Band of Brothers

I really shouldn’t watch Band of Brothers before bed. I was watching it yesterday and realized something new. The American soldiers didn’t know about the concentration camps. The episode was impeccable. The title was “Why We’re Here” and dealt with several of the guys who were starting to struggle with their reasons for being at war. They had been fighting for over a year and had seen some bad stuff. They were told to hate Germany and Hitler. Why? Hitler wanted to take over the world. Now, I don’t doubt that our government knew about the camps but the soldiers?

In the scene, a group of them are scouting an area of woods after 300,000 Germany fighters surrendered. They each notice how eerily quiet it is and keep stopping to check secure the location. They come to the edge of the forest and the only thing the viewer sees is smoke drifting into the guys’ faces. Then, one of them is running to get Major Winters. When the viewer returns to the smoky area, we see Winters pulling up and stopping, a look of complete shock on his face.

After entering the camp, Winters has the interpreter ask the prisoners questions. The first question: why are you here? The prisoner uses a word the interpreter doesn’t understand. Confusion. Were they allied troops? Did they break a law? Finally, the answer comes: Jewish. It blew the soldiers away. Later on, Winters is talking to another guy and says, “they are finding these camps all over.” The men were in shock as they showed the devastation and suffering within the camp.

Like I said, I shouldn’t watch Band of Brothers before bed.