Of the ninety thousand Germans that went into Soviet captivity, fewer than six thousand would live to see their homeland again, and those didn’t come until the mid-1950s. However bad and inhumane we believe the wars in the Middle East have been for the past five years—and they have been horrific, especially for the poor civilians caught in the middle—they are a mere shadow of wars past.

May those shadows never return.

Daniel L. Davis is a retired U.S. Army colonel who served multiple tours in Afghanistan. He is a senior fellow with Defense Priorities. Follow him on Twitter @DanielLDavis1.

This first appeared in November 2016 and is being reposted due to reader interest. 

Image: Wikipedia.