--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: In October 1944, after more than two…" description: "\"“In October 1944, after more than two years of butchery between the Germans and the Soviets, the Red Army finally crossed the frontier onto German soil..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e45/keith-lowe-33195_red-army_in-october-1944-after-more-than-two-year_332419.jpg" --- # In October 1944, after more than two years of butchery… ![“In October 1944, after more than two years of butchery between the Germans and the Soviets, the Red Army finally crossed the frontier onto German soil. The little village of Nemmersdorf bears the unhappy distinction of being the first populated place they came across, and the name of the village…” quote by Keith Lowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e45/keith-lowe-33195_red-army_in-october-1944-after-more-than-two-year_332419.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e45/keith-lowe-33195_red-army_in-october-1944-after-more-than-two-year_332419.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e45/keith-lowe-33195_red-army_in-october-1944-after-more-than-two-year_332419.jpg) > ““In October 1944, after more than two years of butchery between the Germans and the Soviets, the Red Army finally crossed the frontier onto German soil. The little village of Nemmersdorf bears the unhappy distinction of being the first populated place they came across, and the name of the village soon became a byword for atrocity. In a frenzy of violence, Red Army soldiers are reputed to have murdered everyone they found here – men, women and children alike – before proceeding to mutilate their bodies.”” [Keith Lowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-lowe/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote describes the brutal atrocities committed by Red Army soldiers in Nemmersdorf, highlighting the horrors of war. **In simple terms:** War brings extreme violence and suffering. Key Takeaway Remember the cost of war. Themes war atrocity human suffering Mood somber thoughtful Type historical educational When to use this quote - education on war crimes - peace advocacy - human rights work - memorial planning Key Concepts history military ethics Questions to Reflect On - How does remembering such events shape peace efforts? - What responsibilities do societies have to victims? A Different Perspective The narrative may lack broader context of the conflict. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Atrocity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/atrocity/) [Germans Soviets](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/germans-soviets-3107895/) [Israel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/israel/) [October 1944](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/october-1944-3107896/) [Red army](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/red-army/) [Two years](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/two-years/) [Village Nemmersdorf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/village-nemmersdorf-3107894/) ## Related quotes > [“The Germans had done their best to evacuate Majdanek before the Red Army arrived, but in their hurry to leave they had failed to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-lowe/the-germans-had-done-their-best-to-evacuate-majdanek-before-the-red/) [Keith Lowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-lowe/) > [“Man cannot do without feelings, but the moment they are considered values in themselves, criteria of truth, justifications for kinds of behavior, they become…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milan-kundera/man-cannot-do-without-feelings-but-the-moment-they-are-considered/) [Milan Kundera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milan-kundera/) > [We bear witness to the worst of human brutality, retweet what we have witnessed, and then we move on to the next atrocity. There…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roxane-gay/we-bear-witness-to-the-worst-of-human-brutality-retweet-what-we-have/) [Roxane Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roxane-gay/) > [After all this atrocity, this is how human beings really pray.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacqueline-novogratz/after-all-this-atrocity-this-is-how-human-beings-really-pray/) [Jacqueline Novogratz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacqueline-novogratz/) > [It is in our nature to enjoy atrocity so long as it continues to shock and remains comfortably removed from our own lives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paula-marantz-cohen/it-is-in-our-nature-to-enjoy-atrocity-so-long-as-it-continues-to/) [Paula Marantz Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paula-marantz-cohen/) > [Atrocity never balances or rectifies the past. Atrocity merely arms the future for more atrocity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-herbert/atrocity-never-balances-or-rectifies-the-past-atrocity-merely-arms/) [Frank Herbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-herbert/) > [The biggest atrocity of all is to indoctrinate our children into a system that does not value their creative expression, nor encourage their unique…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-greene/the-biggest-atrocity-of-all-is-to-indoctrinate-our-children-into-a/) [Benjamin Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-greene/) > [“Is it not fear that drives atrocity? It is natural enough to hate our enemies. Of course it is. How could anybody kill another…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-ebsworth/is-it-not-fear-that-drives-atrocity-it-is-natural-enough-to-hate-our/) [David Ebsworth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-ebsworth/) > [“I am the center of an atrocity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-plath/i-am-the-center-of-an-atrocity/) [Sylvia Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-plath/) > [“The character of Moses, as stated in the Bible, is the most horrid that can be imagined. If those accounts be true, he was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/the-character-of-moses-as-stated-in-the-bible-is-the-most-horrid-that/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [“He wondered at the atrocities human kind was capable of committing. The majority of those housed below were ill, mentally or physically, not witches.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brynn-chapman/he-wondered-at-the-atrocities-human-kind-was-capable-of-committing/) [Brynn Chapman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brynn-chapman/) > [Fanatics can justify practically any atrocity to themselves. The more untenable their position becomes, the harder they hold to it, and the worse the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mercedes-lackey/fanatics-can-justify-practically-any-atrocity-to-themselves-the-more/) [Mercedes Lackey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mercedes-lackey/) > [“Holocaust Theatre (Naskaristana 2799) Most social issues are rooted in religion, most religious issues are rooted in politics, most political issues are vestiges of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/holocaust-theatre-naskaristana-2799-most-social-issues-are-rooted-in/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [“Many people do simply awful things out of sincere religious belief, not using religion as a cover the way that Saddam Hussein may have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-weinberg/many-people-do-simply-awful-things-out-of-sincere-religious-belief/) [Steven Weinberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-weinberg/) > [ “...he was telling me that our \[country's\] blood-soaked and atrocity-littered past was important but that the future didn't have to be its slave.” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wes-moore/he-was-telling-me-that-our-country-s-blood-soaked-and-atrocity/) [Wes Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wes-moore/) ## More by Keith Lowe > [“I read somewhere that all the digitized announcers on the tube have names.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-lowe/i-read-somewhere-that-all-the-digitized-announcers-on-the-tube-have/) [Keith Lowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-lowe/) > [“Between 1945 and 1947 tens of millions of men, women and children were expelled from their countries in some of the biggest acts of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-lowe/between-1945-and-1947-tens-of-millions-of-men-women-and-children-were/) [Keith Lowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-lowe/) > [“In an extraordinary article in the Daily Express, Major R. Crisp stated that the ordinary German soldiers he used to come across had been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-lowe/in-an-extraordinary-article-in-the-daily-express-major-r-crisp-stated/) [Keith Lowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-lowe/) > [“In recent years there has been a tendency by some Western historians and politicians to look back at the aftermath of the Second World…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-lowe/in-recent-years-there-has-been-a-tendency-by-some-western-historians/) [Keith Lowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-lowe/) > [“While this has never been the mainstream view in Germany, there are still political groups there today who refuse to acknowledge the Holocaust on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-lowe/while-this-has-never-been-the-mainstream-view-in-germany-there-are/) [Keith Lowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-lowe/) > [“The first camp to be discovered in the west was the Natzweiler-Struthof camp in Alsace, which the French army entered on 23 November 1944.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-lowe/the-first-camp-to-be-discovered-in-the-west-was-the-natzweiler/) [Keith Lowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-lowe/) > [“Over the coming days, one of the things that shocked the British most was the nonchalant way that the surviving prisoners lived their lives…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-lowe/over-the-coming-days-one-of-the-things-that-shocked-the-british-most/) [Keith Lowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-lowe/) > [“In the winter of 1941 the German army succeeded in starving between 1.3 and 1.65 million Soviet prisoners of war to death.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-lowe/in-the-winter-of-1941-the-german-army-succeeded-in-starving-between-1/) [Keith Lowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-lowe/) > [“The rationing system that was set up in Britain at the outbreak of the hostilities was as revolutionary as anything the Communists could have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-lowe/the-rationing-system-that-was-set-up-in-britain-at-the-outbreak-of/) [Keith Lowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-lowe/) > [“I thought you’d be there waiting for me … What greeted me instead was the lingering stench of ashes and the empty sockets of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-lowe/i-thought-you-d-be-there-waiting-for-me-what-greeted-me-instead-was/) [Keith Lowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-lowe/) > [“It simply was not possible to locate all the war criminals and remove all compromised leaders from positions of power, intern them, gather evidence…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-lowe/it-simply-was-not-possible-to-locate-all-the-war-criminals-and-remove/) [Keith Lowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-lowe/) > [“The Germans had done their best to evacuate Majdanek before the Red Army arrived, but in their hurry to leave they had failed to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-lowe/the-germans-had-done-their-best-to-evacuate-majdanek-before-the-red/) [Keith Lowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-lowe/) > [“Of the 3 million prisoners taken by the Soviets during the war, more than a third died in captivity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-lowe/of-the-3-million-prisoners-taken-by-the-soviets-during-the-war-more/) [Keith Lowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-lowe/) > [“when the Americans liberated Ohrdruf, one of Buchenwald’s sub-camps. Ohrdruf is particularly important because General Dwight Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-lowe/when-the-americans-liberated-ohrdruf-one-of-buchenwald-s-sub-camps/) [Keith Lowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-lowe/) [Explore all 15 Keith Lowe quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-lowe/) ## More Atrocity quotes > [ “...he was telling me that our \[country's\] blood-soaked and atrocity-littered past was important but that the future didn't have to be its slave.” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wes-moore/he-was-telling-me-that-our-country-s-blood-soaked-and-atrocity/) [Wes Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wes-moore/) > [“Many people do simply awful things out of sincere religious belief, not using religion as a cover the way that Saddam Hussein may have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-weinberg/many-people-do-simply-awful-things-out-of-sincere-religious-belief/) [Steven Weinberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-weinberg/) > [“Holocaust Theatre (Naskaristana 2799) Most social issues are rooted in religion, most religious issues are rooted in politics, most political issues are vestiges of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/holocaust-theatre-naskaristana-2799-most-social-issues-are-rooted-in/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [Fanatics can justify practically any atrocity to themselves. The more untenable their position becomes, the harder they hold to it, and the worse the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mercedes-lackey/fanatics-can-justify-practically-any-atrocity-to-themselves-the-more/) [Mercedes Lackey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mercedes-lackey/) > [“He wondered at the atrocities human kind was capable of committing. The majority of those housed below were ill, mentally or physically, not witches.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brynn-chapman/he-wondered-at-the-atrocities-human-kind-was-capable-of-committing/) [Brynn Chapman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brynn-chapman/) > [“The character of Moses, as stated in the Bible, is the most horrid that can be imagined. If those accounts be true, he was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/the-character-of-moses-as-stated-in-the-bible-is-the-most-horrid-that/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [“I am the center of an atrocity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-plath/i-am-the-center-of-an-atrocity/) [Sylvia Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-plath/) > [“Is it not fear that drives atrocity? It is natural enough to hate our enemies. Of course it is. How could anybody kill another…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-ebsworth/is-it-not-fear-that-drives-atrocity-it-is-natural-enough-to-hate-our/) [David Ebsworth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-ebsworth/) > [The biggest atrocity of all is to indoctrinate our children into a system that does not value their creative expression, nor encourage their unique…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-greene/the-biggest-atrocity-of-all-is-to-indoctrinate-our-children-into-a/) [Benjamin Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-greene/) > [Atrocity never balances or rectifies the past. Atrocity merely arms the future for more atrocity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-herbert/atrocity-never-balances-or-rectifies-the-past-atrocity-merely-arms/) [Frank Herbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-herbert/) > [It is in our nature to enjoy atrocity so long as it continues to shock and remains comfortably removed from our own lives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paula-marantz-cohen/it-is-in-our-nature-to-enjoy-atrocity-so-long-as-it-continues-to/) [Paula Marantz Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paula-marantz-cohen/) > [After all this atrocity, this is how human beings really pray.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacqueline-novogratz/after-all-this-atrocity-this-is-how-human-beings-really-pray/) [Jacqueline Novogratz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacqueline-novogratz/) > [We bear witness to the worst of human brutality, retweet what we have witnessed, and then we move on to the next atrocity. There…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roxane-gay/we-bear-witness-to-the-worst-of-human-brutality-retweet-what-we-have/) [Roxane Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roxane-gay/) > [“Man cannot do without feelings, but the moment they are considered values in themselves, criteria of truth, justifications for kinds of behavior, they become…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milan-kundera/man-cannot-do-without-feelings-but-the-moment-they-are-considered/) [Milan Kundera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milan-kundera/) > [“We must let love simmer, without being consumed by contempt, otherwise atrocity will never end, only switch sides.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/we-must-let-love-simmer-without-being-consumed-by-contempt-otherwise/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) [Browse all 66 Atrocity quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/atrocity/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“In October 1944, after more than two years of butchery between the Germans and the Soviets, the Red Army finally crossed the frontier onto German soil. 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