'I liked to shoot everything - women, kids... it was kind of sport': Secret Nazi tapes reveal how ordinary German soldiers were responsible for war crimes and not just SS
By DAVID BAKER
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Secret recordings made by British intelligence during the Second World War have revealed for the first time the horrific atrocities carried out by everyday German soldiers.
For years the blame for horrific war crimes, rape and genocide were laid at the hands of the SS and Hitler's right hand men but a new book details how widespread the barbarity went.
Transcripts taken from hidden microphones on prisoners of war have been collated for the disturbing book Soldaten: On Fighting, Killing and Dying: The Secret Second World War Tapes of German POWs.
Revelations: The new book reveals how soldiers like this one callously murdered the innocent and then joked about it with fellow soldiers
Tainted: German soldiers crouch over the bodies of two shot down civilians
Recordings: The tapes reveal that many of the German soldiers were fully aware of death camps - despite many stating differently
Between 1940 and 1945 the British and Americans bugged about 13,000 German and several hundred Italian soldiers of all ranks and services - many of which in the Trent Park detention centre for POWs in north London.
It was hoped the recordings would reveal military secrets of potentially strategic importance, instead they catalogued open and uncensored conversations about war experiences - often as to boast.
Evil: It appears the atrocities carried out by the SS and Adolf Hitler's henchmen were a lot more widespread and done by ordinary soldiers
They detail not only the extreme level of violence but a disturbing sense of enjoyment from the soldiers.
One example of many recounts: 'There was an event in the market square, crowds of people, speeches given. We really sprayed them! That was fun!'
Another reveals the following conversation: 'We once did a strafing near Eastbourne. We flew up and saw a big castle; there seemed to be a ball or something – anyhow a lot of ladies in evening dress and a band.
'The first time we flew past; then we attacked and kept at it. Boy oh boy, was that fun.'
Another reveals: 'I loved dropping bombs. It makes you feel all tingly, a great feeling. It’s as good as shooting someone down.'
The book, which has been compiled by German historians Soenke Neitzel and Harald Welzer has been translated in to English for the first time, dispelling myths that German soldiers were not responsible for such war crimes.
It offers a bleak inside view of World War II and in doing so, they destroy once and for the myth of a 'clean' Wehrmacht - the German name for the armed forced.
The soldiers talk about their views of the enemy and their own leaders, discuss the details of combat missions and trade astonishingly detailed accounts of the atrocities they both witnessed and committed.
War crimes: The likes of Josef Mengele (left) known as 'The Angel of Death', Rudolf Hoss and Josef Kramer were well known war criminals but hidden microphones reveal how Wehrmacht soldiers were embroiled in the atrocities
One passage reads: Zotlöterer: 'I shot a Frenchman from behind. He was riding a bicycle.'
Weber: 'At close range?'
Zotlöterer: 'Yes.'
Heuser: 'Did he want to take you prisoner?'
Zotlöterer: 'Nonsense. I wanted the bicycle.'
The material contains disturbing accounts of sexual abuse, rape and torture as well.
Disturbing: Women and children were not spared by trigger happy soldiers, some of whom described killing as ‘fun’
Executions: German soldiers line up and execute a group of Jewish men by the banks of the Danube in Hungary
In one section a passage attributed to Reimbold reads: 'In the first officers' prison camp where I was being kept here, there was a really stupid guy from Frankfurt , a young lieutenant, a young upstart.
'And he said: 'Oh, we caught this female spy who had been running around in the neighborhood.
'First we hit her in the t**s with a stick and then we beat her rear end with a bare bayonet.
Then we f***** her, and then we threw her outside and shot at her. When she was lying there on her back, we threw grenades at her.
'Every time one of them landed near her body, she screamed.'
‘And just think, there were eight German officers sitting at that table with me, and they all broke out laughing.’
British intelligence: Microphones hidden on POWs at Trent Park in north London helped reveal how many soldiers boasted about their atrocities
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2206982/I-liked-shoot--women-kids--kind-sport-Secret-Nazi-tapes-reveal-ordinary-German-soldiers-responsible-war-crimes-just-SS.html#ixzz27CkMx2sy
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Who is worse, the dirty bastards who start the wars or the rotten bastards that fight them?
ReplyDeleteThe ugly truth is that atrocities in war are always carried out by ordinary men. Always.
ReplyDeleteAh, my people, the nordics.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, my English side and French side behaved to a higher standard in the conflict.
And my Swedish side stayed out. Though they sold iron ore to the Germans at the threat of a gun.
Culture counts. If you preach the other as being sub-human, you end up treating them that way.
A real problem these days, as always, in islam.
His father taught him to love jazz?
ReplyDeleteSo claims an email dispatched this week from the Obama campaign soliciting a donation for a chance to have “Dinner with Barack,” with airfare “on us.”
But the claim is not credible, contends Joel Gilbert, whose documentary “Dreams from My Real Father” has just been released.
“How is this possible?” Gilbert asked.
“Obama’s official life story claims he was with Barack Obama, the Kenyan, only one time, in the early 1970s, and then briefly, for a week or 10 days,” he explained.
“How was that enough time to teach 9-year-old Obama to love jazz music? Besides, jazz is uniquely American. Besides, what evidence is there the Kenyan dug Coltrane?”
Joel Gilbert’s “Dreams from My Real Father” is available at WND’s Superstore
Nevertheless, on Monday Gilbert received an email solicitation from Julianna Smoot, deputy campaign manager of Obama for America.
The same announcement also was posted on the campaign website, encouraging voters to try to win a dinner with President Obama.
Smoot spelled out some of the benefits the winner will enjoy.
“You can learn a lot: His dad taught him to love jazz, his girls get crazy-embarrassed when he dances or sings in public, his dream job is starting point guard for the Chicago Bulls – and he really looks forward to sharing these meals with supporters like you.”
Jerome Corsi
And if you lie continually, well, it becomes a habit.
War is a terrible thing. Men are capable of doing terrible things. All men.
ReplyDeleteThere is no limit to what you can be brought to do to "The Other." None.
ReplyDeleteYou.
None.
Been there; seen it.
Men are, by their very nature, Misogynists, and Racists. All Men. It comes with their testosterone. A gift from mama nature.
ReplyDeleteIt actually comes in handy in war, but, on the bad side, makes war all the more likely - almost ineveitable sometimes.
It's easy to "get along" during the Good Times. It's the Depressions, and Deep Recessions, and periods of Scarcity, and Fear that bring out our Baser Instincts.
ReplyDeleteThat's when the Racist Leaders, and Opportunistic Theologians can easily convince the masses that it's time for war. That it's all the fault of "The Other."
Why publish this stuff? It will only serve to drive up the LUST that Rat has for war crimes...
ReplyDeleteI hate to put it this way, but, No One who has never been involved in Armed Conflict can ever really understand the depth of their own potential for violence, and cruelty.
ReplyDeleteThe Training, and then the stress and fear brought on by battle . . . . .
Well, let's just say, you Are Not who you think you are.
You become Exactly what your leaders set out to make you into. No apologies, no excuses; just the truth.
You Are the society you grew up in. If you grew up in a time when all but a small handful (Nationwide) of white adults thought "Jim Crow" was proper, and natural, you never gave it a second thought. It was "proper and natural."
ReplyDeleteIf you came of age in Germany, during a time of Ascension of Nazism, and disdain of Jews, and Eastern Europeans . . . . . .
How did Johnson, Nixon, et al convince us that War in Vietnam was a good and necessary thing?
ReplyDeleteHow did Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld, and the neocons trick us into a war in Iraq?
Why do we still, after all these years, still have an embargo on the poor people of Cuba?
Why are we allowing the Republicans to go to extraordinary lengths to suppress the minority vote in Pennsylvania, Today?
And, don't be fooled by the new-fangled term, "Culturalism." It's just old-fashioned racism dressed up for church.
ReplyDeleteAnd, yes, I hate ALL Religions. Religions are part, and parcel, of the "Problem," not of the "Cure."
DeleteYour last five comments are mostly non-sense, Rufus, but you are far gone now, and it is no use to point out all the fallacies in those diatribes.
DeleteYou can dispute four of the five, bob, but, of the first, you have absolutely no knowledge - no frame of reference. Your opinion there is worth exactly squat.
DeletePerhaps Ruf, but I've read accounts by and of people who aren't totally dehumanized by the process.
DeleteI know war brings out the worst, but can also bring out the best, or better, too, at times.
Looking at the bright side, it's somewhat cheering to see that it takes some real work to dehumanize people to such a degree that they will commit the acts we are talking about.
Most people don't come to it naturally.
The islamic peoples have been worked on for fourteen centuries now. A real problem.
No bigger problem than the Jews, and, more recently, the Christians have been.
DeleteAnd, there's a hell of a lot of difference between what men write in their "accounts," and what they do.
DeleteHow much "dehumanizing" was required for those whites to soak those blankets in cholera, and then "gift" them to the Indians?
DeleteHow much "dehumanizing" was required for the government to give Syphilis to black prisoners in the south in order to "study" the progression of the disease?
How much dehumanizing did it take for the Cherokee to take slaves, slaughter innocents, push other Indian groups around?
DeleteThe moral case against the Cherokees is straightforward. As a duly constituted nation in the nineteenth century, they legally embraced and promoted African slavery, a position they maintained after Removal to Indian Territory in the 1830s. The vast majority of Cherokees could not afford slaves, as was also the case throughout the American South, and historians of Cherokee slavery have demonstrated that some aspects of the Cherokee social world gave a different, less negative character to being enslaved by wealthy Cherokees rather than wealthy whites. Make no mistake, though. No one is on record as having volunteered to become a Cherokee slave. History records plenty of Cherokee slaves attempting to escape to freedom, as well as Cherokee slave revolts.
Get off your high horse, Chief.
Go take a sweat bath in the sweat lodge.
http://indiancountrynews.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1106&Itemid=74
Then, there is your whole other 'white side'.
DeleteYour ancestry is slaver all the way through, Chief.
Just thinking 'out loud' to myself here, you understand, but could it possibly be that the 'real' Cherokee don't want no sharin' out on that Cherokee Casino Cash?
DeleteMaybe the 'white' Rufii were some of the few whites in Mississippi in favor of both abolition AND prohibition, back in the day?
DeleteYou're babbling incoherently. What's your point? I should have white/cherokee guilt? Fuggedaboutit.
DeleteThe point I would make is that we should be very careful about electing leaders that will encourage divisiveness, and intolerance.
"Great" Crimes, and Injustices aren't committed by individuals. The "Great" Crimes, and Injustices are committed by Groups, against "Other" Groups.
DeleteI'd like to add, there is a line of thought that asserts that the United States handled the situation after World War II in about the best way humanly possible. I subscibe to that outlook. The country that we defeated almost entirely on our own, Japan, has now, and has had for a long time, a fully functioning democracy, is no threat to anyone, handles their own affairs, and is a full trading (!!) partner of ours. Germany, whom we helped defeat, in our sphere of influence, and that of Britain and France too, after the war, was built up to be a functioning democracy, no threat to anyone, in charge of their affairs, full member, with Japan, of the United Nations.
ReplyDeleteSo to all those continually bitching about 'American Imperialism' I wish they would take a closer look, and think again.
May God Bless the United States of America in her ongoing life, and grant her wisdom and strength, and Bless all those who sacrificed or suffered in that titanic struggle, Ruf's relative for instance whom he has mentioned, and any others here, and those who suffered in it and for it.
In Tennessee, a new law requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls explicitly excludes student IDs.
ReplyDeleteIn Wisconsin, college students are newly disallowed from using university-provided housing lists or corroboration from other students to verify their residence.
Florida's reduction in early voting days is expected to reduce the number of young and first-time voters there.
And Pennsylvania's voter identification bill, still on the books for now, disallows many student IDs and non-Pennsylvania driver's licenses, which means out-of-state students may be turned away at the polls.
In 2008, youth voter turnout was higher that it had been since Vietnam, and overwhelmingly for Barack Obama. This time around, the GOP isn't counting solely on disillusionment to keep the student vote down.
In the last two years, Republican-controlled state legislatures have passed dozens of bills that erect new barriers to voting, all targeting Democratic-leaning groups, many specifically aimed at students. The GOP's stated rationale is to . . . .
First they came for the black, then they came for the women, and then the young, and then . . . .
Mitt Romney paid nearly $2 million to the US government in taxes. His critics, working 50 years, won't pay anywhere near $2 million. Romney pays 4 or 5 times more in taxes in one year than most of his critics will pay throughout their entire lifetimes.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2012/09/a_brief_word_about_mitt_romneys_taxes_comments.html#disqus_thread
And more than Ruf or I will pay in five lifetimes.
dhenri2
Romney donated more money to charity than most of his critics will ever earn in a lifetime. Those that can - do. Those that can't - criticize.
Enderr
Romney paid $1.9 Million in taxes, Donated $4 Million to charity and over paid his taxes for 2011. He also never took a salary as Governor.
Biden donated $350 to charity and charges the Secret Service $2,200 a month to rent a cottage on his property to protect him. (which we pay with taxes)
I loved the "unbiased" news all day, saying he "only" paid $1.9 Million in taxes. Really? How much did you pay? Notice Harry Reid hasn't apologized for claiming he "knows for a fact Romney hasn't paid any taxes in 10 years". How much have you paid Harry?
So who is paying their "fair share"?
tdvann
By my calculations Mitt & Ann Romney pay their share of the National Debt, their children's share, & their grandchildren's share every 6 months. (I used $60,000 as each individuals share, last good number I had was $46,000 but that was over 2 weeks ago). I guess the "Rich" don't pay their "Fair" share, they pay more
Pam+C
Do Nothing Harry Reid has been called out to release "his" tax returns. Do Nothing Harry is just positive that Mitt is hiding something. Should we call Do Nothing Harry out for transference (accusing another of behavior the accuser engages)? My hunch is that Harry Reid is the one who is hiding "something" in his tax returns.
tracecreek
Much adooooo about nothing.
Can we please have an accounting of how the Prez and the misses have made their money?
Do we know how much mega rich Soros has stashed away for Obama in the islands and other far away places so he can escape the inspections?
How many jobs has Obama personally generated from his under the table transactions that have made him rich. What about the house and lot in Chicago--ill gotten to say the least. Stop the witch hunt. There are no witches--just bad foreign policy and a Prez who will wear the banner SOCIALISM proudly and walk just like a Miss America if he ever gets the chance.
....
Around the University of Idaho and Washington State University, making up fake student ID's to get into the bars or the liquor stores is a talent as old and well honed as the lovely hills above the streams around here.
Romney didn't "make" shit; he stole it. A piece of every IRS check you write goes to pay for the government taking over the pensions of those bankrupted companies.
ReplyDeleteYou, also, paid the unemployment claims for those that lost their jobs.
You also get to pay more because he was able to write off his freakin' dancing horse.
Wake up, dumbshit.
Romney didn't "make" shit; he stole it.
Delete.....o well then.....
Rufus IISat Sep 22, 01:31:00 PM EDT
ReplyDeleteNo bigger problem than the Jews, and, more recently, the Christians have been.
this is why I carry....
you are a idiot i am jew! freakin racist!!!!!!
DeleteThe WASDE report also concluded that despite wide spread drought, the U.S. will harvest its eighth largest crop in history. Output in several countries has increased including Argentinean production more than 30 percent over last year, Mexican production increased 19 percent, South Africa 17 percent, Canada 9 percent, and China 4 percent. Global grain supply is also expected to be the second-largest in history, totaling 2.71 billion metric tons in 2012/2013 with the European Union grain crop to be about average.
ReplyDeleteOh, btw, Global Corn "Exports" are predicted to be EXACTLY the SAME as Last year - 91 Million Tonnes IIRC.
Within the next three to five years, more than 200 coal-fired electric generating units will be shut down across 25 states due to EPA regulations and factors including cheap natural gas, according to a new report by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE).
ReplyDelete“This is further evidence that EPA is waging a war on coal, and a war on affordable electricity prices and jobs. EPA continues to ignore the damage that its new regulations are causing to the U.S. economy and to states that depend on coal for jobs and affordable electricity,” said Mike Duncan, president and CEO of ACCCE, in a statement.
However, ACCCE notes that EPA policies may have played a role more than 4,800 megawatts of announced closures not included on in their report which would bring total shutdowns to 241 coal generator in 30 states — more than 36,000 MW of electric generation or 11 percent of the U.S. coal fleet.
The most affected states include Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina, which will see a combined 103 coal-fired generators shut down.
“Actually our utility rates are higher and the impact is such that it’s going to interfere with the quality of life that a lot of individuals have in my community,” said John McNeil, mayor of Red Springs, N.C., in an ACCCE video — one of the heavily affected states.
According to ACCCE, coal provides more than half of North Carolina’s power. Poorer areas, like Red Springs, where a number of residents are on fixed income or live below the poverty line, are adversely affected by higher electricity bills because they eat up a greater portion of their income.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/09/21/report-more-than-200-coal-fired-generators-slated-for-shutdown/#ixzz27EipckH5
Bullcrap. All they have to do is install scrubbers. The thing is, these are old, inefficient plants, most of which would have been shut down, anyway.
ReplyDeleteBob, they're just playing guys like you for big old suckers.
The Courts don't seem to be agreeing with you, Rufus.
DeleteThe Environmental Protection Agency received another well-warranted slap on the hand last week. In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the EPA had overstepped its authority in its latest attempt to regulate emissions that cross state lines. As one of the judges succinctly put it, “[W]e conclude that the EPA has transgressed statutory boundaries.”
Crushing Coal -
http://www.heritage.org/research/commentary/2012/08/crushing-coal-under-the-regulatory-steamroller
All they have to do is install scrubbers.
They've been installing scrubbers since I've been reading about it. Never enough 'scrubbers' to satisfy the EPA.
There's only so much horror the mind can take in.
ReplyDelete