"Just imagine living in a world in which law and order have broken down completely: a world in which there is no authority, no rules and no sanctions. In the bombed-out ruins of Europe’s cities, feral gangs scavenge for food. Old men are murdered for their clothes, their watches or even their boots. Women are mercilessly raped, many several times a night. Neighbour turns on neighbour; old friends become deadly enemies. And the wrong surname, even the wrong accent, can get you killed. It sounds like the stuff of nightmares. But for hundreds of millions of Europeans, many of them now gentle, respectable pensioners, this was daily reality in the desperate months after the end of World War II." How neighbours turned on each other as anarchy erupted in Europe in aftermath of WWII | Mail Online
Good post, but you might also have added something about how women and young girls were forced into acts of prostitution for a few cigarettes in order to barter them for food for their families.
Old Hickory mentioned seeing two French women in a small village who had their heads shaved and then were forced out of town with nothing more than a small suitcase. They also swastikas painted on their faces. He said it happened south of St Lo, in late July, 1944. He said he is sure it happened in other places he passed through, but he was not a direct witness to those occurances..
Just want to add a little clarification to the comments regarding Poland deparding Ukrainians. One must know the Genecide committed against Poles by the Ukrainians Nationalists. The murderes were truely barbaric. http://www.electronicmuseum.ca/Poland-WW2/ukrainian_insurgent_atrocities/uia_ukrainian_genocide.html Here is a few quotes. "Firstly, it encompassed, in principle, the most speedy possible physical extermination (murder) on the spot of all the Poles that could be reached, regardless of age or sex. In this respect it is comparable only to the German genocide against the Jews - not their genocide against the Poles." "Secondly, Ukrainian genocide was characterized as a rule by tortures of the utmost barbarity. These reached back to the Cossack traditions of the XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries (the Khmelnitsky Uprising, and the uprising of 1768 called "kolistchyzna"), with the methods in use at that time - hacking Poles and Jews with axes, throwing wounded victims into wells, sawing people alive, horse-dragging, eye-gouging, pulling out of tongues, and other atrocities. Such acts of barbarity were not as a rule employed by the Germans or even the Soviets" "Fourthly, special mention must be made of the viciously criminal stance taken in cases of mixed Polish-Ukrainian marriages. In such cases the Ukrainian assassins often murdered, wherever possible, whole families, including the children, or, at least, the Polish partner. Not only this, but there were instances where the Ukrainian husband (or even the wife) was forced to kill the Polish partner with his own hands. Such barbarity was never applied in similar cases of mixed marriage, by the Soviets, or in the case of mixed German-Jewish marriages by the Germans" Just a few examples, and as far as I know Ukraine never appologized for this genecide. Just had to mention this, since the article kind of perpetuated Poland as an aggressor against Ukraine after WW2, well can you blame Poland for the deporations? Not trying to start a blame game, just adding a little explaination to the actions.
