German military cemetary at Mława, Poland

[alanheath]

@Laila9990 Wow - you can insult people from behind a false name.

[mrceebees14]

The Germans and Soviets destroyed everything my grandparents worked for in Poland back then.

They were farmers that had a-lot of land and a-lot of debt. They worked disgusting hours trying to get as much money from that land as possible. They wanted no part of war, but the Germans decided to bomb the fuck out of farm, kill the livestock and stick my relatives in Dachau.

I have no love for the Germans.......not an ounce.

No forgiveness.

[chfreund]

@mrceebees14 And my family remembers the dispossession in what is now officially poland and was given to them by the soviets and how all their relatives were raped and killed by polish civilians, which were all good commies, when they "took over" German land and farms, that had been part of German speaking lands for ages.

[mrceebees14]

@chfreund  I assume this is after WW2? If so, what do you expect?

[mrceebees14]

How many languages can you speak?

[alanheath]

I can understand most major European languages (but not all)!!

[gpghosts]

Iam Fluent In Over 6 million forms of Communications-C3PO

[SR61]

Really dismayed and disappointed at your closing remark that more Germans should have died.

[polskich]

i agree i find his comment offensive

[Volkmoidruk]

The Germans I saw at the Maidanek extermination camp two years ago laughing, with their back to the ash and bone heap, certainly should have died.

[alanheath]

I think you have failed to understand the point I am making. If more had died in the attack on Poland then a lot fewer other people (including Germans) may have been spared later.

[niecie42]

beautiful cemetary.. ok i got a couple of comments for ya.. number one .. you sound very sexy when you talk german lol and number two.. call me crazy but when you were filming the graves with the cross in the middle .. i see an apperition of a guy it goes from the top of the cross down to the middle it looks like hes got some what of a scruffy beard .. dark hair and hes wearing like a white t shirt with a black jacket over it .. look closely and i bet youll see it to

[alanheath]

I have had a very careful look but I cannot find it!

A pity that the girls in Germany don't seem to think my voice is sexy! But thanks for mentioning it!!

[girlinjackboots]

I saw it immediately.

[niecie42]

yeah i noticed it right away also... isnt it cool .. i dont understand why he couldnt see it .. to me its looks so obvious

[polskich]

you got me looking but i can not see anything

[RappelKarton]

haha well german skills

[alanheath]

Thank you. I do my best!!

[alanheath]

By the way, if you are interested in this period of history, I have posted quite a lot of films on this site which I made myself although most are related to the holocaust.

[alanheath]

For those that like to complain about the poor quality of my films this is your chance to have some input.

My Sony Cybershot - used for all films here but one - has given up on me. I do not want to buy a video camera - just a compact camera which I can carry around in my pocket.

What camera should I buy and why?

[autobahnguy]

This is sad. I personally know that my family members served in WW1 and WW2 on the German side.Sad.

[alanheath]

We know that most Germans could not escape military service n WW2 and around 35,000 were judicially murdered for trying to avoid it. Germany lost 6m people and half its territory for the absurd dreams of Hitler - who was not even German himself.

[JagerMarty]

Me too, one of my parents home town is now in Poland, had many older extended relatives in the German armed forces.

A very sad time for ALL

[WielkiMistrzJoda]

My hometown :P

[alanheath]

Very good, I am glad to have you as a visitor.

[wutzelkrump]

I Partly agree with your statement that German dead were not for Germany but for NS. Only partly, because near the end of the war the German army in the east stalled the advance of the Red Army and thus also gave German refugees the time to flee towards the west. My mother and grandmother (I never got to know her) were among those fleeing from Pomerania. They were overrolled by the Red Army, though.

[wutzelkrump]

I didn't mean to imply it was you who did not allow the links in the comments. I think it's simply not allowed on youtube, although I didn't find any reference to this in the help section.

If that cemetery would have been larger, it would have meant more dead on the eastern front and thus a quicker Russian advance. This would have lead to a larger Russian sphere of influence, and that is a bad thing.

[alanheath]

No, I think you are wrong. First if the Poles had held the Nazis longer in 1939. The second is that - as shown by April 1945 - Hitler was willing to strip the west in order to defend the east.

I have not banned links - it is you tube. Although I understand this policy - I get so much spam on my website!

[wutzelkrump]

An aspect I had not thought of. I agree.

[wutzelkrump]

I posted a link the last times I made commented this vid, seems like this is not allowed.

I think the cemetery is maintained by the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge, which is sponsored by the Federal Government. A description of the cemetery can be seen on their website. I found the video interesting, but as a German the final comment put me off.

[alanheath]

I can assure you it was not I that did not allow the link!

I cannot agree with you on the final - politically incorrect - comment being perhaps anti German. It is not. Had the war ended sooner fewer Germans would have died. Had the Nazis won, then many more Germans would have been killed. The dead of the second world war were not fighting for Germany but for national socialism and that is the difference.

[alanheath]

Incidentally, I am very pro German. At the Argentina v Germany game I was the only one to sing the German national anthem. And for the final in 2002 the television filmed five British people shouting for Germany (probably assuming we were Germans) and not the 50 or so Germans who were sitting quietly and not getting in the spirit of things!

You can't get much more pro German than that!

[misha1035]

Who maintains this cemetery?

What organizations? Polish? German? Or both?

[alanheath]

Good questions. I do not know. I suppose it is the German authorities.

I have just returned from Slovenia and was very surprised how well the Italian military cemetaries from the first world war (Battle of Caporetto) were.

[wbwilhite]

Mahatma Gandhi is the best man to repudiate British thoughts:

"What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy?"

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."

"There are many causes that I am prepared to die for but no causes that I am prepared to kill for."

[davidmiska]

yeah i remember being very taken by the roma crisis in 1991. the city definitely has some interesting aspects about it. the main city cemetery and its central church are vividly etched in my head.

[davidmiska]

my mother is from mlawa and although i was born and raised in canada i know the city well as i spend some time there

[alanheath]

Very good - once a shtetl only around 3km from the border it still has some peculiar architecture although many of the old houses have been replaced.

[davidmiska]

i should also say its interesting you posted video about some R.estate 3km from gdansk central. my father owned 2 hectares 4km NW of gdansk on kartuska st. in zabornia, he sold it in 2002, i also spent of my youth there; apparently they just finished a number of condos on that very site. the region is seeing some major development these days. its funny, my grandfather sold 3 hectares of prime R.estate in zabornia during the early 80's just to finance a visit to canada to see his son and family

[alanheath]

If the land is zoned for anything other than agricultural then it could be worth a lot. Does he still own anything in Poland?

[alanheath]

I am British. I like Mlawa.

[menthalA]

Actually I am from Mlawa therefore I'm complaining. But don't be nervous or something like that. I just wanna say that Mławka (and the cementary in Mlawka) is still rather village than part of Mława. Mławka undoubtedly is in Mazury but Mława in Mazovia. Where are you come from? From Poland?

[menthalA]

Mława is in Mazovia area of Poland, not Mazury. It's very important to understand the history of Poland.

[alanheath]

The town of Mlawa is in the Mazowia region but this cemetary is north of Mlawa. As I say in the film, I do not know if the cemetary is within the 1938 border of Germany or Poland and if it were Germany that would make it in the Mazury area. I think that this cemetary is in the Mazury area although I have not checked it on a map.

[menthalA]

You're right only when you talk about cementary located in 'Mlawka' actually (as you said, it is north neighbour of Mlawa). But in the film you said 'welcome to Mlawa, which is in Mazury area of Poland'.

[alanheath]

I think that this is a technically fine point. I say welcome to Mlawa which is in ... Masuria, so therefore that comment is wrong. Mlawa is in Mazowsze. However I am in fact in the Mlawa military cemetary which is probably in Mazuria although we do not know because we have not got a map out to measure it!!!! But at least you are complaining about my geographical knowledge and not the politically incorrect statement at the end.

[wbwilhite]

People are dying in the mid-east thanks partly to British map-making "skills". How many people have died throughout the world and history so the Brits could build an empire for their God and King?