Again, I apologize for not writing yesterday. I was ill y and missed a rare Easter gathering of family and friends.
The weather and my arthritis are directly responsible.
Massachusetts had more than two weeks of heavy rains, which caused the rivers to overflow including the Charles that divides Boston and Cambridge; inundations in many areas, and evacuations. The Governor declared the state of emergency, and last week the President was briefly in Boston to thank the Emergency Management people. The sun reappeared on Friday. My arthritis was did not immediateely take notice.
As I said last night, I feel the need to make a few additional comments, and answer
Andy's question in # 434 about the art theft in WW II.
Andy, it began years earlier, in 1933, to be precise, with the systematic expropriation of the Jews, see
http://www.edwardvictor.com/Holocaust/Expropriation.htmIn WW II, it might have started in France, in 1940. The ordinary soldiers probably helped themselves to some trinkets. But in the benighted secrecy in which we lived, we did not hear about the systematic, organized plundering of European art undertaken by the highest bosses, including H. himself. The web has a great deal of information, which is to be welcomed. Actually, I read
on the web something I never knew : that the Mass Murderer planned to build a museum in the town of his birth, Linz in Austria, and got busy "collecting" early. Who would have known then?
Wars have been fought even before history was recorded. To the victor go the spoils, as in the days of Homer's
Iliad, when the winner's bounty often included a female slave from the vanquished enemy camp. And later, in the Holy Roman Empire,
all participating states - often represented by mercenaries as proxy, - divvied up the bounty. For instance in
1571, after the battle of
Lepanto was won under the commnd of 24-year old Juan of Austria, an illegitimate son of Emperor Charles V.. and both the crown and the church got their bounty.
Similarly, in 1944, the Red Army steam-rolled westward toward Germany, overrunning Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and other eastern nations, and untold numbers of civilians fled ahead of them, taking with them only what they could carry. Russian soldiers were feared and notorious for raping girls and women. Many hailed from remote rural regions and were delighted to see water coming out of faucets. They became also fond of watches, demanding them, and proudly displaying several of them on one arm. It is unlikely that during their relentless drive to reach Berlin they would have had time to look for art or known what to look for. But somehow precious bibles, tapestries and paintings found their way into Russia. Not all have been returned, as reported on the web.
On the other hand, the GI's advancing through Italy northward, and eastward through France, were welcomed and popular. They brought chewing gum, chocolate and Lucky Strike cigarettes. whole cartons of them! It is understandable that they would pick up Nazi memorabilia. They were known also for liking fine china, and had the money to pay for it. However acquired, German and European treasures turned up also in the U.S. Some were returned voluntarily. Reports to that effect have appeared in the press over the decades.
Moreover, there are ongoing efforts to bring about the return of Jewish property, taken more than six decades ago. It is one result of wars.
Or think of the
Elgin Marbles, carried off from Athens by the truckload by at the behest of the British Ambassador to Constantinople, Lord Elgin. Or more recently of the looting in the Iraq war.
JoanP, you asked about the morale. Well, by the end of 1944 the people were tired, hungry,dejected, exhausted. No one talked about the "final victory". When 14-year-old boys and old men are urged to pick up a weapon or, short of a weapon, a shovel or a dung-fork, nobody needs to be told that the war is lost.
The truth became known slowly, in bits and pieces. In those May days, the best source of information was the Swiss weekly
Die Weltwoche (world week). I subscribed to the paper edition for decades. Nowadays I read it on line. The extent, the scale of the atrocities was stupefying, numbing, beyond anything imaginabable.
The Germans will probably be haunted by the Holocaust forever. But hey did write the most liberal immigration laws, and the country has become a haven for asylum seekers.
In sum, information, knowledge, transparency, truth are the keys. It is important to be aware of what goes on in the world. The Holocaust
must not,
will not be forgotten thanks to books like Markus Zusak's
The Book Thief. I have read only part of it because the terrain is still painful for me. But I have fulfilled my promise and contributed to the discussion what I could, honestly and forthrightly, based on my experience and my rmemory.
Many thanks again to
JoanP,
Andy and all participants.
P.S.
Jude, I am sorry you lost your loyal canine companion and have a good idea how you feel.
