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by fileyfood500 1951 days ago
FDR/senior government and military officials in the US army knew. They made choices to focus on American interests at multiple points, even as they closed on victory on the European front, they prioritized strategic targets over concentration camps. The USSR ended up being the one to free most of the camps, and conquer most of Germany. Strategic targets are definitely important for protecting soldiers, but really the point here is that the military leaders were aware, and the fact the soldiers were surprised/shocked is a result of them not being informed and/or it being a shocking thing to see even when you know it’s coming.
4 comments
yellowapple 1951 days ago
> they prioritized strategic targets over concentration camps.

Well yeah, that's just Winning Wars 101. If the decision is between "let's knock out these strategic targets so that we can end the war quickly and (assuming we know about them) shut down the concentration camps all at once" v. "let's get bogged down by starting with the concentration camps while the enemy continues to churn out arms and war machines and troops because we couldn't be assed to focus on the strategic targets", the former is really the only reasonable choice.

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throwaway210222 1950 days ago
If you want a really damming example more recent than a war our grandparents were children during:

consider that the IDF provided they could get to Entebbe in Uganda at short notice, but failed to muster the moral courage to intervene in Rwanda.

So much for never again.

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neolog 1951 days ago
> FDR/senior government and military officials in the US army knew.

I'd be interested to see the source material for that.

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_-david-_ 1950 days ago
Are you suggesting that in 1939 (when WW2 started) the US knew about concentration camps? I would very interested in seeing some sources for that.

Regardless, even if they did, I said most people did not know. The president, some higher ups and some people in the military wouldn't account for most people.

Even if the general population knew, not focusing on the camps does not mean they did not care. It means ending the war (which would end the camps) was a more important goal than liberating the camps. Why focus on one thing when you can kill two birds with one stone?

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