#1
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rheinwiesenlager The Rheinwiesenlager (Rhine meadow camps), official name Prisoner of War Temporary Enclosures (PWTE) were a group of about 19 transit camps for holding about one million German POWs after World War II from spring until late summer 1945. Several thousand German POWs died from starvation, dehydration and exposure to the weather elements. A sample report of an (U.S.) eye-witness: In Andernach about 50,000 prisoners of all ages were held in an open field surrounded by barbed wire. The women were kept in a separate enclosure I did not see until later. The men I guarded had no shelter and no blankets; many had no coats. They slept in the mud, wet and cold, with inadequate slit trenches for excrement. It was a cold, wet spring and their misery from exposure alone was evident. Even more shocking was to see the prisoners throwing grass and weeds into a tin can containing a thin soup. They told me they did this to help ease their hunger pains. Quickly, they grew emaciated. Dysentery raged, and soon they were sleeping in their own excrement, too weak and crowded to reach the slit trenches. Many were begging for food, sickening and dying before our eyes. We had ample food and supplies, but did nothing to help them, including no medical assistance. Outraged, I protested to my officers and was met with hostility or bland indifference. When pressed, they explained they were under strict orders from "higher up." No officer would dare do this to 50,000 men if he felt that it was "out of line," leaving him open to charges. Realizing my protests were useless, I asked a friend working in the kitchen if he could slip me some extra food for the prisoners. He too said they were under strict orders to severely ration the prisoners' food and that these orders came from "higher up." But he said they had more food than they knew what to do with and would sneak me some. When I threw this food over the barbed wire to the prisoners, I was caught and threatened with imprisonment. I repeated the "offense," and one officer angrily threatened to shoot me. I assumed this was a bluff until I encountered a captain on a hill above the Rhine shooting down at a group of German civilian women with his .45 caliber pistol. When I asked, Why?," he mumbled, "Target practice," and fired until his pistol was empty. I saw the women running for cover, but, at that distance, couldn't tell if any had been hit. This is when I realized I was dealing with cold-blooded killers filled with moralistic hatred. They considered the Germans subhuman and worthy of extermination; another expression of the downward spiral of racism. Articles in the G.I. newspaper, Stars and Stripes, played up the German concentration camps, complete with photos of emaciated bodies; this amplified our self-righteous cruelty and made it easier to imitate behavior we were supposed to oppose. Also, I think, soldiers not exposed to combat were trying to prove how tough they were by taking it out on the prisoners and civilians. These prisoners, I found out, were mostly farmers and workingmen, as simple and ignorant as many of our own troops. As time went on, more of them lapsed into a zombie-like state of listlessness, while others tried to escape in a demented or suicidal fashion, running through open fields in broad daylight towards the Rhine to quench their thirst. They were mowed down. Some prisoners were as eager for cigarettes as for food, saying they took the edge off their hunger. Accordingly, enterprising G.I. "Yankee traders" were acquiring hordes of watches and rings in exchange for handfuls of cigarettes or less. When I began throwing cartons of cigarettes to the prisoners to ruin this trade, I was threatened by rank-and-file G.I.s too. The only bright spot in this gloomy picture came one night when I was put on the "graveyard shift," from two to four A.M. Actually, there was a graveyard on the uphill side of this enclosure, not many yards away. My superiors had forgotten to give me a flashlight and I hadn't bothered to ask for one, disgusted as I was with the whole situation by that time. It was a fairly bright night and I soon became aware of a prisoner crawling under the wires towards the graveyard. We were supposed to shoot escapees on sight, so I started to get up from the ground to warn him to get back. Suddenly I noticed another prisoner crawling from the graveyard back to the enclosure. They were risking their lives to get to the graveyard for something; I had to investigate. When I entered the gloom of this shrubby, tree-shaded cemetery, I felt completely vulnerable, but somehow curiosity kept me moving. Despite my caution, I tripped over the legs of someone in a prone position. Whipping my rifle around while stumbling and trying to regain composure of mind and body, I soon was relieved I hadn't reflexively fired. The figure sat up. Gradually, I could see the beautiful but terror-stricken face of a woman with a picnic basket nearby. German civilians were not allowed to feed, nor even come near the prisoners, so I quickly assured her I approved of what she was doing, not to be afraid, and that I would leave the graveyard to get out of the way. I did so immediately and sat down, leaning against a tree at the edge of the cemetery to be inconspicuous and not frighten the prisoners. I imagined then, and still do now, what it would be like to meet a beautiful woman with a picnic basket, under those conditions as a prisoner. I have never forgotten her face. Eventually, more prisoners crawled back to the enclosure. I saw they were dragging food to their comrades and could only admire their courage and devotion. On May 8, V.E. Day, I decided to celebrate with some prisoners I was guarding who were baking bread the other prisoners occasionally received. This group had all the bread they could eat, and shared the jovial mood generated by the end of the war. We all thought we were going home soon, a pathetic hope on their part. We were in what was to become the French zone, where I soon would witness the brutality of the French soldiers when we transferred our prisoners to them for their slave labor camps. On this day, however, we were happy. As a gesture of friendliness, I emptied my rifle and stood it in the corner, even allowing them to play with it at their request! This thoroughly "broke the ice," and soon we were singing songs we taught each other or I had learned in high school German ("Du, du liegst mir im Herzen"). Out of gratitude, they baked me a special small loaf of sweet bread, the only possible present they had left to offer. I stuffed it in my "Eisenhower jacket" and snuck it back to my barracks, eating it when I had privacy. I have never tasted more delicious bread, nor felt a deeper sense of communion while eating it. I believe a cosmic sense of Christ (the Oneness of all Being) revealed its normally hidden presence to me on that occasion, influencing my later decision to major in philosophy and religion. Shortly afterwards, some of our weak and sickly prisoners were marched off by French soldiers to their camp. We were riding on a truck behind this column. Temporarily, it slowed down and dropped back, perhaps because the driver was as shocked as I was. Whenever a German prisoner staggered or dropped back, he was hit on the head with a club until he died. The bodies were rolled to the side of the road to be picked up by another truck. For many, this quick death might have been preferable to slow starvation in our "killing fields." When I finally saw the German women in a separate enclosure, I asked why we were holding them prisoner. I was told they were "camp followers," selected as breeding stock for the S.S. to create a super-race. I spoke to some and must say I never met a more spirited or attractive group of women. I certainly didn't think they deserved imprisonment. I was used increasingly as an interpreter, and was able to prevent some particularly unfortunate arrests. One rather amusing incident involved an old farmer who was being dragged away by several M.P’s. I was told he had a "fancy Nazi medal," which they showed me. Fortunately, I had a chart identifying such medals. He'd been awarded it for having five children! Perhaps his wife was somewhat relieved to get him "off her back," but I didn't think one of our death camps was a fair punishment for his contribution to Germany. The M.P.s agreed and released him to continue his "dirty work." Famine began to spread among the German civilians also. It was a common sight to see German women up to their elbows in our garbage cans looking for something edible -- that is, if they weren't chased away. When I interviewed mayors of small towns and villages, I was told their supply of food had been taken away by "displaced persons" (foreigners who had worked in Germany), who packed the food on trucks and drove away. When I reported this, the response was a shrug. I never saw any Red Cross at the camp or helping civilians, although their coffee and doughnut stands were available everywhere else for us. In the meantime, the Germans had to rely on the sharing of hidden stores until the next harvest. Hunger made German women more "available," but despite this, rape was prevalent and often accompanied by additional violence. In particular I remember an eighteen-year old woman who had the side of her faced smashed with a rifle butt and was then raped by two G.I.s. Even the French complained that the rapes, looting and drunken destructiveness on the part of our troops was excessive. In Le Havre, we'd been given booklets warning us that the German soldiers had maintained a high standard of behavior with French civilians who were peaceful, and that we should do the same. In this we failed miserably. "So what?" some would say. "The enemy's atrocities were worse than ours." It is true that I experienced only the end of the war, when we were already the victors. The German opportunity for atrocities had faded; ours was at hand. But two wrongs don't make a right. Rather than copying our enemy’s crimes, we should aim once and for all to break the cycle of hatred and vengeance that has plagued and distorted human history. This is why I am speaking out now, forty-five years after the crime. We can never prevent individual war crimes, but we can, if enough of us speak out, influence government policy. We can reject government propaganda that depicts our enemies as subhuman and encourages the kind of outrages I witnessed. We can protest the bombing of civilian targets, which still goes on today. And we can refuse ever to condone our government's murder of unarmed and defeated prisoners of war. There had been 19 such camps in: Alzey Andernach Bad Kreuznach Biebelsheim Böhl Bretzenheim Büderich Büdesheim Dietersheim Diez Hechtsheim Heidesheim Ingelheim Koblenz Koblenz-Lützel Ludwigshafen Ludwigshafen-Rheingönheim Mainz Mainz-Kastel Mainz-Zahlbach Mannheim Mannheim-Käfertal Mannheim-Sandhofen Mannheim-Schönau Mannheim-Waldhof Miesenheim Plaidt Remagen Rheinberg Rheinheim Schwarzenborn Siershan Sinzig Trier Urmitz Wickrathberg Winzenheim Ironically, remains of the German army (Wehrmacht) from the East-front sectors undertook anything to make it over to get into U.S. and British captivity, - fleeing from Russian cruelties as known and reported - just to starve on the Rhine meadows between spring and late summer of 1945. It's estimated that at least 800 000 POWs died this way - among them lots of teens (Hitler-youth) and old "soldiers" from the Volkssturm (male people over 60 years of age, forced to fight in the final period of WWII due to a special Nazi-order) - but up to date, it's still an off-topic subject in Germany to even discuss it due to (international) political correctness. |
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#2
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Addendum: Translation: Concerning: food for the capitives The Military Government asked me to let you know, that under no circumstances, it's allowed to collect food to hand it over to the captives. Who is yet perpetrating this commandment and, by by-passing the enclosure, providing the captives with something (food) is exposing himself to risks of being shot. (...) |
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#3
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I agree, its never right to hurt the innocent for ANYONE, I dont care who they are or where their from. And your right two wrongs dont make a right UNLESS your talking about the actual perpetrators of the crime and not innocents who have done nothing but live in a certian area or be of a certian race. Great post, thanks for the info it was enlightening |
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#4
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My Rank: PRIVATE Poster Rank:25723 Join Date: Sep 2009 Mentioned: 0 Post(s) Quoted: 0 Post(s)
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I read an article that when one camp was liberated. Dachau? The ss guards had fled they were replaced with Home guards for a two week period. These guys were told wait for the americans. When the camp was liberated one american gi opened up oon four hundred guards with his machine gun. He was threatened by a lt. with his 45. to get him to stop shooting. Patton trashed the report. I found it on the web and it had pictures. there is one man left standing with his hands up. ???????????????????????
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#5
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Quote:
When the Nazi-KZs in Poland were "liberated" by the Russians, they were used afterwards by them for their own prisoners etc, untill the late 1950s. |
#6
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great post.
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#7
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Here is a video report from archive.org on the Rhine Meadow Camps. http://www.archive.org/details/Rheinwiesenlager.flv (In German language!) |
#8
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★ Legacy Member ★ Poster Rank:448 Male Join Date: Sep 2009 Mentioned: 0 Post(s) Quoted: 8 Post(s)
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I like your posts always good info. ![]() |
#9
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So Fucking Banned Poster Rank:3254 female let me check yep Join Date: Dec 2009 Mentioned: 0 Post(s) Quoted: 0 Post(s)
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never fair to hold personal vendettas against innocent people due to issues others have caused
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#10
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So Fucking Banned Poster Rank:652 Join Date: Dec 2009 Mentioned: 14 Post(s) Quoted: 267 Post(s)
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It kind of pisses me off how little people know about this in comparison to concentration camps. As is says in the info most of them were young boys and old farts who probably had no choice in what they did. Just because they "caused" or "did" the holocaust doesn't make it right to do the same thing to them.
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