23 World War II facts – Crimes against humanity

SS used to open a bank account to deposit money and gold taken from concentration camp inmates under the name Max Heiliger.  Tweet This

Denying or apologising the Holocaust is outlawed in many countries; in some others, however, the official state policy is to dismiss it as a hoax. Tweet This

Bulgaria was part of the Axis Powers yet did not allow deportation of Jews, gypsies and other minorities to camps. Tweet This

Remnants of Croatian troops marched into Austria, willing to surrender to the British. British refused, sending them back to the Yugoslavian partisans, who killed them all (Bleiburg repatriations). Tweet This

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Jehovah’s Witnesses were also persecuted and sent to German concentration camps. Tweet This

German U-Boat torpedoed British ship and then started rescuing the survivors. Equipped with red cross and sending open radio signals to Allies, it had its deck packed with people when U.S. bomber deliberately attacked, killing many of them. Bomber’s crew was then awarded medals for bravery (Laconia incident). Tweet This

In 1940, Red Army executed over 20,000 Polish officers, events better known as the Katyn massacre. Tweet This

The Holodomor or “Extermination by hunger” policy of USSR led to the death of several million Ukrainians in 1933-34. Tweet This

Japanese Army forced women to prostitute, keeping them in sexual slavery.  The used term was “comfort women”. Tweet This

Japanese Army killed and raped tens of thousands of civilians in Nanking, China. It remained in the history as Nanking Massacre or Nanking Rape. Tweet This

Allied bombardments of German cities led to high dead toll amongst civilians. In just one night, over 90% of Dresden population was wiped out – more than 125,000 civilians. Tweet This

More than one million German and Austrian women and girls were raped during Russian occupation. Tweet This

Many rape-murders are ascribed to U.S. occupation troops stationed for many years in Okinawa, Japan. Tweet This

More American citizens were kept in camps on American land from U.S. government, than there were U.S. prisoners of war (PoW) in Japanese camps. Tweet This

U.S. dropped both A-bombs over civil population in Japan more as a declaration to the world it’s an undisputed superpower, rather than from military necessity. Tweet This

In U.S. military bases, white PoWs were better treated than coloured U.S. soldiers. Tweet This

Both U.S. and German troops shot unarmed PoWs in early 1945 in Bastogne and  Malmedy massacres respectively.  Tweet This

Auschwitz Concentration Camp was the only place where inmates received identification number tattoos. Tweet This

Almost 600,000 Jews served in the United States armed forces. Tweet This

Prisoners of war in Russian camps suffered from almost 90% mortality rate. Tweet This

Last German PoWs returned home in 1955. Tweet This

Most soldiers in the Waffen SS were not German. Tweet This

Staff of Unit 731 (Japanese testing biological agents on prisoners) was granted immunity by U.S. in exchange for information for America’s own biological warfare program. Tweet This