November 11th, known as Remembrance Day here in Canada, has now once again come and gone. Many of us around the world have paid due respect to fallen servicemen and those still surviving. Proper thing.
An article entitled, 'Just young kids fighting for our country', which appeared in a local newspaper here in Ottawa, Canada, started me thinking and prompts me to write this posting for discussion.
The article states that "Remembrance Day means little for Canada's other veterans, the Germans who came here after the Second World War....German veterans remember valour and sacrifice in their own way, on their own time."
Several of these German veterans living in Canada were interviewed, and I will paraphrase and quote herein their comments, which include the fact that they, too, fought bravely for their country and watched many of their friends fall on the battlefield. Yet unlike the thousands of former soldiers who were honoured on November 11th, they "...stayed home with (their own) private memories of the war - aging symbols of a vanquished enemy."
It is stated that, for them, Remembrance Day has never been a moment of pride or public commemoration and that, excluded from the Remembrance Day events - and with few memorials to honour their own wartime experience - they simply put the past behind them. "Let the Canadian veterans do what they want. I can remember my own sacrifices, I don't need anyone to make a big fuss about it."
Those interviewed commented that: "...they've never felt any hostility from Canadians for their role in the German war machine...(and that they) carry no anger or bitterness towards the Allied soldiers who defeated their homeland....(and further that they, when POWs) never considered them...enemies."
Said one: "On the contrary, I have many acquaintances with American and Canadian soldiers who were in the war. We were never political. We always knew they did the same job for their country, as we did for ours."
"Despite these sentiments, Remembrance Day still brings with it an annual dose of mixed emotion..." as Canadians publicly honour wartime sacrifices and remember heroes...while most German veterans keep their memories to themselves."
Said another: "It would be nice if we were invited to these ceremonies, but by no means do I feel left out. I know what I have gone through and what I have done for my country. I have my pride, that's all that matters."
In some areas, small groups of German war veterans do get together in private each year to remember their friends lost in the war. "Kitchener, Ontario, is one of the few places where German veterans publicly commemorate their war....old soldiers from Kitchener's large German-Canadian community gather with members of the Royal Canadian Legion, to lay wreaths on German war graves, many of them PoWs who died while imprisoned at camps in Canada."
The German veterans interviewed felt that they are widely misunderstood and that the general populace does not understand much about the German war experience...."While most were ordinary conscripts, many are wrongly viewed as Nazis"...(whereas)..."Most of us were just like the Canadian soldiers - young kids fighting for our country" and that "...Canadian troops came home from the war to a prosperous country, German soldiers returned to find bombed-out cities, scattered families, and a broken nation....Yes, Germany was the aggressor, but the Canadian wartime experience wasn't the same as Germany's. German soldiers lived through something quite different."
Still he says, "Canada was one of the victors. They should remember their victory."
Are members aware of instances out there where German war veterans are involved in the annual Remembrance or Veterans Day ceremonies?
Do members feel strongly one way or another as to the recognition and involvement of German war veterans in an appropriate way at such annual ceremonies?
Thanks for reading this and for any comments,
John
An article entitled, 'Just young kids fighting for our country', which appeared in a local newspaper here in Ottawa, Canada, started me thinking and prompts me to write this posting for discussion.
The article states that "Remembrance Day means little for Canada's other veterans, the Germans who came here after the Second World War....German veterans remember valour and sacrifice in their own way, on their own time."
Several of these German veterans living in Canada were interviewed, and I will paraphrase and quote herein their comments, which include the fact that they, too, fought bravely for their country and watched many of their friends fall on the battlefield. Yet unlike the thousands of former soldiers who were honoured on November 11th, they "...stayed home with (their own) private memories of the war - aging symbols of a vanquished enemy."
It is stated that, for them, Remembrance Day has never been a moment of pride or public commemoration and that, excluded from the Remembrance Day events - and with few memorials to honour their own wartime experience - they simply put the past behind them. "Let the Canadian veterans do what they want. I can remember my own sacrifices, I don't need anyone to make a big fuss about it."
Those interviewed commented that: "...they've never felt any hostility from Canadians for their role in the German war machine...(and that they) carry no anger or bitterness towards the Allied soldiers who defeated their homeland....(and further that they, when POWs) never considered them...enemies."
Said one: "On the contrary, I have many acquaintances with American and Canadian soldiers who were in the war. We were never political. We always knew they did the same job for their country, as we did for ours."
"Despite these sentiments, Remembrance Day still brings with it an annual dose of mixed emotion..." as Canadians publicly honour wartime sacrifices and remember heroes...while most German veterans keep their memories to themselves."
Said another: "It would be nice if we were invited to these ceremonies, but by no means do I feel left out. I know what I have gone through and what I have done for my country. I have my pride, that's all that matters."
In some areas, small groups of German war veterans do get together in private each year to remember their friends lost in the war. "Kitchener, Ontario, is one of the few places where German veterans publicly commemorate their war....old soldiers from Kitchener's large German-Canadian community gather with members of the Royal Canadian Legion, to lay wreaths on German war graves, many of them PoWs who died while imprisoned at camps in Canada."
The German veterans interviewed felt that they are widely misunderstood and that the general populace does not understand much about the German war experience...."While most were ordinary conscripts, many are wrongly viewed as Nazis"...(whereas)..."Most of us were just like the Canadian soldiers - young kids fighting for our country" and that "...Canadian troops came home from the war to a prosperous country, German soldiers returned to find bombed-out cities, scattered families, and a broken nation....Yes, Germany was the aggressor, but the Canadian wartime experience wasn't the same as Germany's. German soldiers lived through something quite different."
Still he says, "Canada was one of the victors. They should remember their victory."
Are members aware of instances out there where German war veterans are involved in the annual Remembrance or Veterans Day ceremonies?
Do members feel strongly one way or another as to the recognition and involvement of German war veterans in an appropriate way at such annual ceremonies?
Thanks for reading this and for any comments,
John
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