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David Hiorth

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Russians & Potato Peelers

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    #1

    Russians & Potato Peelers

    To settle a dispute, can anyone say one way or the other whether the story about Russian soldiers pouring potatoes into toilets in Germany, thinking they were the potato peelers like those the Americans had given them, is true or just a rumor?

    One side of the dispute says that is a false story meant to "dehumanize" the Russians due to racism.

    The other side said it was simply some people that were not familiar with indoor plumbing and mistakenly thought that a toilet was a potato peeler, no "racism" intended.

    I know this seems trivial but you know how discussions go.
    Tags: None
    #2
    The story i got was that they had thought the toilets were for washing potato's not peeling them...same difference i suppose in light of what you say. Dosen't solve anything...just sayin.....

    best, rich

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      #3
      I learned in the Austrian history class that I took in college last semester that some citizens of Vienna got amusement out of soldiers of the Red Army who would wash their hands and faces in toilets, being as they were unfamiliar with indoor plumbing. Considering how badly the Ruskies treated the locals, I imagine they were in no big hurry to tell them what they were actually doing!

      Didn't hear anything about potato peelers though.

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        #4
        Well, I come from Upper Silesia, one of the first territories considered by Germans to be Reich the Russians entered into.

        There were many similar accidents when Russians entered my town. For example one of the soliders tore the faucet out of the wall because he thought he will have a constant supply of water by taking it with him. The other beat the watchmaker cause he "didn't want" to make him few pocket/hand watches out of one big standing clock he had robbed somewhere... Making fires in the centre of the room and preparing food on them while there was a stove in the kitchen wasn't rare too.

        But you have to remember to distinguish between Russians from cities and relatively civilized rural areas from these who were enlisted from uncivilized parts of USSR, like steppes and lived before in tents etc. No wonder the last were behaving like I described, it was completly strange world to them.
        Last edited by PBT39; 02-26-2012, 08:28 PM.

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          #5
          I think it goes without saying that the world was a much different place then even in America. My grandfather (mom's side) who served in WWII said that he had guys in his boot camp that had never seen inddoor plumbing, electric lighting or even telephones before they went in the service and that was in the 1940s. Take a vast area such as Russia and it's no wonder. Some of the people in Russia at that time were probably still living much as the pioneers did.

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            #6
            Thanks for the replies gentlemen.

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              #7
              My father is German and has told me similar stories of Russian soldiers. He said one day he was walking with a friend when a Russian soldier came up and pointed to his friends watch, they couldn't understand what he was saying and my father said he wants your watch,give it to him. Turns out he didn't want to steal it he wanted to trade. He lifted up his sleeve and he was wearing about ten watches that stopped running.
              He didn't know you had to wind them every day. My fathers friend handed over his cheap watch and the soldier gestured for him to pick one his ,he pointed to a gold watch with a gold band and he gave it to him. When the soldier left he wound the watch and it worked fine.
              Last edited by byf41; 03-02-2012, 08:37 PM.

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                #8
                Well, .......



                http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-OYM7AhW7Q



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                  #9
                  I have heard similar stories about certain African immigrants coming to Europe nowadays, not sure how true they are. I heard one about them making a fire on the floor in the middle of the room and an other about them eating the cockroaches that were in the appartment.

                  JL

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                    #10
                    blinky, guess some Americans don't know how to use their heads when they are away from the USA. In his case, he just couldn't figure out why the pisser was outdoors and, more or less, exposed to the public. In his mind, it had to be a place to wash his hands, after using the port-a-potty. You'd think the look and the smell of the waste water would be a dead giveaway. We must sometimes look really stupid to people overseas. Just like the Russian peasants looked to the Germans. :-)

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