- Some time ago, you were good enough to post a comment
I made about WWII and who died in the German Camps.
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- Since then, I have made some enquiries into what happened
to my grandfather, a Polish Evangelist of German Descent, who died in Sachsenhausen
Camp, part of the Oranienburg Complex in Germany.
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- Because my mother married an English soldier in 1948
she lost her German citizenship and because of this I can never adopt German
citizenship through ancestral lines. But I did ask the German authorities
for more information regarding my grandfather's death in the camp, and
received a letter in English and three documents in German.
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- The letter stated that many of the records had been destroyed
"by the SS" at the end of the war and the remaining records taken
by the Russians when they "liberated" the camp. My first question
upon reading this was, "how do the present day German authorities
know it was the SS who destroyed the records?" And my second question
is: "if the Russians took the remaining records with them why have
they only returned them in recent years?"
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- It became clear to me upon reading the letter further
that the information given back to the Germans in recent times was scant
and limited. I don't know who destroyed the records, but whilst it could
have been the Nazi SS it could also have been the Russians!
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- The German authorities are STILL trying to piece together
the information given to them by the Russians it seems. My next question
is, "if that is the case, and the German authorities DON'T have all
the information as to who died in those camps, how can they be so sure
as to legislate that the story given by the Jewish authorities regarding
how many Jews were killed in the holocaust, and how they were killed, is
true?" It would seem the German authorities are taking the word of
the Jewish authorities as true without the evidence to back up the assertion!
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- I must say here that she had never seen any official
documents relating to her father's death, although she had heard his name
had been publicly displayed on a list under that camp in 1940 which was
why her mother knew her husband was dead despite having lost contact with
him several years before when he had first been imprisoned and held in
a different camp.
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- When I looked at the German documents with my mother
she interpreted what the documents said. One was the document which stated
he had entered the camp at the beginning of May 1940. Another gave a few
details of his background, including the fact he was a "criminal",
but even these personal facts were not completely correct, and lacked a
lot of information, including the fact he had a daughter (who had been
born in Germany in 1927). His wife's name was mentioned (my grandmother)
but only her first name was mentioned, not the fact she had two first names.
The third document gave the date of death. This was at the end of May
1940, and even gave the time of death (just after 2pm) but the one thing
it did not say was HOW he died!!!
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- If this is typical of the way the deaths of camp inmates
were recorded then I would consider the idea of "gassing" people
to be suspect! If they couldn't tell how my grandfather died how can anyone
be sure how anyone died in the camp?
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- I accept that the conditions were appalling, and that
many died of starvation, disease, and other causes, but to be sure of numbers
being "gassed" it is necessary for records to indicate HOW a
person died, and it is clear in this instance at least that information
was not given.
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- I also wonder why he should only have survived around
3 weeks! Was this typical of the length of time people spent in these
camps before they died? Had he been tortured or physically abused in the
earlier prisons?
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- If this is how they treated their "criminals"
then I do wonder how they treated those who were not convicted of any crime!
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- For the record, my grandfather was arrested and tried
in 1934. He was considered to be a paedophile. He did not like Hitler
even as that man rose to power. My grandfather was a Christian lay preacher,
without a church of his own denomination, so he used his front room as
a place for worship. Congregating groups in private dwellings were considered
a threat so anyone who did what my grandfather did would have been immediately
considered an enemy, especially with his hatred of Hitler.
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- As my grandparents were refugees living in Germany after
WWI they were especially vulnerable. Whilst my grandfather was conscripted
by the Russians to fight on their side in WWI, and invalided out after
he permanently damaged is arm making it useless, my grandmother was being
hounded out of her village in Poland because fellow Poles considered anyone
who spoke German, or of German descent, to be the "enemy". She
it was that ended up in Germany, and my grandfather searched her out when
he left the battlezone.
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- Being refugees, they were dependent upon the goodwill
of the authorities in allowing them to stay in Germany. Not only was my
grandfather found guilty and imprisoned for a term of 5 years (should have
been completed in 1939 but no-one knows if he ever was free) but he and
my grandmother were considered "stateless persons" and had to
keep in close contact with the local Burghermeister if they wished to stay
in one place. Sometimes my grandmother and mother were forced to move
on, from place to place, not belonging anywhere.
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- With so many obstacles against them you would have thought
my grandmother and mother would have been anti-German, but they weren't.
However, after the war ended my mother learned English, became a translater
for the REME, and eventually married an English soldier and settled in
England.
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- Meanwhile, during the postwar decades, Germans of her
age, and younger, have been "taught" how to view the horrors
of the last war, and their defeat: neither my mother or myself have ever
been given that sort of help. Instead we have both had to endure "hatred"
of Germans, the continuous celebrations as to the Allies winning the war,
and the horror that the Nazis (Germans) inflicted on the rest of the people,
including the Jews.
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- Until recently, I accepted, like so many others, the
official story being told. I now wonder what the truth is, as I should
have been able to know from the records HOW he died. I don't. Neither
do the Germans. How many relateives of other people who died in those
camps are left without this vital information?
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- I think it is time that the Jews stopped pushing this
aspect of their history, and concentrated on recent actions that THEY have
committed in the area around them where the Palestinians live. The informatioin
being given about those events shows the Jews have learned nothing about
the suffering of people, no matter which race or country they originate
from. The Holocaust story should have been a beacon of hope against future
genocide, but instead appears to be catalyst for themselves following the
same path as the Nazis.
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- I feel sorry for ALL of the people who died in the camps
regardless of their background. My heart goes out to their relatives,
But I would ask people to consider very carefully whether or not the story
of the holocaust as the official version states is a truly accurate one.
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