Four Movies, Many Lessons - Learn From the Past to Survive in the Future

This post does not include movie reviews. Instead, my objective is to share observations from the movies, all based on true stories, as a former Intelligence Analyst and a current security professional. They contain many lessons to be learned, and those lessons may save your life one day.

Steemit is a global social network, and there are open conflicts ongoing around the globe. Even if there is no conflict in your region today, there could be in the near future. The movies below are about conflicts that have happened in the past, and I took notes while watching them.

Those notes have been edited and shared below.

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Walking with the Enemy

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In the movie above, Hungary is occupied by the Nazis in WWII. The Hungarian government does not cooperate, and many of the politicians and their staff lose their lives because of it. A man, who escapes a labor camp and knows fluent German, puts on a Nazi uniform to save people.

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Here are the lessons learned:

• Do not count on the humanity of your enemies. They won't have any.
• No matter how much work you do to protect people, you will still have losses. You cannot save them all.
• Each life you save comes at a high cost of those doing the saving. You're outnumbered, and most of you will die.
• An invading enemy will not be alone. A local force will be just as dangerous, if not more, as the Arrow Cross in Hungary proved to be.

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Come and See

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During WWII Nazis in Belarus went village to village slaughtering everyone in their path. The above movie describes the events from the perspective of a boy who joined the Soviet resistance.

Please keep in mind that the Soviets lost 21 million people in WWII. They suffered the most of all the allies. It can easily be argued that without their sacrifices, the Nazis would have won. In Belarus alone 628 villages were raided, and every single person within them was killed.

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Here are the lessons learned:

• Mass murder by an invading force is not only common but also easily accomplished.
• Do not report to a city or town gathering ordered by enemy forces. As what happened in Belarus, such gatherings usually end badly.
• Being in a city or village provided no protection at all from the invading forces. Those who wish to survive are better off leaving populated areas and regrouping in secluded places.
• Then once there continue to move. If you make a base of operations, it will eventually be discovered.
• Pay attention to the news, and don't be there when the force arrives. "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." I add to that, "The smart left long ago."

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Hitler's Death Squad

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The documentary above further details the slaughter Nazis carried out in Europe. It specifically focuses on an elite SS division. In the initial stages of the war, there was very little resistance. Formal Soviet forces were not present, and the French were defeated. America had not even joined the war. That left the European civilian population to fend for itself. Due to the circumstances they found themselves in, they were practically defenseless against the Nazi forces.

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Here are the lessons learned:

• Never stay in a town or city when an enemy force is approaching. They will show no mercy once they arrive.
• In a single French town 125 people were sentenced to hanging. A few escaped. Only two were actual resistance fighters.
• All military aged men will be attacked as potential future resistance fighters. If you are a military aged man, don't be there.
• Current innocence is meaningless. Don't depend on it for your safety. You will be assumed guilty and executed.

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Beasts of No Nation

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In the above movie, the situation is a little different compared to the previous ones. The movie explains a conflict in Africa where children were forced to fight for the opposing military forces. There isn't a large scale war as there was in WWII, but the children caught up in the conflict still suffered greatly because of it.

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Here are the lessons learned:

• Always have a way to escape your location. Many people in the boy's village were left behind due to no transportation.
• Never stay behind to fight without adequate equipment. Many men stayed behind to defend their village, but they had no means to do it.
• Never assume locals will vouch for you. A woman could have saved some of the boy's family, but she was too deranged and didn't recognize them in a stressful situation.
• Do not trust that government forces will protect you. They may end up being your enemy instead.
• Always have a very secure place to hide that is also cover, not just concealment. Some people in the movie hid inside a container that was concealment, not cover. It wasn't a good hiding place either.

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An important fact should stand out from all the examples above. None of them included people who were well armed. The communities did not have militia forces, and they were mostly defenseless from outside and internal enemy forces. Do not live in such a place. Then if conflict comes to your region, you will already have the means to defend yourself.

I hope this information helps you to reevaluate your current situation. Wars and regional conflicts are already ongoing around the globe, and there's no way to be sure where the next ones will break out. Your neighborhood could be affected. Consider the above lessons, and learn from them. They may save your life and the lives of your loved ones.

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