Off all of the 5 was Friedhelm the best one. A man of principles. He was not even a nazi, he just became the Monster he needed to be in order to survive. I love this guy!
He didnt even want to survive. He wanted to die rather than be part of it but later he just resigned on morality and went with it. Then he surely wanted to die.
Lyudmila Graph yeh I never really understood why he did it. I can't work out whether he did it for the kids or just because he couldn't live with himself
@@puchatekkubus2660 That is not true. He was soldier like others ( Russians couldn't know about his collaboration with SS officer). If he thought they would be killed, he would not let the kids to get into captivity, would he? Others are right. I think, he wanted to live (signs of his frustration, when one of kids shoots and show Russians their position), but he was affraid, that kids would play heroes and got themselves killed. So he sacrificed himself, to show kids, what war is. And maybe to redeem his deeds. His death is very touching
@@johnboy2349 There's this thing called character development, it's a big reason of why we watch movies and read books. Maybe you just switch your brain off during movies, provided you have one?
Friedhelm was a complete antipode of his brother: very tied to reasoning and morals. Across the war, they switched places. Wilhelm started to doubt what are the real reasons of war, more thinking about how right was his brother. Friedhelm stopped doubting at all. He became a mechanical hand of the army. However, even after hanging people and shooting lots of enemies, he remained a human and saved his Jewish friend.
@@fergydatruth8742 Well the Opportunity of meeting would be unlikely though that doesn't negate the fact that most were conscripted. This Series even shows how he was the omly one in his squad not wsnting to volunteer while the rest fanatically or in their mind heroically wanted to. In Germany, doing your part is highly respected and not doing it frowned upon. You dont let your comrades do the dirty work by themselves, and defying an order means penal battallion, so where's the point.
@@kmit9191 the point is in real life he would’ve most likely killed his long time Jewish friend if they ran into each other like that. It’s a German show so I get why they are portraying it like that. But yea super unrealistic that a Wehrmacht soldier would shoot his superior to save a Jew. Just sayin
@@kmit9191 like the fact that both Friedhelm and Wilhelm would have been disobeying leaders is beyond unrealistic for the Wehrmacht. It’s a post war show portraying Germans as regular people as well, but unfortunately in real life the Germans were extremely stubborn in their belief of being the superior race, and the guy who killed the little girl definitely would not have apologized for example. The eastern front was straight up a murder campaign against the Russians that would not have spared any adult so for Friedhelm to have that kind of humanity towards the end was unlikely. The fact that they would’ve been reluctant to kill the Russian prisoners is another example, completely biased and unrealistic. The show did not show the gang culture of the mechanized army that murdered everything in its path. The truth. Watch a movie called come and see for contrast it’s written and directed by a Slav who actually lived in the same forest that Friedhelm dies in at the end. Your mind will be blown
@@fergydatruth8742 Funny that you're telling all that to someone whose grandfather was in Volkssturm and got saved by his superiors giving them the order to desert. I've talked to some people that lived during that time, here and in the Netherlands. Many Germans didn't hate the Jews more than other countries to begin with, but indoctrination goes good ways. Still many defied, and it is not unrealistic that he wouldn't shoot a superior compared to his long time friend when he already knows in 5 years his officer just like himself will be dead anyways. This Movie shows many fanatic people and people like you criticise the one that was the protagonist, because he wasn't fanatic to begin with, but understood at some time that you had no chance.So there are at least some levels of decency in a German war movie for once and only in some people and you criticise the movie for that? I guess your history teachers got their diploma from Hollywood
@Polish Hero Witold Pilecki The starter of this thread is an idiot, however, this series is not a lie since it is not a documentary and does not claim to be true and it is a mini-series( not a film). Based on real history is not the same as real history. The creators showed plenty of war crimes committed by Germans. I agree it was dumb to add but they may just have searched for a way to make Viktors (was that his name, watched it too long ago to remember) story more interesting. I can only think the decision was made with the issue of presenting an interesting story at the forefront of their mind but if you have any proof that the creators did try to present Poland in a bad light I'll gladly agree that I was wrong. Indoctrinated kids isn't a good prove for your point. Also, these people were constantly bombarded with propaganda so naturally most of them would fall for it sooner or later yet there are hundreds of cases when people tried to help and oppose the NSDAP. In my own municipality a teacher, a priest and several others attempted to assist the Allies in destroying a vital factory through transmitting information through a radio hidden in a well. All but one were executed a week before the war ended. If you simply rip a single occurrence out of context you'll never understand those people. And understand them we must. Or these things will reoccur, sooner or later. Also, not following a Nazi officials command was treason so they would also have been killed. And only forty per cent voted for Hitler. The rest were caught with them and forced into a war nobody wanted, with the option to speak up, get incarcerated and executed or attempt to get through this mess alive. Germans did not have to be reeducated, Nazi officials had to be removed from powerful offices in the state. Most Germans were horrified but couldn't do anything. It is easy for you to judge from your save keyboard and attack those people when you were not threatened to get executed if you stepped out of line. A girl suffering from a mental illness who lived in my village back before world war 2 was murdered by the Nazis. My own great grandfather almost ended up dead because he refused to support the NSDAP. I understand your grieve as a Pole since Germany killed many of your countrymen but you are doing the exact same thing the Nazis did. Dividing people into categories instead of seeing the person. Once the individual was removed and traits assigned to people (Gypsy, Gay, Jew, traitor) they could be attacked. Their personality did not matter. Their acts did not matter. As a member of those undesirable people, it was not necessary to prove they had done something wrong. Simply being them was their crime. And this is exactly what you are doing. You would have been a good Nazi.
@Polish Hero Witold Pilecki Films will never be entirely accurate. Don't see it as a documentary. It is not. I said I found it stupid and insensitive to portray a polish resistance group like that but that does not change my opinion. Austria-Hungary is often portrayed as a peoples prison even though they were often liberal and as an Austrian I am not offended. Beside the fact that it was occasionally true, truth does not change just because of it's potrayal in media. Grown-ups should be able to differentiate between historical fiction and historical documentaries. At least I hope they can... The "Volksdeutsche" weren't standing with their back against the wall until the war turned against them. They could have had a relatively peaceful live as long as they didn't voice their criticism. I told you about the group of people in my municipality who tried to oppose the Germans and all but one ended up dead. The Polish were standing with their backs against the wall. It might be cowardly to not stand up against the Nazis but you said yourself how even innocent people who did not stand up against the Germans were punished. This also happened to people and families affiliated with perceived traitors of the German cause. Everyone who was not with the Nazis wasn't German and therefore disposable. By their decisions these "traitors" affiliated themselves with all kinds of undesirables. They would be barred from financial aid and other things, their children would be taken away, etc. It takes balls to stand up against terror when you aren't it's target. Now I am a volunteer EMT and firefighter and even though I have seen a bit of danger (I am living on the countryside so we thank god rarely have serious fires and accidents) I doubt I would dare to oppose such unjust policies if it could cause my own death or imprisonment. And you proved my point by calling me German. I am from Austria (though I might not have mentioned that) and have no affiliation with Germany. I also criticized the NSDAP openly for it's idiotic stance and crimes. You throw all Germans into a single boat just because they had the bad luck of being born in such a time (and again: only 40 per cent voted for Hitler, so 60 per cent were against him). Their fault was to be too disinterested or easy to look away from politics but not being evil. It's hard to stay focused on politics if you work forty to fifty hours per week. We see this in the present as well. People who simply vote for the same party every year just because they have always done so without checking whether they actually support the course these people want the country to take.
@Polish Hero Witold Pilecki The stuff which Poles were depicted doing in this German series is nothing compared to what they actually did. Antisemitism and prosecution of Jews is deeply rooted in at least recent Polish history. In fact it is so bad that even today not only on the national level but government level Poland tries to deny everything that happened during that war and quite openly express antisemitic sentiments and behaviour. Germans at least own up to what they did as far as the country's official position goes and actions in terms of financial reparations and accommodations to the families of the war victims and Israel are concerned. But Poles never officially acknowledged what they did, never issued any apology and try to distance themselves from that bloody chapter of their history as much as possible. I know people who were born in Poland and lived through those events. They survived and live in other countries today. Even though Polish is their mother tongue they refuse to speak it because it feels like tasting dirt in their mouth - that is how deep the scars left by those events go, so don't be sitting here denying everything, you are not competent to do so on any level. Also based on the spamming which you left here I assume you are receiving money for sitting here and leaving those comments, engaging in keyboard wars. Russia does the same thing - hire people who sit online for hours on various relevant forums while pushing discussions in the "desired" directions. As far as the events of the past are concerned, don't worry, there is justice in this world, and there is such a thing as collective responsibility. The things that this nation released into the universe will eventually return - they are already returning, it's just that some people still don't get it.
His eyes continue losing their sparks (livelihood) towards the end. It's like he's moving but on auto pilot, he's not really there operating because his soul ripping little by little from his body due to constantly in shock after shock after shock. Even if he survived, imagine the PTSD. Friedhelm is what you do to someone when you send a soldier to war, he is a lesson to teach. (English is not my 1st language)
@@greenlime1997 yes he would've definitely gone nsane. Before the war he would've absolutely despised what he became during the war. And during the war he seemed to despise what he was before the war. He would've gone completely mental after the war
@@greenlime1997 During the show he was shown drinking and "phasing out" (dissociating) on occasion (such as the scene in the forest, with the wolf). He is shown reacting less and less to his horrendous actions, a clear sign of shutting down, which is how the nervous system copes with extreme stimuli. So yes, he definitely had PTSD even before his death.
@Political Refugee The allies were not the big hero the British and French did Genocide in Africa and Asia the US was so racist that it devided betwen black and white and viewed them as sub human and the USSR did a Genocide in the Ukraine
@Political Refugee And if the Wehrmacht were part of the Genocide why don't you explain me how and how could they do it on the front lines bullshit just an excuse to hate them all and make millions of people war criminals for the actions of a few
@vladypunkyface finally, films like dunkirk or letters of Iwo Jima show soldiers as people and not idealize one nation over other. I simply hate movies that show brave american soldiers with hollywood accent and cruel, dirty germans. The same with russian movies. By the way, germans, who started war, can't idealize their leaders and country, so they show soldier's internal life- that's the reason german war movies are absolutelly the best.
His transformation from ordinary man to ruthless war criminal really shows the true nature of war. Anyone can become evil when circumstances encourage them to be so.
I fought against Partisans...only because we were Americans and ‘can’t be the bad guy’, we called them Insurgents. It’s all semantics. I absolutely get everything that friedhelm did in anti-partisan activities...I’ve wanted to do the same thing. Partisans blur the line between civilian and soldier, are outside the laws of Land Warfare, hide behind human shields and the worst part is, they intentionally hide so well that you can never know who is the insurgent and who is the innocent. I despise them. I’m getting angry just writing this.
@@yeoldeyoungin9745 you are right. Just imagine being a soldier in an area with high partisan activity. You can trust nobody and start getting paranoid by the slightest hint. They even recruited children because they seemed innocent. Many civilian atrocities are because of partisans.
@@yeoldeyoungin9745 I completely understand your pint of view. But it is also important to see it from the partisans' point of view at that time: the Poles had struggled so long for their indepence, they were getting exterminated, humiliated.
@@SaintCrow97 They can't becasue of political correctness. Even tho Germans didnt break through the amount of casualties they inflicted on Soviets was tremendous. 1 to 7 ratio in destroyed tanks says enough. Accurate movie would be a display of Germans superiority with sad ending. That would inflict only more compassion on audience towards III Reich.
No that was Stalingrad if I remember correctly, that's when the Luftwaffe just used everything they had and from that point onward the war the Luftwaffe was basically a no show for the rest of the war. Edit: nope I checked the movie and I was wrong, it is Kursk, Kurchatow to be exact, the attack on Kurchatow.
"Im Moment des Todes" with the beating heart stopping to beat... this edit has so much details that we don't see at first glance but then it adds so much to the story you tell through this piece of art and how you put the images on the music - it's as if the music was made for this edit you're an artist. you make us feel emotions. thank you.
Friedhelm saw every single one of his veteran friends from 1941 die. One of the reasons he changed and you notice on the show. He does not want to know the names of the new recruits to avoid being to close.
As epic as Friedhelm was as a character, a real tragic hero, can we all at least admire 1:05 and 2:09 in how both scenes are well timed with the music?
Friehelm's character development was so realistic. Firstly ofc characterwise, that he became that way when he was so sensitive and soft and secondly because that's what happened in real life. Towards the end, most soldiers on the east front were brutalised, their was no comradeship anymore, everyone was there just for himself, 15k soldiers were killed for disobeying orders (for comparison, in ww1 it was around 50) and other factors all contributed to that.
My grandfather once told me that there was a high bridge that was not destroyed during the war. People called it "the bridge of tired warriors" (die Brücke der müden Krieger). Those who survived the war but were tired of living used to jump from this bridge.
Friedhelm didn't deserve to die, he was my favorite character honestly. It sucks that he died in the end but I'll be honest, he went from a coward to tough as nails fast while his brother went from a tough commander to not necessarily a coward but despising the war. The German people have no reason to continue to shame themselves after all these years, their ancestors of the Wehrmacht, SS, and Volkssturm fought for what they believed in and against those "Kommunisten Schwein". Patton was right we did defeat the wrong enemy.
@@Stratigoz But he's right though. We did fight the wrong enemy. Look at society. Look at how many lives communism has destroyed. It's a cancer currently infesting schools and politics teaching regressive values. We have fucking pedophiles reading books to kids. We are told to accept people who believe they're the opposite gender and deny reality. Some states you can be prosecuted for using the wrong pronoun. The renouncing of our identities, who we are, our soldiers and open borders. It's absolutely fucking disgusting and it's due to communism and socialist teachers and college education doing this shit by and large brainwashing our kids and future generations. Soon there will be another Furer to rise and call it what it was and is. Was Hitler a great guy? No. But he was most definitely right in trying to stop this shit. Patton was indeed right, we fought the wrong enemy.
@@blazinpuffs i think that it we destroyed the communists the nazis would have started a hot war with us because fascism is a really agressive ideology
Oh my God this short film touched my soul. What these brave German soldiers went through especially knowing the war was lost and that from being the strongest greatest Wehrmacht in the world the ended up so lost and broken. RIP all you brave soldiers. loyalty is honor. Heroes never die. Salute and respect
I guess you did not understand the whole point of this movie. There are no heroes. This belief - either believing, or getting caught up in it - is the way to such a pointless, miserable end. Poor Friedhelm.
I can agree with you to a certain extent, many Germans fought decently and bravely for their country I am sure but hero's don't murder unarmed civilians, heard women and children into churches and burn them alive and wipe whole towns and their occupants off the face of the earth in some bullshit reprisal for a legitimate military action against them. The pigs that commited such atrocities disgraced their nation.
Freidhelm was actually "the baddie". He was the good person allowed bad things to happen. His brother had ideals but lost them in the face of reality...
I can somewhat agree with this comment. I think it’s also important to realize however that Friedhelm embodies the average person. He is most like us, the normal people. How they become hardened over time in the brutal realities of war.
“If the day should ever come when we must go, if some day we are compelled to leave the scene of history, we will slam the door so hard that the universe will shake and mankind will stand back in stupefaction..” ― Joseph Goebbels
Habe die Tage Bilder meines Opas ( nachdem er gestorben ist) bekommen, Mit 17 eingetreten jung und frisch, die anderen bilder mit 19, das lachen wurde zu einem ernsten (befohlenen) GRINSEN. Mein Opa war/ und blieb immer eine frohnatur, bis auf die Zeit, als die Bilder (Er hat nie erzählt) entstanden ....Ich möchte es nie erleben! Und Hoffe es bleibt uns allen erspart!
This movie was the best ww2 from all Not propaganda and show the real german in War Not all Germnas has nazy in that time :( I really sorry beacause he die :(
Only diffrence is the Germans were outnumbered 10 to one,if anybody was like Fury in real life,that honour would go to the German tankers,and soilders.
2:27 Hi, what kind of Luftwaffe splinter jacket is that ? It looks like classic Winter jacket, but this on seem light, i have Winter one, i want this one too
@@SanyoVojta these jackets are quite popular, I even saw the original on one russian site, not a replica. Look ww2.ru/shop/germaniya/militariya-germanii/uniforma/56119-zimnyaya-kamuflirovannaya-kurtka-dlya-soldat-vermakhta-germaniya.html
@@swerrr8893 Well, those you send are still Winter versions, if you look at 2.27 he have light "summer" version As i said i have Winter jacket already i know how it looks :D he clearly have some light version with hood
WRONG ENEMY ?!!? What the F***K are you talking about. They wanted to wipe out the whole Slavic Population etc. (Operation Barbarossa). How can you be so blinded?
Kill ratio 10 to one. They were heroes.fighting for their country as they know. Now no one thinking they are heroes in Germany.it's a shame.most of them doing their duty as a German. Best fighter pilot's was German.Best tank aces was German.and so on. They fought for the bad side. But time for the Germans to honor their soldiers
Leifs Schröder they were that cod they’ve been preparing for war more so than any other country in the world at the time. If all the other nations has the same prep time, Germany wouldn’t have last a year. And still with all that time they still lost the war
Lancer, so you mean evil countries like USA, UK and Russia didn't have their army prepared. How brilliant you are. These kind of countries always has their army prepared and ready. Don't try to minimize Germany's succes in 1 nation vs 17 nation. Yes you heard it right, succes. When you're fighting alone against 17 and still able to take out half of them, it's kind of victory even if they're defeated.
He Friedhem Winter was a prominent Prince and King from his high class ruling influential family groups amongst the Germany societies before the war, he knew the ancestry history backgrounds between his noble family groups in the Germany side with his other noble family groups in the Great Russian side before the wartimes in 1941 to 1945. British English Queen's cult bloodline groups and members their noble authoritative family groups in the German nation Europe. One bloodline DNA family genes at 1:48 soldier the Great noble Friedhem Prince of Pinoys, served himself in the wartime theatre to defend his beloved homeland German nation.
@Stephen Jenkins [Laughs in AIPAC] [Laughs in millions of US Dollars going to Israel for literally nothing] [Laughs in Israeli Agents stealing Uran from US-stock for their own Atomic Bombs] [Laughs in Jericho Protocol which will not spare america] [Laughs in USS liberty incident] [Laughs in federal reserve] [Laughs in europeans beeing replaced by 3rd worlders around the globe, including america] [Actually doesn't laugh] wake the fuck up man...
Lancer Von Stütenheinner actually none of the wehrmacht were nazis...they were germanys standard army, none of them were commanded by any nazis such as the SS, most of the generals were pre ww2 era commaders meaning they werent loyal to hitler only to their cpubtry
I wouldn't say 'some', the majority of the German armed forces were oblivious to the war crimes of their superiors and were doing the exact same as the British, Americans, French, etc. Serving their country.
His death showed that he knew he wasn’t a good soldier or a good human being. He knew what he was doing was wrong and did it anyways and felt that he deserved death. Like why couldn’t he have purposely missed the child if he was so horrified of a child being shot in the back of the head earlier in the series? He’s definitely a smart person who knew exactly how things would play out the way they did, but why was he so powerless to resist becoming what he hated? Great character development and probably quite realistic, but to say he was a good person is wrong imo
When he got the new recruit sniped in the head so he could escape the Russian phone station is a prime example. Leaders typically don’t let their guys get domed so they can escape. Just saying. It shows how diabolical the Germans were in particular.
@@fergydatruth8742 Friedhelm didn't get the New recruit to be shot in the head. Actually, he told him before to keep his head down because there are siberian snipers out there. He even felt sorry because He couldn't take the body with him. Only the dog tag. It was just a example how fast unexperienced new soldiers can die cause they forget general things the old soldiers know. Like to keep their heads down.
Friedhelm didn‘t kill himself. The little kids wanted to keep fighting, thinking it would be propaganda what the russians Said. So he sacrificed himself so that the children see that there is no point in continuing to fight.
It was all of it. He was not able to cope with what he had done during war, maybe he thought he didn't deserve a life afterwards and wanted to give his existence at least some sense or deeper meaning after all by showing these kids what will happen if they try to fight. If he only wanted to avoid Siberia, he could just have thrown away his uniform in a good moment just like thousands others did at the end of the war..thats what the whole scene is about - that he decided not to hide in shame, he stood up and took the consequences of his actions.
![Crossroads - Friedhelm [Generation War]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/f5vUgIPZs90/mqdefault.jpg)
![Crossroads - Friedhelm [Generation War]](/img/tr.png)
Off all of the 5 was Friedhelm the best one. A man of principles. He was not even a nazi, he just became the Monster he needed to be in order to survive. I love this guy!
He didnt even want to survive. He wanted to die rather than be part of it but later he just resigned on morality and went with it. Then he surely wanted to die.
Christoph Hermanns his character teaches that no matter who you are, there is darkness in you.
If anything Friedhelm taught me about how absolutely horrific the eastern front was
I agree, he was my favourite character.
GER_ Wehrwolf Absolute great Soldier. Proud of the wehrmacht 💪😍
I love how disturbed Wilhelm is when he realises how Friedhelm changes...
I think that's what caused him to leave. He was losing good men. He thought he lost his baby brother. War is hell. 0
War has no victors:
The fallen lose their lives
The survivors lose their humanity
Nick Martin he didnt commit suicide u stupid, he sacrificed hemself so the little brat kids wont do the same mistake
Lyudmila Graph yeh I never really understood why he did it. I can't work out whether he did it for the kids or just because he couldn't live with himself
He commited suicide becouse he knew that russians will kill him, so he didin;t want to suffer I bet
@@puchatekkubus2660 That is not true. He was soldier like others ( Russians couldn't know about his collaboration with SS officer). If he thought they would be killed, he would not let the kids to get into captivity, would he?
Others are right. I think, he wanted to live (signs of his frustration, when one of kids shoots and show Russians their position), but he was affraid, that kids would play heroes and got themselves killed. So he sacrificed himself, to show kids, what war is. And maybe to redeem his deeds. His death is very touching
Only the super rich earned more profits from their deaths.
I will say that Friedhelm was my favourite character but his death was just so epic I wasnt even pissed
Yeah, great mini-series.
Epic death
He went out on his own terms
"God abandoned us" is by far the most powerful sentence in the entire series
In reality Jesus (God) never abandon us
@@yoyoyomartinjason4866 shut the fuck up
Daniel Woods damn someone is mad over nothing
Gott mit uns
Which is quite ironic cause there belt buckles say something like God is with us
This was one of the best WW2 movies i have ever seen, It was sometimes real emotional for me.
He sacrificies himself so that the kids will forget their insane bravado and surrender like they should.
Also he obviously wanted to die anyway.
Most POWs captured by Soviets ended up dying in the gulags, didn't they?
Honestly I would have rather died.
@@onii-chandaisuki5710 most didnt
@Nathaniel Smythe ruclips.net/video/rS_59PHhO4M/видео.html
This is just a TV show. That was just an actor. he didn't reakky die.
@@johnboy2349 There's this thing called character development, it's a big reason of why we watch movies and read books.
Maybe you just switch your brain off during movies, provided you have one?
Friedhelm was a complete antipode of his brother: very tied to reasoning and morals. Across the war, they switched places. Wilhelm started to doubt what are the real reasons of war, more thinking about how right was his brother. Friedhelm stopped doubting at all. He became a mechanical hand of the army.
However, even after hanging people and shooting lots of enemies, he remained a human and saved his Jewish friend.
Great character development, extremely unlikely irl
@@fergydatruth8742 Well the Opportunity of meeting would be unlikely though that doesn't negate the fact that most were conscripted. This Series even shows how he was the omly one in his squad not wsnting to volunteer while the rest fanatically or in their mind heroically wanted to. In Germany, doing your part is highly respected and not doing it frowned upon. You dont let your comrades do the dirty work by themselves, and defying an order means penal battallion, so where's the point.
@@kmit9191 the point is in real life he would’ve most likely killed his long time Jewish friend if they ran into each other like that. It’s a German show so I get why they are portraying it like that. But yea super unrealistic that a Wehrmacht soldier would shoot his superior to save a Jew. Just sayin
@@kmit9191 like the fact that both Friedhelm and Wilhelm would have been disobeying leaders is beyond unrealistic for the Wehrmacht. It’s a post war show portraying Germans as regular people as well, but unfortunately in real life the Germans were extremely stubborn in their belief of being the superior race, and the guy who killed the little girl definitely would not have apologized for example. The eastern front was straight up a murder campaign against the Russians that would not have spared any adult so for Friedhelm to have that kind of humanity towards the end was unlikely. The fact that they would’ve been reluctant to kill the Russian prisoners is another example, completely biased and unrealistic. The show did not show the gang culture of the mechanized army that murdered everything in its path. The truth. Watch a movie called come and see for contrast it’s written and directed by a Slav who actually lived in the same forest that Friedhelm dies in at the end. Your mind will be blown
@@fergydatruth8742 Funny that you're telling all that to someone whose grandfather was in Volkssturm and got saved by his superiors giving them the order to desert. I've talked to some people that lived during that time, here and in the Netherlands. Many Germans didn't hate the Jews more than other countries to begin with, but indoctrination goes good ways. Still many defied, and it is not unrealistic that he wouldn't shoot a superior compared to his long time friend when he already knows in 5 years his officer just like himself will be dead anyways. This Movie shows many fanatic people and people like you criticise the one that was the protagonist, because he wasn't fanatic to begin with, but understood at some time that you had no chance.So there are at least some levels of decency in a German war movie for once and only in some people and you criticise the movie for that? I guess your history teachers got their diploma from Hollywood
In the end, the German Soldier was human like us, he wanted to be with his friends like us, and he wanted to go home like us
Respect to all the german soldiers in ww2...brave young men...beautiful and proud
god, generation war is so underrated and i'm glad to see people who see how good it is make such good edits.
The best tv series i've ever watched
Friedhelm show us how a german is acting in a lost situation like the dad of my grand mother or -father in Stalingrad. Its a very good movie
@Polish Hero Witold Pilecki The starter of this thread is an idiot, however, this series is not a lie since it is not a documentary and does not claim to be true and it is a mini-series( not a film). Based on real history is not the same as real history. The creators showed plenty of war crimes committed by Germans. I agree it was dumb to add but they may just have searched for a way to make Viktors (was that his name, watched it too long ago to remember) story more interesting. I can only think the decision was made with the issue of presenting an interesting story at the forefront of their mind but if you have any proof that the creators did try to present Poland in a bad light I'll gladly agree that I was wrong.
Indoctrinated kids isn't a good prove for your point. Also, these people were constantly bombarded with propaganda so naturally most of them would fall for it sooner or later yet there are hundreds of cases when people tried to help and oppose the NSDAP.
In my own municipality a teacher, a priest and several others attempted to assist the Allies in destroying a vital factory through transmitting information through a radio hidden in a well. All but one were executed a week before the war ended.
If you simply rip a single occurrence out of context you'll never understand those people. And understand them we must. Or these things will reoccur, sooner or later. Also, not following a Nazi officials command was treason so they would also have been killed.
And only forty per cent voted for Hitler. The rest were caught with them and forced into a war nobody wanted, with the option to speak up, get incarcerated and executed or attempt to get through this mess alive.
Germans did not have to be reeducated, Nazi officials had to be removed from powerful offices in the state. Most Germans were horrified but couldn't do anything. It is easy for you to judge from your save keyboard and attack those people when you were not threatened to get executed if you stepped out of line. A girl suffering from a mental illness who lived in my village back before world war 2 was murdered by the Nazis. My own great grandfather almost ended up dead because he refused to support the NSDAP. I understand your grieve as a Pole since Germany killed many of your countrymen but you are doing the exact same thing the Nazis did. Dividing people into categories instead of seeing the person. Once the individual was removed and traits assigned to people (Gypsy, Gay, Jew, traitor) they could be attacked. Their personality did not matter. Their acts did not matter. As a member of those undesirable people, it was not necessary to prove they had done something wrong. Simply being them was their crime. And this is exactly what you are doing. You would have been a good Nazi.
@Polish Hero Witold Pilecki Films will never be entirely accurate. Don't see it as a documentary. It is not. I said I found it stupid and insensitive to portray a polish resistance group like that but that does not change my opinion. Austria-Hungary is often portrayed as a peoples prison even though they were often liberal and as an Austrian I am not offended. Beside the fact that it was occasionally true, truth does not change just because of it's potrayal in media. Grown-ups should be able to differentiate between historical fiction and historical documentaries. At least I hope they can...
The "Volksdeutsche" weren't standing with their back against the wall until the war turned against them. They could have had a relatively peaceful live as long as they didn't voice their criticism. I told you about the group of people in my municipality who tried to oppose the Germans and all but one ended up dead.
The Polish were standing with their backs against the wall.
It might be cowardly to not stand up against the Nazis but you said yourself how even innocent people who did not stand up against the Germans were punished. This also happened to people and families affiliated with perceived traitors of the German cause. Everyone who was not with the Nazis wasn't German and therefore disposable. By their decisions these "traitors" affiliated themselves with all kinds of undesirables.
They would be barred from financial aid and other things, their children would be taken away, etc.
It takes balls to stand up against terror when you aren't it's target. Now I am a volunteer EMT and firefighter and even though I have seen a bit of danger (I am living on the countryside so we thank god rarely have serious fires and accidents) I doubt I would dare to oppose such unjust policies if it could cause my own death or imprisonment.
And you proved my point by calling me German. I am from Austria (though I might not have mentioned that) and have no affiliation with Germany. I also criticized the NSDAP openly for it's idiotic stance and crimes.
You throw all Germans into a single boat just because they had the bad luck of being born in such a time (and again: only 40 per cent voted for Hitler, so 60 per cent were against him). Their fault was to be too disinterested or easy to look away from politics but not being evil. It's hard to stay focused on politics if you work forty to fifty hours per week. We see this in the present as well. People who simply vote for the same party every year just because they have always done so without checking whether they actually support the course these people want the country to take.
@Polish Hero Witold Pilecki The stuff which Poles were depicted doing in this German series is nothing compared to what they actually did. Antisemitism and prosecution of Jews is deeply rooted in at least recent Polish history. In fact it is so bad that even today not only on the national level but government level Poland tries to deny everything that happened during that war and quite openly express antisemitic sentiments and behaviour. Germans at least own up to what they did as far as the country's official position goes and actions in terms of financial reparations and accommodations to the families of the war victims and Israel are concerned. But Poles never officially acknowledged what they did, never issued any apology and try to distance themselves from that bloody chapter of their history as much as possible. I know people who were born in Poland and lived through those events. They survived and live in other countries today. Even though Polish is their mother tongue they refuse to speak it because it feels like tasting dirt in their mouth - that is how deep the scars left by those events go, so don't be sitting here denying everything, you are not competent to do so on any level. Also based on the spamming which you left here I assume you are receiving money for sitting here and leaving those comments, engaging in keyboard wars. Russia does the same thing - hire people who sit online for hours on various relevant forums while pushing discussions in the "desired" directions. As far as the events of the past are concerned, don't worry, there is justice in this world, and there is such a thing as collective responsibility. The things that this nation released into the universe will eventually return - they are already returning, it's just that some people still don't get it.
Friedhelm was such a tragic character, huge development on his character during course of series.
there is no sense..god has abandoned us. pretty much summed it up
M santoro u wat m8
Tfw when you dont understand the context of his comment.
Kyle is dam right, there is no humanity sense in war.
Nick Martin ☝🏼
What he said!
There is no god ... that is why you have wars.
@Killer Dude take a good look at yourself...
His eyes continue losing their sparks (livelihood) towards the end. It's like he's moving but on auto pilot, he's not really there operating because his soul ripping little by little from his body due to constantly in shock after shock after shock. Even if he survived, imagine the PTSD. Friedhelm is what you do to someone when you send a soldier to war, he is a lesson to teach.
(English is not my 1st language)
do you think he would feel PTSD from guilt due to the crimes he committed during the war?
@@greenlime1997 yes he would've definitely gone nsane. Before the war he would've absolutely despised what he became during the war. And during the war he seemed to despise what he was before the war. He would've gone completely mental after the war
@@greenlime1997 During the show he was shown drinking and "phasing out" (dissociating) on occasion (such as the scene in the forest, with the wolf). He is shown reacting less and less to his horrendous actions, a clear sign of shutting down, which is how the nervous system copes with extreme stimuli. So yes, he definitely had PTSD even before his death.
I respect the brave American soldiers and the loyal German soldiers. All soldiers should be respected.
@Mr Vincent Victor That's the result of Propaganda and lies all war crimes of the allies are justifyed and good only if they speak German It's bad
@Political Refugee The British did the stuff the Nazis did for 800 damn years what are you talking about
@Political Refugee The allies were not the big hero the British and French did Genocide in Africa and Asia the US was so racist that it devided betwen black and white and viewed them as sub human and the USSR did a Genocide in the Ukraine
@Political Refugee And the millions of Children and Woman that were raped and bombed are not your opinion
@Political Refugee And if the Wehrmacht were part of the Genocide why don't you explain me how and how could they do it on the front lines bullshit just an excuse to hate them all and make millions of people war criminals for the actions of a few
I feel sorry for german bots in cod now :(
congratulations, you just found out about the reality of war
hahaha rip
@vladypunkyface finally, films like dunkirk or letters of Iwo Jima show soldiers as people and not idealize one nation over other. I simply hate movies that show brave american soldiers with hollywood accent and cruel, dirty germans. The same with russian movies. By the way, germans, who started war, can't idealize their leaders and country, so they show soldier's internal life- that's the reason german war movies are absolutelly the best.
👍💪
76239mm actually surprisingly not all troops believed they were losing like the younger ones. PROPAGANDA IS A BIG THING
This made me cry
Fynley Norcross u are not alone I was close to crying 😢
Me too
Nazis and those who executed their will deserve no sympathy
@@rna1025 the ss and the werhmacht were not the same..
@@rna1025 you can fuck off
His transformation from ordinary man to ruthless war criminal really shows the true nature of war. Anyone can become evil when circumstances encourage them to be so.
No shit mao
I fought against Partisans...only because we were Americans and ‘can’t be the bad guy’, we called them Insurgents. It’s all semantics.
I absolutely get everything that friedhelm did in anti-partisan activities...I’ve wanted to do the same thing. Partisans blur the line between civilian and soldier, are outside the laws of Land Warfare, hide behind human shields and the worst part is, they intentionally hide so well that you can never know who is the insurgent and who is the innocent. I despise them.
I’m getting angry just writing this.
@@yeoldeyoungin9745 you are right. Just imagine being a soldier in an area with high partisan activity. You can trust nobody and start getting paranoid by the slightest hint. They even recruited children because they seemed innocent. Many civilian atrocities are because of partisans.
He wasn't a war criminal!
@@yeoldeyoungin9745 I completely understand your pint of view. But it is also important to see it from the partisans' point of view at that time: the Poles had struggled so long for their indepence, they were getting exterminated, humiliated.
I legit cried watching this show.
Goodspittin me too
Me too
Same
Wow you're editing was absolutely amazing.
Für immer, ein der besten Filmen.
I agree....the best
i think that part on 1:05 is most touching, attack on kursk i think? Just very good editing!
I wander if they will ever make an accurate battle of kursk movie
At 1:05 it look so awesome
@@SaintCrow97 They can't becasue of political correctness. Even tho Germans didnt break through the amount of casualties they inflicted on Soviets was tremendous. 1 to 7 ratio in destroyed tanks says enough. Accurate movie would be a display of Germans superiority with sad ending. That would inflict only more compassion on audience towards III Reich.
No that was Stalingrad if I remember correctly, that's when the Luftwaffe just used everything they had and from that point onward the war the Luftwaffe was basically a no show for the rest of the war.
Edit: nope I checked the movie and I was wrong, it is Kursk, Kurchatow to be exact, the attack on Kurchatow.
@@Cheveliery not showing compassion to the 3rd reich =/= political correctness
This was a fantastic show. I might need to watch it a 4th time
Friedhelm is my hero. Not a Nazi, a German patriot.
War Is hell for during sons bury their father but during war father's bury their sons
And mothers burying their daughters...
And world War 2 ment also that first the father bury their sons. And get killed in 1945 while fighting in Volkssturm.
German uniform is even best than the U.S soldier this day
I do think so.
Modern US helmets are based on German WW2 helmets
The uniform but that's all it was lmao just clothes
@He'rr Maus I just mean the shape: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stahlhelm go to the Fallschirmjager section
You should see the Royal Marines dress uniform
Ruht in Frieden meine Väter ❤
Lino Mahlke nicht väter,sondern vAter
@@magicalmusicmanvevo6779 vielleicht hatte er ja mehrere. Wer weis 😉
"Im Moment des Todes" with the beating heart stopping to beat...
this edit has so much details that we don't see at first glance but then it adds so much to the story you tell through this piece of art
and how you put the images on the music - it's as if the music was made for this edit
you're an artist. you make us feel emotions. thank you.
"no one won, because war doesn't stop"
-My quote
@Galoshes J Oh really?
well thanks...
Your quote fucking suck
a song of the movie "Fury" and Generation War,beautiful !
Friedhelm saw every single one of his veteran friends from 1941 die. One of the reasons he changed and you notice on the show. He does not want to know the names of the new recruits to avoid being to close.
As epic as Friedhelm was as a character, a real tragic hero, can we all at least admire 1:05 and 2:09 in how both scenes are well timed with the music?
Friehelm's character development was so realistic. Firstly ofc characterwise, that he became that way when he was so sensitive and soft and secondly because that's what happened in real life. Towards the end, most soldiers on the east front were brutalised, their was no comradeship anymore, everyone was there just for himself, 15k soldiers were killed for disobeying orders (for comparison, in ww1 it was around 50) and other factors all contributed to that.
This was such an amazingly good show. Just Brilliant. i wish there were more like it
Great work. Thank you.
one of the best edits
My grandfather once told me that there was a high bridge that was not destroyed during the war. People called it "the bridge of tired warriors" (die Brücke der müden Krieger). Those who survived the war but were tired of living used to jump from this bridge.
Damn you know he was my favorite character :(
Friedhelm killed me; tragic characters are my weak point. Oh my god I cried so hard. 🥵🇺🇸
There is, no sense!
God has abandoned us!
God will never abandon us
@@yoyoyomartinjason4866 shut up.
“When you look into the abyss, the abyss also looks into you...”
That's exactly the quote that comes to my mind when I think of Friedhelms character arc as well.
Friedhelm didn't deserve to die, he was my favorite character honestly. It sucks that he died in the end but I'll be honest, he went from a coward to tough as nails fast while his brother went from a tough commander to not necessarily a coward but despising the war. The German people have no reason to continue to shame themselves after all these years, their ancestors of the Wehrmacht, SS, and Volkssturm fought for what they believed in and against those "Kommunisten Schwein". Patton was right we did defeat the wrong enemy.
John Lucas communist pig
@@Stratigoz But he's right though. We did fight the wrong enemy. Look at society. Look at how many lives communism has destroyed. It's a cancer currently infesting schools and politics teaching regressive values. We have fucking pedophiles reading books to kids. We are told to accept people who believe they're the opposite gender and deny reality. Some states you can be prosecuted for using the wrong pronoun. The renouncing of our identities, who we are, our soldiers and open borders. It's absolutely fucking disgusting and it's due to communism and socialist teachers and college education doing this shit by and large brainwashing our kids and future generations. Soon there will be another Furer to rise and call it what it was and is. Was Hitler a great guy? No. But he was most definitely right in trying to stop this shit. Patton was indeed right, we fought the wrong enemy.
@@blazinpuffs i think that it we destroyed the communists the nazis would have started a hot war with us because fascism is a really agressive ideology
@@blazinpuffs so i think that both scenarios would turn out bad no matter what
@@victordonavon292 communist spotted
The best ww2 series in the world
Fury soundtrack is my favorite,Steven price is brilliant say what you want about fury, it has good storyline and characters
Oh my God this short film touched my soul. What these brave German soldiers went through especially knowing the war was lost and that from being the strongest greatest Wehrmacht in the world the ended up so lost and broken. RIP all you brave soldiers. loyalty is honor. Heroes never die. Salute and respect
I guess you did not understand the whole point of this movie. There are no heroes.
This belief - either believing, or getting caught up in it - is the way to such a pointless, miserable end.
Poor Friedhelm.
*"Es gibt keine Sinn, Gott hat uns verlessen!"*
Kein Sinn* verlassen*
Ja verlessen ergibt echt keinen Sinn 😉
We shall never forget how horrible wars are! We shall unite and secure peaceful future for our children!
there is no sense..god has abandoned us.
@Free Illum halts maul
God will never abandon us
@@yoyoyomartinjason4866 stop it christian
@@ericgu9036 its us who abandon him not God himself
NO MORE BROTHER WARS
USA: My respect and admiration for all German Soldiers. Remember those heroes too.
I can agree with you to a certain extent, many Germans fought decently and bravely for their country I am sure but hero's don't murder unarmed civilians, heard women and children into churches and burn them alive and wipe whole towns and their occupants off the face of the earth in some bullshit reprisal for a legitimate military action against them. The pigs that commited such atrocities disgraced their nation.
Danke Bruder
He's not a hero, fuck off
He murdered women and children and he realized he'd become a monster
@@halflifeger4179 you can leave now
@@halflifeger4179 he was a great human
Freidhelm was actually "the baddie". He was the good person allowed bad things to happen.
His brother had ideals but lost them in the face of reality...
I can somewhat agree with this comment. I think it’s also important to realize however that Friedhelm embodies the average person. He is most like us, the normal people. How they become hardened over time in the brutal realities of war.
Great music from Fury!
The best WW2 music theme that depicts death and destruction, sorrow and pain. It gives you chills..
Alter.. Das Video is mega!
Magnificent series. So rare it's told from the German side
2:26 wow thats a great shot
This seems pretty good maybe I should give it a watch
Just watched it yesterday- I’m so broken up by it, I’m watching vids like this to cope...
@@yeoldeyoungin9745 sameee.!!
Friedhelm went from being a cry baby Bookworm to a ruthless warrior then a Monster in order to survive
brilliant 3part series really enjoyed it nice to see a film or series on the German perspective loved it just goes to show what war does
Muss oft über diesen Charakter nachdenken.
i like how in both band of brothers and this, the main soldier is named winter
Coincidence? I think not
Dude he also looks like Richard winter too
@@R3___114 related maybe?
“If the day should ever come when we must go, if some day we are compelled to leave the scene of history, we will slam the door so hard that the universe will shake and mankind will stand back in stupefaction..” ― Joseph Goebbels
God didnt abandon us, we abandoned him...
Thats true
ONE OF THE BEST MOVIE AND TRUE STORY.
Perfect match the soundtrack and the clips from the movie
Habe die Tage Bilder meines Opas ( nachdem er gestorben ist) bekommen, Mit 17 eingetreten jung und frisch, die anderen bilder mit 19, das lachen wurde zu einem ernsten (befohlenen) GRINSEN. Mein Opa war/ und blieb immer eine frohnatur, bis auf die Zeit, als die Bilder (Er hat nie erzählt) entstanden ....Ich möchte es nie erleben! Und Hoffe es bleibt uns allen erspart!
1:05 was epic !
Where can one watch this series? It looks amazing!
This clip made me cry even more than the actual scene in the movie.
Feeeeegeeleeeeiiiinnn!!!
always see war from the perspective of the losing side. and you'll see the reality.
Yes
1:01 Perfect! I agree
RIP Friedhelm
Rip my man friedhelm
This movie was the best ww2 from all
Not propaganda and show the real german in War
Not all Germnas has nazy in that time :(
I really sorry beacause he die :(
Song from Fury :( very sad
Only diffrence is the Germans were outnumbered 10 to one,if anybody was like Fury in real life,that honour would go to the German tankers,and soilders.
saddest part of the whole series. felt so sad after watching this part. best ww2 series ever. loved it more then band of brothers...
This is a good edit!
Oh no im crying 😭
He became one he always hated To be and realised that there is no life after everything he's done, broken soul.
How a kind soul can become a monster under an awful ideology 😱😥
i think friedhelm just didnt want to go on anymore ...
2:27 Hi, what kind of Luftwaffe splinter jacket is that ? It looks like classic Winter jacket, but this on seem light, i have Winter one, i want this one too
ist Wehrmacht camo - "Splinter-A". Sample 1943
@@swerrr8893 Thanks a lot ! But still i didnt find exact same jacket with hood 🤷🏼♂️ :S
@@SanyoVojta these jackets are quite popular, I even saw the original on one russian site, not a replica. Look ww2.ru/shop/germaniya/militariya-germanii/uniforma/56119-zimnyaya-kamuflirovannaya-kurtka-dlya-soldat-vermakhta-germaniya.html
@@SanyoVojta and this replica feldwebel.ru/id/kurtka-zimnyaya-vermaht-oskolok-pod-zakaz-439.html
@@swerrr8893 Well, those you send are still Winter versions, if you look at 2.27 he have light "summer" version
As i said i have Winter jacket already i know how it looks :D
he clearly have some light version with hood
We defeated the wrong enemy
No, but I agree they should have just kept pushing east and at the very least wrestled the Warsaw PACT countries from the soviet union.
WRONG ENEMY ?!!? What the F***K are you talking about. They wanted to wipe out the whole Slavic Population etc. (Operation Barbarossa). How can you be so blinded?
@ OMG - Are you an ANTI-SEMITE?
@@iche9373 I think he’s just joking so chill
@Uber go cry on teitter
This gave me chills
My Favorite movies série thé best from belgium européen brother ss Wallonie
This the best then band of brothers
Friedhelm the best through and through.
Kill ratio 10 to one.
They were heroes.fighting for their country as they know.
Now no one thinking they are heroes in Germany.it's a shame.most of them doing their duty as a German.
Best fighter pilot's was German.Best tank aces was German.and so on.
They fought for the bad side.
But time for the Germans to honor their soldiers
Still they werent good. why invasding czechoslovakia poland france belgum. They deserved everything they got.
They were the better part, concidering the soviets came after them. Which the Germans fought to prevent.
Leifs Schröder they were that cod they’ve been preparing for war more so than any other country in the world at the time. If all the other nations has the same prep time, Germany wouldn’t have last a year.
And still with all that time they still lost the war
Son of my Father they were following orders either that or be killed
Lancer, so you mean evil countries like USA, UK and Russia didn't have their army prepared. How brilliant you are. These kind of countries always has their army prepared and ready. Don't try to minimize Germany's succes in 1 nation vs 17 nation. Yes you heard it right, succes. When you're fighting alone against 17 and still able to take out half of them, it's kind of victory even if they're defeated.
He Friedhem Winter was a prominent Prince and King from his high class ruling influential family groups amongst the Germany societies before the war, he knew the ancestry history backgrounds between his noble family groups in the Germany side with his other noble family groups in the Great Russian side before the wartimes in 1941 to 1945. British English Queen's cult bloodline groups and members their noble authoritative family groups in the German nation Europe. One bloodline DNA family genes at 1:48 soldier the Great noble Friedhem Prince of Pinoys, served himself in the wartime theatre to defend his beloved homeland German nation.
Fought The Wrong Side.
@Stephen Jenkins you know what else is a good american sport?
beeing israels lap dog
@Stephen Jenkins
[Laughs in AIPAC]
[Laughs in millions of US Dollars going to Israel for literally nothing]
[Laughs in Israeli Agents stealing Uran from US-stock for their own Atomic Bombs]
[Laughs in Jericho Protocol which will not spare america]
[Laughs in USS liberty incident]
[Laughs in federal reserve]
[Laughs in europeans beeing replaced by 3rd worlders around the globe, including america]
[Actually doesn't laugh]
wake the fuck up man...
Beautiful movie from France 🇫🇷
SkyrReeZ series
SkyrReeZ do u get synchronised? ?
da ve did you surender?
Nice clip, good job.
This film isn't a Nazi propaganda, but some of the WEHRMACHT weren't Nazis.... Hey,that ain't a pro-nazi comment.
i believe that most of them werent nazi, they just served their country.
Jaqen H'ghar Indeed true.
Lancer Von Stütenheinner actually none of the wehrmacht were nazis...they were germanys standard army, none of them were commanded by any nazis such as the SS, most of the generals were pre ww2 era commaders meaning they werent loyal to hitler only to their cpubtry
Lancer Von Stütenheinner Why are you Wehrmacht in all capital letters?
I wouldn't say 'some', the majority of the German armed forces were oblivious to the war crimes of their superiors and were doing the exact same as the British, Americans, French, etc. Serving their country.
This is what happen to us when ww3 starts
when ww3 starts, missiles will start flying
His death showed that he knew he wasn’t a good soldier or a good human being. He knew what he was doing was wrong and did it anyways and felt that he deserved death. Like why couldn’t he have purposely missed the child if he was so horrified of a child being shot in the back of the head earlier in the series? He’s definitely a smart person who knew exactly how things would play out the way they did, but why was he so powerless to resist becoming what he hated? Great character development and probably quite realistic, but to say he was a good person is wrong imo
When he got the new recruit sniped in the head so he could escape the Russian phone station is a prime example. Leaders typically don’t let their guys get domed so they can escape. Just saying. It shows how diabolical the Germans were in particular.
@@fergydatruth8742 Friedhelm didn't get the New recruit to be shot in the head. Actually, he told him before to keep his head down because there are siberian snipers out there. He even felt sorry because He couldn't take the body with him. Only the dog tag. It was just a example how fast unexperienced new soldiers can die cause they forget general things the old soldiers know. Like to keep their heads down.
Een gruwelijk schitterende serie.
The same thing that has allowed us to be so good at waging war is the same thing that has allowed us to progress to where we are as a species.
Everyone was great in this series, but Friedhelm undoubtely the best character!
your art is amazing
Friedhelm didn‘t kill himself. The little kids wanted to keep fighting, thinking it would be propaganda what the russians Said. So he sacrificed himself so that the children see that there is no point in continuing to fight.
@Centralist Australia ahhhh yes.
He also wanted to avoid Siberia.
@@woorf I think that was the ma In reason
It was all of it. He was not able to cope with what he had done during war, maybe he thought he didn't deserve a life afterwards and wanted to give his existence at least some sense or deeper meaning after all by showing these kids what will happen if they try to fight.
If he only wanted to avoid Siberia, he could just have thrown away his uniform in a good moment just like thousands others did at the end of the war..thats what the whole scene is about - that he decided not to hide in shame, he stood up and took the consequences of his actions.
He did what was necessary to show them what war really was. And what would happen if they continued fighting.