Article - Germans have right to honour war heroes

[Helmut Von Moltke]

Thought this one would be intresting to post.

German people have right to honor their war heroes
by:CHARLEY REESE

It is time to consign World War II propaganda to the dustbin of history and allow the German people to revere their military heroes. They certainly had a lot of them in World War II.
I am not, of course, talking about the Nazi regime. I'm talking about the ordinary German soldiers who, like the ordinary American and British soldiers, went to war when their political leaders told them to go war. The battlefield exploits of the German army were outstanding.

As Americans, we should thank God that so many German divisions were being chewed up on the Eastern Front, because if they had been in Normandy, we'd probably still be trying to get ashore. Some British guy once said that nobody knows what real war is until he fights the Germans. The German soldiers of World War II certainly proved that.
Another British historian observed that whenever the Allies and the Germans were on an equal footing, the Allies lost.
It was America's industrial might and the Red Army that finally wore them down, disadvantaged as they were by loony leaders in Berlin.

t's a truism among soldiers that once the war starts, nobody fights for political goals; they fight to save themselves and their comrades. All of those young Germans who died in that savage war deserve to be remembered for their cou-rage and their fidelity to duty and not be tarred by the sins of political leaders far from the battlefield.
Some German soldiers committed atrocities, but so did we all, as every side always does in wars. But the majority of the German soldiers were guilty of noth-ing but doing their duty, and there is no reason for any German today to be asham-ed of them. Most of them were fighting for their homes and families and not for Nazi ideology.

It's ironic that of all the wartime lead-ers, Josef Stalin profited most. Franklin Roosevelt died before the war ended. Winston Churchill was voted out of office shortly after the war. Adolf Hitler, of course, died in his bunker, a suicide. What did the war accomplish? Aside from removing two bad governments, it accomplished the enslavement of half of Europe, the deaths of 55 million people and the beginning of the Cold War. That so many millions of young men, as well as millions of innocent civilians on all sides, died because of a bunch of politicians and despots is enough to make you weep.

This past week, there was a lot of silly talk about whether the Germans were conquered or liberated. They were con-quered and treated quite badly immedi-ately after the war by the Americans, the British and the Russians. Many died of starvation and illness. Several million Germans in western Poland were forced out of their homes as Stalin moved Poland's boundaries to the west to keep the eastern part within the Soviet Union.
Hitler had duped the German people just as our politicians dupe us. Nobody who has seen how easily Americans are swayed by demagogues should criticize the German people. The politicians in the old Weimar Republic made a fatal miscalculation when they appointed Hitler chancellor in 1933.
They were sure they could control him. Instead, he quickly got control of them.
But the rank-and-file German soldiers did just what ours do. When their govern-ment called, they responded. When their government went to war, they fought in it. It's very hard to see a conflict from the other's point of view, but everyone ought to try. What you find if you can succeed are human beings just like us.

The descendants of those German soldiers have every right to be proud of their ancestors' military accomplishments, just as we are proud of ours. They fought heroically under extremely bad circum-stances and deserve credit for their courage, their discipline and their com-petence. The young men in the German army, navy and air force gave their all for their country, even though some of them despised its leadership.

Sixty years after the fact, it's time for the world to get off Germany's back and let it assume its rightful place among the family of nations without people con-stantly laying a guilt trip on the German people. A war hero is a war hero, and Germany certainly has had its share of true heroes who deserve to be honored by their countrymen.

K

[Jim O]

Kevin,

Please put a link back to the source.

Thanks.

[Helmut Von Moltke]

hi Jim,

I remmeber posting it on MCF some time back, but forgot the source, I copied and pasted it there from my post on MCF, and made some corrections.

K

[Jim O]

OK. Try to find it if you can.

[Troy Tempest]

I often wonder when I'm watching our own Anzac day marches through the streets of cities and towns in Australia, why, after all these decades, German vets can't have a similar thing. I guess you probably couldn't have Waffen-SS units marching, or Polizei units, too many bad memories. However, I don't see why regualar Heer, Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine units couldn't march.

[temujin77]

It's hard for veterans of the losing side of a war to march. What will they be commemorating? Are they celebrating their inability to defeat the enemy? Are they bringing back memories of the comrades who died in vain?

I'd like to think most men in the German military machine were not truly Nazi, and Nazi do not deserve to march (in fact, they probably don't deserve to even breathe). At the same time, those who do deserve to march will not want to do it because to many of them the war is an emotional trauma and they will not want to bring that back up. Veterans of the Allied countries can at least celebrate the victory and celebrate their dead buddies as heroes. Veterans of the Axis cannot do the same.

[Jim O]

Originally Posted by generalderpanzertruppen

I often wonder when I'm watching our own Anzac day marches through the streets of cities and towns in Australia, why, after all these decades, German vets can't have a similar thing. I guess you probably couldn't have Waffen-SS units marching, or Polizei units, too many bad memories. However, I don't see why regualar Heer, Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine units couldn't march.

Veterans of those organizations probably "could" march but certainly in the first decades after the war it was not done most likely out of shame and for political reasons. Since the end of war is now more than 60 years ago, there are few left able to march, much less to organize such events. Add to that the political backlash it would cause (right or wrong) and these old men would probably just rather stay home.

Organized memorials for war dead at cemetaries and churches are another thing. Even losers in war should honor their war dead. Most on both sides were innocent conscriptees, and even volunteers are more often motivated by patriotism than by ideology. We in the US honor our dead from Vietnam, a war that we lost, and those veterans march on our national holidays.

[Troy Tempest]

It is now a big thing for Australia and Turkey to be at Anzac Cove in Gallipoli on Anzac Day to both commemerate and celebrate the actions of BOTH sides, which is very generous of Turkey to allow thousands of Aussies and Kiwis to go to their own country and remember how we tried to invade their country. I'm not suggesting that Japanese soldiers would be allowed to march in our marches, like the W-SS, in the East anyway, too much cruelty went on. But for units like the Afrika Korp, which was certainly an honourable army, and the Fallschirmjager, I don't see it would be a problem. After all, plenty of those guys are honourary members of their opposing sides associations now. I'm sure any surviving Aussies who fought in Africa wouldn't hold hatred for Rommel and his Afrika Korp, they'd probably like to march together I reckon, and then get on the piss down at the club afterwards, bragging about who did what and when!

Likewise, and I don't know for sure, but I'm sure vets of the mighty 8th Air Force, or Battle of Britain vets, wouldn't mind having the Luftwaffe day fighter pilots joining in. Once again, there are plenty of pilots who are honourary members of the other sides associations now. It has been a long time, and I think it would be a good thing for people to see that we're all friends now, and the madness of mass combat is a thing of the past. Seeing say, the U-boat survivors and the Allied Destroyer survivors marching together would be a positive thing, I believe. As would the fighter/bomber survivors, Africa vets, Italian campaign, there are lots of old battlefronts where things were conducted without the hatred of the Eastern Front. However, not being a returned serviceman, I could be wrong, but I'd like to think I wasn't. I'm not an American, but I think Aussie Vietnam vets certainly wouldn't mind marching with their opposing numbers, who were, after all, just defending the country against a powerful invader. What do you all think?

[Helmut Von Moltke]

dI still remember reading somewhere that Waffen-SS veterans and Russian tank crews met together and discussed old battle tactics not too long ago..

K

[barrett.t]

As someone said it was over sixty years ago war is war every life is precious and is worth remembering. Heroes come in all Nationalities and I think should be honoured by whoever wants to. To tell the truth its none of my bussness what they do or what they want to do. Live and let live