Just watched the movie “the captain” released in 2017 by Robert Schwentke. I was curious as to how realistic is this movie’s portraiture of the general climate at that point in 1945 in Germany. I know the story is actually based on a real event but was this an isolated incident or were there others?

by Vancopime
MrTomatoTheSecond

There were lots of others. Here in Germany, they are referred to as "Endphaseverbrechen" (end phase crimes) and generally refer to the time from January to whenever the war ended in certain places (so in Berlin, for example, that would be May 1945).

These crimes consisted of the killing of people (not only soldiers) found "guilty" of "Wehrkraftzersetzung" (basically sabotaging the German war effort by deserting or otherwise) or defeatism. Additionally, the so-called Death Marches (Todesmärsche) from one concentration camp to another are counted towards them. These marches were an attempt by the SS to cover up their crimes in the camps by letting the inmates march sometimes hundreds of kilometres (most often) westwards (as most of the camps were located in the east), away from the advancing Allied armys.

The victims of these crimes were people of the broader population, in contrast to minorities who had been targeted in the years before. Basically anyone could be found guilty and killed if they were not willing to give their lives in the fight against the enemy. Often, they were local authorities who surrendered their respective town/city/etc. and were shot/hanged for it shortly after. On the other hand, the perpetrators came from the majority population, too. It were not only soldiers who executed fellow soldiers or civilians, but also civilians, members of the Hitler Youth or the Volkssturm.

On a side note, there were also mass suicides in the last months, weeks and days of the war. Sometimes, almost entire villages killed themselves because they saw no other way out and did so in fear of the advancing enemy.

Literature: Bessel, Richard: "Germany 1945. From war to peace". London 2009. Judt, Tony: "Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945". London 2005. Huber, Florian: "Kind, versprich mir, dass du dich erschießt. Der Untergang der kleinen Leute 1945". Munich 2016. Kershaw, Ian: "The End: Germany, 1944-45". London 2012.