History Impossible

The American Executioners (Vengeance)


Listen Later

Content Warning: This episode contains extremely graphic depictions of genocide, torture, and human experimentation.
On April 29th, 1945, one day before Adolf Hitler killed himself, the true evil of the National Socialists--and the necessity of crushing them--finally became known to the American men fighting through Germany. It all began with seeing a set of boxcars, filled from stem to stern with the starved, decaying bodies of thousands of Jews who had been traveling by rail for weeks, as their captors fled the approaching Allied forces without a care in the world for the miserable existence of their human cargo. From the train tracks and moving into the camp known as Dachau, the American troops were then greeted by both the words "Arbeit macht frei" adorning the camp's gates contrasted with the starving, skeletal, and dying faces of the prisoners housed within. 
Some of the men wept. Some frantically prayed to an unresponsive god. Some clenched their fingers so tightly into their palms that blood trickled to the ground beneath their feet. Some swore revenge, even if nothing had been done to them personally. And some achieved this revenge, if only vicariously and on behalf of the victims of Dachau. This is the story of that vicarious revenge, an examination of the events leading up to it, and a meditation on the ethics of summary execution committed by American troops against Nazis with their hands raised in surrender.
History Impossible has been made possible by the following generous supporters on Patreon:
Elias Borota
Peter Hauck
Trevor Lindborg
Jose Martinez
Judy McCoid
Kostas Moros
Molly Pan
John Pisano
PJ Rader
Emily Schmidt
Matthew Wilson

Please consider joining the ranks of ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, or perhaps even investors, producers, and executive producers over at www.patreon.com/historyimpossible

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/history-impossible--5634566/support.
...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

History ImpossibleBy Alexander von Sternberg

  • 4.4
  • 4.4
  • 4.4
  • 4.4
  • 4.4

4.4

246 ratings


More shows like History Impossible

View all
Common Sense with Dan Carlin by Dan Carlin

Common Sense with Dan Carlin

11,313 Listeners

The History of Byzantium by thehistoryofbyzantium@gmail.com

The History of Byzantium

4,246 Listeners

When Diplomacy Fails Podcast by Zack Twamley

When Diplomacy Fails Podcast

653 Listeners

Revolutions by Mike Duncan

Revolutions

13,371 Listeners

The Dangerous History Podcast by CJ

The Dangerous History Podcast

623 Listeners

The Martyr Made Podcast by Darryl Cooper

The Martyr Made Podcast

5,269 Listeners

Our Fake History by PodcastOne

Our Fake History

3,463 Listeners

History on Fire by Daniele Bolelli

History on Fire

5,645 Listeners

The History of the Twentieth Century by Mark Painter

The History of the Twentieth Century

664 Listeners

The Eastern Border by Kristaps Andrejsons

The Eastern Border

819 Listeners

Historical Blindness by Nathaniel Lloyd

Historical Blindness

833 Listeners

History Unplugged Podcast by History Unplugged

History Unplugged Podcast

3,992 Listeners

Tides of History by Wondery /  Patrick Wyman

Tides of History

6,274 Listeners

Dan Carlin's Hardcore History: Addendum by Dan Carlin

Dan Carlin's Hardcore History: Addendum

8,228 Listeners

Decoding the Gurus by Christopher Kavanagh and Matthew Browne

Decoding the Gurus

944 Listeners