Old Newspaper articles on Waffen SS

I found this old newspaper clipping today, there's writing in pen : "D.T&L 2/6/84" obviously a date but what are the initials? A newspaper name perhaps?

Anyhow the article is quite interesting if not supremely embarrasing to the French:

What I want to know is, even if the French did not know he was SS, surely there was some sign that 90 guys milling about were German and did not quite deserve the award!!

[ 14. December 2003, 11:28 PM: Message edited by: Ron ]

 

I was unfamiliar with either this incident, Heinz Harmel or his division before reading your post BratwurstDimSum. I just spent a few minutes researching this on the Internet to see what information is available online.

There is some information in German regarding this matter on the Die Ritterkreuzträger der Deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS website. According to Google's awkwardly phrased and possibly incorrect English translation of the German text, the Ritterkreuzträger website states: "... The former division commander ... in the summer 1984 - 40 years after the hard, bloody fights in Normandy - in the 'indication of the French-German reconciliation' the intending medal of the coastal place Bayeux was lent to it, which of some political and press circles were felt as 'scandal' and for which for it responsible persons deputy mayor von Bayeux considerable annoyance brought in, but the manager of the local war museum in Bayeux held out: 'in the Frundsberg armored division served simple soldiers and no torturers' and Harmel determined for it: 'If I blood my hands would have, already with the Nuernberger processes would have on come out!' In the indication of the mutual respect between former opponents from wartime stood also - 35 years after the embittered fights for the bridge of Arnheim - a meeting at the old combat place with the then lieutenant colonel and commander 2. British air landing battalion and nunmehrigen major general A. D John D. Frost."

According to the 10th SS divisional history on the WSSOB website, no atrocities have been attributed to division and Heinz Harmel was relieved of command in April 1945 for "failing to obey Hitler's order for the 10th SS to make a last stand." According to a 1999 book review posted on the Amazon.com website: "'[The author's] sympathies with his subjects shows, but he is willing to distinguish between SS officers who conducted themselves in a professional manner and proved themselves in combat and the political favorites of Himmler who rose from the ranks of the German Polizei and whose units were particularly brutal in anti-partisan operations but were no match against professional soldiers. Examples of the former include ... Heinz Harmel, whose treatment of prisoners and civilians at Arnhem earned praise from the Allies. ..."

Other Forum members with German language skills may want to have a go at improving Google's translation of the Ritterkreuzträger website. Also, other Forum members who are familiar with either the battle at Arnhem or Waffen SS formations may be able to add to this very limited research.

[ 24. January 2004, 01:15 PM: Message edited by: Crapgame ]

 

Great stuff crap, obviously the paper doesn't like to tell a the whole, balanced story!

If anyone is interested, I've unearthed a whole bunch of newspaper clipping about SS at this time (early-mid eighties) shall I type them up? There are a few great Oradour-Sur-Glaine articles here...

[ 13. December 2003, 02:05 PM: Message edited by: BratwurstDimSum ]

 

I have read this information shortly ago and used it for the Waffen-SS quiz.

I tried to improve the google translation:

"It was a special gratification for Harmel that in summer of 1984 - 40 years after the hard, bloody fights in Normandy - he was awarded the Medal of Honour of the coastal City of Bayeaux as a 'sign of French-German reconciliation'.

Some political and media circles deemed this a 'scandal', and this caused severe trouble for the responsible deputy major of Bayeux, but the curator of the war museum in Bayeux argued: "In the Frundsberg armored division, there served normal soldiers, no torturers", and Harmel himself commented: "If there was blood on my hands, it would have been revealed at the Nuremberg Trials!" A further tribute to mutual respect of former war opponents: 35 years after the grim fights for the bridges of Arnheim, Harmel met the former Lieutenant Colonel and commander of the 2. British air landing battalion, current Major General o. d. John D. Frost, at the former battle location."

Uhm, of course my English lacks perfection, but I hope it's understandable now.

[ 13. December 2003, 02:11 PM: Message edited by: KnightMove ]

 

Thanks for translating that KnightMove. It is much more coherent now.

[ 14. December 2003, 12:06 AM: Message edited by: Crapgame ]

 

Ywc.

But in fact, a slightly strange feeling remains... what has Harmel done for Bayeux to receive this medal?

 

I think the town/area was relieved that as they were SS they didn't do anything untoward (that can be proven/remembered anyhow) and they treated the allies that they defeated with a modicum of respect, unlike the stories that Sapper Brian tells us anyhow.

All in the name of reconcilliation.

Well I guess its about time the rest of the world needed to do so as well?

 

The newspaper makes it sound like a mistake, the web site intended. I can't help wondering which is the case.

 

Guys, you may have noticed the thread name change, I've got a load of these newspaper articles, its interesting to look back on a bit of 80s history and Nazi trials (at least to me anyhow ) so I'll be posting these (hopefully for discussion) soon.

 

Ok, sorry its been so long, here is another article I found:

Daily Telegraph 11-FEB-1982

SOLDIER WHO EXPOSED SS KILLER
By Guy Rais

Albert Pooley, 69, one of the two surviors of a massacre of 97 unarmed men of the Royal Norfolk Regiment by the German SS, has died in Hospital.

The massacre happened at Le Paradis, Pas-de-Calais, during the British retreat from France in May 1940.

After his repatriation from a prisoner-of-war camp in 1945 British officers were sceptical of his story.

But Mt Pooley, still suffering from wounds and at his own expense, toured dozens of German prison camps in Europe until he found the SS colonel who ordered the killings.

He collected bullets, cartridges, and tattered pieces of uniform from the massacre site.

At a war crimes trial in Hamburg in 1948, Mr Pooley and the other survivor, Mr Bill O'Callaghan, who died six years ago, identified Lt-Col Fritz Kooechlein, 37, who was executed.

Shot 11 times
-------------
Mr Pooley, who was shot 11 times, crawled across a field over the bodies of his comrades before he found Mr O'Callaghan, also badly wounded.

They took refuge in a pig sty and were sheltered by a farmer's wife for several weeks before giving themselves up to the Germans.

Dogged by ill-health though his war wounds and the loss of his left leg, Mr Pooley was unable to attend a ceremony by French villagers 12 years ago.

He said at the time:
"The British officials thought I was telling a cock-and-bull story. I could not disclose O'Callaghan's name becasue he was still a prisoner-of-war. If word had leaked out he might have conveniently dissappeared."

Mr Pooley, who had been in hostpital in Southall, Middlesex for several months , leaves a widow, Connie, 61.

 

That's a great article BWDS. A good website with additional details is Private Pooley's Revenge

[ 03. January 2004, 09:24 AM: Message edited by: Crapgame ]

 

*deleted*

[ 23. January 2004, 05:13 AM: Message edited by: BratwurstDimSum ]

 

Ok, I found all my articles (mostly on the trial of SS officer Heinz Barth) and will post them here. Here is one on Oradour-Sur-Glaine...not for the faint hearted

From: (the British) Daily Telegraph 1 June 1983

Anybody who thought that OSG was a botched execution of Partisan suspects better think again, sounds like it was VERY premeditated!


Some data on Heinz Barth:


(from http://www.oradour.info/appendix/appendix.htm)

Looks like he got a fair share of getting his hands dirty.

[ 23. January 2004, 05:17 AM: Message edited by: BratwurstDimSum ]

 

</font>[/QUOTE]The DDR-Justiz und NS-Verbrechen website provides a brief summary of East Germany's prosecution of Barth. According to this summary, Barth was a member of Reserve Police Battalion Kolin when he participated in atrocities at Klatovy and Pardubitzas in the former Czechoslovakia during June and July of 1942. The same website also includes a brief summary of East Germany's prosecution of Fritz Got for particpating in atrocities in the former Czechoslovakia during 1942 as a member of Reserve Police Battalion Kolin.

Caveat: There does not seem to be any information posted online regarding Reserve Police Battalion Kolin apart from the two cases on the DDR-Justiz und NS-Verbrechen website.

A paper posted on the Colby College website cites a fellow inmate of Barth's as having stated Barth became "an avowed Stalinist" while imprisoned in East Germany.

In May 1997, Barth was apparently cited by at least one newspaper as an example of war criminals receiving a monthly pension from the German government.

In November 1997, a news service reported that the German government had amended its Federal Benefits Law and the Barth was one of about twenty known war criminals who would lose their monthly pensions as a result. The November 1997 article also noted that Barth had been released from prison in July 1997 due to ill health.

WARNING: The November 1997 article appears to be accurate, but was posted on the CODOH website, which is notorious for revisionist nonsense. Unfortunately, this seems to be the only online copy of a follow-up to the earlier May 1997 press reports.

[ 23. January 2004, 11:49 PM: Message edited by: Crapgame ]

 

He wasn't sentenced to death? Ok, we'll have to see when I post the rest of the articles up online...thanks for your input as ever crapgame.

 

You're welcome BWDS.