Auch deutschen Opfern eine Stimme geben (To give a Voice the German Victims, too)

Auch deutschen Opfern eine Stimme geben

To give a Voice the German Victims, too

US-Studentin erregt mit Dokumentarfilm über die Vertreibung von Deutschen Aufsehen

US Student Causes Sensation by Creating a Documentary Film About the Expulsion of the Germans

2.02.12

Aus dem allgemeinen Bewusstsein verschwunden: Die Vertreibung von Deutschen 1945 und danach. Bild: Bundesarchiv 146-1985-021-09

Disappeared from the public conscience: The expulsion of the Germans 1945 and there after.

“Der vergessene Genozid“ behandelt die Vertreibung der Donau-schwaben und erinnert an ein Unrecht, das die USA zuließen.

„The Forgotten Genocide“ refers to the expulsion  of the Danube-Swabians and reminds us of an injustice the USA let happen.

Bereits 2010 überschrieb die „Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung“ einen Beitrag über die Arbeit der Stiftung „Flucht, Vertreibung, Versöhnung“, die eine Dauerausstellung über die Vertreibung von 60 bis 80 Millionen Menschen in der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts erarbeiten soll, mit den Worten „Unsichtbares Zeichen“.

As early as 2010, the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung ” reported about the work of the foundation “Flight, Expulsion, Reconciliation” to generate a delineation about the expulsion of 60 to 80 million people in the first half of the 20th century with the words “Invisible Signs”.

Die Zeitung spielte dabei auf den Titel „Sichtbares Zeichen“ an, den sich die Bundesregierung als Arbeitstitel für das Projekt ausgedacht hat. Auch Ende 2011 ist noch nicht viel sichtbar geworden.

The news paper referred to the title  “ Visible Sign” the German Government  intended as a working title for the project. Even by the end of 2011 not much became visible.

Da freut es umso mehr, dass zumindest in den Weiten des Internets eine Dokumentation kursiert, die beweist, dass es auch anders geht.

So much more encouragement exists when at least in the vastness of the internet a documentation is circulating showing it can be done differently.

Die US-Studentin Ann Morrison hat unter www.youtube. com/watch?v= kn0YUsKNv1E&fea-ture=related einen Ausschnitt ihrer Dokumentation der ganzen Welt zugänglich gemacht, in der sie über den „Vergessenen Genozid“ berichtet.

With www.youtube.com watch?v= kn0YUsKNv1E&fea-ture=related, the US student, Ann Morrison, presented a portion of her documentation to the entire world by reporting about the “Forgotten Genocide”.

Eigentlich hatte die an der eher unbedeutenden Universität Merimac in St. Louis (Bundesstaat Missouri) studierende Morrison für ihre Bachelor-Arbeit sich der Frage annehmen sollen, wie man durch eine Dienstleistung die Welt verbessern könne.

Actually, the student Ann Morrison, studying for her bachelors degree in the somewhat insignificant University Meramec in St. Louis (Missouri), was to take up the subject how to service the world in order to improve it.

Ganz gegen den allgemeinen Trend empfahl sie nicht, Müll zu trennen, CO2 einzusparen oder Brot für die Welt zu sammeln, sondern begann stattdessen Erinnerungen von Zeitzeugen filmisch festzuhalten, um in den USA etwas ins Bewusstsein zu rufen, das dort kaum einer weiß: die Vertreibung der Deutschen nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg.

Totally against the general  trend, she did not propose to sort out garbage, to reduce CO2 or to collect bread for the world, she instead started to record on film memories of eye witnesses to call into the conscience of the USA something which hardly any one knows: the expulsion of the Germans after the second world war.

„Millionen schrien, doch keiner hörte hin“, so schreibt sie auf ihrer Internetseite www.annsfilms.com. „Der Zweite Weltkrieg endete im Mai 1945 für Deutschland, aber nicht für die Millionen Deutschen, die in Ungarn, Rumänien, Jugoslawien, Tschechoslowakei, Ostpreußen und den es umgebenden Regionen lebten“, informiert Morrison.

„Millions Cried-No One Listened“, she wrote in her internet side www.annsfilms.com. “The Second World War ended May 1945 for Germany but not for the million German who lived in Hungary, Rumania, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, East-Prussia and the surrounding regions”, Morrison is informing.

Am Beispiel der Donauschwaben entschied sich die Studentin 2009, das Elend von Flucht und Vertreibung deutlich zu machen.

Using the Danube Swabians as an example, the student of 2009 decided to distinctly show the misery of flight and expulsion.

Die polnisch-stämmige US-Bürgerin hatte den Eindruck, dass die meisten Amerikaner, wenn sie von „Deutschen“ hören, diese immer noch mit „Nazis“ assoziieren.

The US citizen of Polish decent had the impression that most Americans when hearing “Germans” associate them with the “Nazis”.

Dieses Vorurteil wollte sie relativieren und über jene berichten, die ihre Heimat verloren.

She wanted to relativize  this prejudice  and report  about those who lost their homeland.

Für ihre Arbeit reiste sie durch die USA, Kanada und Europa und befragte Zeitzeugen. 180 Zeitzeugenberichte soll sie inzwischen gesammelt haben.

To do this work she traveled in the USA, Canada and Europe and interviewed witnesses.  By now she probably has about 180 witnesses from that time period.

Und auch wenn man ihrer Dokumentation ansieht, dass sie nicht von einem Profi gemacht wurde, so erstaunt doch das Engagement, das Morrison, die sich vor allem über Spenden Heimatvertriebener finanzierte, aufbrachte.

In addition, if you see her documentation not done by a professional, one has to be amazed that the engagement by Ann Morrison financed it with donations from the expellees.

„Ich muss dieses Projekt machen, die Gerechtigkeit verlangt es“, wird die Filmproduzentin zitiert, die brisanterweise in eine jüdische Familie eingeheiratet hat.

„I have to do this project, justice demands it”, expressed the film producer who astonishingly married into a Jewish family.

„Der vergessene Genozid“ dürfte Morrison in den USA nicht nur Freunde gemacht haben. Nur ungern wird man daran erinnert, dass man Europa von Hitler befreite, die Deutschen dann aber ähnlich behandelte, wie der als Unmensch und Massenmörder bekämpfte Hitler.

„The Forgotten Genocide“ probably did not only make friends in the USA. Grudgingly is one reminded that Europe was freed from Hitler but then the Germans treated similarly as the monster and mass murderer Hitler they fought against.

Für ihre Arbeit befragte die Studentin auch den in Genf lebenden Völkerrechtler Alfred M. de Zayas.

For her work the student consulted the human rights advocate Alfred M. de Zayas, living in Geniva.

De Zayas, der in Harvard studierte, hat bereits mehrere Bücher über die Vertreibung der Deutschen veröffentlicht. Manchen dokumentiert er ihr Leid allerdings zu detailliert. Der Petitionsausschuss des Bundestages will de Zayas nicht als wissenschaftliche Quelle gelten lassen, da er angeblich durch eine „einseitige Opferperspektive wissenschaftlichen Standards der Geschichtswissenschaft nicht gerecht“ werde.

De Zayas, who studded atHarvard, had already published several books about the expulsion of the Germans. In some of them he documents their suffering too much in detail. The board of petition in the Bundestag does not want to recognize de Zayas as a scientific source because  “a one-sided suffering  perspective  does not satisfy the scientific standards of historical science”.

Mancher hört eben nicht gern, dass es auch deutsche Opfer des Zweiten Weltkrieges gegeben hat: „Die Absicht, deutsche Volksgruppen zu vernichten, ist nachweisbar für den Fall sowohl des Tschechoslowaken Edvard Benesch als auch des Jugoslawen Josip Broz Tito“, so de Zayas anlässlich Morrisons Dokumentation.

Some just don’t like to hear that there were also German victims in World War Two: “The intention to destroy German ethnic groups is provable in the case of the Czech Edvard Benesch as well as Yugoslav Josip Tito”,  says de Zayas regards to Morrison’s documentation.

„Ausreichende Beweise dafür sind ihre eigenen Reden und Dekrete“, fährt er fort. Das seien Taten gewesen, die die Vertreibung der Deutschen aus jenen Ländern zum Völkermord stempeln würden.

“Sufficient evidence are through their speeches and decrees’, he continues. These were actions, marking the expulsion of he Germans from those countries a genocide.

Von besonderer Bedeutung sei in diesen Fällen die Tatsache, dass die Vertreibungen nicht auf individuellen Vergehen der Opfer, sondern ausschließlich aufgrund ihrer Zugehörigkeit zu einer bestimmten Rasse basierten. Auch habe es keine Gerichtsverfahren gegeben, die bewiesen hätten, dass die Vertriebenen irgendwelche Handlungen begingen, die ihre Vertreibung gerechtfertigt hätten.

The significance in this case are the facts that the expulsions were not based on crimes by individual victims but exclusively on their affiliation to a certain race. In addition, no court cases existed to proof the expellees committed any action justifying the expulsion.

Ihre Vertreibung war die Folge absichtlicher rassischer Diskriminierung und stellte eine Art Staatster- ror dar“, ist der Völkerrechtler überzeugt. Für ihn sind die deutschen Vertriebenen nicht nur Opfer  Sie sind Opfer von Gleichgültigkeit, Ablehnung, Verleumdung und fortgesetzter Diskriminierung.“ Rebecca Bellano eines Unrechts, sondern auch Opfer des Schweigens: „Ihr Leid wurde viel zu lange ignoriert.

The Human Rights Advocate is convinced, their expulsion was the consequence of intended racial discrimination and reflects a form of “State Terror”. For him, the German Expellees are not only victims of injustice but also victims of indifference, rejection, slander and continued discrimination”.              silence: ” Rebecca Belano of injustice, but also victims of silence: “Their suffering had been ignored for too long.


Kommentare

Comments

Jürgen Kunz:

3.01.2012, 11:50 Uhr

Ich finde es anerkennenswert, dass sich eine US- Bürgerin für die Vorgänge in Deutschland zu Lasten der deutschen Bevölkerung interessiert. Aber ich sage jetzt schon voraus, dass diese Arbeiten von 90% aller gedruckten Medien und 100% vom Fernsehen unterdrückt, d.h. nicht der Bevölkerung zur Kenntnis gebracht wird. Weil es nicht ins Konzept passt. Diese Leute passen nach Möglichkeit die realen Dinge den eigenen Vorgaben an.
Dauerhaft jedoch kann man die Wahrheit nie unterdrücken.

It is laudable for a US-citizen to have an interest in the events which burden the German population. But I predict now that these activities will be suppressed by 90% of all printed media,100% by television, i.e. the public will not be informed. Because it does not fit the conception. These people shape as much as possible reality along their own views. However, truth cannot be suppressed forever.


Heinz Majaura:

6.01.2012, 18:47 Uhr

heiaura
Es ist schon bemerkenswert, dass eine Studentin aus Amerika sich der Vertreibungsverbrechen widmet. Es ist aber auch fraglich ob sie mehr erreicht, als all die vielen Bücherschreiber die sich hierüber geäußert haben. In der Weimarer Republik standen die Regierungen gleichermaßen zu der Rückgabe der vom Ausland geraubten deutschen Gebiete. Heute aber haben diese bei den Vertriebenen fast die natürliche Auslese erreicht. Aber auch danach ist niemand der das Land nicht besessen hat berechtigt dieses Land zu verschenken, zu verkaufen oder zu veräußern auch wenn er aus Bonn kommt.

It is significant that a student in America dedicates herself to the crime of expulsion. It is also questionable if she would achieve more than all the writers of books concerning this subject. The Government of the Weimar Republic was equally confronted with the return of stolen German territories by foreign countries. Today they nearly achieved the natural selection with the expellees. Even at that no one has the right to donate, sell or give away this land, even if he comes from Bonn.

Peter Ploner:

26.01.2012, 17:47 Uhr

Wie uns die Geschichtsbücher lehren, zieht sich durch die gesamte Menschheitsgeschichte eine breite Blutspur; alle Rassen und Klassen, Völker und Nationen haben Blut an ihren Händen; die einen mehr, die anderen weniger.
Geschichte sollte deshalb stets in ihrer Gesamtheit dargestellt werden; aber leider ist das, nach wie vor kaum möglich, und das dient weder der Grechtigkiet, noch dem Frieden. Daß sich gerade eine Studentin aus den USA der Vertreibung von Millionen Deutschen wöhrend und nach dem 2. Weltkrieg annimmt, ist bemerkenswert. Wir sehen also, daß in den USA die Freiheit des Wort weit mehr ausgereift ist als im sogenannten freien Europa.

History books are teaching of a wide band of blood through the time of existence of the human race; all races, classes, people and nations have blood on their hands; some more, others less. History, therefore, should be presented in its entirety; unfortunately, it is nearly impossible, because it does not serve justice  nor peace. It is notable that especially a student from America cares about the millions of expelled Germans during and after World War Two. We can see that in the USA freedom of the spoken word is more prevailing than in the so-called Free Europe.


Helmut Wild:

28.01.2012, 23:49 Uhr


2012 Conference

Third Annual Genocide Conference

ON

Friday, April 20th & Saturday, April 21st, 2012

AT

The German-Hungarian Club

4666 Bristol Road

Oak Ford, Philadelphia

215-357-9851

www.ughclub.us

Promoted by:

William Galgon and Marlene Fricker

215-275-4991

The conference will include

Millions Cried…No One Listened Film Series

A lecture Series

A Performance by Homegrown Harmony

A dinner Dance

Updates will be posted on www.annsfilms.com


Some questions answered

We all know there have been many parts of the expulsion hidden for a long time. We also know the government at the time was far from honest. There were many who suffered greatly because of the government of the time. There are many years of loss and pain being carried throughout the survivors lives because of what happened during the expulsion. We know these facts are hard to argue.

What I’ve already completed and what I’m working on now is not about listing the facts, it’s about letting the survivors release these memories and find a way to heal a little. I did not go into this to change the way people think about what happened. I did want the people who never heard about it to learn about it so they know it happened.

I wanted to meet the people who survived it and let them tell their stories. There are so many among us who lived through the expulsion and for many it has been an unbearable pain that we, who didn’t live through it will never understand.  I asked the survivors to speak about their homes they had to leave behind, the years of uncertainty and fear they lived through, and even the funny situations that kept them going.

While the audience watches these films I hope they learn a little more about our history. I say our history because it has had an effect on all of us. I’m not trying to prove anything did or did not happen, I think the audience can decide for themselves.

There have been many questions regarding my education. I’ve been asked where I went to college, where I teach, and many requests for my Cv. I would like everyone to understand that I do not have a college degree.  I have completed two years of college and was heading into my third when The Forgotten Genocide documentary was released. I had to make a choice between continuing my education and putting all my time and effort into creating a film series.  If I had to make that choice again it would be the same.


People want to know!

Happy New Year to all,

Here is the schedule for The Forgotten Genocide to be shown in Washington D.C.

The episode of WORLDDOCS featuring “The Forgotten Genocide” will air on Fairfax Public Access (cable channel 10) in Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William, Stafford, and Spotsylvania counties in Virginia on Monday, Jan. 2nd, at 10:00 AM, Thursday, Jan. 5th, at 1:00 AM, and Sunday, Jan. 8th, at 8:30 PM. Thanks for directing people to my show.

I apologize for not getting this update out before the first date it was shown, but as you can see the rest of the dates are coming up this week.

This is interesting and a positive reason for me to keep going.
The manger of the gym I belong to had asked me how things were going.
Through a short conversation I realized he was receiving the updates I send out.
I apologized and said I would take him off the list, not knowing he was on it.
He said “No” I like getting the updates, in fact “I have done some research on my own because of them. I never new this happened, it’s interesting.”
I told him I will gladly keep him on the list and if he gets a little free time he can do some research on the Equalization Degree of 1867 : ).
It was a good laugh, but here’s the point…..
So far in my gym alone I’ve met the manager who wants to know about it, three descendants and one survivor.
Not because I walk up to everyone and tell them what I’m working on, but because I wear a certain t-shirt or someone asks me what I do for a living or someone stumbles upon what I do through an email and they all want to know more.
This is a good thing.

Please pass on the information I send out to everyone you know.
You’ll be surprised who listens.

Until next time,

Ann


A Serbian filam about the Danube Swabians

> Thanks to Gary Banzhaf for pointing this out
> Belgrade  12/09/2011
> Last night in the great crowded hall of “Belgrade Youth” the  premiere of

> Marko Cvejic’s documentary Podunavske Svabe / “Danube Swabians” was held..
>
> After the screening there was a panel discussion at which the director of
> Belgrade Youth participated in addition to Mr. Werner Harasym, president of
> the Cultural Foundation of the Danube Swabians from Munich, Dr Zoran

> Žiletić, Honorary President of the Society for Serbian-German cooperation,

> Marko Cvejic, director and screenwriter of the film and Marijana Toma,
> historian.
> Participants in the discussion focused on the truth about the fate of the
> Danube Swabians as primarily a human rights issue.
> Director Cvejic emphasized the necessity of removing the stigma of guilt
> from the entire population, and to individualize guilt and criminality.

> After the movie premiere it will  tour the Vojvodina, and the plan is to

> record the tour in another documentary record.
>
> The hours before the premiere in Belgrade are hectic for Marko Cvejic. An
> appointment at the local TV station, a last technical check and shortly

> before the start of the performance of  the film in the centrally located

> youth centre a further TV interview. The number of visitors exceeds all
> expectations by the Director. Hundreds of people, including many young
> people slide into the cinema to see his second film, which deals with a
> decades long taboo in Serbia : the Danube Swabians/ Shwoveh.
>
> Cvejic’s docu-drama “Podunavske Svabe” (Danube Swabians/Shwoveh) is about
> those Germans who followed the call of the Habsburg Emperor in the 18th
> century and in three large treks of Shwoveh from all parts of the Empire
> descended the Danube to occupy the many empty towns in the desolated
> Kingdom of Hungary, depopulated after the Turkish wars.
>
> A main area of settlement was the Vojvodina, which today is located in the

> North of Serbia and is split by the districts of Banat, Bačka and Syrmia.

> The Danube Swabians, during World War II in the years 1941 to 1944, were
> caught in the crossfire of occupiers of Hitler and of the Communist
> Partisan leader Tito. After that they paid a high toll with internment in
> Communist camps until 1948: From the 170,000 prisoners who stayed and did
> not escape in the treks of more than 200,000 who left for Hungary, Austria,
> and Germany right at the end of the war – primarily old men, women and
> children since the men of able-bodied age were in the military – about
> 51,000 died, including more than 6,000 children.
>
> However this dark chapter of Serb history has been largely hushed so far in
> the Balkan State – until now brought to light by Marko Cevjic in his film.

> And he also came to the subject  indirectly: “It started with personal

> conflicts over the collective guilt”, said the native Vojvodiner. “With
> questions like: ‘ Do I feel guilty for the Serbian crimes in the 1990s?”
> “What should I do?’”
>
> He finally denied his own guilt, feeling that responsibility had to be an
> individual thing. But this realization brought no relief, because he had to
> consider some of his fellow citizens – the Danube Swabians – from a
> different perspective. Cevjic concluded: all civil rights had to be
> recognized as unassailably yours, even under accusations of collective
> guilt.
>
> Decades taboo
> The crimes against the innocent German civilians from 1944 to 1948 will be
> addressed in his film for the first time in a larger frame. Interviews with
> contemporary witnesses are embedded in a fictional story that plays out in
> the present: a young German, Maria Schneider (Zala Vidali), is searching

> for her grandfather’s house in Vojvodina.  In her search she comes to know

> Miso (Milivoje Obradovic), a young man, whose ancestors emigrated after the

> war from Montenegro to the Bačka. They fall in love. Maria Schneider finds

> her grandfather’s House, which has been abandoned for 50 years. The Mayor
> gives her permission to set up a photography studio in this house. But
> there is no happy ending. Nationalists burn down the house and expel the
> young couple – Maria suffers the same fate as her grandfather. At the end
> Miso asks his lover while they flee: “Where are you going?” Maria responds:
> “To Europe.”
>
> The film clearly upsets many viewers. Why were the crimes against the
> Svabos taboo for decades, they wonder, and they criticise the fact that
> they have never learned anything about this at school. A bystander even
> wonders why German policy has so far put no pressure on Serbia about this

> matter.  Also Serbian Danube Swabians are in the audience – they are

> particularly touched by the movie and grateful that Cvejic has broken the
> taboo, because finally they can discuss publicly the sufferings of members
> of their own families without fear – in Belgrade, Tito’s former power
> centre.
>
> “Podunavske Svabe” will be shown now nationwide, beginnning with a tour of
> the Vojvodina in March. By then, the European Union (EU) may also be
> decided whether she will grant Serbia the status of a candidate for
> inclusion in the Union. Last Friday, the EU postponed the decision.


The Apology

Merrit P. Drucker

7507 12th Street NW

Washington DC, 20012

Druckersloss@aol.com

202 722 6716

October 31, 2011

Letter of Recognition and Apology

Max Klaar,

LTC, Retired

Federal Chairman of the German Soldiers Association

I would like to recognize and apologize for the mistreatment of German Prisoners of War held by the United States, in Germany and France, from 1945 to 1946.

The conditions under which they were held were a violation of the Geneva Convention, an international treaty both our Nations had signed.  Their captivity was characterized by callous brutality and extreme, often lethal, privation at a time when we had both the moral obligation and the material means to properly care for former enemies in our hands.

I ask that you communicate this message to the former POWs and to their families.  The suffering and loss of life was unjustified by any concept of military or political necessity, delayed the economic and political recovery of Western Europe, and added to the enormous human misery caused by the war.

Although I am not French, I would like to extend this message to you on behalf of the French people, some of whom acted with compassion and decency in contravention of their government’s policies.

My hope is that this small initial step by a private American citizen will encourage my government to make an official apology.  I have asked my government to do. Ultimately, I would like to see our mutual efforts result in a more just and humane international order, characterized by respect for human rights and the rule of law.

Respectfully,

Merrit P. Drucker

Major, US Army

(Retired)

7507 12th Street, NW

Washington, DC 20012

202 722 6176

druckersloss@aol.com

October 31, 2011

Max Klaar

Bundesvorsitzender des Vebandes deutscher Soldaten (Vds) e.V.

Obertsleutnant der Bundeswehr (a.D.)

Ich moechte die Misshandlung deutscher Kriegsgefangener im Gewarsam der Vereinigten Staaten in Deutschland und Frankreich von 1945 bis 1946 eingestehen und mich dafuer entschuldigen.

Die Bedingungen, unter denen sie gefangen gehalten wurden, waren eine Verletzung der Genfer Konvention, eines internationalen Abkommens, das unsere beiden Staaten unterzeichnet hatten. Ihre Gefangenschaft war gekennzeichnet durch hartherzige Brutalitaet und äußersten, oft tödlichen, Mangel zu einer Zeit als wir, die USA, die moralische Verpflichtung und die materiellen Mittel hatten, um die früheren Feinde, die sich in unserer Hand befanden, zu versorgen.

Ich bitte Sie, diese Botschaft den früheren Kriegsgefangenen und ihren Familien zu ueberbringen. Das Leiden und der Tod waren ungerechtfertigt, gemessen an jeglicher Vorstellung von militärischer oder politischer Notwendigkeit; sie verzoegerten die wirtschaftliche und politische Erholung Europas und traten hinzu zu dem unendlichen menschlichen Elend, das der Krieg verursacht hatte.

Obwohl ich kein Franzose bin, moechte ich diese Botschaft an Sie auch auf das franzoesische Volk erstrecken, wobei einige Franzosen mit Mitleid und Anstand gehandelt haben entgegen der Politik ihrer Regierung.

Meine Hoffnung ist, dass dieser kleine Anfangsschritt eines privaten amerikanischen Buergers meine Regierung zu einer offiziellen Entschuldigung ermutigen wird. Ich habe darum gebeten. Am Ende moechte ich erleben, dass unsere beiderseitigen Anstrengungen eine gerechtere und humanere internationale Ordnung zum Ergebnis haben, gekennzeichnet durch den Respekt fuer die Menschenrechte und die Herrschaft des Rechts.

Mit Respekt und Hochachtung

Merrit P. Drucker

Major, US Army

(Retired)

Left to Right – Elizabeth Bacque, Merrit Drucker, James Bacque, Ann Morrison, Max Klaar and Ed Grunwald


An apology is made

Good Morning,

I hope you are well,
I returned Tuesday evening from Washington D.C. where the German/US/Canada Reconciliation Conference was held.
It went very well and I felt privileged to have been invited.
Merrit Drucker, James Bacque and Max Klaar spoke with much emotion about the loses after the Second World War.
I watched in amazement at how it’s never too late to tell the story and it’s never too late to say you’re sorry.
There were a few laughs and many tears as the apology was given and excepted.
The fourteen points have been copied below so you may become more familiar with what came from this apology.
The apology was given from the United States to Germany and will be used as a tool to create a calming peace that’s been missing for far too many years.


Proposal of The German Veterans’ Association

„Verband deutscher Soldaten”e.V., Bonn

 

Proposal for peace 66 years after the end of hostilities of World War II.

 

The armistice of 1945, still in effect and the existing UN clauses defining Germany as a hostile state are to be repealed. To the benefit of their several peoples, the former enemies shall work together as sovereign partners with equal rights under a peace treaty to be mutually agreed and shall settle all their differences in future by negotiation and discussion, never again by violence.

To those ends, Germany suggests:

  1. The parties shall pardon all war crimes and violations of international law committed against each other during and after the wars of 1914-1918 and 1939-1945.
  2. The parties shall cease accusing each other of war crimes and cease seeking reparations and compensation for actions taken against each other during world war two.

Accusations of war guilt are to end. To assure this, we suggest the following:

  1. Opening of all archives of the former enemies for research to find out the actual events in the developments between 1900 and 1950. This is to include the reciprocal return of all confiscated original archival documents, provided that the state returning such confiscated documents may make and retain copies of such documents.
  2. A truth finding commission of independent historians of neutral states shall assess all original documents still kept secret in archives and shall adopt the results as the foundation for educational work of schools and universities in the contracting states. 

Peace is to be made irreversible by the contracting partners. This is to be achieved through:

5.   Retirement of all occupying forces and return of bases to the host country.

6.   The preservation of the contracting partner’s borders.

7.   Return of all confiscated property; where this is impossible, a balancing solution has to lead to an agreement as part of the negotiating process undertaken by the parties to this agreement.

8.   All negotiations shall be open to the public, both while they occur and as they are recorded for posterity.

9.   NATO shall be transformed into NESO (Northern Earth Security Organisation) to serve both as a political organisation and a defence organisation which ensures that no member can form a coalition against another member state of NESO.

10.     Simultaneously NESO will ensure free world trade and secure open trade routes on land, sea and in 

        the air.

   11.    NESO will ban piracy.

12.    NESO states declare to the world public their renunciation of violence to settle dispute. They will re-

            spect all nations’ right of self-determination and never again raise weapons first. The right to sanction

            the use of arms against violators of international law, is reserved to the United Nations only. 

13.    NESO states will not admit to its membership or continue in membership any state that breaks inter-

        national law, commits genocide or expels ethnic minorities.  

14.   NESO states guarantee religious tolerance and will not allow any religion to dominate another one.

 

On the basis of these 14 points the governments concerned could be invited to a peace conference in Münster and Osnabrück (Germany) to end World War II finally and by this give future generations an open way into a peaceful ordering of the world’s affairs based on reciprocal respect and group responsibility.

Initiative des Verbandes deutscher Soldaten e.V.

Bonn

 

Vorschlag Deutschlands zum Friedensschluss

 

Der immer noch geltende Waffenstillstand von 1945 und die ebenso immer noch aufrechterhaltene Feindstaatenklausel der Vereinten Nationen gegen das Deutsche Reich sind 65 Jahre nach Beginn der Waffenruhe abzulösen. Die ehemaligen Kriegsgegner sollen zum Wohle ihrer Völker auf der Grundlage eines Friedensvertrages als souveräne, gleichberechtigte Partner den Weg der Sicherheit und Zusammenarbeit durch friedlichen Interessenausgleich beschreiten und den Frieden wahren.

Dazu schlägt Deutschland vor:

  1. Gegenseitiges auf ewig gültiges Verzeihen aller aneinander begangener Völkerrechtsverbrechen im Zuge der Kriegshandlungen 1914-1918 und 1939-1945 und der jeweiligen Nachkriegszeit.
  2. Gegenseitiger und endgültiger Verzicht darauf, sich diese Verbrechen wechselseitig vorzuwerfen und Ansprüche daraus geltend zu machen.

Die unselige und rückwärtsgewandte Kriegsschulddebatte ist 90 bzw. 65 Jahre nach den beiden Weltkriegen zu beenden. Dazu halten wir für erforderlich:

  1. Öffnung aller Archive der ehemaligen Kriegsgegner zur Erforschung der wahren Gegebenheiten in den Abläufen 1910 bis 1950 und Rückgabe der beschlagnahmten, unverfälschten Archivstücke auf Gegenseitigkeit.
  2. Berufung einer Wahrheitsfindungs-Kommission von unabhängigen Historikern aus neutralen Ländern zur Auswertung der bisher geheim gehaltenen Primärdokumente aus verschlossenen Archiven und Übernahme ihrer Ergebnisse in die Bildungsarbeit der Vertragsstaaten.

Der Frieden soll zwischen den Vertragspartnern unumkehrbar gemacht werden. Das ist zu erreichen durch:

  1. Beendigung aller Besatzungen und Auflösung militärischer Fremd-Stationierungsstützpunkte im Vertragsgebiet.
  2. Unverletzlichkeit aller Staatsgrenzen der Vertragspartner.
  3. Rückgabe beschlagnahmten Eigentums; wo das nicht möglich ist, wird über eine Regelung Einigkeit hergestellt.
  4. Verpflichtung zur Öffentlichkeit der Diplomatie.
  5. Umwandlung der NATO zur NESO (Northern Earth Security Organisation). Diese soll als politische Organisation und zugleich reine Verteidigungsgemeinschaft gewährleisten, dass kein Mitglied im Bunde mit anderen Mitgliedern dieser Organisation gegen einen dritten Staat der Gemeinschaft aus Eurasien und Nordamerika koalieren kann.
  6. Die NESO soll gleichzeitig den freien Welthandel sichern. Sie erklärt dazu die Offenheit der Handelswege zu Land, Luft und See.
  7. Piraterie wird geächtet. Alle Nationen haben zur Abwehr der Piraterie das Notwehrrecht.
  8. Die NESO-Staaten erklären vor der Weltöffentlichkeit den Verzicht auf Gewalt als Mittel ihrer Politik. Sie werden das Selbstbestimmungsrecht der Völker respektieren und nie wieder als erste Waffen einsetzen. Nur die Vereinten Nationen haben das Gewaltmonopol, gegen Staaten vorzugehen, die Völkerrechtsverbrechen wie Völkermord und/oder Vertreibung begehen.
  9. Die NESO-Staaten werden keinen anderen Staat in irgendeiner Weise unterstützen, der sich künftig des Völkerrechtsverbrechens der Vertreibung und/oder des Völkermordes schuldig macht.
  10. Die NESO-Staaten garantieren religiöse Toleranz und werden keine religiösen Dominanzbestrebungen zulassen.

Auf der Grundlage dieser 14 Punkte sind die Regierungen aller betroffenen Staaten zu einer Friedenskonferenz nach Münster und Osnabrück einzuladen, um den Zweiten Weltkrieg endgültig abzuschließen und dadurch künftigen Generationen die Perspektive eines unbefangenen Weges in eine friedliche Zukunftsordnung in gegenseitiger Achtung und Verantwortung zu ermöglichen.

 

 

Verantwortlich für vorliegenden Text: Verband deutscher Soldaten e.V., 53173 Bonn, Rheinallee 55

Bonn, im Oktober 2011

Max  Klaar, Oberstleutnant a.D. und Bundesvorsitzender

****

 

Legally binding is the German version. Responsible for both texts: Verband deutscher Soldaten e.V., 53173 Bonn, Rheinallee 55

Max  Klaar, LTC GA ret. and Federal Chairman

 

 

Bonn, October 31st, 2011



At the conference I was approached by Mr. Ken Meyercord who produces for three local TV stations In Washington D.C.
He asked permission to show The Forgotten Genocide Documentary on his station in the next two months.
I was very excited to except and will be working with Mr. Meyercord to get the documentary ready for broadcasting.
I have copied the information below about the stations who will be broadcasting the film.
I will give you the exact dates when the schedule has been set.

WORLDDOCS airs on Fairfax Public Access (cable channel 10) in Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William, Stafford, and Spotsylvania counties in Virginia on Mondays at 10:00 AM, Thursdays at 1:00 AM, and Sundays at 8:30 PM; on Montgomery Community Television (cable channel 19) in Montgomery County, Maryland on Tuesdays at 9:00 PM and Thursdays at 11:00 PM; and on DCTV (Comcast channel 95/RCN & Verizon channel 10) in Washington, DC at various times. (Past episodes can be viewed in the archives of Montgomery Community Television, www.accessmontgomery.tv).

Until next time,

Ann


It’s never too late to learn about this part of history

I did not hear anyting about these horrible events either in my school or elsewhere growing up in Vienna, Austria.  Nor did my grandparents, mother or uncle tell me anything about their life in and eviction / flight from the Sudetenland, near Krummau (where my mother was born and went to the Gymnasium) after WWII — I guess it was too painful and not welcome “news” in post WWII Austria.

Best,  Herbert


A quote to remember

Henry Fischer

It is a privilege for us to support this effort because our own lives have been touched by it and our families. It is a cry for justice for millions not only suffered and died but lived a meaningless life which is something we will never accept. If we do we have lost the last remnant of our humanity.


Kickstarter opportunity

I’ve just been given an opportunity to gather backers for the production of Millions Cried…No One Listened.

Please click on the link below to learn about taking part in telling the story of a lost piece of history.

http://www.kickstarter.com/ projects/annsfilms/millions- criedno-one-listened-a-hidden- truth?ref=email

Sending this link to friends and family will also get the word out and help make this series a reality.

Thank your for your time and support,

Ann Morrison,
Producer/Director


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