Grave of suspected Nazi victims found at US airfield

[Judi Lynn]

Grave of suspected Nazi victims found at US airfield
21/09/2005 - 13:33:48

Workers at a US Army airfield have uncoverd a Second World War-era grave believed to contain the bodies of Jewish slave labourers used by the Nazis, German authorities said today.

The skeletal remains of an undetermined number of people were found on Monday during work on the airfield, next to Stuttgart’s airport, said Ulrich Heffner, a spokesman for police in the south-western city.

Preliminary examination of the remains indicate that they are of the right age to be the bodies of Jews used as forced labourers in the area, Heffner said in a statement.

Jewish inmates from a subcamp of the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp were used as slave labourers at the air base between November 1944 and February 1945, Heffner said.
(snip/...)

http://www.breakingnews.ie/2005/09/21/story221845.html

[Mizmoon]

1. Very interesting

thanks for posting this. I would have missed it otherwise.

[NorthernSpy]

2. I imagine that there are many such graves underfoot over there...

... and we might never find them all. I suppose lots of people go about their daily lives unaware that they live and work in a graveyard. It's strange to think of ordinary existence carrying on there for six decades now with all this lying just under the skin.

As far as this grave is concerned, the nazis probably just stuffed their victims in a big hole without any identification. I don't suppose we'll ever know their names. So their final resting place might have to be a tomb for unknown slaves.

[peacetalksforall]

3. Just like in New Orleans.

[NorthernSpy]

7. I do worry about what will become of the bodies...

... of the unidentified dead in New Orleans.

:think:

[Karenina]

5. Your suppositions are faulty.

Germany is one of only two nations who have made it a priority to confront the atrocities of its past. There are bronze name plaques in the sidewalks to mark the homes from which people were seized. The children are educated about the horror. They make school trips to the camps. The U.S. has yet to ACKNOWLEDGE its "genocides." That includes the current TWO.

[NorthernSpy]

6. I was not comparing Germany with the United States...

... or saying that Germany had not acknowledged the country's past.

Upon hearing of this mass grave, I've supposed that there are more such graves, and that normal life continues above them. Your remarks don't actually contradict my supposition.


(edit: fixed typo)

[Karenina]

8. Well, actually, now that I think about it again,

you're right! :think: Unexploded ordnance turns up regularly.

[LostinVA]

16. Agreed -- Germany has faced its past, unlike Japan

I agree with the genocide of Native Americans, but I wish Japan would talk about China, instead of becoming more nationalistic and either ignoring or BLAMING its Chinese victims.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

17. Stop throwing that word around like confetti. n/t

[Karenina]

19. Genocide.

the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political or cultural group. -Merriam-Websters

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

21. It is generally accepted...

...that there have been three genocides during the 20th century - the Armenians by the Turks, the Holocaust, and Rwanda. But please, feel free to redefine it to mean nothing at all.

Edit:

And if you want to be picky, some of the things that happened in the Balkans probably amount to "attempted genocide."

Of course there's also Darfur...

None of which are even remotely like what you're talking about, though.

[chalky]

23. Let's start with Smallpox covered blankets & move on from there, shall we?

n/t

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

24. That would be genocide, yes.

But that's not what you were originally talking about either.

[chalky]

25. Pssst....I wasn't talking about anything earlier. Notice that was my

first post on this thread. However, if you think that particular episode is over, well....

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

27. From your first post:

. The U.S. has yet to ACKNOWLEDGE its "genocides." That includes the current TWO.

First of all, the extermination of American Indians most certainly has been acknowledged.

Second, you refer to two "current" US genocides. So the point I was making is that you are diluting the meaning of that word. My point still stands, regardless of what you want to talk about now.

[chalky]

28. Hello, MY name is CHALKY....

Who was the author of the post you're quoting?

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

29. Argh!

I think I should take a break...

Sorry.

[Karenina]

30. Welcome to the 21st century!

1. The *MIC is committing genocide in Iraq. Don't worry, they don't do body counts so we can stick with that 100,000 figure from last fall.

2. PNAC plans to "cull the herd" are well underway in the "land of the free and home of the brave." The tactics are new and improved, the outcome is the same.

[Minstrel Boy]

32. "It is generally accepted"

Well see, that's your problem right there.

It's also generally accepted that Bush defeated Gore and Kerry.

[Solly Mack]

33. Exactly. What's generally accepted is almost always the spin of history

and not the truth of it.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

18. Right. Public acknowledgements make it all better. Sure.

[Karenina]

20. Not "acknowledgements," reeducation...

[Solly Mack]

26. It's far more than that and I guess you'd have to live here

to grasp just how much more. To see it for yourself.

No one is saying Germany is perfect - but as an American I have NEVER witnessed America acknowledge and educate on the genocide of native peoples or slavery as Germany does on the Holocaust. America's genocides are treated like a dirty secret - like the crazy relative hidden away in the attic that no one wants to talk about...oh, every now and then something will "flare up" (Katrina) and bring the issue to the surface but the denial is palpable even then. America's government rushes to deny or minimilize...it's not dealt with that way here.

This new discovery will be talked about - it will be fully investigated and the stories will be told. Germans can't change the past but they are working toward the past not repeating itself...Can we, as Americans, honestly say that about America and our own past?

It's not a contest - though some would try and spin it that way...but it is a different way of doing things - and I think it's a better way of dealing with the truth of history.

[Solly Mack]

22. Very true. The Shoal is not treated like some secret here in Germany

unlike the genocides perpetuated by America.


My other half came home from an errand yesterday (he stopped by his office) and told me about the discovery. He said officials were discussing digging up more of the area to look for more bodies... Why? The German liaison said: "WE can't allow for those people to go undiscovered - their stories can only be told if the bodies are found."

Imagine that? Allowing the victims to speak ...to bear witness to the truth - even in death.

America does it's best to avoid just that

[Chemical Bill]

4. Considering how much help we gave the Nazis...

before, during, and after the war, I wouldn't be suprised if we had put the airbase there knowing we were covering up graves.

Bill

[Brother Buzz]

10. We didn't locate the airbase there...

the Nazi's did, and we simply took over operations when we occupied Germany after the war. I lived in wicked odd barracks at an auxiliary airstrip built by the Nazi's (possibly by slave labor?) when I was stationed in Germany, but I never thought to poke around for mass graves. All I can say is that Nazi airstrip turned US army camp had a lot of bad Juju floating around, enough to disturb ones psyche. I wonder.

[MADem]

9. I've been to that installation

...and I felt uneasy the entire time I was there. Hmmmmmm...

[Behind the Aegis]

11. bump!

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Judi Lynn]

13. The article indicates the German authorities believe they know

where the people came from:

Jewish inmates from a subcamp of the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp were used as slave labourers at the air base between November 1944 and February 1945, Heffner said.
(snip/...)

[aion]

14. Beliefs are tricky things -- Sephardi or Ashkenazi?

I don't buy into the presupposition, as I edited my previous entry to further indicate.

[Judi Lynn]

15. Have no idea .

It's true so many others were just as dead after being murdered in their concentration camps, and they are almost never acknowledged.

[KenCarson]

31. you're not alone...it irks me as well

.