Killing of Children?

[WW2History]

May 5th, 1944, it has Himmler's voice as well, it says:

"When you were asking me: "In the case of men we agree, but we do not agree with the killing of children" then I may remind you what I said in my first statements. In my view, we must now allow hate filled avengers to grow up so that our children and our grandchildren have to contend with them."

It appears authentic? What is the revisionist view on this?

[Callafangers]

May 5th, 1944, it has Himmler's voice as well, it says:

"When you were asking me: "In the case of men we agree, but we do not agree with the killing of children" then I may remind you what I said in my first statements. In my view, we must now allow hate filled avengers to grow up so that our children and our grandchildren have to contend with them."

It appears authentic? What is the revisionist view on this?

Hello WW2History, welcome to the forum. The quote you're referencing is from one of Himmler's Sonthofen speeches, which are claimed as one of the most blatant admissions regarding the 'Holocaust'. There is a lot to say regarding these speeches which are discussed in more detail, here (you may need to create an account/login):

https://rodoh.info/thread/693/himmler-s ... hofen-more

Regarding the specific excerpt you are quoting, it might be summed up as:

What this first of three Sonhofen speeches tells us (assuming authenticity) is that Himmler's focus is on Jews as a strategic and military threat. He does not discuss anything about actual extermination policy, let alone methods, which suggests any actual executions pertained to those documented mass executions (by shooting) which are already well-known. However harsh or cruel such wartime efforts may be, it seems Himmler is justifying harsh actions against children only to the extent such actions have occurred within the context of internal security and securing the rear.

The context in which Himmler discusses killing any children (which is clearly controversial, even to his audience) has to be understood within the broader framework of wartime security concerns (his sole focus, especially when speaking to the German Army) rather than as a genocidal policy. His reference to "hate-filled avengers" reflects the fear of Jewish partisans and potential future threats from children who might seek vengeance for actions taken against their own immediate parents/families, as partisans, particularly in areas of active resistance and partisan activity. Himmler's mention of killing Jews during these speeches, when read in-context, is always within or adjacent to his discussion of partisan activity, such as in the clearing of the Warsaw ghetto, based on concern over the long-term stability and security of German territories and to prevent sabotage and resistance, rather than expressing any intent to exterminate all Jewish children or to eradicate Jews as a race. Moreover, the notion that he and other NS leadership would work tirelessly for years to conceal any trace of 'Holocaust' evidence only to then openly admit total Jewish racial 'extermination' to a crowd of Wehrmacht generals in these recorded speeches is absurd.

Furthermore, the authenticity (or at least, the perfect accuracy) of the transcripts of these speeches is somewhat doubtful. There are discrepancies between different versions of the transcripts, as well as a lack of other corroborating documents in Himmler's files (within the Bundesarchiv which I've gone through personally, discussed in the thread linked above). From what I can tell, some (but not all) of the most allegedly 'incriminating' portions of the Sonthofen speeches are missing from the actual audio. While I do not think this necessarily indicates a particular degree of conspiracy to alter these recordings, it remains true that very small changes or discrepancies to the actual, original phrasing can have huge impacts in interpretation (or misinterpretation) to what Himmler originally said or intended to say.

Altogether, while any killing of children is tragic and brutal, it is well-known that mass reprisals/executions sometimes included children. This is the horror of world war. Facing this leads to broader questions about the true causes and nature of the war itself.

[WW2History]

Thanks for the response, although the ending there seems a bit ChatGPT'd xD

That thread you linked I am unable to access.

So the speech is authentic, but doesn't mean there was actual extermination policy (I agree).

Were children ever Partisans or killing Germans by chance? Or is this purely Himmler's Darwinist brutal view?

[Stubble]

Children, especially teens, may have been involved in terrorist action against the German Authorities. Rear line harassment, bombings, destruction of infrastructure.

Again, tragic.

The point raised about the speech is that they were recorded and the excerpts in question do not appear in them.

[TlsMS93]

The excuse in the Hebrew Bible for not sparing even infants in their wars was that in the future they could take revenge on their parents.

Would this speech by Himmler be any different than for Joshua or Samuel?

[Callafangers]

Thanks for the response, although the ending there seems a bit ChatGPT'd xD

Funny enough, I have been using AI constantly for everything from revisionism to day-to-day chores lately but the last paragraph you mention was 100% my own writing. I do have a working theory that using lots of AI eventually makes you "sound like" an AI, though. I have noticed I tend to structure my writing more similarly to AI output nowadays (e.g. more frequent use of bulleted lists, etc.). Fascinating stuff.