I love the way Nazi Lisa dedicates her lonely life thumbing away comments on this video that hardly anyone even visits any more, she even sat at her PC all Christmas day thumbing her life away. HAHAHAhahahaha
Under the agreement, victims of Nazi persecution alo have an opportunity to reclaim property confiscated by the Nazis that is now controlled by the Austrian government. Only a handful of claims have been resolved so far, and 80 are pending.
In November 2005, the last case was dismissed by a New York court and the Austrian government subsequently began to mail letters to some of the 19,300 Holocaust survivors who applied for compensation payments. The letters informed the first 100 people how much they would receive after signing a waiver releasing Austria from further responsibility. Survivors are eligible for up to $2 million for liquidated businesses, looted bank accounts, unpaid insurance policies and other assets
In 2001, Austria created the General Settlement Fund to compensate Holocaust victims who were robbed of businesses, property, bank accounts and insurance policies during the Nazi era, when they country was annexed to Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. Payments were delayed, however, because Austria refused to make distributions so long as legal actions against Austria were proceeding in the United States.
Every class at the school forms a community that tries to help every individual, and, if possible, to lighten even his private burdens. The social welfare with its admittedly very modest means also tries to help in the most urgent cases.
In order to maintain this aim, on which the school has embarked as completely as possible, the idea came up of consulting with the parents, and this is now to become a permanent feature. New suggestions are expected from this side, too, and they are to be given far-reaching consideration where the welfare of our youth is considered.
The young people feel at home, but they study no less well. The head of the Vienna Youth aliyah, Aron Menczer , has at his disposal for this educational task a staff of assistants which is made up mainly of high school teachers and youth educators, who join in discussing the direction and methods for what has now become the largest Jewish school in Vienna
We must also recall the teachers and educators, who are the friends of their pupils. Here we have the happy synthesis that is the necessary condition for successful work with young people, a relationship of trust between teachers and students that could scarcely be finer or more free.
An invisible link of genuine cooperation and a sense of belonging brings together all who attend the JUAL School; the atmosphere which these young people see as surrounding their future lives is already present. These youths are already friends, not chance comrades; they share the same fate, they wish to tread their road together, and together to reach their goal.
In addition, any future financial support given by Jewish institutions abroad ought to be made dependent as far as possible upon the establishing of a permanent contact between the Jewish institutions in Vienna and those in Berlin
If this analysis is correct, no effort should be spared on our side to counteract such tendencies and to give the Austrian Jews not only material support, but also moral encouragement. For that purpose it would seem to be the most urgent task of the moment to delegate to Austria representatives of the great Jewish and Zionist organizations abroad who, with permission of the authorities, would be allowed to act there, even if only temporarily, as advisers and helpers of the local leaders.
For reasons of their own the authorities seem to wish to deal with Austrian Jews without any interference by the Jews in Germany. One cannot help feeling that, after the protracted campaign of intimidation, the Jews of Austria have become a pliable instrument in the hands of their oppressors, who may think that they will achieve their ends more easily if they deal directly with people whose moral backbone has been broken.
To all appearances, it is intended to eliminate them from economic life, to deprive them of all their financial resources, and to compel them either to starve or to leave the country without means, at the expense of the great Jewish organizations abroad and with the help of such countries as may be willing to receive them.
Possibly the Gestapo are now under instructions from Herr Buerckel. A clear policy with regard to the Jewish problem in Austria has neither been announced in public, nor was it conveyed to us in the few interviews we succeeded in having. One cannot, however, avoid the impression that this policy will be essentially different from that adopted in Germany and that it may aim at a complete annihilation of Austrian Jewry.
The position might have changed since, but at the time it appeared that the chief authority was vested in the Gestapo, whose officials were at that time in Berlin and who, as we learned there afterwards, returned to Vienna with, it was stated, a full measure of independence from their headquarters in Berlin.
Generally speaking the situation in Vienna seemed to be, both on the non-Jewish and the Jewish side, characterized by confusion, uncertainty and a state of flux. The mission of Sir Wyndham Deedes was greatly handicapped by the fact that, at the time of his and my visit, there seemed to be no established authority from whom the official policy could be reliably ascertained and whose intervention could be solicited.
The composition of the transports is arranged by the Jewish Community of Vienna (as long as this remains possible) and a Jewish transport management is responsible for the transports. In addition, each transport is accompanied by 25 police (Schupo) officers under the command of a police captain, who must prevent all danger of escape by use of arms.
When the barracks village at Nisko has been completed, the Jews who arrived with the first transport will in continuous progression be distributed to the interior to the formerly Jewish villages in that area.
Further transports will leave regularly on Tuesdays and Fridays of each week with 1,000 Jews. The second and third transports will consist of Jews and Jewesses at present under arrest in Vienna, whose departure date has been set by the Gestapo. From the fourth transport on, complete families will already be sent.
The Jews were supplied by the Jewish Community with tools for the erection of a barracks village at Nisko, where transports of Jews fit for work have already been sent from Maehrisch-Ostrau. The Jews on the transport will also be given foodstuffs for 4 weeks.
Further to the Note on the conversation between SS Hauptsturmbannfuehrer Eichmann, Dr. Ebner of the Gestapo and the Special Representative of Reichskommissar Dr. Becker, it is stated that the Resettlement operation to Poland will begin at 22.00 hours on October 20, 1939, with the first transport of 1,000 Jews fit for work, from the Aspang Rail Station in Vienna.
Although many Jewish survivors were able to build new lives in their adopted countries, many non-Jewish victims of Nazi policies continued to be persecuted in Germany. Laws which discriminated against Roma (Gypsies) continued to be in effect until 1970 in some parts of the country. The law used in Nazi Germany to imprison homosexuals remained in effect until 1969.
The British government, which controlled Palestine, refused to let large numbers of Jews in. Many Jews tried to enter Palestine without legal papers, and when caught some were held in camps on the island of Cyprus, while others were deported back to Germany
Many survivors ended up in displaced persons' (DP) camps set up in western Europe under Allied military occupation at the sites of former concentration camps. There they waited to be admitted to places like the United States, South Africa, or Palestine. At first, many countries continued their old immigration policies, which greatly limited the number of refugees they would accept.
Age-old antisemitic myths, such as Jews' ritual murders of Christians, arose once again. After a rumor spread that Jews had killed a Polish boy to use his blood in religious rituals, a mob attacked the group of survivors. The rioters killed 41 people and wounded 50 more. News of the Kielce pogrom spread rapidly, and Jews realized that there was no future for them in Poland.
Returning home was also dangerous. After the war, anti-Jewish riots broke out in several Polish cities. The largest anti-Jewish pogrom took place in July 1946 in Kielce, a city in southeastern Poland. When 150 Jews returned to the city, people living there feared that hundreds more would come back to reclaim their houses and belongings.
For the survivors, returning to life as it had been before the Holocaust was impossible. Jewish communities no longer existed in much of Europe. When people tried to return to their homes from camps or hiding places, they found that, in many cases, their homes had been looted or taken over by others
Finance hitherto has not been a difficulty, since the community as a whole has been willing to provide the necessary funds on a very generous scale, and will no doubt be willing to do so in the future. The difficulty in Palestine arises from the fact that absorption is determined by political and economic factors. It is to be hoped that, so far as these will allow, Palestine will make its full contribution.
An important exception must be made in the case of settlement in Palestine. There the scope is not confined to agricultural settlement, and even in the agricultural field religious and racial fervour, supported by first-class organisation, has achieved a very large measure Of success
While, therefore, big-scale settlement can make a contribution to the general sclution, I am very doubtful whether, during the years immediately following the war, it can play a substantial part, except in the case of peasant refugees. So far as Jews are concerned, it must certainly be preceded by a thorough training, and accompanied by a determination to stick to the land
The transfer of peasants from one European area to another may, however, be a practical proposition, when it would not be feasible to transfer refugees with no agricultural traditions to countries where the climat and other conditions are different from those to which they have been accustomed
Two conditions will most probably have to be satisfied: first, a low capital cost per family; and second, the careful selection as settlers of persons who are hereditary agriculturalists, or who have had a very thorough training.
Two conditions will most probably have to be satisfied: first, a low capital cost per family; and second, the careful selection as settlers of persons who are hereditary agriculturalists, or who have had a very thorough training.
It is quite impossible to forecast what may happen to primary producers after the present war. Some yesrs may intervene before a safe estimate can be made. At all events, there will be great uncertainty for some time. It will be unsafe to embark on big schemes of land settlement without obtaining the best advise obtainable, and it may be doubted whether the economist will be able to give a positive opinion.
On the other hand, if he does not make a considerable contribution towards this capital expenditure, the cost becomes prohibitive. Again, the only practical form of settlement dealing with large numbers is agricultural, associated in some cases with allied industries, As a producer of primary products, the settler is dependent on world markets, and since the last war, the experience of agricultural producers has fluctuated between a short boom and a long and very deep depression.
Before the war it was fairly clear that the scope of large-scale settlement was limited. The first difficulty is that of finance. The cost per family is high, and there is usually an initial period of several years before the settler becomes self-supporting. Even after this he can only repay the capital spent on his behalf over a long period of years, and there is always the very real danger of overloading him with a burden of long-term debt.
It was after some time, about ten minutes, that I realized that I was liberated. My mind was blank and I was not functioning. I walked out of the barn, it was a bright sunny day. I saw many tanks roll by, soldiers were hanging over the turrets and throwing food and chocolate D ration bars at us.
We were billeted in a hayloft and a large tank rolled in front of the barn. I thought that it was a German panzer. I saw the white star on the side of the tank and then some men started to shout that they are Americans.
Liberation was near the town of Cham. I believe that I was in that twilight zone before death that I have observed in some men in Berga. I do not believe that I was sick with any disease except severe weight loss, intermittent diarrhea, exhaustion and lice infestation.
We used to rotate the cutting of the bread or the sausage among us so we could be sure of fairness. It was almost impossible to be precise since we had homemade knives or a penknife that was not taken by the Germans or bartered from a German guard for cigarettes. It was always about 1 to 1½ inch slice of bread and maybe 1 inch cut of sausage when available. That was our daily food ration until the end of March when we received our only Red cross parcel to be divided among four men.
Everything was counted by the guards so that when we returned to our barracks the exact number had to be stored in the guard room. In the evening, we would get that universal political prisoner soup made of turnip heads with the greens attached, a variety of greens that looked like weeds, and sometimes it contained pieces of rotted potatoes.
The distance from our barracks to the Concentration camp annex was about a mile or perhaps, a mile and a half. I used to gauge the distance by watching the lights atop of the long poles surrounding our camp disappear from sight or come into view on our return. I would mentally judge the distances that we would have to hold the wagon from flying down the hill or push with all our strength to get it back to the barracks.
We pushed a large, four wheel wagon similar to a small hay wagon. It had slatted sides and the front axle had an extension pole for steering. On the flat bed were three very large “Marmite” cans or containers of the size used by Company mess sergeants to feed large groups of men. We pushed or pulled the wagon so that two men would walk in front holding the wagon back, two on each side and two at the back being pulled by the wagon.
My food detail consisted of eight men who assembled every morning about 4:00 a.m., picked up by the two guards who accompanied us on our walk down the hill to the concentration camp annex. At that time of the year, it was very dark, cold, damp, and often the blowing winds of February and March made our trek on snow, ice or slush very treacherous and difficult. I was miserably cold and unbelievably uncomfortable, but not a whisper of a complaint because I knew the alternative in the tunnels.
At times, men in the various 17 tunnels had different job assignments so that some men fared better than others. But all were debilitated by starvation and exposed to various communicable diseases common in crowded, lice and vermin infested barracks. In a short period of time, the effects were disastrous.
There was daily exposure to and occurrences of injuries. However minor these injuries might be the end result was a major insult to the starved and debilitated men. A POW’s particular work detail was proportional to the exhaustion he would suffer -- the heavier the work load, the more exhaustion.
It was principally because the civilian engineers and gang bosses of the tunnels suddenly became “holy." The men were subject to indiscriminate beatings for occurrences beyond their control or erroneously perceived by the work gang bosses. They were repeated harangued by work orders and directions from German civilian engineers or the gang bosses which caused many men to act irrational, attempt to fight back and many attempted escape at any cost.
Unquestionably, the type of assigned work detail impacted heavily upon the chances of survival in Berga and subsequently on the death march. The slave-tunnel work resulted in the exposure to strenuous, dangerous and exhausting labor in very cold, wet and slate dust-covered environment for 12 hours daily. This work was to continue without respite for 40 straight days. On Easter Sunday, in late March, a day’s holiday was declared.
My International Red Cross card identified me as a Medic. It was the most important factor in the selection of my particular work detail and it was the ultimate factor in my survival.
The remainder of our group were to become slave laborers, working in two 12 hour shifts every day of the week for 40 days straight. They worked in slave tunnels, not unlike numerous other tunnels in different sites in Germany where underground armament factories were being constructed. I was selected for the food detail and to work in the dispensary.
Shortly after arrival we were assigned our individual work details. You were selected for a particular job by the Arbeitskommandofuhrer, Metz. There were nine Medics in the group and we were assigned to the food detail and to remain in the barracks to attend the sick men.
The subsequent outcome of this trial, the insignificant applied sentences for their evil deeds, and the amnesty granted to them by parties not even remotely involved in the crimes, were expressions of the most egregiously disgusting and disgraceful injustice for the victims — the American POW’s under their control for 11 weeks in 1945. Simply put — these beasts got away with murder.
It occurred often for all of us to note that the men that he forced back to work at morning sick call were found dead in their beds the following morning. Mitchell Bard’s description of the War Crimes trials of Erwin Metz and Ludwig Merz, conducted after the war, was the most depressing information that I have read about my prisoner of war experience. It was some 50 years after the fact, I learned that a trial of these beasts had occurred.
The longer that we stayed at Berga, the more and more did the men manifest all the sicknesses of deprivation, starvation and exhaustion. It followed that many men appeared at morning sick call, deathly ill and unable to go work in the tunnels. Metz instituted his personal appearance at morning sick call for the men. It was his determination alone that decided whether these very sick men could remain in their barracks or must go to the slave tunnel work.
He must have been about 30-35 years of age when Hitler came to power so he was not indoctrinated with Hitler Youth propaganda. Ostensibly he had maturity to think humanely but his actions were that of an Ubermench and we were the untermench, slaves, undesirable humans with whom he could do as he pleased without regard to any sense of humanity.
Metz exhibited a destructive, bestial and barbaric behavior characteristic of what Goldhagen clearly describes as “Hitler’s Willing Executioners. He was a middle-aged man who somehow avoided being in the Wehrmacht or fighting on the Russian front and was in the National Guard, just one level above the last resort men in the Home Guard
Metz was a heavy set man in his late forties or early fifties, wore glasses, had a pointed nose, about 6 feet tall and weighed about 200 pounds. He had a distinctive voice that you knew who was talking when you heard it. Recently, I have heard that other POW’s described it as a “Donald Duck” voice. Unquestionably, in Berga and on the Death March, his cruel, indifferent, oppressive and deliberate actions caused the deaths of many the POW’s and added to our indescribable sufferings.
In Berga, the Guards were much older men, maybe 60 years of age, many with obvious physical disabilities which probably deferred them for more active duty in the German army. They were members of the Volksturm, the civilian guard, and for the most part they were nonthreatening.
I observed those lights disappear in the dark early morning hours when we descended the hill to the concentration camp annex to obtain our morning food rations. They were like beacons by which we could determine our distances from the camp.
Sometime later, there was a change and there was no specific “Jewish” barracks. A small dispensary was established in one part of the other barracks. The line-up field and barracks were surrounded by a double barbed wire fence, with an alley way between two fences. I do not recall any guard towers but there were many tall wooden poles upon which were bright lights to illuminate the area
The barracks had a slit trench between them where we could relieve ourselves during the day. At night, the barracks were padlocked and we used the inside bucket. At first, I believe that all the Jewish POW’s were placed into the same side of the barracks and I was the only Medic in that part.
Forcing us to stand outside of the barracks in the damp, windy cold weather after a work-shift in the tunnels in order to be counted before receiving the night’s food rations was a common tortuous act.
There were straw mats for bedding and nothing else. Outside the barracks was a field in which we would line up at least twice daily to be counted. Again, the count was by tens and that could take an inordinately long time. In retrospect, this must have been deliberate, just another form of brutalizing us. Endless counts were often used as a form of punishment for contrived infractions of the so-called rules or as opportunities for the Kommandofuhrer to harangue us.
We were marched up a long road to our camp, which was essentially two one story barracks made of wood with tar paper covering. There were barred, small windows high on the walls and there was a center doorway. Through the doorway into a corridor, at the end was the latrine consisting of a cold water tap on a sink and a central bucket. Each side of the corridor was a room with triple decked bunks.
I believe it was five days later, on February 13, 1945, we arrived in Berga am Elster, located in Thuringian province of Germany. It is about 50 kilometers east of Weimar....
I did not know that we were designated to be a work force, called Arbeitskommando in German, until we arrived in Berga. We were told that we were being transferred to another POW camp and I had thought that I was to work in a hospital. In fact, that is what I wrote to my parents on a postcard from Stalag 9 B.
I was transferred out of Stalag 9B on February 8, 1945, in a group of 350 men. My entire barracks was emptied and we were joined by men from other barracks. About 80 of us were Jewish, others included the so-called troublemakers or undesirables of the camp and there were men arbitrarily selected because their names sounded Jewish.
This crap game was an example of luck that impacted on my outcome as a POW. Through shooting craps on this one day, I recall very vividly that I had won 31 cigarettes. I had four cigarettes in a package and I chanced to take a side bet with a single one and won. Thereafter, I took small side bets and eventually had 31 cigarettes. I did not ever gamble again as a prisoner.
There was no recreation. Shooting craps was a common past time and the stakes were for cigarettes. No one had any money. One time it afforded me a great win that played a very significant role in my survival. I remember Morton Goldstein, in a large white, winter issue overcoat for snow camouflage, directing the crap game almost every day. You could not play at night because there was one incandescent light that served the entire room.
Otherwise, we were confined in a locked barracks. The primary subject and most often discussed topic amongst the men was food, food, food. Everyone was hungry and their focus was food. Everyone had his own tale about the wonderful food he ate, where to obtain it, how to prepare it, and on and on about food
Aside from standing for long and frequent counting of the prisoners, the twice daily food lines or a line up for the outside latrine, our activities were confined to the barracks. On occasion there would be a sudden break-in to our barracks by German troopers and they would arbitrarily choose several men to perform some very undesirable work.
They did not know what had become of us, where we went, what we did and how many survived. Simply said, we disappeared. It is remarkable that the Germans had succeeded in concealing our fate from our buddies in a manner which was identical to the concealment of the fate of Jews from their hometown neighbors and transferred them from their respective homes “to the East.
Troopers would break into our barracks and arbitrarily pick men for terrible work details such as shoveling out latrine slit trenches. Our isolation prevented us from communicating with our buddies in other barracks and there were many barracks full of Americans. I learned in these past two years that the men who remained in Stalag 9B after our isolation and subsequent transfer to Berga did not know our fate
It appeared that our roll calls took an inordinately longer time, requiring us to stand out in the cold, wet rain or snow for what appeared to be hours. Troopers would break into our barracks and arbitrarily pick men for terrible work details such as shoveling out latrine slit trenches.
Our barracks was definitely isolated from the others and received different treatment. The obvious German technique to wear down resistance and promote subservient behavior was to call the men out of the barracks for repeated counting of prisoners.
By the numerous discussions, we learned that many had some “difficulties” with guards or at interrogation. The so-called difficulties were sounding off to a guard, refusing to give any information except name, rank and serial number, maybe stepping out of line, going over to other prisoners already in the camp, found talking to others in the camp, etc.
The majority of men in our barracks were non-Jews. There were about 300-350 men housed together and, perhaps, less than a quarter stated that they were Jewish.
If they failed to come forward and were later discovered, they would suffer severe punishment. It was during this period of time that I began to notice and appreciate the difference in the treatment of our barracks.
Apparently, he refused to divulge the names of Jewish soldiers, irrespective of rank, who were then present in the camp. Kasten and his two POW assistants were replaced with other people and eventually they joined us in being shipped to Berga. I recall that an American officer came into our barracks and stated that the Germans wanted the names of all Jewish soldiers.
There were no non-coms, nor officers in our barracks [at Stalag 9B]. About mid January, other men were being transferred into our barracks. This was at the time that the Germans demanded to know the names of all Jewish POWs. I knew that Hans Kasten, fellow POW, was the “The man of Confidence." His job was to convey orders from the Germans and communicate with them about the needs of the American POW’s.
Among the Dutch escapers was a “Home Run” by Cdr. Francis Steinmetz of the Royal Netherlands Navy, via a manhole, in August 1941, (with comrade Lt. F Larive). Other Dutch Jewish inmates included Capt. A P Berlijn, Lt. M Braun, Lt L De Hartog, Capt. A J A Pereira, Lt. J G Smit and Capt. L T W De Vries – of the Royal Netherlands Army, and Stoker W De Lange of the Royal Netherlands Navy
Another probable Jewish inmate was Ft. Lt. Josef Bryks of the Czech Sqdn., RAF. A sadder case is that of Commando Rifleman Cyril Henry Abram, captured with 6 others after a successful raid in Norway (Operation “Musketoon”) in Sept.1942. They spent 2 weeks at Colditz in 1944 and were then taken and murdered at Sachsenhausen Death Camp [15] . Abram, from Manor Park, was probably Jewish.
Another British Jewish inmate was Lt J M Barnet, Royal Engineers, who was captured in November 1940, arrived in Colditz (re Chancellor’s list) on Aug. 4th 1941 and was repatriated to Britain on 6/9/44 with feigned illness and so counts as an “escaper”.
The first man he met on entering the castle was an old friend, 6850731 Riflmn. Samuel Cohen aka Cowen, of the same Rangers batallion as his, also at Colditz as a batman to POW officers! By Sepember the Germans, having seen Cohen and Halfin talking and meeting, discovered evntually that he was not really Cordeau and he ended back at Lamsdorf!
Dennis escaped from a working party at Lamsdorf but was re-captured at the Polish border. About to be sent to another camp, and not wanting to be separated from his friends, he exchanged identities with Cordeau. But his plan backfired when the Germans noticed he (Halfin aka Cordeau) was a dental technician, and he was sent to Colditz to assist with the POW officers dental care in June 1943!
On the night of an attempted escape by submarine, he was re-captured with some other Commonwealth troop evaders when the Germans got wind of this escape plan, and ended up at Lamsdorf camp in Germany, where he became friends with a French Canadian POW Sgt Roger Cordeau, a dental technician by trade, captured at Dieppe.
Rifleman Solomon Dennis Halfin (KRRC - Rangers) aka Halpin, arrived in Colditz by accident. Born son of Israel and Edith in West Ham, London on 1/1/18, he was captured in Crete by the Germans on 29/5/41 but escaped and spent 3 months in the mountains with the Partisans
He also advised on what materials useful for escape could be smuggled into Colditz via parcels from home as well as advice on what officers should carry with them in battle in case they were captured and sent to Colditz – hidden compasses for example – that would be useful for escapes. He published a book about his experiences [11] . Green’s other important act was to expose the English Nazi stooge in the prison, Purdy, who was prosecuted for treason after the war
Capt. Julius Green – a dental officer from Glasgow – was exceptional in that he worked for MI9 in the prison and sent coded letters to his wife. The information was forwarded by her to British Intelligence. It included material supplied to Green by recaptured escapers about local German railway, troop and shipping movements and anything else gleaned whilst on the “outside”.
When the French Gentile Officers tried to ostracise their fellow French Jewish comrades in their barrack, British officer Airey Neave ( a “home runner” and later a Conservative Minister in the Thatcher government) and many of his Commonwealth comrades, expressed their outrage and total solidarity with the Jewish officers and the row died down – though it was much exploited by the Germans in their propaganda.
One famous Jewish NCO, however, was cockney Fusilier Solle Sydney Goldman, Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, who was badly treated by the Germans because of his Jewish faith but was sent to Colditz as an orderly for senior officers. He was remembered for his terrific sense of humour despite the ill treatment (although the British Officers tried to protect him) and when he finally became ill, was repatriated to Britain in 1943, but died in 1974 of illness a result of his experiences in German hands
Thus, about 100 Jewish prisoners out of 1000 makes a very high percentage compared to our numbers in the general population. Of the military prisoners, approximately one third were French, one-third Polish/Dutch and one-third British/Commonwealth. Only some of the Jewish names are known, especially as many Jewish POW’s used pseudonyms and new identities to protect themselves
The POW population was typically a shifting one but of the thousand or so who were there, it is estimated about 40 were Jewish and it is known that there were about 60 French Jewish political internees as well
Allied Officers who had made repeated attempts to escape from other POW camps were housed here by the Germans in the expectation that they would never get out of such an imposing fortress. However, as seventy books and various films have shown, 300 did escape and several made “home runs” back to Allied lines.
In early 1950, U.S. legal residence for some “Paperclip Specialists” was effected through the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico; from which country the Nazi scientists legally entered the U.S. In later decades, the War time activities of some scientists were investigated — Arthur Rudolph linked to the Mittelbau-Dora slave labor camp, Hubertus Strughold implicated with Nazi human experimentation.
In early 1950, U.S. legal residence for some “Paperclip Specialists” was effected through the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico; from which country the Nazi scientists legally entered the U.S. In later decades, the War time activities of some scientists were investigated — Arthur Rudolph linked to the Mittelbau-Dora slave labor camp, Hubertus Strughold implicated with Nazi human experimentation.
Wernher von Braun, Erich W. Neubert, Theodor A. Poppel, August Schulze, Eberhard F. M. Rees, Wilhelm Jungert and Walter Schwidetzky. Eventually the rocket scientists arrived at Fort Bliss, Texas for rocket testing at White Sands Proving Grounds as “War Department Special Employees.”
In early August 1945, Colonel Holger N. Toftoy, chief of the Rocket Branch in the Research and Development Division of Army Ordnance, offered initial one-year contracts to the rocket scientists. After Toftoy agreed to take care of their families, 127 scientists accepted the offer. In September 1945, the first group of seven rocket scientists arrived from Germany at Fort Strong in the US:
On 19 July 1945, the U.S. JCS designated the handling of the Nazi scientists and their families as Operation Overcast, but when their housing’s nickname, “Camp Overcast”, became common, conversational usage, Operation Overcast was renamed Operation Paperclip. Despite the effort to secrecy, by 1958, much about Operation Paperclip was mainstream knowledge, mentioned in a panegyric Time magazine article about Wernher von Braun.
The original, unnamed plan — to interview only the rocket scientists — changed after Maj. Staver sent Col. Joel Holmes’s cable to the Pentagon, on 22 May 1945, about the urgency of evacuating the German technicians and their families as “important for [the] Pacific war”. Most of the scientists were rocketeers of the V-2 rocket service; initially housed with their families in Landshut, Bavaria.
In March 1945, a Polish laboratory technician found the pieces of the Osenberg List in an improperly flushed toilet. Major Robert B. Staver, U.S.A., Chief of the Jet Propulsion Section of the Research and Intelligence Branch of the U.S. Army Ordnance, London, used the Osenberg List to compile his Black List of scientists to be interrogated, headed by rocket scientist Wernher von Braun.
The recalling first required identifying the men, then tracking them and ascertaining their political correctness and reliability, before being recorded to the Osenberg List, by Werner Osenberg, a University of Hannover engineer-scientist, head of the Wehrforschungsgemeinschaft (Military Research Association).
Following the failure of the German invasion of the Soviet Union (codenamed Operation Barbarossa), and (to a lesser extent) the entry of the U.S. into the war, the strategic position of Germany was at a disadvantage since German military industries were unprepared for a long war. As a result, Germany began efforts in spring 1943 to recall scientists and technical personnel from combat units to places where their skills could be used in research and development:
Operation Paperclip (also Project Paperclip) was the code name for the O.S.S.–U.S. Military rescue of scientists from Nazi Germany, during the terminus and aftermath of World War II. In 1945, the Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency was established with direct responsibility for effecting Operation Paperclip
In 1943, the Nazis exhumed the Polish dead and blamed the Soviets. In 1944, having retaken the Katyn area from the Nazis, the Soviets exhumed the Polish dead again and blamed the Nazis.
In April 1940, Stalin ordered 5,000 Polish officers taken into the Katyn Forest, a wooded area near Gneizdovo village, a short distance from Smolensk in Russia. The Poles were marched into the woods, still wearing their uniforms, many with their hands tied behind their backs, and shot in the back of the neck. Thousands were buried in mass graves.
When the Soviet Union invaded Poland in September 1939, thousands of soldiers were captured by the Red Army. Many Poles surrendered to the Soviets to avoid falling into German hands. Stalin ordered 15,000 Polish officers imprisoned in special camps at Koziels, Ostaszkow, and Starobielsk. He feared these men might form the nucleus for a movement to resist the Communist takeover of Poland in the future.
By the end of the war, the 42nd Division had established an enviable record. It was first in its corps to enter Germany, first to penetrate the Seigfried line and first into Munich. Rainbow soldiers had seized over 6,000 square miles of Nazi held territory during their march across Europe. The Division ended the war serving as occupation forces in Austria and was inactivated in June 1946.
The 42nd landed in France in December 1944 and as part of the 7th Army, advanced through France and entered Germany in March of 1945. It was during the 42nd Division's rapid advance through Germany in April 1945 that they, along with the Guard's 45th Infantry Division, liberated the infamous Dachau concentration camp.
With the onset of America's participation in the Second World War, the 42nd Division was reactivated. At the July 1943 reactivation ceremony, the new division commander, Brigadier General Harry Collins echoed MacArthur's sentiments on the 42nd Division's unique status when he said, "The Rainbow represents the people of our country."
The 42nd Division arrived in France in November 1917 and entered the front line in March 1918, where it remained in almost constant contact with the enemy for 174 days. During it's time in France, the 42nd Division participated in six major campaigns and incurred one-out-of-sixteen casualties suffered by the American Army during the war. The 42nd Division's service officially came to and end in May 1919.
The 42nd Infantry ( Rainbow) Division's history as a unit began with America's entry into World War I. Amidst the rush by America to mobilize, individual states competed with each other for the honor to be the first to send their National Guard units to fight in the trenches of Europe.
During the 1930s and 1940s, Hollerith machines were the best data processing devices available. The Nazi regime employed thousands people in 1933 to 1939 to record national census data onto Hollerith punch cards. The SS used the Hollerith machines during the war to monitor the large numbers of prisoners shipped in and out of concentration camps. The machines were manufactured by DEHOMAG-Deutsche Hollerith Maschinen Gesellschaft or German Hollerith Machine Company, subsidiary of IBM since 1922.
Within three years, the completed national register of Jews and some Jewish Mischlinge ("mixed breeds") was to become one of the sources for Nazi deportation lists. Most of those deported perished in the Holocaust.
The 1939 census became the basis for a national register of Jews. That year, German census forms for the first time included explicitly racial categories. Jews were identified not only by religious affiliation, but by race as well.
As early as 1934, various government bureaus began to compile card catalogs identifying political and racial enemies of the regime, such as Freemasons, Jews, Sinti and Roma (Gypsies), and "genetically diseased" persons.
All governments gather information about their citizens. The Nazi regime, however, used such information to track political opponents, enforce racial policies, and, ultimately, implement mass murder
Canaris, by this time a vice admiral, was cashiered and given the empty position of chief of the Office of Commercial and Economic Warfare. He was arrested on July 23, 1944 in the aftermath of the July 20 Plot against Hitler and executed shortly before the end of the war, along with Oster his deputy. The functions of the Abwehr were then totally absorbed by the Sicherheitsdienst, a sub-office of the Schutzstaffel (SS) security command, the RSHA.
Hitler fired Canaris on the spot, and on February 18, 1944, Hitler signed a decree that abolished the Abwehr. Its functions were taken over by the RSHA. This action deprived the armed forces (and the anti-Nazi conspirators) of an intelligence service of its own and strengthened Himmler’s control over the generals.
It was mistakenly believed in Berlin that the Vermehrens absconded with the Abwehr’s secret codes and turned them over to the British. That proved to be the last straw for Hitler. Despite the efforts of the Abwehr to shift the blame to the SS or even to the Foreign Ministry, Hitler had had enough of Canaris and he told Himmler so twice. He summoned the chief of the Abwehr for a final interview and accused him of allowing th
One of those executed was Otto Kiep, an official in the Foreign Office, who had friends in the Abwehr, among whom were Erich Vermehren and his wife, the former Countess Elizabeth von Plettenberg, who were stationed as agents in Istanbul. Both were summoned to Berlin by the Gestapo in connection with the Kiep case. Fearing for their lives, they contacted the British and defected.
The Solf circle was tipped off and had to flee for their lives, but they were all rounded up on January 12, 1944. Eventually everyone who was involved in the Solf Circle except Frau Solf and her daughter, the Countess Lagi Gräfin von Ballestrem, were executed.
Frau Johanna (or Hanna) Solf, the widow of Dr. Wilhelm Solf, a former Colonial Minister under Kaiser Wilhelm II and ex-Ambassador to Japan, had long been involved in the anti-Nazi intellectual movement in Berlin. At a tea party hosted by her, a new member was included in the circle, an attractive young Swiss doctor named Reckse. It turned out that Dr. Reckse was an agent of the Gestapo, to which he reported on the tea party and turned over several incriminating documents.
The SS continually undermined the Abwehr by putting several Abwehr officers under investigation, believing them (correctly) to be involved in anti-Hitler plots. The SS also accused Canaris of being defeatist in his intelligence assessments, especially on the Russian campaign. One such briefing reportedly resulting in Hitler seizing Canaris by the lapels, and demanding to know whether the intelligence chief was insinuating that Germany would lose the war.
While outwardly Canaris appeared to be the model of intelligence-gathering efficiency, evidence exists that he secretly opposed, and actively worked against the wishes of his Commander in Chief. Canaris, Oster and the Chiefs of Abwehr sections I., II., and III. were all heavily involved in what the Security Police Sicherheitsdienst were to later dub “The Black Orchestra” (Die Schwarze Kapelle in German), a plot to overthrow the Nazi regime from the inside.
Canaris did make sure to keep Bamler on a short leash however, and restricted his access to operational information. Canaris had good reason to do this because unknown to the High Command and Hitler, during his reorganization Canaris had peppered the chief operational and administrative staff of the Abwehr with men more loyal to him than to the Nazi Government.
During his reorganizaton, Canaris took care to surround himself with a hand-picked staff, notably his second-in-command, Hans Oster and Erwin von Lahousen, Section II Chief. All but one were not members of the Nazi party. The exception was Rudolf Bamler, who was appointed as chief of Section III by Canaris to gain the trust of Himmler.
It came to a head in 1937 when Adolf Hitler decided to help Joseph Stalin in the latter’s purge against the Soviet military. Hitler ordered that the German Army staff should be kept in the dark about Stalin’s intentions, for fear that they would warn their Soviet counterparts. Accordingly, special SS teams, accompanied by burglary experts from the criminal police, broke into the secret files of the General Staff and the Abwehr and removed documents related to German-Soviet collaboration.
Before he took over the Abwehr on 1 January 1935, the soon-to-be Admiral Canaris was warned by Patzig of attempts by Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich to take over all German intelligence organizations. Canaris, a master of backroom dealings which were so much a part of life, thought he knew how to deal with them. But even while he tried to maintain an at-least cordial relationship with them, the antagonism between the Abwehr and the SS did not stop with Canaris at the helm.
Despite its name implying counterespionage, the Abwehr was an intelligence-gathering agency and dealt exclusively with human intelligence, especially raw intelligence reports from field agents and other sources. The Chief of the Abwehr reported directly to the German High Command. Intelligence summaries and intelligence dissemination were the prerogative of the Operations Branch, (as distinct from the Intelligence Branch), of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW),
The Abwehr was a German intelligence organization from 1921 to 1944. The term Abwehr (German for defense) was used as a concession to Allied demands that Germany’s post-World War I intelligence activities be for “defensive” purposes only. After February 4, 1938, its name in title was Foreign Affairs/Defense Office of the Armed Forces High Command (Amt Ausland/Abwehr im Oberkommando der Wehrmacht in German).
I love the way Nazi Lisa dedicates her lonely life thumbing away comments on this video that hardly anyone even visits any more, she even sat at her PC all Christmas day thumbing her life away. HAHAHAhahahaha
DeadOzone 1 day ago 25
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HauptFurzHebel 1 day ago
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@HauptFurzHebel This is fun Lisa. We haven't had a thumb war like this for a long time, lol
DeadOzone 1 day ago 18
@HauptFurzHebel I see you've started thumbing Lisa. Lets see how long it takes you to delete everything with 2 or 3 clicks!
LOLOLOL
DeadOzone 1 day ago 22
@HauptFurzHebel Over an hour gone and you managed to spam down 5 comments out of thr 300 here, so much for your claim to be the master race Lisa, lol
DeadOzone 1 day ago 11
@HauptFurzHebel You're a failure at life aren't you lisa. The only thing you can do well is empty a few bed pans, lol
DeadOzone 1 day ago 13
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@HauptFurzHebel Only 7 comments spammed down in 2 hours Lisa, very poor book burning from a Racist Nazi like you isn't it!
Go and empty some piss and shit from your patients bed pans instead, you can't get that wrong, lol
DeadOzone 1 day ago 17
@HauptFurzHebel I see you've managed to burn another 5 books Lisa. Such dedication and so little success. No wonder you keep losing wars, lol
DeadOzone 1 day ago 8
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Under the agreement, victims of Nazi persecution alo have an opportunity to reclaim property confiscated by the Nazis that is now controlled by the Austrian government. Only a handful of claims have been resolved so far, and 80 are pending.
DeadOzone 1 day ago 15
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In November 2005, the last case was dismissed by a New York court and the Austrian government subsequently began to mail letters to some of the 19,300 Holocaust survivors who applied for compensation payments. The letters informed the first 100 people how much they would receive after signing a waiver releasing Austria from further responsibility. Survivors are eligible for up to $2 million for liquidated businesses, looted bank accounts, unpaid insurance policies and other assets
DeadOzone 1 day ago 13
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In 2001, Austria created the General Settlement Fund to compensate Holocaust victims who were robbed of businesses, property, bank accounts and insurance policies during the Nazi era, when they country was annexed to Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. Payments were delayed, however, because Austria refused to make distributions so long as legal actions against Austria were proceeding in the United States.
DeadOzone 1 day ago 27
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Every class at the school forms a community that tries to help every individual, and, if possible, to lighten even his private burdens. The social welfare with its admittedly very modest means also tries to help in the most urgent cases.
DeadOzone 1 day ago 14
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In order to maintain this aim, on which the school has embarked as completely as possible, the idea came up of consulting with the parents, and this is now to become a permanent feature. New suggestions are expected from this side, too, and they are to be given far-reaching consideration where the welfare of our youth is considered.
DeadOzone 1 day ago 22
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The young people feel at home, but they study no less well. The head of the Vienna Youth aliyah, Aron Menczer , has at his disposal for this educational task a staff of assistants which is made up mainly of high school teachers and youth educators, who join in discussing the direction and methods for what has now become the largest Jewish school in Vienna
DeadOzone 1 day ago 18
We must also recall the teachers and educators, who are the friends of their pupils. Here we have the happy synthesis that is the necessary condition for successful work with young people, a relationship of trust between teachers and students that could scarcely be finer or more free.
DeadOzone 1 day ago 29
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An invisible link of genuine cooperation and a sense of belonging brings together all who attend the JUAL School; the atmosphere which these young people see as surrounding their future lives is already present. These youths are already friends, not chance comrades; they share the same fate, they wish to tread their road together, and together to reach their goal.
DeadOzone 1 day ago 29
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what is the difference between Obama and M.Jackson ?????
One of them was white at the face but was black in the heart!
But the other one was white in heart and was only black at the face.
Istonebull 2 days ago 6
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It looks like your mission to delete everything is failing Lisa. HAHAHAHAHAhahaha
DeadOzone 2 days ago 16
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@DeadOzone Hey are you may be abusing drugs? Your activity right her is incredible. Take a break Dude!
Istonebull 2 days ago 6
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In addition, any future financial support given by Jewish institutions abroad ought to be made dependent as far as possible upon the establishing of a permanent contact between the Jewish institutions in Vienna and those in Berlin
DeadOzone 2 days ago 19
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If this analysis is correct, no effort should be spared on our side to counteract such tendencies and to give the Austrian Jews not only material support, but also moral encouragement. For that purpose it would seem to be the most urgent task of the moment to delegate to Austria representatives of the great Jewish and Zionist organizations abroad who, with permission of the authorities, would be allowed to act there, even if only temporarily, as advisers and helpers of the local leaders.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 22
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For reasons of their own the authorities seem to wish to deal with Austrian Jews without any interference by the Jews in Germany. One cannot help feeling that, after the protracted campaign of intimidation, the Jews of Austria have become a pliable instrument in the hands of their oppressors, who may think that they will achieve their ends more easily if they deal directly with people whose moral backbone has been broken.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 30
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To all appearances, it is intended to eliminate them from economic life, to deprive them of all their financial resources, and to compel them either to starve or to leave the country without means, at the expense of the great Jewish organizations abroad and with the help of such countries as may be willing to receive them.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 19
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Possibly the Gestapo are now under instructions from Herr Buerckel. A clear policy with regard to the Jewish problem in Austria has neither been announced in public, nor was it conveyed to us in the few interviews we succeeded in having. One cannot, however, avoid the impression that this policy will be essentially different from that adopted in Germany and that it may aim at a complete annihilation of Austrian Jewry.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 32
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The position might have changed since, but at the time it appeared that the chief authority was vested in the Gestapo, whose officials were at that time in Berlin and who, as we learned there afterwards, returned to Vienna with, it was stated, a full measure of independence from their headquarters in Berlin.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 23
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Generally speaking the situation in Vienna seemed to be, both on the non-Jewish and the Jewish side, characterized by confusion, uncertainty and a state of flux. The mission of Sir Wyndham Deedes was greatly handicapped by the fact that, at the time of his and my visit, there seemed to be no established authority from whom the official policy could be reliably ascertained and whose intervention could be solicited.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 26
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Because you seem happy to thumb your lonely life away Lisa, I'll add lots more comments for you. LOL
DeadOzone 2 days ago 26
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10 Reich Marks a click Lisa, hahahaha
DeadOzone 2 days ago 24
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The composition of the transports is arranged by the Jewish Community of Vienna (as long as this remains possible) and a Jewish transport management is responsible for the transports. In addition, each transport is accompanied by 25 police (Schupo) officers under the command of a police captain, who must prevent all danger of escape by use of arms.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 35
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When the barracks village at Nisko has been completed, the Jews who arrived with the first transport will in continuous progression be distributed to the interior to the formerly Jewish villages in that area.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 33
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Further transports will leave regularly on Tuesdays and Fridays of each week with 1,000 Jews. The second and third transports will consist of Jews and Jewesses at present under arrest in Vienna, whose departure date has been set by the Gestapo. From the fourth transport on, complete families will already be sent.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 35
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The Jews were supplied by the Jewish Community with tools for the erection of a barracks village at Nisko, where transports of Jews fit for work have already been sent from Maehrisch-Ostrau. The Jews on the transport will also be given foodstuffs for 4 weeks.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 31
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Further to the Note on the conversation between SS Hauptsturmbannfuehrer Eichmann, Dr. Ebner of the Gestapo and the Special Representative of Reichskommissar Dr. Becker, it is stated that the Resettlement operation to Poland will begin at 22.00 hours on October 20, 1939, with the first transport of 1,000 Jews fit for work, from the Aspang Rail Station in Vienna.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 27
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Don't just thumb down delete them Lisa. Daft nazi racist, lol
DeadOzone 2 days ago 29
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Although many Jewish survivors were able to build new lives in their adopted countries, many non-Jewish victims of Nazi policies continued to be persecuted in Germany. Laws which discriminated against Roma (Gypsies) continued to be in effect until 1970 in some parts of the country. The law used in Nazi Germany to imprison homosexuals remained in effect until 1969.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 34
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The British government, which controlled Palestine, refused to let large numbers of Jews in. Many Jews tried to enter Palestine without legal papers, and when caught some were held in camps on the island of Cyprus, while others were deported back to Germany
DeadOzone 2 days ago 34
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Many survivors ended up in displaced persons' (DP) camps set up in western Europe under Allied military occupation at the sites of former concentration camps. There they waited to be admitted to places like the United States, South Africa, or Palestine. At first, many countries continued their old immigration policies, which greatly limited the number of refugees they would accept.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 24
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Age-old antisemitic myths, such as Jews' ritual murders of Christians, arose once again. After a rumor spread that Jews had killed a Polish boy to use his blood in religious rituals, a mob attacked the group of survivors. The rioters killed 41 people and wounded 50 more. News of the Kielce pogrom spread rapidly, and Jews realized that there was no future for them in Poland.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 20
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Returning home was also dangerous. After the war, anti-Jewish riots broke out in several Polish cities. The largest anti-Jewish pogrom took place in July 1946 in Kielce, a city in southeastern Poland. When 150 Jews returned to the city, people living there feared that hundreds more would come back to reclaim their houses and belongings.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 33
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For the survivors, returning to life as it had been before the Holocaust was impossible. Jewish communities no longer existed in much of Europe. When people tried to return to their homes from camps or hiding places, they found that, in many cases, their homes had been looted or taken over by others
DeadOzone 2 days ago 28
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Finance hitherto has not been a difficulty, since the community as a whole has been willing to provide the necessary funds on a very generous scale, and will no doubt be willing to do so in the future. The difficulty in Palestine arises from the fact that absorption is determined by political and economic factors. It is to be hoped that, so far as these will allow, Palestine will make its full contribution.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 32
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An important exception must be made in the case of settlement in Palestine. There the scope is not confined to agricultural settlement, and even in the agricultural field religious and racial fervour, supported by first-class organisation, has achieved a very large measure Of success
DeadOzone 2 days ago 29
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While, therefore, big-scale settlement can make a contribution to the general sclution, I am very doubtful whether, during the years immediately following the war, it can play a substantial part, except in the case of peasant refugees. So far as Jews are concerned, it must certainly be preceded by a thorough training, and accompanied by a determination to stick to the land
DeadOzone 2 days ago 28
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The transfer of peasants from one European area to another may, however, be a practical proposition, when it would not be feasible to transfer refugees with no agricultural traditions to countries where the climat and other conditions are different from those to which they have been accustomed
DeadOzone 2 days ago 30
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Two conditions will most probably have to be satisfied: first, a low capital cost per family; and second, the careful selection as settlers of persons who are hereditary agriculturalists, or who have had a very thorough training.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 33
Two conditions will most probably have to be satisfied: first, a low capital cost per family; and second, the careful selection as settlers of persons who are hereditary agriculturalists, or who have had a very thorough training.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 24
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It is quite impossible to forecast what may happen to primary producers after the present war. Some yesrs may intervene before a safe estimate can be made. At all events, there will be great uncertainty for some time. It will be unsafe to embark on big schemes of land settlement without obtaining the best advise obtainable, and it may be doubted whether the economist will be able to give a positive opinion.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 24
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On the other hand, if he does not make a considerable contribution towards this capital expenditure, the cost becomes prohibitive. Again, the only practical form of settlement dealing with large numbers is agricultural, associated in some cases with allied industries, As a producer of primary products, the settler is dependent on world markets, and since the last war, the experience of agricultural producers has fluctuated between a short boom and a long and very deep depression.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 28
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Before the war it was fairly clear that the scope of large-scale settlement was limited. The first difficulty is that of finance. The cost per family is high, and there is usually an initial period of several years before the settler becomes self-supporting. Even after this he can only repay the capital spent on his behalf over a long period of years, and there is always the very real danger of overloading him with a burden of long-term debt.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 22
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HauptFurzHebel 2 days ago
@HauptFurzHebel What was that racist shit you deleted Lisa?
DeadOzone 2 days ago 21
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It was after some time, about ten minutes, that I realized that I was liberated. My mind was blank and I was not functioning. I walked out of the barn, it was a bright sunny day. I saw many tanks roll by, soldiers were hanging over the turrets and throwing food and chocolate D ration bars at us.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 16
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We were billeted in a hayloft and a large tank rolled in front of the barn. I thought that it was a German panzer. I saw the white star on the side of the tank and then some men started to shout that they are Americans.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 23
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Liberation was near the town of Cham. I believe that I was in that twilight zone before death that I have observed in some men in Berga. I do not believe that I was sick with any disease except severe weight loss, intermittent diarrhea, exhaustion and lice infestation.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 17
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We used to rotate the cutting of the bread or the sausage among us so we could be sure of fairness. It was almost impossible to be precise since we had homemade knives or a penknife that was not taken by the Germans or bartered from a German guard for cigarettes. It was always about 1 to 1½ inch slice of bread and maybe 1 inch cut of sausage when available. That was our daily food ration until the end of March when we received our only Red cross parcel to be divided among four men.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 22
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Everything was counted by the guards so that when we returned to our barracks the exact number had to be stored in the guard room. In the evening, we would get that universal political prisoner soup made of turnip heads with the greens attached, a variety of greens that looked like weeds, and sometimes it contained pieces of rotted potatoes.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 19
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The distance from our barracks to the Concentration camp annex was about a mile or perhaps, a mile and a half. I used to gauge the distance by watching the lights atop of the long poles surrounding our camp disappear from sight or come into view on our return. I would mentally judge the distances that we would have to hold the wagon from flying down the hill or push with all our strength to get it back to the barracks.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 22
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We pushed a large, four wheel wagon similar to a small hay wagon. It had slatted sides and the front axle had an extension pole for steering. On the flat bed were three very large “Marmite” cans or containers of the size used by Company mess sergeants to feed large groups of men. We pushed or pulled the wagon so that two men would walk in front holding the wagon back, two on each side and two at the back being pulled by the wagon.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 24
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My food detail consisted of eight men who assembled every morning about 4:00 a.m., picked up by the two guards who accompanied us on our walk down the hill to the concentration camp annex. At that time of the year, it was very dark, cold, damp, and often the blowing winds of February and March made our trek on snow, ice or slush very treacherous and difficult. I was miserably cold and unbelievably uncomfortable, but not a whisper of a complaint because I knew the alternative in the tunnels.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 20
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At times, men in the various 17 tunnels had different job assignments so that some men fared better than others. But all were debilitated by starvation and exposed to various communicable diseases common in crowded, lice and vermin infested barracks. In a short period of time, the effects were disastrous.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 23
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There was daily exposure to and occurrences of injuries. However minor these injuries might be the end result was a major insult to the starved and debilitated men. A POW’s particular work detail was proportional to the exhaustion he would suffer -- the heavier the work load, the more exhaustion.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 18
It was principally because the civilian engineers and gang bosses of the tunnels suddenly became “holy." The men were subject to indiscriminate beatings for occurrences beyond their control or erroneously perceived by the work gang bosses. They were repeated harangued by work orders and directions from German civilian engineers or the gang bosses which caused many men to act irrational, attempt to fight back and many attempted escape at any cost.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 17
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Unquestionably, the type of assigned work detail impacted heavily upon the chances of survival in Berga and subsequently on the death march. The slave-tunnel work resulted in the exposure to strenuous, dangerous and exhausting labor in very cold, wet and slate dust-covered environment for 12 hours daily. This work was to continue without respite for 40 straight days. On Easter Sunday, in late March, a day’s holiday was declared.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 17
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My International Red Cross card identified me as a Medic. It was the most important factor in the selection of my particular work detail and it was the ultimate factor in my survival.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 17
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The remainder of our group were to become slave laborers, working in two 12 hour shifts every day of the week for 40 days straight. They worked in slave tunnels, not unlike numerous other tunnels in different sites in Germany where underground armament factories were being constructed. I was selected for the food detail and to work in the dispensary.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 24
Shortly after arrival we were assigned our individual work details. You were selected for a particular job by the Arbeitskommandofuhrer, Metz. There were nine Medics in the group and we were assigned to the food detail and to remain in the barracks to attend the sick men.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 19
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The subsequent outcome of this trial, the insignificant applied sentences for their evil deeds, and the amnesty granted to them by parties not even remotely involved in the crimes, were expressions of the most egregiously disgusting and disgraceful injustice for the victims — the American POW’s under their control for 11 weeks in 1945. Simply put — these beasts got away with murder.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 13
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It occurred often for all of us to note that the men that he forced back to work at morning sick call were found dead in their beds the following morning. Mitchell Bard’s description of the War Crimes trials of Erwin Metz and Ludwig Merz, conducted after the war, was the most depressing information that I have read about my prisoner of war experience. It was some 50 years after the fact, I learned that a trial of these beasts had occurred.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 14
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The longer that we stayed at Berga, the more and more did the men manifest all the sicknesses of deprivation, starvation and exhaustion. It followed that many men appeared at morning sick call, deathly ill and unable to go work in the tunnels. Metz instituted his personal appearance at morning sick call for the men. It was his determination alone that decided whether these very sick men could remain in their barracks or must go to the slave tunnel work.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 14
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He must have been about 30-35 years of age when Hitler came to power so he was not indoctrinated with Hitler Youth propaganda. Ostensibly he had maturity to think humanely but his actions were that of an Ubermench and we were the untermench, slaves, undesirable humans with whom he could do as he pleased without regard to any sense of humanity.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 16
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Metz exhibited a destructive, bestial and barbaric behavior characteristic of what Goldhagen clearly describes as “Hitler’s Willing Executioners. He was a middle-aged man who somehow avoided being in the Wehrmacht or fighting on the Russian front and was in the National Guard, just one level above the last resort men in the Home Guard
DeadOzone 2 days ago 14
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Metz was a heavy set man in his late forties or early fifties, wore glasses, had a pointed nose, about 6 feet tall and weighed about 200 pounds. He had a distinctive voice that you knew who was talking when you heard it. Recently, I have heard that other POW’s described it as a “Donald Duck” voice. Unquestionably, in Berga and on the Death March, his cruel, indifferent, oppressive and deliberate actions caused the deaths of many the POW’s and added to our indescribable sufferings.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 11
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In Berga, the Guards were much older men, maybe 60 years of age, many with obvious physical disabilities which probably deferred them for more active duty in the German army. They were members of the Volksturm, the civilian guard, and for the most part they were nonthreatening.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 11
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I observed those lights disappear in the dark early morning hours when we descended the hill to the concentration camp annex to obtain our morning food rations. They were like beacons by which we could determine our distances from the camp.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 12
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Sometime later, there was a change and there was no specific “Jewish” barracks. A small dispensary was established in one part of the other barracks. The line-up field and barracks were surrounded by a double barbed wire fence, with an alley way between two fences. I do not recall any guard towers but there were many tall wooden poles upon which were bright lights to illuminate the area
DeadOzone 2 days ago 14
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The barracks had a slit trench between them where we could relieve ourselves during the day. At night, the barracks were padlocked and we used the inside bucket. At first, I believe that all the Jewish POW’s were placed into the same side of the barracks and I was the only Medic in that part.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 15
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Forcing us to stand outside of the barracks in the damp, windy cold weather after a work-shift in the tunnels in order to be counted before receiving the night’s food rations was a common tortuous act.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 11
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There were straw mats for bedding and nothing else. Outside the barracks was a field in which we would line up at least twice daily to be counted. Again, the count was by tens and that could take an inordinately long time. In retrospect, this must have been deliberate, just another form of brutalizing us. Endless counts were often used as a form of punishment for contrived infractions of the so-called rules or as opportunities for the Kommandofuhrer to harangue us.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 10
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We were marched up a long road to our camp, which was essentially two one story barracks made of wood with tar paper covering. There were barred, small windows high on the walls and there was a center doorway. Through the doorway into a corridor, at the end was the latrine consisting of a cold water tap on a sink and a central bucket. Each side of the corridor was a room with triple decked bunks.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 10
I believe it was five days later, on February 13, 1945, we arrived in Berga am Elster, located in Thuringian province of Germany. It is about 50 kilometers east of Weimar....
DeadOzone 2 days ago 9
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The men who remained in Stalag 9B were told and believed that we were going to Stalag 9C, which was in the eastern part of Germany
DeadOzone 2 days ago 11
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I did not know that we were designated to be a work force, called Arbeitskommando in German, until we arrived in Berga. We were told that we were being transferred to another POW camp and I had thought that I was to work in a hospital. In fact, that is what I wrote to my parents on a postcard from Stalag 9 B.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 10
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I was transferred out of Stalag 9B on February 8, 1945, in a group of 350 men. My entire barracks was emptied and we were joined by men from other barracks. About 80 of us were Jewish, others included the so-called troublemakers or undesirables of the camp and there were men arbitrarily selected because their names sounded Jewish.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 4
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This crap game was an example of luck that impacted on my outcome as a POW. Through shooting craps on this one day, I recall very vividly that I had won 31 cigarettes. I had four cigarettes in a package and I chanced to take a side bet with a single one and won. Thereafter, I took small side bets and eventually had 31 cigarettes. I did not ever gamble again as a prisoner.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 6
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There was no recreation. Shooting craps was a common past time and the stakes were for cigarettes. No one had any money. One time it afforded me a great win that played a very significant role in my survival. I remember Morton Goldstein, in a large white, winter issue overcoat for snow camouflage, directing the crap game almost every day. You could not play at night because there was one incandescent light that served the entire room.
DeadOzone 2 days ago
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Otherwise, we were confined in a locked barracks. The primary subject and most often discussed topic amongst the men was food, food, food. Everyone was hungry and their focus was food. Everyone had his own tale about the wonderful food he ate, where to obtain it, how to prepare it, and on and on about food
DeadOzone 2 days ago 9
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Aside from standing for long and frequent counting of the prisoners, the twice daily food lines or a line up for the outside latrine, our activities were confined to the barracks. On occasion there would be a sudden break-in to our barracks by German troopers and they would arbitrarily choose several men to perform some very undesirable work.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 8
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They did not know what had become of us, where we went, what we did and how many survived. Simply said, we disappeared. It is remarkable that the Germans had succeeded in concealing our fate from our buddies in a manner which was identical to the concealment of the fate of Jews from their hometown neighbors and transferred them from their respective homes “to the East.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 7
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Troopers would break into our barracks and arbitrarily pick men for terrible work details such as shoveling out latrine slit trenches. Our isolation prevented us from communicating with our buddies in other barracks and there were many barracks full of Americans. I learned in these past two years that the men who remained in Stalag 9B after our isolation and subsequent transfer to Berga did not know our fate
DeadOzone 2 days ago 8
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It appeared that our roll calls took an inordinately longer time, requiring us to stand out in the cold, wet rain or snow for what appeared to be hours. Troopers would break into our barracks and arbitrarily pick men for terrible work details such as shoveling out latrine slit trenches.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 8
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Our barracks was definitely isolated from the others and received different treatment. The obvious German technique to wear down resistance and promote subservient behavior was to call the men out of the barracks for repeated counting of prisoners.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 9
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By the numerous discussions, we learned that many had some “difficulties” with guards or at interrogation. The so-called difficulties were sounding off to a guard, refusing to give any information except name, rank and serial number, maybe stepping out of line, going over to other prisoners already in the camp, found talking to others in the camp, etc.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 2
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The majority of men in our barracks were non-Jews. There were about 300-350 men housed together and, perhaps, less than a quarter stated that they were Jewish.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 8
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If they failed to come forward and were later discovered, they would suffer severe punishment. It was during this period of time that I began to notice and appreciate the difference in the treatment of our barracks.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 7
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Apparently, he refused to divulge the names of Jewish soldiers, irrespective of rank, who were then present in the camp. Kasten and his two POW assistants were replaced with other people and eventually they joined us in being shipped to Berga. I recall that an American officer came into our barracks and stated that the Germans wanted the names of all Jewish soldiers.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 7
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There were no non-coms, nor officers in our barracks [at Stalag 9B]. About mid January, other men were being transferred into our barracks. This was at the time that the Germans demanded to know the names of all Jewish POWs. I knew that Hans Kasten, fellow POW, was the “The man of Confidence." His job was to convey orders from the Germans and communicate with them about the needs of the American POW’s.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 10
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Among the Dutch escapers was a “Home Run” by Cdr. Francis Steinmetz of the Royal Netherlands Navy, via a manhole, in August 1941, (with comrade Lt. F Larive). Other Dutch Jewish inmates included Capt. A P Berlijn, Lt. M Braun, Lt L De Hartog, Capt. A J A Pereira, Lt. J G Smit and Capt. L T W De Vries – of the Royal Netherlands Army, and Stoker W De Lange of the Royal Netherlands Navy
DeadOzone 2 days ago 7
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Another probable Jewish inmate was Ft. Lt. Josef Bryks of the Czech Sqdn., RAF. A sadder case is that of Commando Rifleman Cyril Henry Abram, captured with 6 others after a successful raid in Norway (Operation “Musketoon”) in Sept.1942. They spent 2 weeks at Colditz in 1944 and were then taken and murdered at Sachsenhausen Death Camp [15] . Abram, from Manor Park, was probably Jewish.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 5
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Another British Jewish inmate was Lt J M Barnet, Royal Engineers, who was captured in November 1940, arrived in Colditz (re Chancellor’s list) on Aug. 4th 1941 and was repatriated to Britain on 6/9/44 with feigned illness and so counts as an “escaper”.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 7
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The first man he met on entering the castle was an old friend, 6850731 Riflmn. Samuel Cohen aka Cowen, of the same Rangers batallion as his, also at Colditz as a batman to POW officers! By Sepember the Germans, having seen Cohen and Halfin talking and meeting, discovered evntually that he was not really Cordeau and he ended back at Lamsdorf!
DeadOzone 2 days ago 6
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Dennis escaped from a working party at Lamsdorf but was re-captured at the Polish border. About to be sent to another camp, and not wanting to be separated from his friends, he exchanged identities with Cordeau. But his plan backfired when the Germans noticed he (Halfin aka Cordeau) was a dental technician, and he was sent to Colditz to assist with the POW officers dental care in June 1943!
DeadOzone 2 days ago 6
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On the night of an attempted escape by submarine, he was re-captured with some other Commonwealth troop evaders when the Germans got wind of this escape plan, and ended up at Lamsdorf camp in Germany, where he became friends with a French Canadian POW Sgt Roger Cordeau, a dental technician by trade, captured at Dieppe.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 6
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Rifleman Solomon Dennis Halfin (KRRC - Rangers) aka Halpin, arrived in Colditz by accident. Born son of Israel and Edith in West Ham, London on 1/1/18, he was captured in Crete by the Germans on 29/5/41 but escaped and spent 3 months in the mountains with the Partisans
DeadOzone 2 days ago 6
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He also advised on what materials useful for escape could be smuggled into Colditz via parcels from home as well as advice on what officers should carry with them in battle in case they were captured and sent to Colditz – hidden compasses for example – that would be useful for escapes. He published a book about his experiences [11] . Green’s other important act was to expose the English Nazi stooge in the prison, Purdy, who was prosecuted for treason after the war
DeadOzone 2 days ago 4
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Capt. Julius Green – a dental officer from Glasgow – was exceptional in that he worked for MI9 in the prison and sent coded letters to his wife. The information was forwarded by her to British Intelligence. It included material supplied to Green by recaptured escapers about local German railway, troop and shipping movements and anything else gleaned whilst on the “outside”.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 7
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When the French Gentile Officers tried to ostracise their fellow French Jewish comrades in their barrack, British officer Airey Neave ( a “home runner” and later a Conservative Minister in the Thatcher government) and many of his Commonwealth comrades, expressed their outrage and total solidarity with the Jewish officers and the row died down – though it was much exploited by the Germans in their propaganda.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 8
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One famous Jewish NCO, however, was cockney Fusilier Solle Sydney Goldman, Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, who was badly treated by the Germans because of his Jewish faith but was sent to Colditz as an orderly for senior officers. He was remembered for his terrific sense of humour despite the ill treatment (although the British Officers tried to protect him) and when he finally became ill, was repatriated to Britain in 1943, but died in 1974 of illness a result of his experiences in German hands
DeadOzone 2 days ago 5
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Thus, about 100 Jewish prisoners out of 1000 makes a very high percentage compared to our numbers in the general population. Of the military prisoners, approximately one third were French, one-third Polish/Dutch and one-third British/Commonwealth. Only some of the Jewish names are known, especially as many Jewish POW’s used pseudonyms and new identities to protect themselves
DeadOzone 2 days ago 7
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The POW population was typically a shifting one but of the thousand or so who were there, it is estimated about 40 were Jewish and it is known that there were about 60 French Jewish political internees as well
DeadOzone 2 days ago 9
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Allied Officers who had made repeated attempts to escape from other POW camps were housed here by the Germans in the expectation that they would never get out of such an imposing fortress. However, as seventy books and various films have shown, 300 did escape and several made “home runs” back to Allied lines.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 3
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In early 1950, U.S. legal residence for some “Paperclip Specialists” was effected through the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico; from which country the Nazi scientists legally entered the U.S. In later decades, the War time activities of some scientists were investigated — Arthur Rudolph linked to the Mittelbau-Dora slave labor camp, Hubertus Strughold implicated with Nazi human experimentation.
DeadOzone 2 days ago 5
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In early 1950, U.S. legal residence for some “Paperclip Specialists” was effected through the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico; from which country the Nazi scientists legally entered the U.S. In later decades, the War time activities of some scientists were investigated — Arthur Rudolph linked to the Mittelbau-Dora slave labor camp, Hubertus Strughold implicated with Nazi human experimentation.
DeadOzone 3 days ago 10
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Wernher von Braun, Erich W. Neubert, Theodor A. Poppel, August Schulze, Eberhard F. M. Rees, Wilhelm Jungert and Walter Schwidetzky. Eventually the rocket scientists arrived at Fort Bliss, Texas for rocket testing at White Sands Proving Grounds as “War Department Special Employees.”
DeadOzone 3 days ago 12
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In early August 1945, Colonel Holger N. Toftoy, chief of the Rocket Branch in the Research and Development Division of Army Ordnance, offered initial one-year contracts to the rocket scientists. After Toftoy agreed to take care of their families, 127 scientists accepted the offer. In September 1945, the first group of seven rocket scientists arrived from Germany at Fort Strong in the US:
DeadOzone 3 days ago 6
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On 19 July 1945, the U.S. JCS designated the handling of the Nazi scientists and their families as Operation Overcast, but when their housing’s nickname, “Camp Overcast”, became common, conversational usage, Operation Overcast was renamed Operation Paperclip. Despite the effort to secrecy, by 1958, much about Operation Paperclip was mainstream knowledge, mentioned in a panegyric Time magazine article about Wernher von Braun.
DeadOzone 3 days ago 9
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The original, unnamed plan — to interview only the rocket scientists — changed after Maj. Staver sent Col. Joel Holmes’s cable to the Pentagon, on 22 May 1945, about the urgency of evacuating the German technicians and their families as “important for [the] Pacific war”. Most of the scientists were rocketeers of the V-2 rocket service; initially housed with their families in Landshut, Bavaria.
DeadOzone 3 days ago 6
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In March 1945, a Polish laboratory technician found the pieces of the Osenberg List in an improperly flushed toilet. Major Robert B. Staver, U.S.A., Chief of the Jet Propulsion Section of the Research and Intelligence Branch of the U.S. Army Ordnance, London, used the Osenberg List to compile his Black List of scientists to be interrogated, headed by rocket scientist Wernher von Braun.
DeadOzone 3 days ago 8
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The recalling first required identifying the men, then tracking them and ascertaining their political correctness and reliability, before being recorded to the Osenberg List, by Werner Osenberg, a University of Hannover engineer-scientist, head of the Wehrforschungsgemeinschaft (Military Research Association).
DeadOzone 3 days ago 7
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Following the failure of the German invasion of the Soviet Union (codenamed Operation Barbarossa), and (to a lesser extent) the entry of the U.S. into the war, the strategic position of Germany was at a disadvantage since German military industries were unprepared for a long war. As a result, Germany began efforts in spring 1943 to recall scientists and technical personnel from combat units to places where their skills could be used in research and development:
DeadOzone 3 days ago 8
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Operation Paperclip (also Project Paperclip) was the code name for the O.S.S.–U.S. Military rescue of scientists from Nazi Germany, during the terminus and aftermath of World War II. In 1945, the Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency was established with direct responsibility for effecting Operation Paperclip
DeadOzone 3 days ago 8
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In 1943, the Nazis exhumed the Polish dead and blamed the Soviets. In 1944, having retaken the Katyn area from the Nazis, the Soviets exhumed the Polish dead again and blamed the Nazis.
DeadOzone 3 days ago 11
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In April 1940, Stalin ordered 5,000 Polish officers taken into the Katyn Forest, a wooded area near Gneizdovo village, a short distance from Smolensk in Russia. The Poles were marched into the woods, still wearing their uniforms, many with their hands tied behind their backs, and shot in the back of the neck. Thousands were buried in mass graves.
DeadOzone 3 days ago 11
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When the Soviet Union invaded Poland in September 1939, thousands of soldiers were captured by the Red Army. Many Poles surrendered to the Soviets to avoid falling into German hands. Stalin ordered 15,000 Polish officers imprisoned in special camps at Koziels, Ostaszkow, and Starobielsk. He feared these men might form the nucleus for a movement to resist the Communist takeover of Poland in the future.
DeadOzone 3 days ago 11
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By the end of the war, the 42nd Division had established an enviable record. It was first in its corps to enter Germany, first to penetrate the Seigfried line and first into Munich. Rainbow soldiers had seized over 6,000 square miles of Nazi held territory during their march across Europe. The Division ended the war serving as occupation forces in Austria and was inactivated in June 1946.
DeadOzone 3 days ago 12
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The 42nd landed in France in December 1944 and as part of the 7th Army, advanced through France and entered Germany in March of 1945. It was during the 42nd Division's rapid advance through Germany in April 1945 that they, along with the Guard's 45th Infantry Division, liberated the infamous Dachau concentration camp.
DeadOzone 3 days ago 7
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With the onset of America's participation in the Second World War, the 42nd Division was reactivated. At the July 1943 reactivation ceremony, the new division commander, Brigadier General Harry Collins echoed MacArthur's sentiments on the 42nd Division's unique status when he said, "The Rainbow represents the people of our country."
DeadOzone 3 days ago 11
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The 42nd Division arrived in France in November 1917 and entered the front line in March 1918, where it remained in almost constant contact with the enemy for 174 days. During it's time in France, the 42nd Division participated in six major campaigns and incurred one-out-of-sixteen casualties suffered by the American Army during the war. The 42nd Division's service officially came to and end in May 1919.
DeadOzone 3 days ago 9
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The 42nd Infantry ( Rainbow) Division's history as a unit began with America's entry into World War I. Amidst the rush by America to mobilize, individual states competed with each other for the honor to be the first to send their National Guard units to fight in the trenches of Europe.
DeadOzone 3 days ago 12
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During the 1930s and 1940s, Hollerith machines were the best data processing devices available. The Nazi regime employed thousands people in 1933 to 1939 to record national census data onto Hollerith punch cards. The SS used the Hollerith machines during the war to monitor the large numbers of prisoners shipped in and out of concentration camps. The machines were manufactured by DEHOMAG-Deutsche Hollerith Maschinen Gesellschaft or German Hollerith Machine Company, subsidiary of IBM since 1922.
DeadOzone 3 days ago 11
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Within three years, the completed national register of Jews and some Jewish Mischlinge ("mixed breeds") was to become one of the sources for Nazi deportation lists. Most of those deported perished in the Holocaust.
DeadOzone 3 days ago 10
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The 1939 census became the basis for a national register of Jews. That year, German census forms for the first time included explicitly racial categories. Jews were identified not only by religious affiliation, but by race as well.
DeadOzone 3 days ago 11
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As early as 1934, various government bureaus began to compile card catalogs identifying political and racial enemies of the regime, such as Freemasons, Jews, Sinti and Roma (Gypsies), and "genetically diseased" persons.
DeadOzone 3 days ago 9
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All governments gather information about their citizens. The Nazi regime, however, used such information to track political opponents, enforce racial policies, and, ultimately, implement mass murder
DeadOzone 3 days ago 8
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Canaris, by this time a vice admiral, was cashiered and given the empty position of chief of the Office of Commercial and Economic Warfare. He was arrested on July 23, 1944 in the aftermath of the July 20 Plot against Hitler and executed shortly before the end of the war, along with Oster his deputy. The functions of the Abwehr were then totally absorbed by the Sicherheitsdienst, a sub-office of the Schutzstaffel (SS) security command, the RSHA.
DeadOzone 3 days ago 12
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Hitler fired Canaris on the spot, and on February 18, 1944, Hitler signed a decree that abolished the Abwehr. Its functions were taken over by the RSHA. This action deprived the armed forces (and the anti-Nazi conspirators) of an intelligence service of its own and strengthened Himmler’s control over the generals.
DeadOzone 3 days ago 7
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It was mistakenly believed in Berlin that the Vermehrens absconded with the Abwehr’s secret codes and turned them over to the British. That proved to be the last straw for Hitler. Despite the efforts of the Abwehr to shift the blame to the SS or even to the Foreign Ministry, Hitler had had enough of Canaris and he told Himmler so twice. He summoned the chief of the Abwehr for a final interview and accused him of allowing th
DeadOzone 3 days ago 7
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One of those executed was Otto Kiep, an official in the Foreign Office, who had friends in the Abwehr, among whom were Erich Vermehren and his wife, the former Countess Elizabeth von Plettenberg, who were stationed as agents in Istanbul. Both were summoned to Berlin by the Gestapo in connection with the Kiep case. Fearing for their lives, they contacted the British and defected.
DeadOzone 3 days ago 8
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The Solf circle was tipped off and had to flee for their lives, but they were all rounded up on January 12, 1944. Eventually everyone who was involved in the Solf Circle except Frau Solf and her daughter, the Countess Lagi Gräfin von Ballestrem, were executed.
DeadOzone 3 days ago 11
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Frau Johanna (or Hanna) Solf, the widow of Dr. Wilhelm Solf, a former Colonial Minister under Kaiser Wilhelm II and ex-Ambassador to Japan, had long been involved in the anti-Nazi intellectual movement in Berlin. At a tea party hosted by her, a new member was included in the circle, an attractive young Swiss doctor named Reckse. It turned out that Dr. Reckse was an agent of the Gestapo, to which he reported on the tea party and turned over several incriminating documents.
DeadOzone 3 days ago 12
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The SS continually undermined the Abwehr by putting several Abwehr officers under investigation, believing them (correctly) to be involved in anti-Hitler plots. The SS also accused Canaris of being defeatist in his intelligence assessments, especially on the Russian campaign. One such briefing reportedly resulting in Hitler seizing Canaris by the lapels, and demanding to know whether the intelligence chief was insinuating that Germany would lose the war.
DeadOzone 3 days ago 12
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While outwardly Canaris appeared to be the model of intelligence-gathering efficiency, evidence exists that he secretly opposed, and actively worked against the wishes of his Commander in Chief. Canaris, Oster and the Chiefs of Abwehr sections I., II., and III. were all heavily involved in what the Security Police Sicherheitsdienst were to later dub “The Black Orchestra” (Die Schwarze Kapelle in German), a plot to overthrow the Nazi regime from the inside.
DeadOzone 3 days ago 10
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Canaris did make sure to keep Bamler on a short leash however, and restricted his access to operational information. Canaris had good reason to do this because unknown to the High Command and Hitler, during his reorganization Canaris had peppered the chief operational and administrative staff of the Abwehr with men more loyal to him than to the Nazi Government.
DeadOzone 3 days ago 11
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During his reorganizaton, Canaris took care to surround himself with a hand-picked staff, notably his second-in-command, Hans Oster and Erwin von Lahousen, Section II Chief. All but one were not members of the Nazi party. The exception was Rudolf Bamler, who was appointed as chief of Section III by Canaris to gain the trust of Himmler.
DeadOzone 3 days ago 12
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It came to a head in 1937 when Adolf Hitler decided to help Joseph Stalin in the latter’s purge against the Soviet military. Hitler ordered that the German Army staff should be kept in the dark about Stalin’s intentions, for fear that they would warn their Soviet counterparts. Accordingly, special SS teams, accompanied by burglary experts from the criminal police, broke into the secret files of the General Staff and the Abwehr and removed documents related to German-Soviet collaboration.
DeadOzone 3 days ago 11
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Before he took over the Abwehr on 1 January 1935, the soon-to-be Admiral Canaris was warned by Patzig of attempts by Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich to take over all German intelligence organizations. Canaris, a master of backroom dealings which were so much a part of life, thought he knew how to deal with them. But even while he tried to maintain an at-least cordial relationship with them, the antagonism between the Abwehr and the SS did not stop with Canaris at the helm.
DeadOzone 3 days ago 9
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The Abwehr’s Headquarters (HQ) were located at 76/78 Tirpitzufer, Berlin, adjacent to the offices of the OKW.
DeadOzone 3 days ago 11
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, and through it to the intelligence-evaluation sections of the Army, Navy, and Airforce (Heer, Kriegsmarine, and Luftwaffe respectively in German).
DeadOzone 3 days ago 11
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Despite its name implying counterespionage, the Abwehr was an intelligence-gathering agency and dealt exclusively with human intelligence, especially raw intelligence reports from field agents and other sources. The Chief of the Abwehr reported directly to the German High Command. Intelligence summaries and intelligence dissemination were the prerogative of the Operations Branch, (as distinct from the Intelligence Branch), of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW),
DeadOzone 3 days ago 12
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The Abwehr was a German intelligence organization from 1921 to 1944. The term Abwehr (German for defense) was used as a concession to Allied demands that Germany’s post-World War I intelligence activities be for “defensive” purposes only. After February 4, 1938, its name in title was Foreign Affairs/Defense Office of the Armed Forces High Command (Amt Ausland/Abwehr im Oberkommando der Wehrmacht in German).
DeadOzone 3 days ago 9