The Real Nazis
This Veterans Day, I am reprinting a piece I wrote for The Huffington Post back in 2009. Thank you to all the men and women who have answered their country’s call to service in whatever capacity they were asked.
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On my 21st birthday, I woke up in the morning and drove to Dairy Queen. I got soft serve vanilla ice cream with strawberry topping and I ate it for breakfast. Why? When I was a child I asked once if I could have ice cream for breakfast, and my mother said, “You can have ice cream for breakfast when you’re 21.” And so I did.
My father spent his 21st birthday in a prisoner of war camp. Deaf in one ear, and completely flat-footed, he could have easily been a “4-F” and escaped service for medical reasons. He was a peaceful man but he, like so many of his generation, felt the need to serve his country, and to fight against the fascism that was threatening to engulf the democratic nations of Western Europe, and had even attacked the United States.
When he was 20 years old, he’d been taken prisoner by the Germans at the Battle of the Bulge, was marched for miles, imprisoned, and starved. Like many men of his generation, veterans of World War II, he didn’t talk about it much. He held his memories close to his chest. If he talked to anyone about them, I didn’t know. It was only many years after his service and just before his death that he shared some of those memories with me.
The Battle of the Bulge, December 16, 1944 – the beginning of a long, cold six weeks for American troops, including my dad who was taken prisoner three days later.
Starvation does strange things to people. He told me that after a while in the camp, he had the same recurring dream, every night — a stack of pancakes topped with two fried eggs, sunny-side up. He’d dream that dream over and over, a still frame, a picture of a breakfast that never came. He told me that his fellow prisoners got so hungry that once they had killed and eaten a cat that had strayed into the camp. You don’t forget a story like that.
Or the story of the man in the camp who snapped. In peace time, we’d have called him a boy. Suddenly and without warning in the middle of the day, out in the yard, his mind went. He ran for the fence in a desperate effort to escape. There was nowhere to go, and in broad daylight with armed guards everywhere, he didn’t stand a chance. My father, who was quick to pick up languages, had learned some German. “Don’t shoot! He’s crazy! He’s lost his mind! He doesn’t know what he’s doing!” my father called out to the guards as he ran out in the yard waving his arms. The man kept running for the fence, and he climbed, and the guards didn’t shoot. They waited until he reached the top. And then they shot him. They left him there for three days as a warning to anyone else who might have been thinking about escape.
Stalag IVB, Mühlberg, Germany
Any survivor of World War II has stories. Millions were never able to tell them. Their lives ended on battlefields, and in gas chambers, at the hands of the Nazis. My dad was able to tell me some of his experiences, but most of those memories died with him, like they died with many vets and victims of the war. I didn’t even know he’d received a Purple Heart until after his death. But he survived. He survived to marry the girl he left at home, to buy a house, to get a college degree, to start his own company, and to raise a family of five children.
I asked my dad if he ever got his stack of pancakes with the fried eggs on top. I imagined it being his first meal after the Russians had liberated the camp. The Germans had heard that the Russians were coming, and they left quickly in the night. The prisoners hadn’t known what was happening until two days later when the Russian army came and let them out, confused and near death. No, he told me, he never did have the pancakes and eggs. It took months in the hospital to build his system back up to where he could eat normally. He began at 5’11” weighing less than 100 pounds, and started with an IV, then a liquid diet, then cream of wheat, and finally solids. A fellow prisoner, he said, on his way from the camp to the hospital in France had managed to get a hold of a box of donuts and had gorged himself. He died a free man, but still a victim. By the time my dad was able to eat that stack of pancakes and eggs, the desire had passed.
I remember as a child I was not allowed to watch Hogan’s Heroes. It wasn’t a joke in my house. There was nothing funny about prisoner of war camps. There were no secret tunnels under the bunks, and pirate radio equipment, handsome well-fed prisoners who always managed to play their captors for fools. There were frightened, emaciated young men whose minds and bodies were broken an ocean away from home, who were shot on fences , and who ate cats, and watched their friends die. There was nothing to laugh about.Those were Nazis.
I am tired of people comparing Obama to Hitler. I am tired of seeing signs with swastikas and Nazi symbols at health care rallies. I am tired of people saying that a health care plan intended to uplift millions of Americans, to give them dignity, and choice and the ability to care for their families, is like Naziism. I am tired of Rush Limbaugh.
As time passes, and as the greatest generation becomes a memory, passing into history one soul at a time, it is up to the generations that follow them to keep “Hitler” and “Nazi” out of the clutches of those who would make them political buzzwords for people they don’t like, or policies they don’t understand. Those words remind us of the worst that people can be. There is nothing horrible about Germans in particular that caused them to do these things. This is humanity’s dark potential, and something that we all need to remember, whether we were there or not, or whether our family was affected or not, because this is whatpeople can do to each other. To strip those words of their power and meaning in order to create political fear for self-gain on either side is inexcusable and needs to be confronted and refuted whenever it arises, by all of us, whether we support the current health care bill and the current president or not.
Dad
There are so many stories of WWII that never got told by the individuals involved. My father was the same. He did not discuss his wartime experiences until he was close to his end. I have always wondered why this was the case. I think that those who participated collectively decided that they did their duty and that was that. The terrible things they saw and had to do were not something that they wanted to recall. WWII is kind of an exception in my mind. Almost all can agree that this war was clearly necessary and worth fighting and dying for. But those involved for the most part did not choose it…it chose them and they did what they saw as their duty. The funny thing is that those on the side of the axis saw the fight as their duty as well. Their progeny for the most part see that their ancestors were on the wrong side of the conflict. wrong and right are seen pretty clearly. In the wars since it has not been so clear. Most of the wars since have been less clearly understood. Even after 9/11, we certainly did not need to invade Iraq and getting to Bin Laden in Afganistan/Pakistan was justified but subjecting those entire populations to a generation of war is not something that will be viewed by history as having been worth the costs. War should be taken more seriously. I think that may be why those men from WWII did not talk about it. They did not want to glorify what they did and they did not want their sons to have to do the same if it could be avoided.
I deeply appreciate your thoughtful words about your amazing dad. I’m grateful that he could come back from that horror and make a good life for himself, your mom, and you and your siblings. I also think I understand a little bit more about the source of some of your strength and courage, Ms. AKM–it’s genetic!
My grandfather was in the Bulge as well. I am permanently grateful he survived…yet he murdered other men for his own survival. Those of us who acknowledge the heinous acts our past generations committed against others, commonly justify them in some way. To say “they were Nazis” is rather easy, and when you compare it to the sadistic atrocities committed by the Third Reich, a few of “their” deaths at the hands of your brother, uncle, father or grandfather look honorable. But I’m here to tell you….with utmost sincerity and respect…that it is NOT honorable. There is not a single shred of honor, or virtue, in what took place in the Ardennes Forest…or Normandy…or Anzio…or Iwo Jima….or anywhere else, in both place and time, where humans have killed other humans because they were convinced, or coerced, to do so.
Thank you for posting this article, because it brought forth in me something that has plagued me for a bit of time regarding military service…not just in the 21st Century, but the whole of the 20th Century as well, even to include our “greatest generation.” On Veteran’s Day, we are told to give thanks to these men for supposedly having fought for our freedom. I’ve grown tired of this monstrous lie.
Instead of writing more words here, I figured I would just post a well-made video that articulates them far better than I ever could. I think it serves my stance well, but if the moderator deems it to be too out of bounds from the original topic…well, it’s your blog.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkPlUsuA7nw
What you consider “a monstrous lie”, JHypers, I happen to believe is a fundamental truth. Without the men and women in uniform who’ve stood up over the years to defend the good, the right, the honorable of humanity, without those who have been willing to do what they could to stanch the oppression, the ugly, and the anguish of humanity, we would, in fact, not have Freedom as we know it, at all.
Among the things I know to be absolutely true are: 1) humans can be –and can act– despicable towards other humans, 2) war is hell, and 3) there are times when the horrors of war are far outweighed by the clear and immediate need to make the abuse of fellow humans by a regime, ideology, and/or ‘place’, stop. That said, I find it personally offensive for anyone to argue that men and women in uniform should not be recognized for their service as ‘preservers’ and defenders of our Freedom. Without them, I truly believe, me and mine and our world would be far less safe AND exponentially LESS free; I honor them for their dedication and personal sacrifices. I will ever continue to do so. beth.
PS — In viewing the video, I notice there are kernels of truth surrounded by what I consider to be leaps of conclusions, unsupportable tangents, and dismissal (or ignoring) of certifiable facts in it. As a package, it sounds quite persuasive…when broken down into its components, though, it rather falls on its face, imho. (ie Germany in 1937 –where and when his mother was born– was immeasurably horrible… but the war that put a stop to Hitler and his hold on that country was an unspeakably tremendous evil? What? Hitler should have been left alone to do what he wanted? The Allies had no business putting a stop to him? The video narrator’s mother would have been better off under Hitler for her entire life? What? Seriously?) b.
PPS – it just struck me: Without the men and women who’ve defended our nation and its way of life over the years, the discussion we’re now having on this medium would not be possible. It takes freedom to be able to ‘speak’ without fear of reprisal. Nothing of our lives as we know them, today, would be possible without those who’ve stood guard and fought -when necessary- for our freedom to live as we do. To think otherwise, imo, is not only foolhardy, it’s incredibly naïve. b.
🙂 Give ’em heck,beth.
okey dokey – I got through 1min and 30 sec of it before I turned it off.
As someone who has serious problems with the make/keep-us-free dealie , I also have serious problems with throwing “free” around in general. When the unidentified narrator kicked in we-didn’t-have-income-taxes-before-a-war-to-make-us-free routine, I shut it off. Pffft!
We don’t enjoy freedom because we pay income taxes? Pffft!
There’s plenty to criticize about war generally and specifically , plenty which covers us all in shame at some level or other, but the utopian right libertarian take on it all ignores exactly the things AKM brilliantly unfolds here in favor of blather about the discrete individual trumping the community- always.
Pi, I figured if you only lasted 1 min, 30 seconds, I’d have even more trouble. But I honestly got to about 2 min, 30 seconds when I wondered, who the hell is this pompous-sounding dude anonymously pontificating here? So I discovered the link, called “The Ghosts of War” is attributed to Stefan Molyneux. Our ol’ buddies at Wikipedia have this to say: “Stefan Basil Molyneux is a Canadian blogger, essayist, and author, and host of the Freedomain Radio series of podcasts on political philosophy, atheism, personal and relationship issues, and related topics. He is an anarcho-capitalist and atheist.”
So at this point, JHypers, I’ve reached the point where I’ll “see” your “anarcho-capitalist”, and “raise” you my active duty Lt. Col. brother who is not the least bit arrogant; he’s just amazingly competent and far more interesting than your self-important, stuffy ol’ buddy, Steffy.
Now on to more important things, like appreciating daughters of WWII heroes for walking the walk and talking the talk and not parroting anarcho-babble to those of us who value and love our military. Go Jeanne!
Has your brother written any books on ethics, philosophy, economics? Does he compose a blog or do podcasts that I could read or listen to?
Otherwise, I have no basis by which to judge your brother, unless you can provide contact information so we can discuss such matters privately.
I suggest actually investigating a person’s work for yourself before jumping to conclusions regarding character judgment.
J
Her brother doesn’t need to he’s living it …………I don’t get this you sound smart……..Why would her brother need to do a “Pod Cast” when through his life and actions he is exemplifying everything that is good about the modern American service man.
Are you so lacking in self experience that you can only judge others and yourself on what has been put into media?…Does the idiot who has made this film live in some Anarcho-Capitalist society free from war that I have yet to hear of? Has anybody you’ve ever been even remotely involved with ever done anything other than bloviate about what could be ……
Investigate this persons work….. ok I tried, I see nothing except some book’s and some videos made by somebody that has no idea what there talking about …no facts no hard numbers no actual experiments towards there hypothesis no nothing but reflection and chatter about what “could be” or “could have been” thats great except we don’t live in maybe/may have been land we live in the real world
“Why would her brother need to do a “Pod Cast” when through his life and actions he is exemplifying everything that is good about the modern American service man[?]”
He doesn’t, but the fact remains that I simply have no idea who the person is, and literally have no way of determining their personality, values, ethics, etc., without actually communicating with them, or in some way having their communication conveyed to me (i.e. media). You may place high esteem on a uniform, a title, and a military job, but I do not. Maybe he only took the job because of the economic benefits? How do I know what his life’s actions have been? How could I possibly judge the character of an individual I know absolutely nothing about other than a few complimentary words from a sibling?
That said, neither am I here to defend the maker of the video I posted, other than my previous statement, nor Anarcho-Capitalism. I’ve discussed it in other comment threads on this blog, but do not intend to here. If you find the body of Stefan Molyneux’s work to be worthless, based on your own judgment, that’s your call.
Well. Hmmm.
What’s up with the snarky ” I suggest actually investigating a person’s work for yourself before jumping to conclusions regarding character judgment.” thing?
The first 1 minute and 30 seconds the pompous routine combined with the usual anti-statist “freedom” dealie did my interest in watching the thing in completely – some things present themselves at the outset.
After reading his response to the reviewer of his attempt at developing a moral code, I would call him a pompous, pontificating putz with a tendency towards pedantry .
Ms Elsie-
🙂
Cool beans! on tracking down the video’s maker. I had to go over to the Wikipedia and read some
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Molyneux
References 20,21, and 22 were interesting reads for getting a feel for some of Mr Molyneux’s style of argument and (lack of) substance of a particular argument if anyone is interested.
Could have predicted anarcho-capitalist with the little bit of the video I watched.
Take best of care my friend.
I can also testify that Hilter, although he started out being elected and supported by the people of Germany, did terrible things to his own country and its people.
I will forever be thankful to ALL who served in that war, and the many other ‘conflicts’ that happened over.
We still have terrible ‘leaders’ in this world that do terrible things to their own citizens and others. As terrible as it is we need armies, and police to help us stop the terrible acts others want to do to others.
JHypers…you are ignoring many things in this world, of which reality is made up of. Nice to have ideals but real life will intrude every time. AKM speaks of the reality of war and of those who had to live it…period!
JHypers-I commend you for learning whose blog this is..
Not sure whether to take that as an insult or complement, but thanks anyway mike…
Imagine the vitriol I would have gotten had I posted this on a right wing/tea party patriot blog.
Wow
As a Veteran and having come from a Family that can trace our military history back over 400 years I was initially angered by you. But that quickly turned to sadness and an understanding that some peoples ignorance has no bounds.
Man has innate need to kill other men from differing tribes there have been no pacifist civilizations in the history of the world all tribes conduct warfare on other tribes it is the nature of our existence on the base level this continues our tribes DNA while extinguishing it from the other Tribe. On a more advanced Level it allows Civilization and culture to evolve. The very resin you can post your dribble on the internet is due to War (the internet being developed by DARPA under the DOD). You are a direct result of countless battles waged thousands of years ago to discount war is to invalidate your own existence as we are all a result of the winners of such conflicts.
To not acknowledge the sacrifices of your societies warrior class is to spit in the eye of the civilization that allows your existence.
Wars are fought for a variety of reasons some good some bad, but they are fought and will be in the future. The victors will carry on there cultures and genetics while the losers will fade into history.
“You are a direct result of countless battles waged thousands of years ago.”
I do not, nor have I ever denied the truth of this matter. In the first sentences I posted, I said I was permanently grateful for my grandfather’s survival in World War II, for the obvious reason being that if he didn’t I would not be here…to piss you off with my words.
“The victors will carry on [their] cultures and genetics while the losers will fade into history.”
I’m confused…should we be proud, satisfied, or even remotely think positively, of this? I’m well aware of the world I live in, what people believe, how things operate, etc. The difference between you and I (from what I can tell), is I think we as humans can evolve from this, beyond collectively killing each other.
J
Yes you should be very proud of this we are what we are because of our conflicts not in spite of …The Civil War, here in our own country allowed us to move on from slavery. World War II gave us modern trauma medicine.
I have no idea about Utopia you wish we lived in, but the fact remains it does not exist has never existed and will never exist. Saying that you wish something could be is quaint and kind of cute( in a my six year old daughter that still believes in fairy’s and unicorns kind of way) but has nothing to do with reality
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that you have never had to take a human life or for that matter had someone try to take yours. Your opinion on the taking of human life without that doesn’t really matter. You can toss all the outlandish fairytale dreams out there you want but the facts are not debatable.
There are people, religions, civilizations, on this planet that wish to do you harm to destroy you your culture and your civilization the only thing standing between you and them is a soldier that has written a blank check to this country. Will I kill another human being to protect you yes, Will I give up everything I have so that people I will never meet can sleep soundly at night send there children to school, go to work and live there lives without the threat of some asshole killing them Yes ….Yes I will because I am a soldier….
I and my compatriots are given one day a year where those that we protect honor our sacrifice and the sacrifice of the millions that came before us, and you have some need to cal us murderers you sir are an asshole
When I think of the hell my grandfather went through nearly 70 years ago, I came to the conclusion years ago that the only way to in any way possible derive something positive from his sacrifice and survival…would be to never willingly put myself in a similar situation, where I would have to choose between my life and another human’s. Emphasis on the word willingly. I’ve accepted, and prepared for, the possibility that such a situation may come upon me against my will. Self-defense is different from war, but the end result of the human being that survives can be similar. If you’ve ever deemed it necessary to kill another human being, the act speaks for itself. It is in no way virtuous. To quote Alexandr Solzhenitsyn:
“Anyone who has proclaimed violence as his method inexorably must choose lying as his principle.”
When I was 18, 19, 20…I honestly believed the exact words you have written above. I would have been angry at a person who thinks as I do now. I was much more patriotic, all-american if you will. But when you uncover a lie, you cannot go back to believing in it.
I don’t expect many people, especially a person such as yourself, to agree, like, or have any respect for my opinion. Some ideas and beliefs are so engrained in a society that a few dissenters are either ignored or ridiculed. I’m willing to deal with that. Call me an asshole if you wish.
C’mon. I’m a far left dissenter and most people do not ignore or ridicule me, here or elsewhere. Though they don’t agree with me, they are by and large respectful of my personal self . When we are arguing ideas it is often important to distinguish the idea from the person . I think anarcho-capitalism is hooey but I don’t ridicule the person talking about it, unless they are pompus pontificators themselves.
Watch out for the martyr dealie.
Isolates you further with a built in buffer to ideas of others…
Thank you for sharing this again for those of us who missed it. It chilled me to the bone.
Thank you AKM.
And Obama’s followers would have the US be the same!
What are you talking about?
I plead guilty and offer no defense for using such language. Touching sentiments,not sure I had read this before.
I loved this story the first time I read it, I love it more today. Thanks for sharing Jeanne.
I’m so glad. Thank you.