Otto Schimek (May 5, 1925 – November 14...

>Otto Schimek (May 5, 1925 – November 14, 1944) was an Austrian soldier in the German Wehrmacht during World War II who served as a member of a firing squad. He was himself executed, allegedly for refusing to carry out a death sentence on Poles.

>Schimek was seventeen years old when he was drafted. He initially served in Bosnia, and was later moved to southern Poland. As Elfrida Kujak stated after the war, while on leave some time in 1943 or early 1944, Otto told her that he did not want to kill anybody, and that he would raise his gun above heads of enemies. "My conscience is clear" - Schimek allegedly said. "I will not shoot people. These people want to return home just like me. This war is not Christian."

>This behavior was swiftly noted by the Army authorities. Schimek was warned, and then put in prison. He managed to escape and tried to return to Vienna, but was caught somewhere in Czechoslovakia. Severely beaten, Otto faced court martial for desertion, but was given a final chance.

>Wehrmacht authorities decided that Schimek would be included in a firing squad. His task was to kill a Polish family from the area between Tarnów and Dębica - a father, mother and two sons, who had been caught preparing food for soldiers of the Home Army. Otto firmly refused, stating that he would not kill innocent people in Hitler's war. His superiors' reaction was quick, and Schimek was immediately sentenced to death for cowardice and desertion.

Thoughts?

>Be soldier
>Get orders
>Refuse to carry them out
>Be executed
Literally every country at the time.

WW2 was definitely a weird and extreme period in history. A lot of it is definitely food for thought and something you should read about.

I mean he was right but also this
Armies don't work without discipline

This is the pinnacle of retardation. You don't have any military friends.

>One man can't kill a few Communist sympathizers
>A team of Americans kill 300 at My Lai without batting an eyelash

More proof the US is the finest fighting force in the world. Sounds like the Wehrmacht was just a bunch of pussies.

No, wait, the military is likely full of retards by now, after the purges,and it will just get worse with McCain's modification to revamp plans.

You don't have any non-Republican military friends.

>Communist sympathizers
wut

Like I said, applying to 90% of Veeky Forums:

So how was the "just following orders" excuse not valid at Nuremberg?

Because the orders were inherently unjust you retard. If you disobey unjust orders you might still get executed but at least history will look kindly upon you

How do you think does a military operate? By letting everyone do as he pleases?

Go ask a military person.

In the mean time, ask yourself why we suddenly stopped (militarily) fucking with Central America despite Reagan and Bush pushing for it as hard as possible.

>death for cowardice
Ironic considering that his deeds were the literal anti-thesis of that.

Brave man.

>history looking kindly on you
>they were brave but only by today's standards

Ok you two need to stop.

One day, you too will be history and god forbid you end up in a situation like Otto here.

When that happens, your perception of 'good' and 'right' might change real quick.

The truth is: Otto couldn't hack it. He saw too much, lost his nerve and it broke him, they even wanted to give him another chance to save his own life but it sounds by that point he was too far gone.

He wasn't a hero or a villain, just another sad tale from the annuls of history. Theirs nothing to take away from it other than you now know and can feel a more relateable aspect of that part of history.

>Thoughts?

Well, he was extremely unlucky.

In "Those Who Said No", David Kitterman examines and shows a case study of what happened to German soldiers refusing to take part in atrocities.

What happened to the majority of them, about 58 percent? Literally nothing.

What happened to the next most numerous group, about 18 percent? A reprimand or a threat of being reassigned - that was not carried out.

The next largest group, 17 percent? Transfer to another unit (as in not a punishment, i.e. a frontlien combat unit, just a different unit).

Demoted or denied promotion? 8 percent.

And so on.

How many were sent to concentration camps? One guy. To a frontline unit as punishment? Three guys. Outright executed? No one. Out of a hundred.

You have a responsibility to disobey unlawful orders. This shit is drilled into you.

This.

Nobody forced German soldiers to commit atrocities. Sure, if you refused, you'd probably be bullied by your comrades or receive the hairspray treatment from your superior, but no physical harm would come upon you. Peer pressure is one hell of a drug.

Schimek might have survived the war, if he hadn't broken out of the prison. Considering what normally happened to conscientious objectors in WW2 Germany, he wasn't even punished that harshly.

Well we just had a thread about generic predisposition to cowardice, but it got bombed by /pol/ after discussing foxes.

To draw from that, if I kill every person who will act like Otto Shieck, then yeah what you are saying will be true. In fact, I don't need to go so far. Someone who simply doesn't think creatively at all would act like you suggest. There are three populations I know of, artificially constructed, like that:

1. 30% or so of North Korea is malnourished to the point of severe mental retardation.

2. Prison Guards are asked if they will be ok doing Prison Guard things, these being monotonous and repetitive. High-iq individuals are culled from recruitment in many places.

3. Police of high intelligence are often culled during recruitment by examination. This varies by district. Most of the BLM places have police like this. LA is like this. My municipality isn't. This is to get them to follow orders unconditionally. I think it is madness.

In a mad world, I believe you would be right, and much of our world is mad.

*genetic predisposition

A brave man tried for cowardice.