalism, giving her the moment of standing over him imperiously and shaming him with her gaze...and then later he has his moment where she can't look HIM in the eye. Very well done.
I thought that scene was extremely well done as well. Especially the part where the Dog is barking and he looks at the dog thinking about the Wife that just divorced him , taking his Dog with her.
I read a comment on a youtube video that the actors were not let to see the set before they were actually shooting the camp scene. So the reactions and expressions were somehow genuine.
Yeah, they did not get to see the set before the filming, so it was a first time experience to them
@M 40 Oh wow, this hit hard. Thanks for sharing this.
Imagine just going through Bastogne, and then some fresh recruit comes in all hungry, saying "where's the action at?" Frank blowing up at him was very cathartic.
Exactly, this is just one occurrence but frank whether he did this or not in real life, he seen hoobler die, heard about guarnere, toye, muck, penkala, and some melt wants to fight, I don’t fault frank
@@rhysevans4253 and gets shot in the ass for some dumbass replacement to talk about "action"
I remember reading they used terminal cancer patients as some of the extras for the camp scene, because it was the only way to get close to how the prisoners looked at the time.
I think I read that somewhere, too, but even with makeup, they can only get close. Those people really looked like the old phrase 'skin and bones'.
I'm not sure about that. You might be thinking of amputees who played soldiers with severe injuries (that guy getting his leg blown off in Carentan in episode 3, for instance). I can't believe any doctor would allow his terminally ill patient to leave a hospital for several days of filming...an attendant and meds would always have to be at the ready. Of course, it was filmed in England so who knows what's allowed in their health care system. In reality it's not at all hard to find extras who are naturally thin and with makeup you can do some amazing things. Shave their heads, put comparatively baggy clothing on them to emphasize the thinness, and you tell them to suck in their gut for about 30 seconds. Plus some tinting and CGI work on the film can do wonders to make one look emaciated.
It's how my dad looked in final days of fighting cancer.
There are pictures of people in the camps that you don't see very often if you don't study this history. There are pictures of "people" that were alive when the photos were taken but did not survive.
You can't tell if they are male or female.
Starvation means your body literally begins to consume itself.
@@Farbar1955 Yes, there where terminal ill patient with end stage cancer. It is not the doctors buissnes to decide what poeple have to do with there life. And the patients, said, this part of history is so importent, we do volunteer, that all can see how horrible the camps are (and be).
And what is the porpus to stay in the hospitel? wait to die? In europe a lot of dying people in europe leave the hispotal, to day at home, in a special house ore in nature.
Thanks for sticking it out. I don't want to overstate the matter, but I think this is one of those series that works on all of the usual levels, but in addition to this, I think it gives us an emotional understanding of the events that were so pivotal in our recent history. I think watching it really does make us... broader, deeper people.
Few bits of trivia for this episode:
1. In most interviews of the show, the reaction the actors had the first time they came upon the camp set, none were told of it and the scenes used in the episode were the genuine reaction when they first saw it.
2. The actors playing the camps survivors, were actually mostly cancer patients. The team had talks with many of them and when they heard what scene they were to be in they could none refused.
3. The reason we see Lebgot break down even more after telling the men to head back into the camp - which is already a heartbreaking thing to do - but he was also Jewish. And doing that to his own people he was damn brave.
4. The date they have for Hitlers death is 3 months early. Dude was still happily sitting around in his bunker.
Wasn’t till the Soviets were pretty much ontop of the Reich chancellory that he decided to pop himself.
Leibgott wasn't actually Jewish. I think he was actually Catholic. But if I remember correctly irl he never corrected any of his fellow soldiers that he wasn't Jewish, and so they all assumed he was, until it came up in later research that he actually wasn't.
Greg S
Oh, thanks for the knowledge.
Surprised he never said, but in truth it probably didn’t come up much and in the whole spectrum of things it didn’t really matter either. So I can see why
@@gregs4748 From what I've read, the Liebgott family came to America because of the rising Nazism in Germany. Anti-Semitism was fairly common in America at the time, so the family converted to Roman Catholicism on arrival. Liebgott was ethnically Jewish, and only a generation or two at most from being in that camp himself.
Nope Liebgott wasnt jewish.
From an interview with Liebgotts and the actor...Liebgotts family was Jewish but "converted" to Catholicism while they were still in Europe to avoid persecution....so he was both....unless I understood that wrong...
The scene with Liebgott having to tell all those desperate prisoners that they were going to be locked up again tore a piece of my soul out...just heartbreaking.
And you can tell it’s worst for him because these are his people....
we Soldiers are portrayed as being tough as nails all the time, always ready for the next fight. but in the end, we're human just like everyone else. we see things, do things, and feel things most people could never truly understand.
@@mickey245 The irony is IRL he apparently wasn't a practicing Jew and later converted to Catholic.
I went to Dachau when I was 16. That's a feeling that will never leave you.
Great video, it strikes me as funny how you and Juliette (the only other youtuber with a band of brothers reaction series) had the exact same reaction to that shot of the camp coming through the trees. The second it clicks you both just say "Oh shit..." In truth there aren't too many ways to react to something of that magnitude.
Yeah, she streamed her reaction live, and you could just see the horror dawning on her face was she realized what it was they had found.
There is also Ashtyn&Jon2.0. So there is one with a Male- one with a Female- and one with both.
Unfortunately, a search for band of brothers on their page only returns videos for 'All the interviews' and 'Ronald spiers'. I don't see any reactions to the show itself. :(
Yuuup. At that moment I knew I was in for a bad time.
@AnonaMousetookmaname Thanks! Will be back soon, love.
The shot with Liebgott crying always gets me.
Yeah. Just thinking he’s jewish and he’s seeing what was done to his people... I get him.. I’m jewish too it gets me everytime
@@mickey245 Exactly what makes it so powerful. Especially because Liebgott has shown himself to be this tough as nails soldier who doesn’t take anyone’s shit. To see him break down like that...man.
we Soldiers are portrayed as being tough as nails all the time, always ready for the next fight. but in the end, we're human just like everyone else. we see things, do things, and feel things most people could never truly understand.
@@jamesdick2580 Oh I understand where you're coming from. I'm just saying...in the show, you never really see Liebgott break down like that until now. It was just a powerful scene to me, seeing someone so headstrong and mentally stable breaking down and crying like that.
“ I can’t tell them that, sir.” The look on his face.
Also when he’s questioning the one inmate.
“ _Juden. Juden._”
Liebgott gulps.
“Jews. Sir.”
Please do a react series on The Pacific
Agreed, afaik mostly the same team did BoB, The Pacific, and Generation Kill and quite honestly, it's worth watching all three especially if you already have watched one of them. They all have a similar style while still portraying the conflicts perfectly. BoB shows the horrors of a true war in Europe, The Pacific shows the hellish slog that is the island hopping of The Pacific Campaign during WW2, and Generation Kill shows the modern struggles of US soldiers in the middle east, during the Invasion of Iraq in 2003
Generation Kill was made by David Simon (of The Wire fame), if I recall correctly while The Pacific is made by the same people behind Band of Brothers. But they're both excellent shows that would be wonderful follow ups to BoB!
I remember Generation Kill had some different people but afaik the actual production crew was the same. Could be wrong but I swore there was a large portion of people who worked on BoB and Pacific who worked on GK as well
My father was a WW2 veteran. When he returned home, some of his own family tried to tell him that he didn't see what he thought he saw. Later, when he had us (his children), he told us this story and how he saw things like this with his own eyes. He told us it was real, it happened, and to never forget. He did a good job concealing it, but the horror of the war was with him until he passed. The men and women who fought this war and liberated those camps carried a heavy burden for us.
It was the guy at 8:53 that got me. He was hugging the soldiers out of the sheer sense of relief that his hell was over. I couldn’t imagine what it took to survive that long and seeing what he had seen. I think the word evil gets thrown around too often nowadays but what happened in those camps was literal evil.
That scene always gets me as well.
"The Only thing Necessary for the Triumph of Evil is when Good Men do nothing."
Amen
Just a random statement about the soldier interview and commentary. Not all Germans were Nazis. The Nazis were the political party ruling over the Third Reich. He most likely was speaking about the (a) German soldier.
I am aware. 'twas making a point.
Jimmy Macram - not directed at you good sir. Was for the discussion board/comments. It is a sad but true reality that many people are not very knowledgeable about history in general. You are obviously not one of those people.
Heard you, my brother
@J holy shit! I've seen that name before in a book i have that i found many years ago, has the names of all the major people in Nazi Germany, i gotta look that name up again, sucks how that went down, shows how truly screwed up that whole situation was, Rommel and your great uncle Alfred Gause were serving their country in this war and Hitler being the incompetent dipshit he really was had that happen, that's why when that SS officer tried to rally those prisoners that my great uncle was in charge of they wanted no part of it or him! they had probably experienced that kind of crap from those SS pricks too
You should look up what the oath was for that era's Wehrmacht. They weren't strong enough to stand up to Hitler, only to those who would. I will say you should look up Wilhelm Canaris though. Pay particular attention to what made him flip his opinion of the Nazi party. Nevermind the garbage like the Luftwaffe strafing civilian refugee lines, bombing an unarmed town for practice etc. Nevermind the journals and messages that joke about disappearing into concentration camps for acting up and other things.
4:16 "OH SHIT!" That is when the realization sets in.
That look at @3:02 is one of my favorite moments in the series. You can see in just one expression so much pent up anger but also regret at taking out on O'Keefe.
Fun fact: James Madio, who plays Perconte, is from my neighborhood in NYC and one of my buddies knows his brother.
As tragic as this episode is it's the best in the series and one of the best I've ever seen on TV. The episode starts up happy-the soldiers are shagging the women, joking and singing. Then they find the camp out of nowhere and everything becomes gloomy and dark and no one even smiles for the rest of the episode. The writing and acting is all top notch-especially the camp scene.
5:40 Tom Hardy nervously hugging and consoling the weeping Jewish survivor had my eyes watering up all over again.
A scene that always gets me is when Liebgot is asking one of the camp prisoners who they are, he says "Juden". Liebgot translates, "Jews".
That's the answer to the episode question, "why we fight".
My great uncle was in the 101st 506 PIR. He survived D-Day, Carentan, Bastogan, and market garden. But the camps is what broke him. One night maybe a couple weeks before he died, he just started talking to me about it. Afterwards I finally understood why he was the way he was. It gave me nightmares, cant imagine what it did to him. And to think theres people today that deny it ever happened.
This episode deserved a much longer video, in fact all of them did!
Long time fan man, I was looking forward to seeing you watch this episode. As people have pointed out, some of the prisoners were real terminal cancer patients. I love the respect for this horrible situation that the show put into this.
Also just an observation, future Magneto at a concentration camp here, kinda just made that connection
@Ron Lewenberg great comment, but how is this a response to Raven's above statement?
Ron Lewenberg Makes sense. I thought that was probably the case. Your comment was well thought out so I thought it was either misplaced or I had missed something 😊
Not ashamed to admit that I cried like a baby when I saw this episode.
That old feller the video starts out with is my cousin Shifty. He was a good man and lived a long, fruitful life. RIP cousin.
What Shifty Powers was meaning in the beginning was that them as a German not as a Nazi but because of the circumstances they was enemies.
One thing that made the concentration camp scene rough was when they had Joseph Liebgott translating and he found out they was Jews because he was also a Jew. That's why he was so upset when he had to tell them they have to keep them in the camp so they can keep an eye on their food, water, an medicine intake.
Some movies I suggest that is touching stories about the concentration camps during WWII you should watch the movies Schindler's List (1993), Anne Frank (2001), and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008).
The world in the last 100 years.
Yes, the Holocaust, one of the most horrific things. Among many.
Pol Pot.
Vietnam
Darfur.
Idi Amin.
Chinese Nationalist Movement.
NorKor.
and on and on.
Thank you for reflecting on this in a meaningful way.
I'm a veteran of Iraq. I have lost brothers due to suicide and death and yet I still don't hate anyone. I went to the JCC (Jewish Community Center) for daycare as a child so I can speak Hebrew also (and Japanese-- taught myself). I'm American though so my native language is English. My wife is Thai. I hope you know that this is based on real life and... war is hell. It really is.
5:00 You know just how truly bad it must have been when a Medic can barely take it
Many battle hardened troops who weren’t affected by much, broke down in tears upon seeing the condition of the people in the concentration camps. That is why many of the SS were shown no mercy when engaged.
I'm an Infantry Veteran. I can honestly say, we don't want war. We hate war. But if it comes, let it be me.
amen to that, Brother.
3:27 Interesting enough. Both Ford and General Motors at the time had subsidiaries in Germany before the war began. Both of them sort of lost control of their German factories once the Nazi party took over but Ford, interesting enough, hinted that he was anti-semitic and a Nazi sympathizer, going so far as firing a Jewish manager and also being awarded a metal from the Nazi regime themselves. General Motors was quick to help with the Allied war support but Ford was reluctant once fighting began. But once Pearl Harbor was hit all that changed and both supported the Allies from then on.
Great idea for a video!
Every year around Christmastime I watch Band of Brothers...it's kind of a tradition at this point. The most emotionally powerful TV series / miniseries I've ever seen.
thank you for doing this reaction; I watched them all(except the 1st and will watch 10 after this); I was born in Ukraine and my great-grandfather went to Poland on a business trip during the week the German Blitzkrieg happened and we never heard from him again; my grandma always used to tell me that story; my great-grandmother died when I was 4, I was a naïve kid and never talked to her but really regret that and wish I had... on my mothers side most of her family died in ww2, so as part polish/Jewish I really appreciate the Americans help and perhaps am alive today because of their heroism and love this show bc it portrays the other side of the war and know their fight was the fight my family was fighting for survival in Ukraine and know Americans gave us the breathing room to survive... you should also do reaction to "the defiance", literally how my fathers family survived in the forests of Ukraine and I visited some of the bunkers as a kid, they are all over the place in Ukraine and "Enemy at the gates", another great moving from the soviet side... you know growing up you hear all the stories and just kind of take it for granted... and then growing up in America after 10 and then seeing all this stuff on video later in life it really hits hard remembering what my grandmother was telling me of my families survival and realizing how lucky I am to even be alive...
Edit: my mothers great-grandparents died at auswitsh… so this episode hits really hard... the crazy part is the survivors looks way worse, you just couldn't get people to that level because it would be a death hazard... in 98 they didn't have the CGI technology to portray how bad the survivors actually looked...
I'm sorry for your loss
"Why We Fight" has more death in it then all the other episodes combined and there are only three shots fired. It was the only part of the story that none of the veterans would talk about. They said things like "that's close enough" after they watched it.
This episode had me crying for a looong while. The scene really hit me in the feels
Band of brothers is truly the best depiction of war and a company of men fighting with in it. Why we fight just hits home to exactly why taking the fight to the Germans was so massively important.
My father was a Glider Trooper in the 17th Airborne that participated in Operation Varsity (the operation Nixon described to Winters when Winters informed him of his demotion). His unit also stumbled across a death camp in Germany towards the end of the War in April 1945. He wouldn't even speak of what he saw other than to say it was the saddest and ugliest thing he's ever seen. God bless the men of the Greatest Generation.
Great reaction Jimmy!
The camp they discovered was probably one of the sub camps of Dachau. If you will look for photos, you will also find the exact scene with the train.
All in all, the show did amazing in picking those little details. I think that it's the best portrayal so far on films.
And yes, in concentration camps were also political prisoners, all of them besides the Jews. That is why he mention that there are Polish there too.
But then, photos can't tell you the full story. When you listen and read about it, you discover how demented humans can be.
One more episode to go... I'm sad that it's over, but then there is the Pacific. I hope you'll watch it next.
2:47 Regarding this part, well the invasion to Germany wasn't smooth, there were still many very extreme battles. Especially trying to break through the Siegfried Line. Tough fights in many town, many Allies soldiers died. And that is after the battle of the bulge . So right now, everyone just want to be over it, because the end of the war is so close.
Jimmy, I think that your review and comments are on point. I have watched this series more times than I can count so to speak. I think that this series really brought thing into perspective although it was much worst then portrayed but it got it's point across. Thank you for taking the time to review this series and for giving these few men the credit and respect they deserve. They are truly the greatest generation.
I’m glad to see you watch this show. It’s hard to believe, but silence is a form of complicity. The German people allowed Hitler to rise to power so they could revel in their nationalism. We cannot forget.
The show depicted the reality well enough "so that you could almost smell it."
Well put. Good reaction. Thanks.
Next one is easier, got some feel good moments.
I got the opportunity to visit the Dachau concentration camp near Munich in 1979. Walking along the manicured grounds where the prisoner barracks were was surreal...to think of the horrors that happened there only 34 years earlier I actually started to cry. Visitors and tourists in an area where the worst of mankind had been on display and at the same time hidden from the world for several years. It was the strangest thing and here it is, now 2018, and I haven't forgotten that feeling.
The most emotional episode of the entire show, because it really did happen.
Your summing up at the end was spot on, especially your observation how some people today deny the events happened. Perhaps they can't face the truth of what people are capable of doing to each other.
“...moral nuance...” I agree!! To date, for me, Band Of Brothers is THE ultimate tribute to WWII. We NEED to be “reminded”....evil DOES exist and educating and thinking for ourselves is imperative!!
I really hope that you do Generation Kill. It's one of the funniest and, from all accounts, most accurate depictions of modern day soldiers and warfare. In my opinion it is the third part of the "HBO War Trilogy."
Thanks for doing this episode by episode commentary. FYI - the camp inmates were people recruited from hospitals and those in chemotherapy for cancer and who were truly thin, ill, weakened, etc. 😔
Love that you are watching this. I'm now watching your comments on game of thrones. This was the 1st big series from hbo that I recall made an impression on television.
0:39 Many german soldiers were not nazis at all (in the Wehrmacht (the general army), not talking about the SS), as conscription became mandatory you had to enlist when you reached conscription age regardless of your beliefs (or be shot for cowardice/desertion), and in the case of german officers, many of them (especially higher officers and generals) were old school military professionals who were inherently anti-nazi and hated them very much.. The divide between the armed forces and the nazi party was sometimes so great that in the german navy there were even places where you couldn't get in if you were a nazi party member..
No bro they honestly were not all like that.. Many obviously were indoctrinated with all the nazi craziness (among the common ground troops it was probably the majority of them) but those germans who belonged to the minority that remained sane and peace loving had to go on and serve in the military all the same.. and among the commanders and the officers the common mentality was usually that of military honor and fair fighting, not nazi hatred and bigotry.. (and as I mentioned before most of the german high command opposed the nazi party..) I'm an Israeli from a jewish family and I'll be the first to say how insane the nazis were, but we must never forget that among all that craziness there were always those germans who remained humans, and not only didn't partake in the insanity but even resisted bravely against the evil dictatorship, at the risk and often at the price of their own lives..
That is true.. throughout most of the war the cowards of the SS usually stayed in the captured territories and killed civilians rather than fight on the front lines.. it's only when the end was near that they would all be sent to actual fighting against actual armies..
@@benporter3392 nope. Not all were Nazis. Do some research uneducated dude
"That almost got me."
Gets me every time and I watch BoB every June
When they were filming...the actors never got to see the concentration camp site before...so it was almost a first-take on it. A natural reaction.
Yeah, this one and episode 7 , Breaking point, with Joe Toy and Guarnierre were probably the 2 hardest, though I think 7 is probably also the best. It's hard going through these, but when you realize these are events that happened you almost feel obliged to sit and watch and get a feel of what these men went through. Getting to episode 10 is worth it though.
“To the last man! To the last plane! We fight!
WE FIGHT! We fight! WE FIGHT! We fight! WE FIGHT!
Loved Red Tails
Forgot to the last bullet before the plane part but yea
Or after it maybe
"It´s easier to think people are liars, rather than they´re evil..."
What a comment. Right on point... sadly.
This show is simply brutal and maybe we are "seeing" just a minimum % of what really happened...
Fckn wars man.
Awesome reaction compadre...
13:21 Desensitized?; Demoralized?; Disheartened?;
All of the above.
Everything in that scene was tragic & horrible, but when they were told that they needed to put them back inside the fences (for their own health & safety, of course), I sobbed. Logically, I knew it was the best for them, but it hurt my heart so much, that it had to come down to that decision.
Thanks Jimmy. Good job keeping it together. The finale of this series has it's feel good moments. 😊❤️
Watch the pacific next!
I kinda wish more people saw Band Of Brothers. More specifically that episode because I'd personally like for people to see what REAL hatred and racism looks like. My ancestors suffered through that and when people react they way you did, I think that it's nice people can actually understand and see what real horror is and appreciate the life they have. Thank you for this video and you earned a new subscribers man.
Never had a mini-series hit so hard. This Episode and then when Winters is talking about how he was no hero, but served with them.
I cry every time I watch this... Great reaction!
The Pacific is also incredible and I hope you get a chance to review it as well.
I started watching this by chance today.. I think it’s mostly for men tbh but I still find it good.. heartbreaking but so proud of what these men did. My great grandpa fought in the war. If we ever had to fight a war like this again we’d be screwed.. our country has lost what we used to have
My Uncle who married my Aunt is Jewish and I remember meeting some of his relatives for the holidays in December when I was little and they still had their numbers tattooed on them. Was a moment I'll never forget seeing. My parents still have war stamps and the newspapers from the the surrender. My parents had me late in life so they were a bit older than my other parents friends.
Not what I expected. Very well said. Right on target. You won a subscriber! One of my favorite films. Can you imagine being an 18 or twenty year old infantryman and walking into this!? Changed forever. To all the Nazi excusers, if you fought on the side with a swastika you were a Nazi. Period
That type of black and white logic is exactly why the Nazi party came to to power making sweeping generalized statements just points to a lack of understanding. Were all the conscripted young men Nazis?Were the people conscripted from annexed territories nazis? Were the labours supplying the army nazis? Were the random farmer's trying to stop the Russians from raping their wives and daughters nazis? Were all the German army officials trying to oust Hitler nazis? While what happened in concentration camps is morally wrong to try and act like it was some unique act is comical each and every major nation has done similar and much worse acts.
The Brits rounded up the borers into camps and systematically wiped them out compare the images of the two events and they're indistinguishable. The USA proclaimed that any infant with a drop of Japanese blood was tainted and had to be round up. Does that logic sound similar to anyone? War is a terrible horrible thing that no one should go through however its never black and white.
The American company IBM, through the company Dehomag, provided the Nazis with calculating machines for the registration and counting of Jews in concentration camps. Throughout the war, they provided calculators and support to the German authorities. They counted the prisoners and their executions and cremations.
And Henry Ford:
The relationship between Hitler and Ford was very deep and full of admiration from both sides. Ford, for example, is mentioned very favorably in Mein Kampf, and Heinrich Himmler wrote of him as one of "the most valuable, most important and funniest fighters." In Germany, Ford's anti-Semitic articles he wrote for The Daerborn Independent, a newspaper he founded himself, received a great response. Hitler had a large portrait of him over his desk and spoke of him as his great inspiration.
Bro. You are exactly the right kind of introspective. Great videos! I'll keep on watching.
If you want to watch a VERY good series made about the second world war look up "World At War". It was a series made in the 70's or 80's and is regarded as one of the best if not the best factual accounts of that war ever made.
I think the showing of programmes such as this should be mandatory viewing for all children from every nation that fought. It makes my blood boil to hear todays millennials calling anybody and everybody a Nazi as though the term was just some nasty word to call someone. They have lost or not gotten any idea of what the Nazis stood for and did. It cheapens what thousands died for.
Ike's move to make the townsfolk tour the camps and clean up was a masterstroke and a boss move.
"Deny THIS shit, motherfuckers."
4:17-Yup, that's the universal response for once you know what's happening.
That's the episode you see once.
You can watch it a hundres times but you never have that look on your face again. I remember that feeling.
what you cant experience is in this episode is that i speak language that are saying at 5:30 and it gives even bigger impact to the scene
This is the part of WW2 that I have to argue. My grandfather was in the arctic convoys, His ship was sunk and was left adrift for days until a U-boat picked him up, that same U-boat was the one that sunk his ship. They treated him with respect and the captain said that it would be murder to leave them behind. That same captain defected in the closing days of the war and was shocked by the holocaust but said he knew things like that happen just not on that scale, Many Germans were against Hitler and the third reigh, Anyone who spoke against them would suffer the same fate as those camps weren't just for Jews. But also for those deemed a threat to the Nazi cause.
I love that this episode is named "why we fight". ❤
People sometimes forget that evil exists. That there are those among us capable of terrible things and have no remorse about doing them. It is a horrific fact of life.
suncore598 the Final Solution was evil on an industrial level.
How could any sane human being go along with it, baffles me.
6 million plus.... dead because of hate.
This whole series is brilliant but Episode 9 stands out in its own way. It is gut wrenching without the death of a major character and heartbreaking in it's portrayal of complete demoralization juxtaposed against the suffering of those in the camps and the willful ignorance of the German citizens.
I've had friends whose children have reached the point in school where they study the Holocaust and I've recommended this episode to watch (also recommended the parents watch first). It's had a powerful impact on all of them.
Thanks for the review vids!
Does anyone know why Nixon said "That's not Mozart, it's Beethoven." at the beginning of the episode? I know Mozart is Austrian and Beethoven is German but I don't really understand the message.
Thought about it a little more and was wondering if the German government outlawed Beethoven's work? So they're playing it in defiance or celebration now that Hitler was dead?
Just starting your feed, I love this series & am glad that your showing it! I know you're trying to be funny in your opening comments on Swifty's looking back about his enemy & you made a joke about a white man thinking he & a Nazi may have been friends. Jimmy I hope you can rewatch that interview & see what Swifty was actually saying. It really was quite insightful & deep. He was saying, had it not been for war, had we not been thrown at one another to kill eachother, had they met under different circumstances, he & his enemy may have actually had a lot in common. His enemy may have liked to fish, to hunt, to do things that Swifty liked to do. Under different circumstances, hell, they may have actually been good friends. He was not saying "I'm white & even though I & all of my friends are fighting & dying against the Nazi's, we are actually Nazi's" (as your joke suggests). He is saying " I don't hate my enemy, he tries to kill me, so I kill him, his Country threatens mine, so I kill him, yet I do not personally hate the man, I don't even know him". Please don't make it a White Men are Nazi's thing, because those men fought & died, those who lived came home w/emotional & physical wounds. They did this because their Nation called. That's what Men did then. My Grandfather's day, when men went to fight because it right, because it was just & they all came home w/scars & that generation didn't bitch about it. They lived w/it the best they could. I truly hope you're not poking fun at this incredible generation of men who gave everything to do what was needed, what was right, I hope you're not minimalizing their sacrifice. They gave everything they had to fight on the side of the just, not because they were white, not because they were black, not because they were Christian, or Jewish, but because Wrong was happening in the World & we were powerful enough to do something about it. Please don't make a joke of it. Most (not all of them by any stretch) were white. Does that make their deeds & the sacrifice of their lives for OUR country any less? I should hope not.
& now I've seen your entire review of the episode & now I feel bad for scolding you. When our boys found the concentration camp, your reaction was exactly the same as mine was when I first watched this. I can see you have a good heart
I see a lot of people commenting about their personal connections to the war, so I'll share mine too. I'm from Latvia and it was occupied by the Nazi forces from 1941 to 1945, before the Soviet troops liberated it and it became a part of the Soviet Union. My great-grandfather on my grandfather's side was a Soviet soldier who was drafted in 1940, but my great-grandfather on my grandmother's side was involuntarily drafted for the German forces when they occupied it in 1941, when he was only 16. They both killed people, neither was proud of it. Cut to about 20 years into the future when their kids married each other, those men became really good friends, despite the fact that during the war they could have easily ended up having to fight each other to the death - that conundrum never really bothered them, and they didn't even talk about war that much according to my dad. Just goes to shows that it's completely possible for people who were on the opposing sides during the war to become friends in the future. So, that's my two cents.
For anyone curious about which camp easy company liberated in this episode, it’s Kaufering. It was the largest of the Dachau sub camps In southern Germany. It was a slave labor camp with the inmates being forced to build rail lines for other camps. The huts were constructed by the inmates themselves and were purposely built low and into the ground to avoid detection from allied bombing raids. They said the guards left that morning in the episode, but other Dachau sub camp guards were not as lucky, as many officers and guards would be executed without trial by American forces. Sometimes the Americans would give the inmates guns and let them do what they wished to the captured guards. General George S Patton was the military governor of Bavaria, which Dachau and its subcamps fell under, and when he received reports of these executions, he squashed all charges against American troops. He gave zero fucks
The Kaufering complex was composed of 11 camps and Easy Company participated in the liberation of only one of those camps, *Kaufring IV.* And Kaufering IV was actually liberated by the 12th Armored Division on April 27, 1945 (with Colonel Edward Seiller taking control of the camp) and the 101st arrived the next day.
Not for this episode specifically but I've loved your ability to watch a film, and then break down how its made you feel, what you think brought you more into it etc. You've definitley earned a subscribe and hope you keep up your reviews. They're incredibly fun to watch and dope to see your breakdowns.
My father told me this opening was his favorite scene in the series. Beethoven is German; Mozart, like Hitler, is Austrian. This particular piece was written later in Beethoven's life, after he had gone deaf. What the Germans are saying by playing it is that they are reclaiming their culture, their heritage, and their nation from Hitler and are rejecting him forever.
My dad was in a company of black soldiers that liberated a camp in Poland it is something he never forgot
Your comments regarding racism nailed it with one stroke. When I see soldiers that have fallen I don't see white soldiers black soldiers Asian soldiers or Hispanic soldiers, I see American service people that have fallen. I am of mixed race, Asian American and I have a Portuguese last name because I was adopted. Without boring people with details I would be dead if I had not been adopted in brought to this great country. I am forever grateful to America and to my parents. The only parents I've ever known a Portuguese American and an English woman. My view on racism is that it's an equal opportunity employer. The only requirements being ignorance and hate.
I was crying and weeping of the scene of the americans entering the camp.
It’s easier to believe people are liars than that they’re evil.
What a line, man.
Band of Brothers is not just a tv show. It's a tv representation of what really happened, some small stuff was altered and changed, glossed over, condensed and merged, because it's a tv show and not a documentary, however the show was made based on the the non-fiction book by Stephen E Ambrose a historian, which wrote his book after interviews with people that were actually there, like many of the soldiers portrayed in this show. All of the big things and the medium things were as portrayed in this series.
The only things that the show got wrong was about Blithe dying from his wounds, he actually survived and served in Korea and died in 67 while still being a active member of the military, all the other simply never heard of him again and had assumed he died. And the other part was the shows representation of Dyke, which while unliked by all the soldiers like the show represented wasn't as terrible at his job as portrayed.
The medic at 5:04 is he covering his nose or has he already started crying? And if so, was that in the script or couldn't the actor hold it in?
Probably holding his nose.
I used to live in some apartments when I was younger with my family. The family upstairs were a couple and their son, were born Polish Jews, survivors of the holocaust. When the war was over they moved to California and lived most of their life there. We got to know them well, they invited us to their home, gave some delicious meals, etc and they explained how they got where they were. It was so sad. They both had lost their entire families. They were the only survivors. A few years after that, the wife passed away. Only those that knew them, like us and the others that lived in the apartment and their son and husband attended the funeral. A few years after that the father passed away. It's so sad that many of the survivors lost everyone, I mean everyone that meant something in their life because of some egotistical, selfish view of a few. Even now it's a shame racism and bigotry still hasn't been stamped out.
Really well put, "it's easier to believe people are liars than believe that they're evil.".
I took notice when you said there was no middle ground anymore. The ground is there we just choose not to engage each other anymore,at that point. The funny thing is when rival factions head out in opposite directions,they tend to run into each other,with common reasons.
Thanks for showing this!! The young people need to know.
When I saw this episode, I straight up crossed myself. Even though I knew it was a recreation...it's accuracy was horrifying to me that this could happen.
It broke the men, especially when Peconte can’t even look at the bodies. Mind you these men have been fighting and scene death for about 2 years straight.
For me the hardest part was thinking of those who died in WWII fighting, BEFORE they got to see this. To see the impact their lives were making in war. And the evil that was happening, but never got to know. Their sacrifice meant something so huge, none of us can comprehend. ---- and yes, a lot of German's knew. But it as you say, becomes easier to look the other way. Selfish, and frankly makes you complicit. And guys forcing the locals to work there, good for them. Hopefully it branded them the rest of their days. But many were believers of German excellency the rest of their lives. And all the hate and racism that came with it.
I'm just going to point out one good aspect that came from Germany around that time.
There was a company in the nazi army that actually helped people get away, and where trying to undermine the regime. And at the end turned on the regime's SS fighting alongside allied troops during a siege at a castle. (Cant remember what it was called I'll update when I do)
I can't remember the name of the story either, but it was a great tale of former enemies coming together to fight a greater enemy.
@@somebloke3869 The Battle for Castle Itter 1945. And it was the German Wehrmacht(?)
@@littlemang69 yep that's the one. Though the so dude died.
yeah i believe he got shot by a sniper, his also Honoured as a Hero in Austria.
ruclips.net/video/-0UwLhziocc/видео.html
The history channel did a documentary that goes into first hand accounts of the average German citizen during and after the the war. It's called the Third Reich Rise/Fall. This was probably one of the best narrated docuseries that they did and it basically went through how people felt at the time and that most of them didn't know the camps existed until the end.
Let me quote Webster on this. Bullshit.