XPost: alt.politics.international, nz.politics

Just been reading this obituary <https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/madeleine-riffaud-who-fought-for-paris-with-french-resistance-in-wwii-dies-at-100/3MOUGPYWXZBMZE4JQLKWSOBG6U/>
for a member of the French Resistance against the German occupiers in
World War II. I was struck by this part:

In early July 1944, less than a month after the D-Day landings of
Allied troops in Normandy, the Resistance in Paris began efforts
to stir a mass rebellion on the streets. The orders were for
Resistance fighters to kill a German soldier in daylight in a
public place.

Riffaud was riding a bike on July 22 when she spotted a German
officer who had paused to gaze at the Seine from a footbridge
across from the Tuileries Garden. She stopped – as if to take in
the view as well – and shot the German twice in the left temple.

Crowds in the garden witnessed the execution. “It was right,” she
added. “I felt very calm, very pure.”

Worth pointing out that most of the German military were not Nazis.
The SS were Nazis, and the Gestapo were Nazis. And some soldiers, like
the legendary Erwin Rommel, were naïve enough to join the Nazi party.
This in spite of the fact that the Allies considered him an honourable
soldier.

In fact, the vast majority of the German military were honourable and
abided by the Geneva conventions. And I think nowadays shooting
someone in cold blood, even a soldier in wartime, would be considered
a war crime.

But “terrorist” has become a handy smear term, hasn’t it, if the occupiers they are fighting against happen to be part of your team.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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