The Americans that fought for Germany in World war II

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fully cross platform so you can play with the same account on pc or mobile we've set up a special game of call of war for the first viewers that click the link in the description click the link below type simple history in the search bar and enter the code simple history the slots are limited so don't miss out click our link in the description below to get 13 000 gold and one month of high command subscription for free available only for 30 days the americans that fought for germany in world war ii 1933-1945 before he had declared war on the usa on december 11 1941 hitler held the view that it was a decadent country plagued by racial problems and social inequalities it is widely known that hitler and his entourage were watching american movies but for the german public they were banned for fear of spreading decadence in the fuhrer's opinion the democrat franklin d roosevelt was a nuisance who was not leading america properly he also discounted the united states due to its neutrality laws and their america first policy of isolationism though he believed that the final conflict for world hegemony would be fought between nazi germany and the usa he underestimated his future enemy so with world war ii rapidly approaching he pleaded that the volksdeut people of german heritage outside the reich should return home to the fatherland and help defend it many german immigrants who came to america still bitterly remember the anti-german hysteria that swept across the united states towards the end of world war one many things associated with germany were boycotted when america declared war on germany public pressure brought to an end most german language newspapers german specific social and cultural activities and the use of the german language in the service of the lutheran and reformed churches in many places even beethoven was banned in 1914 24 of american high school students studied the german language later on german language courses practically disappeared from schools streets neighborhoods suburbs towns foods and breeds of dogs lost their german names many families with german surnames americanized or anglicize them or at least change the names of their businesses dashions became liberty hounds at one stage the sellers of sauerkraut were forced to give it the more american patriotic name of liberty cabbage resentment started to grow among some german americans about how they had been treated during this time as they reflected on how the german language and culture was admired by many americans before the outbreak of the first world war there was a growing admiration of how germany had eventually recovered after the war under the national socialist german workers party to become a new dynamic and reinvigorated nation so german americans once again became proud of their heritage and through such organizations as the german american bund reconnected with their germanic roots but this also meant that these immigrants were being more and more exposed to a glamorized version of german national socialism this was due to the german government in the 1930s having established strong links with the german-american bund which had gained popularity which in turn was becoming increasingly more fanatical and nationalistic in nature so many felt it was their patriotic duty to return to germany when it went to war with britain in 1940 each year in the 30s many more germans were returning to germany from america than were emigrating there it was the reverse of the previous trend those that did were mostly absorbed into combat units and fought alongside their new fellow countrymen george nafzaga wrote in his german order of battle that the waffen ss had five us volksdeutsch americans of german descent however a lot of documentation regarding the immigration and repatriation of such soldiers did not survive the war such documents were kept in major cities that were bombed and are now lost in history therefore the number of american germans who went to fight for germany during world war ii is impossible to estimate but some were put to specialist use as propaganda tools typical of this was herbert bergman who was born in minnesota to german immigrant parents he had served in the u.s state department and when the war broke out between germany and the united states he went to work as a broadcaster in berlin for the german english language radio station debunk which claimed to be the voice of all free america transmitting from somewhere in the midwest but in reality broadcast from bremen germany after the war he was convicted of 13 acts of treason his defense was that he had been insane at the time and he had been bullied into doing the broadcast by the gestapo nevertheless he was sentenced to between 6 and 20 years in prison and died in federal custody in 1953 but by far the most notorious of these lost sons of the reich was martin james monty an american from missouri whose mother was of german heritage in 1942 he joined the united states air force and had qualified to fly the p-38 lightning and p-39 era cobra monty ended up being promoted to first lieutenant but his loyalty seemed to always be to the new germany so when he ended up being stationed abroad to india in august 1944 he deserted he managed to get a lift on a military cargo plane to cairo egypt then caught a follow-on flight to tripoli libya afterward he talked himself aboard a plane to the allied occupied italian city of naples after a few days of maneuvering he managed to requisition a lockheed f5e lightning for a test flight he stole this newly repaired american reconnaissance plane and defected to the germans the luftwaffe quickly replaced the aircraft's u.s markings and gave it a new call sign before sending it to germany where the repurposed plane served its new owners through to the war's end at first monty was given work as a propaganda broadcaster in a propaganda unit called s standard coutegas under a pseudonym captain martin vithop in his broadcasts he tried to convince american combat troops that the usa should fight alongside nazi germany against the soviet union however after only a few speeches his job was changed to writing propaganda leaflets that were distributed to allied prisoners of war monty even became an interstern fiera in the vathan s and was ordered to fight in northern italy in april 1945. shortly after his arrival in early may the american-born waffen-ss officer in german uniform surrendered to the us fifth army in milan and tried to convince them that he was an escaped american p.o.w at first monty was court-martialed for being awol and for misappropriation of the f5e lightning he was found guilty and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor at that early stage prosecutors did not know of his defection or his propaganda activities on behalf of germany in early february 1946 president harry s truman commuted his sentence to time served contingent on his re-enlistment in the air force as a private monty did so and within two years had climbed to the rank of sergeant meanwhile the army intelligence officials pouring over captured records in germany uncovered evidence of his contribution to the nazi war effort on november 1st 1947 a washington post reporter broke the story on january 26 1948 minutes after the army granted monty an honorable discharge the fbi arrested him after psychiatrist dee monty fit to stand trial a federal grand jury indicted him for 21 overt acts of treason the minimum penalty was a five-year prison term and a ten thousand dollar fine the maximum was death monty during the trial pleaded guilty the judge imposed a prison sentence of 25 years and a fine of 10 thousand dollars now we will never know how many of those americans with german heritage had responded to the call to return to the fatherland it was not just answered from america but also from around the world though most likely in very small numbers this episode was brought to you by call of war conquer the world in challenging games over several weeks with up to 100 real players per map start in historically accurate world war ii environments and rewrite history as you wanted call of war's fully cross platform so you can play with the same account on pc or mobile click on our link in the description below to get 13 000 gold and one month of high command subscription for free only available for 30 days

Channel: Simple History

Views: 2,950,071

Keywords: simple history, animated history, educational, education, Americans in german army, ww2, wolfenstein, German heritage, dual nationality, Volksdeutsche, German immigrants, german culture, Dachshunds, Streets, neighbourhoods, suburbs, towns, American high school, BUND, German Government, German-American Bund, Friends of the New Germany, US Volksdeutsche, propaganda, Herbert Burgman, US State Department, Radio station Debunk, Free America, broadcast, Martin James Monti, traitors

Id: 8uhsitAE8cI

Length: 10min 0sec (600 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 28 2020