Denmark's reflection on post-World War II and the difference between Germany and Japan

Eusebio 2022-01-09 08:03:13

The movie "Minefields" is also adapted from real historical events.

After the defeat of Germany in World War II, a large number of German prisoners were forced to dig landmines with their bare hands. Many of them are still teenagers, who may happen to have joined the army just before the armistice, but have to pay the price of their lives for the country’s war crimes.

During the war, the Germans laid more than 1.5 million landmines on the west coast of Denmark to prevent the Allied forces from landing. The Germans, who have always been rigorous, left a map of the distribution of landmines, and these reports became the source of the tragedies of the captured children. The Danish government has absolutely no plans to find a way to remove mines mechanically. There are so many German prisoners of war, what a good live mine detector, let them detect step by step, and dig them out one by one by hand.

The shots in "Minefields" are often far-sighted. On a quiet beach, children crawl on the ground, gently poking the sand with a small stick, slowly looking for landmines. But the people watching the movie are tense, and don't know when a poor bug will just detonate a certain landmine. As a result, a puff of black smoke appeared on the distant scene that was still quiet at the moment, and the camera was zoomed in, and the flesh was spattered.

Landmines were buried under this deserted beach, where German children died without dignity. The desire to go home is the only reason to support the children's struggle. Some say that they want to go back to find their mothers, and their mothers can make the best meal in Berlin, and they can open restaurants; some say they want to be construction workers. The motherland of Germany must be rebuilt; some say that we should find a girl to give birth to a son and start a company with her son.

Danish Sergeant Major Carl hated the Germans deeply at first, but seeing the children desperately shouting to their mothers after being blown up, they were sent to the doctor and died. What's more, they were barely able to find the broken limbs. Perhaps the soft human nature in his heart was slowly. After recovering, he gradually got better to these prisoners, looking for food for them, and taking the children to play football on vacation. But no matter how rigorous the map is, there are mistakes, but Carl's pet dog was blown up, and Carl became manic again, it was the German's fault. In the end, the remaining tired and desperate children committed suicide. Those who were bombed were killed. The beach was safe, but there were only four German children left. The Danish army even lied to the German prisoners of war, and they could not go home after completing their mission, because "the Danes wanted to watch the Germans die like flies." The remaining four people were sent to participate in a new demining mission. Sergeant Major Karl pretended to be a driver to pick up the children and sent them to the German border, smiling as they watched the children escape the border and ran to their homeland and hope.

In fact, when World War II broke out, Denmark only resisted for a few hours. The bicycle combat company (but it’s more appropriate to call the team a few people in total) struggled all day because it didn’t receive the announcement of the truce, so it was a day in vain.

When the German army landed, the Danish royal family and the parliament had a meeting in the early morning for a few hours and decided to agree to accept German "protection." The movie "War Day" is about the content of the memories of several bicycle company veterans: German land tanks entered Denmark, and the army rode bicycles to meet the battle after receiving the order to fight, and did not know where the Germans were. Riding a car in the grass, looking for the enemy nervously, a bit tragic and funny.

Of course, compared with the well-equipped Czechs’ complete non-resistance and full welcome to be protected, the poorly equipped Danes did resist for a few hours. However, more Danish civilians watched the German army come in like watching the excitement. We can see In some old photos, citizens of Copenhagen gathered at the pier to watch the scene of German warships disguised as merchant ships entering the port. In fact, Germany is not too bad for the Danes, it is much better than it is for the Jews and Poles, and it is better than Japan for Manchuria. But in the end Germany was defeated, and spurning the Nazis became the most politically correct and conscientious thing. Germany that launched aggression and was defeated is bad, and German prisoners of war are not equipped with human rights.

Denmark made such a film on the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, and it is probably also a reflection on the inhumanity of the year. The psychological change of Sergeant Major Carl in "Minefield" has changed from hatred to sympathy, forgiveness and redemption.

Beyond the movie

Denmark is now the happiest country in the world, and also the most "socialist" country, with high welfare for all and free education. (Of course it depends on high taxes: the official figures in the United States are 65% per capita tax in Denmark. A Danish brother from a medical school I met in Bangkok said it was 40%). Denmark is a veritable bicycle country, and almost all people travel on bicycles. Unlike in World War II, riding a bicycle in World War II was due to poor armaments, but now it is a life philosophy. Now if you go to Denmark, all you can see are Danes who enjoy the outdoor life and enjoy good public order. Only when the country is strong, the society is stable and the people are happy can we have the confidence to forgive (or reflect on) historical mistakes.

Germany is the most miserable country after World War II and the country with the most guilty pleas. More than seventy years have passed, and the German people are still living in the shadow of confession. They must not be unfriendly to other races or nationalities. If they are not careful, they will be labeled racial discrimination or even Nazis. Just like in the German TV series "Introduction to Turkish" in previous years, the Turkish girl and the German girl lived under the same roof, but the Turkish girl quarreled with anger and said that the German girl was a Nazi, which attracted several young people on the street. Looking sideways, the German girl was choked so hard to argue. The social problems caused by the large-scale emigration of Turks to Germany in the past few years have not yet been resolved. In recent years, Syrian refugees have caused more problems. However, the Germans must not be wronged and still welcome everyone to come, in order to continue the atonement of World War II. Now if we go to Germany, we will see more buildings that have been destroyed by terrorist attacks are being rebuilt, and public toilets have been ruined.

Compared with the overall introspection of Germany in the west and the continued supervision of the people of the world, the relationship between China and Japan in the east seems strange. The Japanese government has never really pleaded guilty or introspected, but the domestic voice for forgiving Japan is getting louder and louder. In fact, "forgiving Japan" is a political and historical concept, not a matter of civilians. What ordinary people have to do is to get along with each other in peace, to understand each other, not to engage in riots, not to destroy Japanese goods, and not to threaten the safety of ordinary Japanese in China.

Moreover, the Japanese government cannot be compared with Germany. Germany is taking the risk to accept refugees who may be mixed with terrorists, and Japan is a country that is not suitable for Muslims to live in. The German government accepts the supervision of people all over the world, and the Japanese government seems to be forgiven by some Chinese civilians. This wave of "letting go of the past and forgiving Japan" came dangerous.

Now in China, it seems politically incorrect to hold Japan accountable for World War II. South Korea, which still urges Japan to plead guilty and apologize, appears weak. Young Chinese find the heroic anti-Japanese films of China and South Korea often disgusting. However, the American blockbuster of save the world (save the world) is very popular throughout . Indeed, American films are better and the proportion of Chinese works with good themes is still too small. But in fact, the core of the American hero series comic film and a large part of the war film is the main theme of the United States, subtly educating the people of the world: Americans will come to save the world. Of course, there are well-made anti-war films in the United States, such as "Hacksaw Ridge," which is still in theaters this week (the Oscar for directors is predicted here), but most of the American movies are constantly exporting the United States to the world. Values: The United States is infinitely correct and respects human rights infinitely. Although in fact it is the United States that has made the war money for more than a hundred years in silence, it is still true today.

If you want to understand a history of war, you must learn to respect the most basic language of each participating country. If you want to have unbiased values, you must look at things from multiple perspectives. The answer sheet submitted by Denmark can give a high score.

Finally, I recommend a few European World War II movies:

Denmark:

War Day 9. April

Under sandet

Russia:

Female sniper Битва за Севастополь

The dawn here is quiet А зори здесь тихиеSoviet version

Estonia:

1944

Germany:

Our father Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter

Black Book Zwartboek

Norway/ Sweden

Into the White

Poland:

Katyn tragedy Katyń

The Pianist

WeChat public account——Murdenge film reviews, watching the world, around Russia, welcome to follow

View more about Land of Mine reviews

Extended Reading

Land of Mine quotes

  • Lt. Ebbe Jensen: If they are old enough to go to war, they are old enough to clean up.

  • closing title card: After the war, more than 2000 German prisoners were forced to remove over 1.5 million landmines from Denmark's west coast.

    closing title card: Nearly half of them were killed or severely wounded.

    closing title card: Many were barely more than children.