Tag: Dr. Josef Mengele

Posted on

Camp King

Just to the north-west of Frankfurt, Germany is an area known as Oberursel, Taunus. (It is located in the Taunus Mountains and a short distance to the east is the small town of Falkenstein, Königstein im Taunus where I lived in the 1960s⏤just thought you’d like to know.) During World War II, this was the site of a transit camp for downed Allied airmen where they were interrogated before being sent to a permanent POW camp. Twenty-years before my family moved to the area, the Oberursel camp had become an American army interrogation center and intelligence post. Between 1945 and 1953, Camp King (named after Col. Charles B. King) served primarily as a location for interrogations of captured war belligerents and the post-war process known as “denazification.” Some of the camp’s “guests” were Karl Brandt (the physician responsible for Aktion T4, Hitler’s euthanasia program), Reich Marshal Hermann Göring, Gen. Alfred Jodl, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, and Mildred Sisk Gillars (a.k.a. “Axis Sally”)⏤click here to read Hitler’s Directives, here for Extermination Camp Doctors, and here for Hitler’s Enablers.

Downed Allied airmen at Dulag Luft in Oberursel (later, Camp King). Photo by anonymous (c. pre-1944).
Downed Allied airmen at Dulag Luft in Oberursel (later, Camp King). Photo by anonymous (c. pre-1944).
Downed Allied airmen leaving Dulag Luft (later, Camp King) for their permanent POW camp, Stalag Luft III. Photo by anonymous (date unknown).
Downed Allied airmen leaving Dulag Luft (later, Camp King) for their permanent POW camp, Stalag Luft III. Photo by anonymous (date unknown).

However, today’s discussion will pick up around July 1946 when a former German general, Reinhard Gehlen, arrived at the intelligence post. It is a story of how the United States spared certain war criminals because of their expertise in areas perceived to be a threat from the Soviet Union. These men (whom the Soviets and the Allies were competing to obtain their services) included scientists, engineers, doctors, and within the context of our story, the intelligence and counter-intelligence world (i.e., spies). Read More Camp King

Posted on

“Children of the Damned”

We all have our personal demons. It’s the magnitude of the demons which ultimately determine the hold they have on someone. Most of us can adequately deal with them but for others, some demons are just too great, and their lives are affected each and every day.

Today’s blog introduces you to some of the children of high-ranking Nazis including Hermann Göring, Martin Bormann, Heinrich Himmler, Hans Frank, and Rudolf Hess. Each child or relative dealt with or continues to deal with the infamous legacy of their father in different ways. The spectrum ranges from those who continued to embrace Nazi philosophy, ignore Nazi crimes and the complicity of their father in those crimes to those who essentially disowned and distanced themselves from the father and their family. In-between, there are the children who acknowledge the father’s crimes but cannot bring themselves to completely detach themselves from his evil legacy.

Did You Know?

Did you know that Copenhagen’s Tivoli Gardens was not the first Tivoli Gardens? Jardin de Tivoli or, Tivoli Gardens was located in Paris in the late 18th– and mid 19th-centuries and there were actually, three different parks by the same name. Located in what is now the 9th arrondissement and south of Place de Clichy, the first Jardin de Tivoli opened in 1795 and is considered the ancestor of amusement parks. It was a public garden where high-society type folks would gather for entertainment such as panoramas, marionettes, and magic lantern shows. It was closed in 1810 after Napoléon’s troops trashed the place. A second Tivoli was quickly reopened, and it lasted until 1825 when it was destroyed one night by people celebrating the coronation of King Charles X. The third and last Tivoli opened in 1826. This one was a “real” amusement park with roller coasters, labyrinths, and fireworks. One of the most popular “games” was pigeon shooting. Unfortunately, more than 300,000 pigeons were killed during an eleven-year period. This park was closed in 1842 and never reopened. One year later, the iconic entrance gates to Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, Denmark opened, and the park has run continuously since then despite much of it being burned down by the Nazis in 1943.

Main entrance to Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, Denmark. Photo by Dilveen (May 2019). PD-CCA-Share Alike 4.0 International. Wikimedia Commons.
Main entrance to Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, Denmark. Photo by Dilveen (May 2019). PD-CCA-Share Alike 4.0 International. Wikimedia Commons.
Marketing poster for Jardin de Tivoli, Paris. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Bibliothèque nationale de France. PD-70+. Wikimedia Commons.
Marketing poster for Jardin de Tivoli, Paris. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Bibliothèque nationale de France. PD-70+. Wikimedia Commons.

Edda Göring/Hermann Göring

Second in command behind Hitler for most of the war, Hermann Göring (1893-1946) committed suicide only hours before he was scheduled to hang for war crimes. His only daughter, Edda Göring (1938-2018) was eight years old at the time. Hitler was her godfather and like many daughters of high-ranking Nazi officials, she was referred to as Kleine Prinzessin or, “Little Princess.”

Emmy Göring (left) and Edda Göring (center) meet with Adolf Hitler. Photo by anonymous – presumably by Heinrich Hoffman (c. 1940).
Emmy Göring (left) and Edda Göring (center) meet with Adolf Hitler. Photo by anonymous – presumably by Heinrich Hoffman (c. 1940).

Read More “Children of the Damned”