74 years ago today?

[Noel]

Jonzjob wrote:
So yes, the Germans had just the same righ to celebrate at the stopping of the killing. Or did they enjoy it perhaps?

Enjoy? What?

 

[Jonzjob]

Not just 74 but all of them.

"Enjoy? What? Noel. Getting dead?

 

[Quickben]

I think someone has already mentioned it, but the more often we 'celebrate' something on a national scale, the less important it seems to people. It devalues it.

Rememberence Day is well supported and is always an event. If we have loads of mini rememberence days dotted around the year, it would detract from the main thing.

 

[Stanleymonkey]

There were an untld total of the German people who also have reason to celebrate the end of their own bombing experiences too and so many of them did not want war at any time. My parents used to have a couple of German prisorers of was around for Sunday dinner. Both young and who had given themselves up to the Allies as soon as they could. One of them was in the army because his brother had refused and was shot.


That is amazing! Can I ask - was this during the war or immediately afterwards? (post rationing!!) The conversations must have been very interesting.

 

[Lonsdale73]

Do we celebrate .... Banockburn....

I do, was the last time we Scots won anything!

 

[CHJ]

Can I ask - was this during the war or immediately afterwards? (post rationing!!)

Rationing continued for some considerable time after the war, (1954 I think) livestock raise by my father for our own consumption had to forfeit 50% of the carcase to the ministry of supply. Likewise crops such as potatoes were sealed in storage and WARAG monitored for percentage allocation for animal feed (coloured with purple Dye) to prevent selling on the 'black market'

Regarding the Remembrance, I for one will always thank those that enabled me to celebrate on VE & VJ days, a distant memory but it was significant in my life.
Before the end of 1945 we moved from Birmingham to a farm in Worcestershire (not sure of the date but there were green tomatoes in the large mounds in one of the farmhouse rooms ripening away from the frosts) but it was sunny the day we moved because we stopped at the Reindeer pub near Ombersley for lunch break and I sat on the dropped down tailboard of the lorry with my Grandfather.)
The tomatoes were being picked by two trusted German prisoners who cycled each day the 6+ miles from their barracks near Droitwich to help with whatever tasks were needed around the farm, for several years afterwards they stayed with us, as did working parties on other local farms improving the land drainage etc. and I had a great time showing them where the springs were, many of which were the result of blocked field drains, (kids have no problem finding water) a complete change from scouring the area for shrapnel to see who could find the biggest piece.
I was given many toys skilfully made by the German prisoners. The last ones to leave us had nowhere to 'go home' to, having lost all their relatives and homes.
There were also some Italian prisoners who seemed to me as a small child to spend all their time weaving straw slippers and willow baskets to earn money, they used to beg the use of the large coal fired copper in the outhouse to boil the withies, something I understand we were not supposed to encourage.

The only time I ever saw any armed guards around was one winter when a squad of British prisoners from Burlish Camp? Nr. Stourport, were employed to harvest Sugar Beet, guards with shouldered rifles were in the field and positioned in the approach to the farmhouse to protect my mother and escort them collecting water from the pump.

 

[Trevanion]

There's a lot of descendants of German and Italian POWs here in Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion, I think a lot of them saw no sense in going back to their ruined home countries and decided to stay here and settle down.

The war ended 52 years or so before I was even born, but I think it is still important that we remember all their sacrifices, at home and away.

 

[AES]

@Stanleymonkey: What you've said about QUOTE: .... untold number of them didn't want war at any time. UNQUOTE: isn't the whole truth - but I'm NOT suggesting you're lying! Why not? See below.

As said in an earlier post on this topic, although my wife is Swiss (was born here) her mother was originally German and moved to Switzerland and married a Swiss bloke (so becoming Swiss herself) before the start of WWII - 1936 I think. That means that I have quite a goodly number of "outlaws by marriage" who are old enough to remember the start of the Nazi period, before WWII started.

It's been very interesting talking to them over the years, and especially hearing how different their own points of view are compared to what I was brought up on. For example: "Tante Elfeida" who married in 1936, and who despite her Catholiscm (Black Forest area, VERY staunch generally, even today) married over a copy of "Mein Kampf" (NOT the bible) even though she married "Onkel Willhelm" in the local church.

Apparently that was the norm in those days (and as a hopefully interesting aside, "replacing" the Bible with "Mein Kampf" for all sorts of official functions such as births, deaths and marriages, not to mention in the law courts, was one of the ways Hitler financed the Nazi rise to power).

Anyway, talking to lots of these "in laws" (it was a big family)and to others is really interesting as although they didn't exactly "want" war, due to the Allied politicians' (mainly UK & France) appeasement policy, not only was Germany doing very well as a result of Hitler's policies, they got a lot of success even before invading Poland - and after that they had even more success at the start of the war. All with the majority of the civil population being to a very large extent completely unaffected in any negative sense.

Remembering that Germany had suffered a lot of genuine hardships (world financial collapse; massive inflation; the effects of the reparations they had to "pay" for their part in WWI) their overall lot was significantly improved throughout the 1930's.

So naturally enough (and I'm NOT - repeat NOT - making any excuses) they reacted just like any other bloke in the streets of any other country would have done under the same circumstances - sort of "Well it wasn't what I thought it would be but far from doing me any harm it's really improving my day to day life, especially re work and food, so good oh, lets get on with it".

By no means a thorough "survey", I have met and discussed this sort of stuff in detail with at least 8 or 10 Germans (from different families) who were around at the time, and personally I think it's fair to say that it was only a small minority of the German population who were at all worried about either the Nazis' policies or the fact they were suddenly at war.

If there was any bad news or rumours about it was to a large extent ignored or dismissed as what that ***** over the other side of the pond would today call "fake news".

I stress I'm talking about the 1930's up to 1940/41; AND that in comparison to the whole population of Germany mine is only a very small sample; AND that I am by no means trying to excuses for anyone or anything; NOR in any way dismissing the part that "our side" played in removing the Nazi evil from the world.

But as said in my previous post on this topic, it's just really interesting to hear the different viewpoints of different people in different (opposing) countries reacting to what were basically the same circumstances.

With respect to ALL involved.

 

[Trainee neophyte]

“Why of course the people don't want war. Why should some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally the common people don't want war: neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But after all it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or fascist dictorship, or a parliament or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peace makers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”

― Hermann Goering

 

[Benchwayze]

I think the powers that be are too busy forming a European army to start the next little lot of Wars; see if I'm not mistaken in about 20 years time.

John

 

[Jacob]

yes 74 years ago today the war in Europe ended. Has there been any recognition in the news or radoi/TV? Non that I have read/seen/heard.

Doesn't it matter any more? Can't we celebrate the eand of all those years of death and destruction in that war?

Seems not! Very sad!

D day was 75 years ago this week and the media has been full of it. https://www.theguardian.com/world/galle ... n-pictures
These are amazing click and drag:
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesig ... nteractive

 

[Jacob]

75 years ago.
This bit of film dropped into my Facebook page. Fascinating stuff.

https://www.arte.tv/en/videos/083920-00 ... onic-bomb/