Interesting story from CBC - The Current, about how Rudolf Höss, Auschwitz Kommandant, was caught after the war and brought to trial. This a radio interview. You can listen to it, or download the podcast. Former SS-Obersturmbannfuhrer Rudolf Höss (1901 - 1947) in Warsaw on the first day of his trial for war crimes committed at Auschwitz concentration camp, of which he was the first commandant, 11th March 1947. (Keystone/Getty Images)
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Nov. 9 marks the 75th anniversary of the Nazi regime's "Kristallnacht" pogrom. Here is an article from Spiegel Magazine about this frightening persecution. Kristall nacht = Crystal night What is a pogrom? A pogrom is an organized massacre of a particular ethnic group, in particular that of Jews in Russia or eastern Europe. "The Nazis began a pogrom against Jewish people in Germany" synonyms:massacre, slaughter, wholesale slaughter, mass slaughter, mass killing, mass murder, mass homicide, mass execution, night of the long knives, annihilation, extermination, decimation, carnage,bloodbath, bloodletting, butchery, genocide, holocaust, Shoah, ethnic cleansing, megadeath; persecution, witch-hunt, destruction,victimization Nov 10, 1938 - In Berlin, Germans pass by the broken shop window of a Jewish-owned business that was destroyed during Kristallnacht. USHMM, courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration, College Park From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Last month, on Monday August 19th, Jo Balivord, the long-time grocer in Vinay (France) died at the age of 90. It all started with a fall down the staircase of his house a year ago, creating a blot clot in his brain. He was taken to hospital for a CT scan. His two sisters, waiting in the hall during the procedure, said they heard him scream and yell in a panic, asking to get out. It turns out that his panic was related to his experience of the war. In 1943, when Jo was 20 years old, the German army rounded up all the young men in Vinay and took 40 prisoners in retaliation for the Résistance blowing up bridges. They were first locked up for 8 days in a windowless building part of the school in St Nazaire en Royans, and then sent by train to Danzig (Gdańsk). He spent two years doing what was called travail obligatoire or compulsory labor. At some point he worked in a submarine. The story goes that in 1944, the Americans blew up all the boats in the harbor and all the prisoners working on those boats died. Joe was saved because he was working in the submarine out of sight under water. It seems he might have been claustrophobic and that the CT scan brought back the feelings of the past, creating the panic attack. During the last year of his life, he remained haunted by the past. His sisters say he would wake up screaming in the middle of the night and they would have to calm him down. They would ask him: What’s wrong? And he would reply: I’m scared. The sisters had to reassure him that there was nothing to fear and that they were with him by his side, taking care of him. At the end of the war, he came home. He worked in his parents’ grocery store for the rest of his life, taking over the store after their death. Almost 70 years later, the war was still with him. I heard that he kept a little diary of his time away. I hope I can one day take a look at it. Rest in peace, Jo. For the last year of his life, Jo spent his days sleeping in an armchair, by the window. His two sisters took care of him. Here is Suzon preparing afternoon tea at the kitchen table. Jo was an accomplished painter. Here is a portrait of his dad. My mother told me that Jo died in the same bedroom where he was born.
I heard an interview on CBC with animator and Holocaust survivor Dina Babbitt, who painted Roma prisoners in the Auschwitz Concentration Camp. She had been an art student and knew how to paint. She was asked by Joseph Mengele to do portraits of the Roma people in the camp.
Decades later, she found out her paintings were still around and some of them had been acquired by the Auschwitz Museum. Amazing story. Click here to hear the interview. (Click on the Listen button) Click here to visit the gallery page of the Auschwitz Museum and see a few of her paintings. France 2012
This fall, I spent a couple of weeks in France, visiting my mother who turned 80 this year. My mother lives in Vinay, a small village in the Vercors region. She was born in 1932 so she was eight years old when the war started. She told me that her parents shielded her from the war; they tried as much as possible to give their four children a happy childhood. When I first received the photo album, she did not really feel like talking about the war. But bit by bit, she remembers stories and she tells me some things that happened. She remembered the story about the village doctor. Village doctors suffered greatly during the war because, following their oath, they would treat everybody and that included the people belonging to the Résistance. The young doctor in Vinay during the war was called Docteur Dupré. Dr. Dupré miraculously escaped death. After being chloroformed in his home in November 1943, he woke up in a ditch, covered in blood. He was allegedly shot in the neck, the bullet had crossed the neck without causing any dramatic consequence. He managed to slowly crawl back to the village. After that, he went in hiding and disappeared. My mother told me that when the war ended, he was able to resume his practice but that for the rest of his life, he kept a crooked jaw and a crooked face, a remnant of the attack. I remember Dr. Dupré as an old doctor in the 70’s; he lived next to my grand-parents ‘house. He died long ago. I had never heard that story before. Then my mother told me that the same thing happened to the doctor in St. Marcellin, the next village. His name was Docteur Carrier. He was killed during the war, assassinated by the Gestapo. The town of St. Marcellin has erected a monument in his honor. I was able to take a picture of it. It is quite amazing how no place was spared in France. Everywhere, something horrible happened. There was a touching ceremony today in Dieppe, France.
Dieppe veterans recalled fateful WWII battle. Thousands of people joined seven Canadian veterans on Sunday to honour the 907 soldiers who died 70 years ago on a beach in France. Clich here for the story. Divers believe they have located a WWII submarine 100 kilometres from ocean.
German U-boat may be at bottom of Labrador river. Here is the story from CBC. V-E Day. Finally after all these years, the end of the war in Europe was declared on May 8th 1945. What a relief! Millions of people took to the streets and celebrated. Here is a video of the people of Paris on V-E Day. Courtesy: Steven Spielberg Film and Video Archive, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), 18 SFP 9155. I saw a very depressing documentary (Envoyé spécial) about racism in Hungary, mostly anti-Semitism and hatred of the Romanian gypsies. So much hate and intolerance!
One woman interviewed was rehashing the same old clichés: The Jews own the banks, they own the press, they own everything, blah, blah, blah (the usual misleading rhetoric) … with the excuse that “I am looking out for my own people, what’s wrong with that?” The Jews are a minority in Hungary with less than 100,000 people and yet the idea that they are taking over, that they are a threat, is being bounced around. Do people really believe this crap??? My God, it sounded so much like what was being said in the 1930s. Why can't we learn from history? Then she said about the gypsies: “They come here, they feel good here, and they are like animals, when animals feel good, they make babies, and we get more and more of them.” Then she even mentioned the Roma gene pool being so small that the inbreeding was causing them to become mentally handicapped. It is quite scary to hear such horrible things. How does someone become so desensitized to the world around them, to people, persons, living on this planet? The word inclusive certainly does not come to mind. We are all of the same planet, we all belong here. I guess she’s never heard of the human rights. Where is the love? Why can’t we love or at least like one another? Why can’t we???? I don’t get it. It would be so much easier to welcome each other and reach out to one another and live in harmony, than to throw dirt around this way. Throwing dirt is hard work, it creates stress, it makes your blood pressure go up, it makes you unhealthy, it blinds you and leads you on the wrong path. It makes you narrow-minded and unhappy. Time to backtrack, disengage and be nice. Yes, how about being just plain nice? How about that? What a concept!! We’ll be nice to each other. How about the golden rule? Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you. I hope that the stars sprinkle the light of love on Hungary and in the heart of that woman. Let there be light. On page 15, the album shows two pictures of a downed plane (# 96 and 97).
The plane is a Heinkel He 111P. From Peter Cornwell's book: The Battle of France Then and Now - Entry on page 263 for Monday May 13, 1940: “STAB KG55 Heinkel He 111P Shot down by F/O Clisby of No 1 Squadron during reconnaissance sortie between Charleville-Mezeries and Ligny. Belly landed at Courlommes-les-Marqueny, north-west of Mazagran 6:45 am [region Champagne Ardennes] .... Aircraft G1+GA a write off. Obergefr H. Bell badly wounded in right thigh - died same day. Fw W Wolter badly wounded by gendarmes while evading capture and dead on arrival at Mazarith de Vouziers emergency hospital. Oberlt. D. Clemm Von Hohnenberg, Uffz H Strobl, and Gefr. F Manner tried to reach German lines but captured at Coegny”. Here is some biographical career data on one of the Heinkel crew members. He wasn't just anybody because later and for a year or so he was on the staff of the Luftwaffe general in charge of bombers, was awarded both the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold and the Ritterkreuz, and finally died in a crash on return from a night attack on the Allied invasion fleet off Normandy. CLEMM von HOHENBERG , Dieter. (DOB: 27.09.15 in Mannheim). (R, DKG). 25.10.35 promo to Oberfähnrich. 01.11.35 trf from the Heer to the Luftwaffe, assigned to R.d.L. z.b.V. (flight school). 01.11.35 ordered to Fliegergruppe Jüterbog (S). 30.01.36 observer training with Fliegergruppe Tutow (C) (to 13.03.36). 10.03.36 trf to Fliegergruppe Wunstorf. 20.04.36 promo to Lt. (with effect 01.04.36). 01.06.36 appt Kp.-Chef of Fliegerhorstkompanie Eschwege (to 15.11.37). 01.12.36 trf to Stab II./KG Boelcke 157. 15.03.37 appt Adj. 01.04.38 appt Adj. Stab/KG 254. 14.02.38 took army gas defense training (to 19.02.38). 01.11.38 trf to Stab/KG 155 (later Stab/KG 55). 19.04.39 trf to Abwicklungsstelle (demobilization office) General Waber in Prag (to 22.06.39). 13.05.40 Oblt. in Stab/KG 55, POW - shot down by RAF fighters and belly landed at Coulommes-les-Marqueny/NW of Mazagran; he tried to get back to German lines but was captured at Coegny. Released following the armistice on 22.06.40. 13.04.41 trf to IV./KG 55. 16.05.41 appt provisional Kompanieführer Flugh.Betr.Kp. IV./KG 55. 01.06.41 Hptm., appt Staka 12./KG 55 (to 31.03.42). 01.03.42 promo to Hptm. 01.04.42 Hptm., appt Staka 3./KG 55 (to 14.05.43). 10.08.42 Hptm., awarded Ehrenpokal. 03.10.42 Hptm., awarded DKG, I./KG 55. 10.01.43 ordered to the staff of General d. Kampfflieger. 06.07.43 trf to RLM /Gen.d.Kampfflieger, L.In.2. 25.04.44 Hptm., appt Kdr. II./LG 1 (to 30.06.44). 30.06.44 KIA – in a crash near Wiesbaden after getting lost on the return flight from a night mission to the Seine Estuary. 18.11.44 Hptm., posthumously promo to Major and awarded Ritterkreuz, Kdr. II./LG 1. I contacted Peter Cornwell and asked him to have a look at the two pictures and this is what he replied: "There is no doubt that the photos you describe indeed show the Stab KG55 He111P down on 13 May 1940 as detailed in BoFrT&N. It was a well-visited crash site and several other photos of this particular crash exist. I'm glad to have been able to confirm this for you." Thank you Mr. Cornwell for your input. Another book, KG 55 in Focus by Steven Hall and Lionel Quinlan, gives some info about this crash. On page 10 of this book is a photograph of Hans Bell, the man wounded in the thigh. There's also a picture of Feldwebel Willi Wolter the other fatality. According to text accompanying the pictures, Bell was carried from the plane to a nearby wood by the rest of the crew. As French forces approached, Hohenberg ordered the crew to attempt to flee to German lines. Wolter went to Bell to tell him of their plans and was shot in the process, being pronounced dead on arrival at the Vouziers hospital. Bell passed away the same day. Thanks to the amazing team work of the members of the axishistory.com forum for this precious information. |
AuthorThis blog is the result of my research on the album and WW2. Archives
June 2016
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