Was he conscripted? Did he actually have fascist politics or was he literally defending his homeland? I’m an American and definitely oppose the fascist turn our politics have taken, but if we were invaded I would feel compelled to defend my city, personally.
Also the grandson of a tail gunner that shot down two planes over Normandy, though in the frenzy of battle my grandfather was only absolutely sure that one of them was a Nazi plane.
Was he conscripted? Did he actually have fascist politics or was he literally defending his homeland?
Tough to say at this point, as I say in the other comment. He was likely conscripted (he was around 18 near the end of the war), but defending his fascist homeland wasn’t the ideal choice, there was a massive antifascist resistance at the time that many had run away to join instead, that was the proper “defend your homeland” movement as far as history is concerned.
For context, we’re from Croatia, i.e. Independent State of Croatia (Nazi puppet state) during 1941-1945, and then a part of socialist(ish) Yugoslavia 1945-1991.
That can be a complicated thing.
Was he conscripted? Did he actually have fascist politics or was he literally defending his homeland? I’m an American and definitely oppose the fascist turn our politics have taken, but if we were invaded I would feel compelled to defend my city, personally.
Also the grandson of a tail gunner that shot down two planes over Normandy, though in the frenzy of battle my grandfather was only absolutely sure that one of them was a Nazi plane.
Tough to say at this point, as I say in the other comment. He was likely conscripted (he was around 18 near the end of the war), but defending his fascist homeland wasn’t the ideal choice, there was a massive antifascist resistance at the time that many had run away to join instead, that was the proper “defend your homeland” movement as far as history is concerned.
For context, we’re from Croatia, i.e. Independent State of Croatia (Nazi puppet state) during 1941-1945, and then a part of socialist(ish) Yugoslavia 1945-1991.
Dang.
I can’t imagine having to make that choice as an 18 year-old kid. That’s huge, heavy stuff.