I was watching Saving Private Ryan last night, and was wondering something. After one of the fight scenes, some guy was going through the possessions of one of the dead Germans. He stood up and said, “Look. A Hitler youth knife.” He then gave it to the Jewish guy (Private Mellish played by Adam Goldberg) that got killed (stabbed because the skinny little weasel translator guy wouldn’t help) toward the end of the movie by the German they let go about midway through the movie. When private Mellish took the Hitler youth knife and looked at it, he started crying. I was wondering why he started crying (other than the possible foreshadowing). I completely understand that he was just in a life-threatening situation, and possibly had been in many over a long period of time, thus building stress that could definitely lead to crying. I also understand that he seemed to be taking the war a little more personally than the other soldiers in the movie (understandably). I realize that it is most likely that it is a combination of those things, along with thinking about what the knife represents. It looked as if he read something on the knife. So, more specifically, I was wondering what a Hitler youth knife looked like. Does it have something written on it? If so, in what language is it written? I ask about the language because the movie lets you know that private Mellish does not know the German language.
While I’m at it, does anyone know where I can get translations of all of the German words spoken in the movie?