Veterans of the German army. How are German World War II veterans treated in Germany? (9 photos). “We are expecting a girl by September!”

I read and leafed through all these fables in the replies... Again, another herd of liberals, fawning over a bowl of rice in front of the lousy West and telling the old perestroika bullshit about how supposedly everyone in Germany is happy and how supposedly everyone here is “downtrodden and forgotten.” Bullshit! Moreover, it is long outdated. Of course, this was the case in Yeltsin’s 90s, but now times have long been different.
Now, regarding the attitude towards Wehrmacht veterans in Germany itself - I lived in Germany for a long time and talked about this topic with the Germans. Many openly did not want to talk about this topic, but there were also those who spoke directly. There has never been and is not now any kind of honoring of war veterans like in Russia or Germany. They lost and that's it. The Germans generally try not to advertise that their grandfathers fought and, God forbid, that they were in the SS. For Germans, being related to Ssovites is a shame. They don’t like to talk about the war, and it’s understandable why - EVERY German family has people killed or missing in Russia. For them, this is a crossed out page that they try to forget and not think about. In German society itself, their army has long been treated very mediocrely. The reason is banal - “We feed you, but you screwed up two wars.” My father told me about this a long time ago, when he served in the Pacific Fleet, and cadets from the GDR came to them for internships. They also said that in Germany they don’t like the army because of defeats in World Wars 1 and 2. In some families, their grandfathers are remembered and honored, but in most, the page of war and war veterans for the Germans has been crossed out once and for all. The memory of defeat in the war sits very deep in them, it is still felt when communicating behind all these rubber masks, and it will always weigh on them.
Now according to their standard of living. Many sub-Western liberals and Russophobes are trumpeting with might and main about the “heavenly life” of Wehrmacht veterans, although this is absolutely not true. Unlike our veterans, German veterans DO NOT RECEIVE ANY benefits, additional payments, or additional allowances for participating in the war. This was told to me by the German veterans themselves, with whom I had the opportunity to communicate. They receive a regular pension, just like ordinary old people. On average about 1-2 thousand euros. And this depends not on participation in the war, not on awards, not on titles and regalia - all this has nothing to do with pensions - but on length of service, age, social status, disability and many other reasons. Another question is that an ordinary pension is still enough for them to live an ordinary normal life. Not at all heavenly - but quite ordinary. And they don’t go on any round-the-world tours with these pensions. This is all bullshit. Only the rich who have a strong business go. And there are not many of them. Moreover, now they complain that life has become much worse than before, in the same 90s or 80s.
Let me emphasize once again - unlike our veterans, who are loved, honored and remembered, I have not seen anything like this in Germany. The attitude is usually neutral. I have not seen any special sentimentality or love for them on the part of ordinary German society or the state.
And now about our veterans. - In the liberal 90s, when the pro-Western Yeltsin scobla ruled the roost in Russia - yes, our veterans lived in wild poverty and sold awards, and barely made ends meet in order to somehow feed themselves. And now - heaven and earth compared to what it was. My great-uncle is a war participant, he is already 94 years old, lives in the Moscow region. There are children and grandchildren. His veteran's pension is about 40 thousand rubles. He came from the front as a disabled person, 5 years ago he received an apartment in Tver. All the benefits and sanatorium treatment - he has everything and is present. He says that he gives everything to his children and grandchildren and that there has not been such attention to him as now even in years Soviet power, not to mention the lousy Yeltsin times of general chaos and collapse.
Therefore, leave all these scabby stories about the “heavenly life” of the Germans and the supposed “poverty” of our veterans to your Yeltsin fosterlings, who drove the people to the brink in the 90s. It's a long time ago!
I'm tired of listening to all these lousy lies and all these lying, monotonous Russophobic nonsense of stupid bots on American pay.

One day, the tabloids of the world's publications will come out with loud headlines on home page- The last veteran of World War II (or the Great War) died Patriotic War), - unfortunately, this is inevitable, just as it was several years ago in the case of veterans of the First World War. The media: radio and television, newspapers and, above all, the Internet community will, albeit briefly, actively discuss this event, which is in no way inferior in terms of resonance to incidents such as a plane crash or a volcanic eruption. The editors decided to get ahead of the inevitability of events a little and conduct research on 3 points at once:

1. When the last World War II veteran dies (approximate interval in years).
2. Which country (party to the conflict) will this veteran represent?
3. When and with what intensity will people begin to become interested in this event and the personality of the veteran, in particular.

Actually, the last point is nothing more than a user request (in the Internet environment - a search request), the dynamics of the origin and development of which we will trace with the help of this article using Google Analytics tools. I would also like to first note:

The editors of outSignal do not in any way wish to offend anyone's feelings, and ask not to be considered this study blasphemous and immoral in relation to the Heroes who fought on the fields of the Second World War. We sincerely respect every Veteran who is still alive and wish them many more years of life!

Therefore, the main objective of the study is long-term, prospective: find out (establish) the moment when people become interested in this formulation of the question.

Research tools: empirical research methods, conditional statistics, comparative analysis and hypothetical assumptions - as we see, a simple toolkit that will help, albeit imprecisely, but in a foreseeable manner, give us an idea of ​​when the inevitable will happen.

When did the last World War I veteran die?

The BBC Russian Service published news about the death of the last World War I veteran in May 2011. Here's another one information service news, - TSN with the headline “The last veteran of the First World War on Earth has died,” reported this in February 2012.

This is where the reports about the “last” of the First World War end, so let’s take 2012 as a starting point. If we subtract this number within a century, that is, from the beginning of the war in 1914 to its end in 1918, we get a value of 6 years - that is how long the last veteran did not live to see the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War. It is important to take into account that 15-year-old youths who joined the army of their country literally 2 weeks before the end of the war, and even managed to take the first battle (the same Cloud Stanley Chuls became a sailor in 15 years old, see BBC screenshot).

By simple comparative analysis and elementary arithmetic, it is not difficult to calculate that the last veteran of World War II will die no earlier than 2039 ((1945 - 6) + 100 = 2039). And this is only according to the most modest (minimum) estimates.

Hypothetical assumptions based on observable statistics

Let's look at a simple example that shows the difference in the scale of the two world wars:

The screenshot shows approximate statistics of the ratio in numbers, scale and scope of the First and Second World Wars. As we see, the second world war significantly “ahead” of the First in terms of coverage in all respects. This number of factors plays a crucial role in the question: when will the last World War II veteran on Earth die. Let's figure out which of these factors are most significant in the digital aspect.

So, the duration of the wars varies in favor of the Second by almost 2 years, and this does not take into account the time difference between the wars of 21 years: from the end of the First in 1918 and the beginning of the Second in 1939.

We may still somehow miss the “number of participating states” factor, since at the time of the First World War there were too many empires. But the number of people who fought is indisputably the determining factor, since, despite the status of “the bloodiest war,” the First World War cannot in any way compete with the number of participants in the Second World War, the scale of which was practically unlimited in human resources (in any moment, several more millions of people could be drawn into the war, which often happened in various stages history).

Other other factors are either much less significant or even “duplicate” the importance of each other, therefore, it remains to determine one more, albeit post-war, but still important factor that influences the solution of the question: when the last veteran of World War II will die. This social factor, namely, the level of social and medical care for World War II veterans in different countries.

Veteran of which country participating in World War II will be the last

There is no need to list all the countries that participated in the Second World War; the “winners” in the matter of who the last veteran belongs to are already known in advance:

Now let's figure out why German veterans who fought on the side of Nazi Germany (Third Reich) have the greatest chance of becoming the "last"... Hitlerjugend (Hitlerjugend) is, as you know, the youth organization of the National Socialist Party of Germany, whose young soldiers were 14-18 years old at the time of April-May 1945, that is, during the period of heavy street fighting in Berlin, and some the boys from the JungVolk unit are 10 years old or younger.

A special place in this assumption is occupied by the notorious elite 12 tank division SS (12th SS-Panzer-Division Hitlerjugend), middle age whose soldiers at the end of the war did not exceed 21 years of age (Hitler Youth students born in 1926).

As for the second contender - Soviet Union, then here decisive factor is large number soldiers of the Red Army, but at the same time, due to low social security and medical services, the likelihood that the last veteran of the Second World War (Great Patriotic War) will be a “Soviet” soldier is much lower.
But Japan, due to the generally accepted opinion about the centenarians of the island state, has, albeit small, but still quite realistic chances of becoming the country of residence of the last veteran of World War II. Also, one should not forget here the date of the end of World War II - September 2, 1945 - that is, the signing of the act of surrender of Japan, which happened almost 4 months later than the surrender of the Third Reich (Germany).

When will people become interested in this event?

Naturally, over time, more and more people will become interested in this issue in its various aspects: who, where and when the last veteran of World War II and the Great Patriotic War died. The frequency of search queries will increase especially sharply during periods of informational occasions: holidays on May 8th and 9th, dates of pivotal battles and battles, messages on this topic in the media.

As already established above, the last veteran will live until the 100th anniversary of the start of the war, that is, until 2039, but there is still a high probability that, due to the age of the soldiers of some units, as well as the total number of human resources involved, the last veteran will live until the mid-40s of the 21st century, but is unlikely to survive the equator of the century.

P.S.: once again I would like to appeal to readers not to judge the point of view of the authors of the article... all assumptions are speculative and do not have clear statistical grounds... we sincerely wish health and longevity to all veterans of the Second World War and the Great Patriotic War. Thank you grandfather for the Victory!

Attitude towards veterans is an indicator not only of the economic state of the state, but also of less material things.
It is interesting to compare the situation of World War II veterans in various countries.
Germany
The state provided the Wehrmacht veterans with a comfortable old age and high level social protection.
Depending on their rank and merit, the size of their pension varies from 1.5 to 8 thousand euros.
For example, a junior officer's pension is 2,500 euros. About 400 euros are awarded to the widows of those killed or died in post-war period.
Payments are guaranteed to individuals German origin served in the Wehrmacht and “performed statutory military service in accordance with the rules for its completion until May 9, 1945.”

Interestingly, Red Army veterans living in Germany are entitled to a pension of 400-500 euros per month, as well as social Security.
War veterans can count on free hospitalization twice a day during the year, and if we're talking about about prisoners of war, the number of hospitalizations is unlimited.
The state also partially pays for former Wehrmacht soldiers to visit the places where they fought, including abroad.

United Kingdom
The size of the pension for World War II veterans in the UK directly depends on military rank and severity of injuries.
Monthly payments in European currency range between 2,000 and 9,000 euros.
If there is a need, then the state pays an additional nurse.
Moreover, the right any Briton who suffered during the Second World War is eligible to receive a pension.
A supplement to the basic pension is also provided to widows of veterans.

USA
US authorities honor American participants in World War II twice a year.
Fallen soldiers are remembered on Memorial Day, observed on the last Monday in May, and veterans are honored on November 11 on Veterans' Day.
American veterans are entitled to a $1,200 bonus to their pension, which averages $1,500.
Supervises participants of the Second World War in the USA Department of Veterans Affairs, which operates 175 hospitals, hundreds of nursing homes and thousands of district clinics.
If the veteran's illness or disability is a consequence military service, then all expenses for his treatment are borne by the state.

Israel
World War II participants living in Israel receive a pension of $1,500.
People from former USSR.
Many veterans, having collected the necessary package of documents at home, receive a pension not only from the Israeli Ministry of Defense, but also from the Russian budget.
Veterans are exempt from paying city taxes, receive a 50% discount on medications, and are also given significant discounts on electricity, heating, telephone and utilities.

Latvia
The situation of war veterans in Latvia can be called deplorable.
They do not have any benefits, unlike the “forest brothers” (nationalist movement), who receive a monthly pension supplement of $100 from the Ministry of Defense.
The average monthly pension in Latvia is approximately 270 euros.
The lack of attention to WWII veterans in Latvia is not surprising, since Victory Day does not officially exist for Latvians.
Moreover, quite recently the Latvian Seimas passed a law banning Nazi and Soviet symbols.
This means that WWII veterans living in Latvia will lose the opportunity to wear military awards .

Czech Republic
A little better life from Czech veterans.
The list of their benefits is quite modest: free use of public transport and telephones and an annual voucher to a sanatorium from the Ministry of Defense.
Unlike others European countries In the Czech Republic, benefits do not apply to widows and orphans.
It is interesting that until recently Czech veterans were provided with medicines for free, but now they have to pay for them out of their own pockets.
Veterans of the Czech Republic receive a regular pension of 12 thousand crowns, which approximately corresponds to the pension of Russian veterans.

France
The number of World War II veterans in France is approximately 800 thousand people, of which 500 thousand are former military personnel, 200 thousand are members of the Resistance and 100 thousand are deported to Germany.
Also included in the category of veterans were former prisoners of war - 1 million 800 thousand.
The pension of French veterans is higher than that of Russians - 600 euros. They receive it not from the age of 65, like ordinary citizens, but from 60.
French veterans have their own department that deals with their problems Ministry for the Affairs of Former Military Personnel and War Victims.
But the subject of special pride of France is that it has a long history Home for the Invalids.
It is both a hall of military glory and a hospital. Veterans in need of care can count on a permanent stay here. To do this, they will have to give up a third of their pension, and the state will transfer the rest to their bank account.