A Strange Photo...

[Rick White]

How about this for a strange photo:





This is a picture taken at an American Afrikacorps POW camp (probably Camp Swift) during a funeral held for a high ranking German officer. The officer's casket has the NAZI flag draped over it with no attempt to hide the Swastika. In the background is an American Color-Guard while in the foreground a German Soldier can be seen giving the Nazi salute. Other photos show high ranking American officers present.

I bet that wouldn't have happened in a Russian (or even British) POW camp!

Rick

[Simon O.]

Rick
An interesting photo for sure but it was quite common in the days of chivalry, which hadn't quite died out by this time, for one side to accord full military honours to a worthy opponent (the burial of Manfred von Richthofen from WWI springs to mind).
Why would they cover up the swastika? if the photo was taken before the end of WWII then it was Germany's national flag.
I'd agree with you about Russia but such funerals were i believe carried out in the UK.

I find the officer giving the raised arm salute interesting though. Would this put the date of the funeral after 20 July '44?



regards

Simon

[Rick White]

Hi Simon,

I am not sure about the date of the photo. Certainly, funerals were given in POW camps. However, I find it interesting that they would have allowed the use of the Swastika, national flag of not. It is my understanding that in British POW camps, the swastika was expressly forbidden. Any thoughts?

Rick

[Bill Gracie]

G'day
About 1000 Germans were imprisoned in Australia. Most of these men were from the DAK. The Murchison Area in Victoria was the site of Camp 13D at was here that a Memorial to Oberst Ponath was erected. This memorial consisted of blocks shaped into a pyrimad topped with the Iron cross complete with swastika.

After the bomb attempt on Hitlers life he ordered the use of the Nazi salute even this was permitted in the Australian POW camps as the Geneva Convention Articles recognised the legitimacy of the Nazi regime. This produced a dilemma for many of the Australian officers as they felt the would be recognising the Nazi ideology.



It was only after the defeat of Germany was the display of anything to do with the Nazi's was forbidden. In the Camps it was ironic that books mentioning anything to do with NSDAP was burnt.

[Ralph A]

In POW camps in the US, the Swastika flag was allowed for use in funerals for "high ranking" Germans. Read this somewhere just recently, and saw some pics of this actually happening, and the Germans were giving the Nazi salute! US guards stand by bemused....

I have a pictorial of a German flyer that got shot down over Scotland early in the war, and the Nazi flag is draped over the casket.