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The Pianist & Wehrmacht Captain

There is a 2002 film that is based on the memoirs of a Polish-Jewish pianist who barely escaped (twice) deportation to KZ Treblinka, survived the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, and the razing of Warsaw in late 1944 by the Germans as they retaliated against an uprising by the Polish home guard.

The film is called The Pianist and stars Adrien Brody as Władysław Szpilman, the Jewish pianist. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won three: Best Director (Roman Polanski), Best Actor (Brody), and Best Adapted Screenplay (Ronald Harwood).

Promotional poster for the movie “The Pianist.” Photo by anonymous (c. 2002). Focus Features. PD-Fair Use. Wikimedia Commons.
Promotional poster for the movie “The Pianist.” Photo by anonymous (c. 2002). Focus Features. PD-Fair Use. Wikimedia Commons.

I’ve never seen the film. I don’t watch movies. I would prefer to see a well-researched documentary that is true to the historical facts. However, it is my understanding from reading various reviews, the movie pretty much sticks to the true story of Władysław Szpilman without the usual Hollywood historical distortions. Perhaps after I have completed and published this blog, I might change my mind about watching The Pianist.

After the war, most of the Holocaust survivors asked the question, “Why me? Why did I survive when millions did not?” I’m certain Mr. Szpilman asked himself that question many times as he was the sole survivor of his family. As his memoirs point out, he experienced many lucky breaks during those five horrible years in Warsaw. But one lucky experience stands out in particular. It was the effort by a German Wehrmacht captain to shelter Mr. Szpilman and protect the pianist from certain death.

I invite you to read several of our previous blogs that focused on the 1943 Warsaw Uprising (Nazi Frankenstein [click here to read] and Ghetto Girls [and here to read]).


Errare humanum est, sed perseverare diabolicum

(“To err is human, but to persist in error is diabolical”)

⏤ Larry Stern’s sixth-grade Latin teacher


Did You Know?

Did you know that France is drowning in ACRONYMS? A recent article calls them “cradle-to-grave acronyms” that are now “an inescapable feature of life in France.”

First through fifth elementary school grades are referred to as CP, CE1, CE2, CM1, and CM2. Earning a minimum wage? If so, it’s called the SMIC. If you start a new small business, then you’ve opened a TPE. Selling your mansion? You will pay the IFI tax. Many French senior citizens live in an EHPAD, or nursing home. Army officers are trained in the CNFCSTAGN. French workers are classified as CDI or CDD (a work contract of unlimited duration or temporary contract, respectively). We all know France has a 35-hour work week. If you go beyond the 35-hours, you are entitled to RTT, or offsetting vacation time. If you are poor and qualify for government subsidiaries, you are known as RSA, APL, and PA. Lastly, France’s consumer protection agency is referred to as DGCCRF.

This is the TGV 4406 “Basel” train waiting to leave the Bahnhof Basel. SBB CFF FFS refers to the Swiss Federal Railways known as “Schweizerische Bundesbahnen” (SBB) in German, “Chemins de fer fédéraux suisses” (CFF) in French, and “Ferrovie federali svizzere” (FFS) in Italian. Photo by Socoa (12 September 2009). PD-CCA-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
This is the TGV 4406 “Basel” train waiting to leave the Bahnhof Basel. SBB CFF FFS refers to the Swiss Federal Railways known as “Schweizerische Bundesbahnen” (SBB) in German, “Chemins de fer fédéraux suisses” (CFF) in French, and “Ferrovie federali svizzere” (FFS) in Italian. Photo by Socoa (12 September 2009). PD-CCA-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Even President Macron bemoans the acronym crisis. He is trying to simplify the acronym bureaucracy. His government is ordering officials to “Speak French to us.” The United States government certainly has its issues with acronyms as military “speak” can attest. But in France, it seems acronyms have permeated every inch of daily life.

It’s hard to understand how this situation could get so out of hand. One French expert blames the “all-encompassing government bureaucracy” and says, “It has a tentacular character.” She thinks it is a paradox due to the country’s fixation on its literary culture and preservation of the French language. In 1635, The Académie français was founded as the official authority on the usages, vocabulary, and grammar. Although this government agency has no official power, its mission is to preserve the French language and prevent the Anglicization of the language. I believe we have highlighted some examples in previous blogs.

ATM I’m working on a new blog and BTW, LMK if you like our blog topics. FWIW, I’m NGL but it’s a chore coming up with TBD stories. My favorite acronym is BOGO. Stella, our beagle, suffers from FOMO. I wrote this on Sandy’s birthday so HBD to her.

TYVM for reading our blogs.

TTYL.

 


Władysław Szpilman 

Władysław Szpilman (1911−2000) was born in Sosnowiec, Poland. (Between 1902 and 1918, the town was considered part of the Russian Empire.) His academic studies in music took place in Warsaw and Berlin where he studied under several pupils of the famous composer, Franz Liszt. After Warsaw, Mr. Szpilman was accepted to the Berlin Academy of Arts. When Hitler came to power in 1933, Mr. Szpilman moved back to Warsaw where he became a celebrated pianist due to his performances on Polish Radio, concerts, and tours.

Władysław Szpilman. Photo by anonymous (c. 1940). PD-Poland Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons.
Władysław Szpilman. Photo by anonymous (c. 1940). PD-Poland Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons.

On 1 September 1939, the Germans invaded Poland and quickly occupied the country. (The Soviets followed with their invasion on 17 September.) The country was divided into two zones: German and Soviet. Hitler considered all Poles (Jewish or not) to be Untermensch and a systematic elimination of the Poles began. Poland’s resistance to German occupation was embodied in three organizations of which the Armia Krajowa, or “Home Army” was the largest and most effective.

Flag of the “Armia Krajowa,” or Polish Home Army. Illustration by Bastianow (10 August 2006). PD-Ineligible for copyright. Wikimedia Commons.
Flag of the “Armia Krajowa,” or Polish Home Army. Illustration by Bastianow (10 August 2006). PD-Ineligible for copyright. Wikimedia Commons.

Hitler appointed Hans Frank (1900−1946) as Governor-General of the occupied Polish territories. Almost immediately, anti-Jewish laws were enacted, and Frank began a reign of terror. By January 1942, the Nazis had finalized their “Final Solution” plans to exterminate the Jews living in Germany and the occupied countries. Along with other concentration camps, three camps were built in Poland for the single purpose of murdering Jews and others. They were KZ Treblinka II, KZ Majdanek, and KZ Auschwitz II-Birkenau. Under Frank’s 4-year jurisdiction, more than four million people were murdered. (During the summer of 1942, 254,000 Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto were deported to KZ Treblinka where they were killed.) Frank was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the Nuremberg Military Tribunal and he was hanged on 16 October 1946.

Hans Frank, Governor-General of Poland during a police parade. Photo by anonymous (c. 1939). Bundesarchiv, Bild 121-0270/CC-BY-SA 3.0. PD-CCA-Share Alike 3.0 Germany License. Wikimedia Commons.
Hans Frank, Governor-General of Poland during a police parade. Photo by anonymous (c. 1939). Bundesarchiv, Bild 121-0270/CC-BY-SA 3.0. PD-CCA-Share Alike 3.0 Germany License. Wikimedia Commons.
Map showing the major concentration and extermination camps located in Poland. Map by Poeticbent (27 June 2013). Copyright holder is Dennis Nilsson. PD-CCA 3.0 Unported License. Wikimedia Commons.
Map showing the major concentration and extermination camps located in Poland. Map by Poeticbent (27 June 2013). Copyright holder is Dennis Nilsson. PD-CCA 3.0 Unported License. Wikimedia Commons.
Hans Frank’s corpse after being hanged. Photo by anonymous (16 October 1946). PD-U.S. Government. Wikimedia Commons.
Hans Frank’s corpse after being hanged. Photo by anonymous (16 October 1946). PD-U.S. Government. Wikimedia Commons.

Mr. Szpilman and his family (mother, father, brother, and two sisters) were forced to move into the Warsaw Ghetto upon its establishment in November 1940. He initially found work playing in various cafes. However, by the summer of 1942, the ghetto’s residents were being rounded up for deportation and ultimately, extermination.

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and the Warsaw Uprising 

There were two distinct uprisings in Warsaw. The first was the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising that occurred between 19 April and 16 May 1943 when Jewish occupants of the ghetto began to resist the deportation efforts of the Germans. The second is known as the Warsaw Uprising and it took place between 1 August and 2 October 1944. The uprising was led by the Polish Home Army and the timing coincided with the German retreat from Poland in advance of the approaching Soviet army from the east. After the 1943 uprising, the ghetto was destroyed by SS-Gruppenführer Jürgen Stroop’s troops and after the 1944 uprising, the city was leveled by the Germans as Soviet troops watched from across the Vistula River.

The Warsaw Uprising: View of the Kierbedź Bridge toward Royal castle and the old town burning. Photo by Götze (c. 1944). Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-695-0412-01/Götze/CC-BY-SA 3.0. PD-CCA-Share Alike 3.0 Germany License. Wikimedia Commons.
The Warsaw Uprising: View of the Kierbedź Bridge toward Royal castle and the old town burning. Photo by Götze (c. 1944). Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-695-0412-01/Götze/CC-BY-SA 3.0. PD-CCA-Share Alike 3.0 Germany License. Wikimedia Commons.
Polish soldiers during the Warsaw Uprising. Photo by Juliusz Bogdan Deckowski (c. August 1944). PD-Poland Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons.
Polish soldiers during the Warsaw Uprising. Photo by Juliusz Bogdan Deckowski (c. August 1944). PD-Poland Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons.

The Warsaw Ghetto  

The establishment of the Warsaw Ghetto was announced by Hans Frank on 16 October 1940 and more than 400,000 Jews were required to live within the 1.3 square mile area surrounded by a ten-foot-high wall topped with barbed wire. It became the largest ghetto in any of the Nazi-occupied countries. The actual size of the ghetto decreased over time as the population declined due to deportations, executions, and death through disease or starvation along with the eventual destruction of the ghetto by the SS troops.

By October 1942, Mordechai Anielewicz (1919-1943) had organized the underground Jewish Combat Organization to fight the Nazis against any further deportations. By then it was clear to the residents of the ghetto that Jews were being sent to their immediate deaths rather than “relocation” as the Nazis told them. The resistance began to collect weapons, ammunition, and supplies. On 18 January 1943, the Germans began the next wave of roundups in the ghetto. This time when the SS marched into the ghetto, they were met with bullets and Molotov cocktails. Three months later, all-out war broke out between the ghetto occupants and the Nazis.

 The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

Jewish resistance fighters entered bunkers, built command/fighting posts, and began executing Jewish collaborators. Attempts by the Nazi commander, SS-Brigadefúhrer Ferdinand von Sammern-Frankenegg (1897-1944), to control the situation failed. He was considered unfit to liquidate the Jewish ghetto and the head of the SS, Heinrich Himmler (1900−1945), removed von Sammern-Frankenegg and reassigned him to Croatia where he died in combat.

On 17 April 1943, SS-Gruppenführer Jürgen Stroop (1895−1952) replaced von Sammern-Frankenegg and two days later, ordered two thousand SS men to enter the ghetto for the purpose of rounding up the Jews for deportation to the extermination camps. It was called the Grossaktion or, “Great Operation” and it represented the final major battle of the uprising. The Nazis were attacked by 750 resistance fighters and the SS suffered many casualties which resulted in Stroop ordering a retreat. He then ordered the ghetto’s buildings to be destroyed by fire. As the fires spread, the ghetto occupants emerged from hiding and were either executed on the spot or rounded up and deported to KZ Treblinka. Although the resistance fighters continued to fight, by 28 April most of the fighting had ended. On 8 May, the last fortified bunker was cleared by the Nazis using poison gas. (The term “bunker” was used by the Germans for the fortified cellars in the ghetto’s residential buildings.) On 16 May, the fighting stopped, and Stroop pushed the detonation button to blow up the Warsaw synagogue. Destroying the synagogue and leveling the ghetto was Stroop’s message to his superiors and the world that he had won.

Jürgen Stroop testifying in the witness box during his trial. Photo by anonymous (c. July 1951). PD-Poland Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons.
Jürgen Stroop testifying in the witness box during his trial. Photo by anonymous (c. July 1951). PD-Poland Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons.
SS-Gruppenführer Jürgen Stroop (fourth from right) and his entourage viewing the destruction on Nowolipie Street in the Warsaw Ghetto. Image was discovered in the Stroop Report. Photo likely by Franz Konrad (c. 19 April – 16 May 1943). National Archives and Records Administration. PD-Poland Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons.
SS-Gruppenführer Jürgen Stroop (fourth from right) and his entourage viewing the destruction on Nowolipie Street in the Warsaw Ghetto. Image was discovered in the Stroop Report. Photo likely by Franz Konrad (c. 19 April – 16 May 1943). National Archives and Records Administration. PD-Poland Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons.

When it was all over, 56,065 Jews had been flushed out and caught. Twenty-five percent of them were immediately executed by Stroop’s troops while six thousand perished in the shelling or fire. The rest were deported. Only about one hundred Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto survived the war. Three hundred Germans were killed during the uprising.

Click here to watch the video “5 to Live and Die with Honor:The Story of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising:

SS-Gruppenführer Jürgen Stroop 

Stroop surrendered to the Allies on 10 May 1945. He was tried at the Dachau Trials and found guilty and sentenced to death. However, Stroop was extradited to Warsaw and his death sentence was postponed. He was tried at the Warsaw Criminal District and the outcome was the same: death by hanging. This time, Stroop did not escape his sentence, and he was hanged on 6 March 1952 at Mokotów Prison.

Jürgen Stroop after his capture. Photo by anonymous (c. 1945). PD-U.S. Government. Wikimedia Commons.
Jürgen Stroop after his capture. Photo by anonymous (c. 1945). PD-U.S. Government. Wikimedia Commons.

One of Stroop’s legacies was the report formally called Es gibt keinen jüdischen Wohnbezirk in Warschau mehr, or “There is no Jewish residential district in Warsaw anymore.” The report was ordered by the SS chief for Poland, and he intended it to be a gift to Heinrich Himmler. This project was assigned to Stroop, and it is a 125-page account of the destruction of Warsaw and the deportations of its residents. Fifty-three photographs are included in the report.

Cover page of the original Stroop Report. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). PD-Expired Copyright. Wikimedia Commons.
Cover page of the original Stroop Report. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). PD-Expired Copyright. Wikimedia Commons.
Photograph from the Stroop Report showing the destruction by fire of the Warsaw Ghetto. Photo by anonymous (c. April-May 1943). National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD.
Photograph from the Stroop Report showing the destruction by fire of the Warsaw Ghetto. Photo by anonymous (c. April-May 1943). National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD.
The destruction of Warsaw by the Germans. Photo by Maciej Świerczyński (c. 1945). PD-Poland Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons.
The destruction of Warsaw by the Germans. Photo by Maciej Świerczyński (c. 1945). PD-Poland Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons.

Wilhelm Hosenfeld

Wilhelm “Wim” Hosenfeld (1895−1952) was born in Fulda, Germany, a town about 103 km, or 64 miles to the northeast of Frankfurt am Main. He served in World War I and was severely wounded. After the war, Hosenfeld married and became a schoolteacher. He was heavily influenced by the Catholic Church, his wife’s pacifist views, and a strong sense of German patriotism.

Wim Hosenfeld. Photo by anonymous (c. 1939). PD-Fair Use. Wikimedia Commons.
Wim Hosenfeld. Photo by anonymous (c. 1939). PD-Fair Use. Wikimedia Commons.

Hosenfeld was drafted into the German Wehrmacht in 1939 and stationed in Poland for the entire war until his arrest on 17 January 1945 by the Soviets. He had joined the Nazi party in 1935 but as time went by, grew disgusted with Nazi policies and their treatment of Jews, Poles, and other groups of people the Nazis deemed undesirable.

Wehrmacht Hauptmann Wim Hosenfeld. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Yad Vahem – 16 February 2009.
Wehrmacht Hauptmann Wim Hosenfeld. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Yad Vahem – 16 February 2009.
https://www.yadvashem.org/press-release/16-February-2009-11-22.

Hauptmann (Captain) Hosenfeld’s assignments included running a POW camp, sports and culture officer, and staff officer for the Wehrmacht Wachschau (Warsaw Guard Regiment). During his Warsaw duty, Hosenfeld befriended the Poles, attended Mass, and even tried to learn the Polish language. It was during this period of time that he began to give refuge to people the Nazis had targeted for extermination.

The Robinson Crusoes of Warsaw or “Warsaw Robinsons” 

The terms “Robinson Crusoes of Warsaw” or “Warsaw Robinsons” were given to the Poles who survived the 1944 Warsaw Uprising and subsequent destruction of Warsaw. They hid in the ruins of Warsaw for as long as three and a half months until Soviet troops entered the city on 17 January 1945.

Image of the ruins of Warsaw, Piwna Street. The Robinsons lived in basements and bunkers under the rubble. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Polish History. https://polishhistory.pl/the-warsaw-robinsons/
Image of the ruins of Warsaw, Piwna Street. The Robinsons lived in basements and bunkers under the rubble. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Polish History. https://polishhistory.pl/the-warsaw-robinsons/

The exact number of people who went into hiding is not known but estimates range between a few hundred and several thousand. What is known is that very few actually survived to see liberation. One of the most famous “Robinsons” was Władysław Szpilman.

Survival 

Mr. Szpilman’s entire family was deported to KZ Treblinka in August 1942. A lucky break occurred when a Jewish policeman recognized Władysław and pulled him from the line waiting to board the cattle rail car at the Umschlagplatz (assembly area). After this, Mr. Szpilman worked as a laborer in the ghetto and helped smuggle arms and ammunition for the resistance. One of his jobs allowed him to exit the ghetto each day and afforded him the opportunity to find food. By February 1943, Mr. Szpilman arranged for a hiding place outside the ghetto. This was the first of many hiding places when the fear of capture and deportation was so acute that he contemplated suicide several times.

Contemporary image of the rail tracks in KZ Treblinka. Photo by Little Savage (19 March 2006). PD-Author Release. Wikimedia Commons.
Contemporary image of the rail tracks in KZ Treblinka. Photo by Little Savage (19 March 2006). PD-Author Release. Wikimedia Commons.
Jews being loaded into the cattle cars at the Umschlagplatz in Warsaw. Photo by anonymous (c. 1942-43). PD-Poland Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons.
Jews being loaded into the cattle cars at the Umschlagplatz in Warsaw. Photo by anonymous (c. 1942-43). PD-Poland Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons.

When the Warsaw Uprising began, Mr. Szpilman was hiding in a building the Germans targeted for destruction. He survived tank attacks and the resultant fire. Escaping the heavily damaged building, Mr. Szpilman moved around the city until the end of August when he moved back to his former building albeit burnt and a shell. Food and water were difficult to find but he managed to survive despite very little protection from the elements. By November, Mr. Szpilman had moved to an attic in another building, but his accommodations did not protect him from the extreme cold. At great risk, he went from room to room looking for a working stove. He found one and while trying to light it, a German soldier discovered Władysław.

Building at 223 Niepodległośi Avenue in Warsaw where Władysław Szpilman lived in hiding and where he met Wim Hosenfeld. Photo by Adrian Grycuk (22 April 2012). PD-CCA-Share Alike 3.0 Poland License. Wikimedia Commons.
Building at 223 Niepodległośi Avenue in Warsaw where Władysław Szpilman lived in hiding and where he met Wim Hosenfeld. Photo by Adrian Grycuk (22 April 2012). PD-CCA-Share Alike 3.0 Poland License. Wikimedia Commons.
Władysław Szpilman commemorative plaque at 223 Niepodległości Avenue in Warsaw. Photo by Adrian Grycuk (7 June 2012). PD-CCA-Share Alike 3.0 Poland License. Wikimedia Commons.
Władysław Szpilman commemorative plaque at 223 Niepodległości Avenue in Warsaw. Photo by Adrian Grycuk (7 June 2012). PD-CCA-Share Alike 3.0 Poland License. Wikimedia Commons.
Interior of the Warsaw Uprising Museum with Władysław Szpilman’s photograph. Photo by Adrian Grycuk. PD-CCA-Share Alike 3.0 Poland License. Wikimedia Commons.
Interior of the Warsaw Uprising Museum with Władysław Szpilman’s photograph. Photo by Adrian Grycuk. PD-CCA-Share Alike 3.0 Poland License. Wikimedia Commons.

The soldier left and Mr. Szpilman returned to the attic where he hid. The German returned shortly with other soldiers, but they eventually left after not being able to find Mr. Szpilman. He was eventually seen by two German soldiers who began shooting at him. The Polish pianist escaped and found refuge in yet another multi-story building where he took up residence in the attic and began the ritual of trying to find food in the building’s apartments. One of the apartments he entered was occupied by a German officer who wanted to know what Władysław was up to. The officer was Hauptmann Wim Hosenfeld.

Hosenfeld asked Mr. Szpilman for his occupation. Upon finding out Władysław Szpilman was a professional pianist, Hosenfeld directed him to play Chopin’s Nocturne in C sharp minor. After learning Mr. Szpilman was Jewish, the Wehrmacht captain decided the pianist couldn’t leave the building. From that point on, Hosenfeld supplied Mr. Szpilman with food and water as well as keeping him up to date with the latest war news. During mid-December, Hosenfeld’s unit left Warsaw and within four weeks, the Soviet army arrived in Warsaw.

Before the German captain left, Władysław told his benefactor that if he ever needed help to ask for the pianist Szpilman of the Polish Radio.

Postwar — Władysław Szpilman 

Mr. Szpilman resumed his musical career in Warsaw at Radio Poland. It took him more than five years to find out the name of the German captain who provided protection. Władysław ran into a musician friend who had met Hosenfeld in a Soviet POW camp. Hosenfeld asked the musician if he knew Szpilman of the Polish Radio. Zygmunt Lednicki, a violinist, did know Mr. Szpilman but unfortunately, never learned the German’s name. Eventually, Władysław was able to track down his protector’s name.

Between 1945 and 1963, Mr. Szpilman was the director of Radio Poland. He also wrote music for plays and films as well as performing at more than two thousand concerts.

Grave of Władysław Szpilman in the Powazki Cemetery, Warsaw. Photo by Halibutt (date unknown). PD-CCA-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. Wikimedia Commons.
Grave of Władysław Szpilman in the Powazki Cemetery, Warsaw. Photo by Halibutt (date unknown). PD-CCA-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. Wikimedia Commons.

Postwar — Wim Hosenfeld

After the war, Wim Hosenfeld was captured by the Soviets and put on trial as a war criminal. (They believed he was a member of the Sicherheitsdienst, the Nazi party intelligence organization.)  He was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. In 1950, his sentence was commuted to twenty-five years at hard labor, but two years later died in a Soviet prison. In addition to suffering a series of strokes, it is likely that his health suffered from years of torture, malnutrition, and lack of medical treatment. It is likely Hosenfeld is buried in Volograd (formerly Stalingrad) along with other German prisoners of war.

Yad Vashem — Righteous Among the Nations 

Yad Vashem is Israel’s official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. Its mission is to preserve the memory of Jews murdered by the Nazis and their accomplices. It collects the stories of the survivors, provides research resources on the Holocaust, and honors both Jews who fought the Nazis as well as non-Jews who saved Jewish lives. The latter bestows the title, “Righteous Among the Nations” to gentiles who took risks to help Jews during the Holocaust. Nominations can only be recommended by Jewish people and the nominee must have rendered assistance on a continuous basis without any financial gain expected.

Illustration of medal awarded to recipients of Righteous Among the Nations. Illustration by Le Loi (23 July 2015). PD-CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. Wikimedia Commons.
Illustration of medal awarded to recipients of Righteous Among the Nations. Illustration by Le Loi (23 July 2015). PD-CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. Wikimedia Commons.

Wim Hosenfeld was nominated several times by Mr. Szpilman’s son. Two surviving witnesses testified that Hosenfeld shielded them from the Nazis but despite acknowledging the assistance Hosenfeld gave to Messrs. Szpilman and Wurm, the Commission for the Designation of the Righteous Among the Nations refused to grant the award until Hosenfeld was cleared of any war crimes during the Warsaw Uprising.

Declassified documents, letters, and personal diaries were examined by the commission, and it was determined that Wim Hosenfeld was anti-Nazi and did not commit any war crimes. In 2009, Wilhelm Hosenfeld was accepted as Righteous Among the Nations along with more than 28,000 other individuals including Oskar Schindler.

Did the 2002 movie, The Pianist play a role in convincing the commission to bestow the honor? Possibly.

Chopin’s “Ballade No. 1 in G Minor” 

Please enjoy Vladimir Horowitz as he performs Chopin’s “Ballade No. 1 in G Minor.”  Click here.

Next Blog:  “Doolittle’s Missing Plane No. 8”


Correspondence and Commentary Policy 

We welcome everyone to contact us either directly or through the individual blogs. Sandy and I review every piece of correspondence before it is approved to be published on the blog site. Our policy is to accept and publish comments that do not project hate, political, religious stances, or an attempt to solicit business (yeah, believe it or not, we do get that kind of stuff). Like many bloggers, we receive quite a bit of what is considered “Spam.” Those e-mails are immediately rejected without discussion.

Our blogs are written to inform our readers about history. We want to ensure discussions are kept within the boundary of historical facts and context without personal bias or prejudice.

We average about one e-mail every two days from our readers. We appreciate all communication because in many cases, it has led to friendships around the world.


★ Read and Learn More About Today’s Topic ★

Moczarski, Kazimierz. Conversations with an Executioner. Edited by Mariana Fitzpatrick. English translation. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1981. This is a memoir of the author’s conversations with Nazi war criminal, Jürgen Stroop. The two men shared a death row cell for nine months during which Stroop explained his role in putting down the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.

Book cover of “Conversations with an Executioner” (1981) by Kazimierz Moczarski. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). PD-Fair Use. Wikimedia Commons.
Book cover of “Conversations with an Executioner” (1981) by Kazimierz Moczarski. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). PD-Fair Use. Wikimedia Commons.

Polanski, Roman (co-producer). The Pianist. Canal+, Studio Babelsberg, and StudioCanal, 2002.

Richie, Alexandra. Warsaw 1944: Hitler, Himmler, and the Warsaw Uprising. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2013.

Rotem, Simha. Edited by Barbara Harshav. Kazik: Memoirs of a Warsaw Ghetto Fighter. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002.

Szpilman, Władysław. Śmierć Miasta. Pamiętniki Władysława Szpilmana 1939−1945 (“Death of a City: Memoirs of Władysław Szpilman 1939−1945”). Warsaw: Wiedza, 1946. This is the original Polish book written by Szpilman. There have been several other versions as well as translations.

Book cover of the first edition of Władysław Szpilman’s book, “Śmierć Miasta.” Photo by anonymous (date unknown). PD-Fair Use. Wikimedia Commons.
Book cover of the first edition of Władysław Szpilman’s book, “Śmierć Miasta.” Photo by anonymous (date unknown). PD-Fair Use. Wikimedia Commons.

Szpilman, Władysław. English translation by Anthea Bell. The Pianist: The Extraordinary True Story of One Man’s Survival in Warsaw, 1939−1945. London: Picador, 1998.

Warsaw Rising Museum  Click here to visit the museum web-site.

Werstein, Irving. The Uprising of the Warsaw Ghetto. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1968.


Disclaimer: 

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What’s New With Sandy and Stew?

Sandy and I are excited about our upcoming fall trip to Europe. We’re taking a river cruise that begins in Paris and several weeks later, we end in Warsaw, Poland. We decided to go into Paris a couple of days early so we can meet up with Raphaëlle and tour Fontainebleau. We will make time to visit the “new” Notre Dame and see the restored cathedral. I’ve read that it’s like walking into the church right after it was built in the Middle Ages.

Note: Raphaëlle is our “go-to” guide in and around Paris. If you would like an introduction to Raphaëlle, please contact me.

Thank you to all of you who subscribe to our bi-weekly blogs. It seems there isn’t a day that goes by where we don’t increase our readership. Please let your history buff friends and family members know about our blog site and blogs.

Someone Is Commenting On Our Blogs

We heard from our good friend Carl S. almost immediately after posting the most recent blog, The Colmar Pocket (click here to read). It turns out his wife lived in a village to the east of Strasbourg and as a seven-year-old, she and her family experienced the liberation of Einvaux by American troops fighting in the Colmar Pocket. Carl was kind enough to send me several photos taken as the tanks rolled through the village. I’m very pleased to post these images for you. A big thank you to Carl for sharing part of his family’s story with us.

The girl sitting on the tank to the right is Carl’s future wife. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Courtesy of Carl S.
The girl sitting on the tank to the right is Carl’s future wife. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Courtesy of Carl S.
A view of an American tank rolling through the village of Einvaux. The blurred image of a young girl in the foreground is Carl’s future wife. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Courtesy of Carl S.
A view of an American tank rolling through the village of Einvaux. The blurred image of a young girl in the foreground is Carl’s future wife. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Courtesy of Carl S.
Here we see an American tank stopped in the village of Einvaux to the east of Strasbourg. Carl’s future mother-in-law (his wife’s mother) is standing on the tank offering quiche Lorraine to the soldiers. The building in the background is a former convent that was used as the village school and upstairs is where his future wife and her family lived. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). The three photos were likely taken by a neighbor (date unknown). Courtesy of Carl S.
Here we see an American tank stopped in the village of Einvaux to the east of Strasbourg. Carl’s future mother-in-law (his wife’s mother) is standing on the tank offering quiche Lorraine to the soldiers. The building in the background is a former convent that was used as the village school and upstairs is where his future wife and her family lived. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). The three photos were likely taken by a neighbor (date unknown). Courtesy of Carl S.
This is a contemporary image of the former convent in Einvaux that was once used as the village school. The upstairs was used by the family that Carl eventually married into. Note the similarities between the building in the previous photo to this image. Not much has changed in eighty years.
This is a contemporary image of the former convent in Einvaux that was once used as the village school. The upstairs was used by the family that Carl eventually married into. Note the similarities between the building in the previous photo to this image. Not much has changed in eighty years. Photo by Googe Maps (date unknown).

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The Strangest Battles of World War II

There were only two times during World War II when Allied troops joined forces in battle with the German Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS.

These incidents are known as “Operation Cowboy” and the “Battle of Castle Itter.” Both battles were fought in the very late stages of the war ⏤ Operation Cowboy on 28 April 1945 and Castle Itter on 5 May 1945.


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Did You Know?

Did you know that improvising during a war is critical (as is being lucky among other requirements ⏤ just ask Napoléon). It’s kind of like in Normandy right after D-Day when the First Army’s infantry and tanks couldn’t penetrate the deadly country hedgerows used by the Germans as natural physical barriers. Some soldiers came up with the idea of attaching multiple blades to the front of the M-4 Sherman tanks. Operating much like bulldozers or the “cow catcher” of a locomotive, the “Dozer” tanks could bust through the hedgerows and create an unimpeded lane for the men and tanks.

Another pivotal wartime improvision was devised by Beatrice “Tilly” Shilling (1909−1990). She was a talented British aeronautical engineer who graduated with an electrical engineering bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Victoria University of Manchester (one of only two women to earn an EE degree at that time). From the earliest age, Tilly was buying hand tools and working on mechanical problems. She was especially enamored with motorcycles and by the age of twenty, Tilly published a piece on how to build a wireless set.

Beatrice Shilling poses on her Norton motorcycle. Photo by anonymous (13 March 1935). Royal Air Force. PD-Expired copyright.
Beatrice Shilling poses on her Norton motorcycle. Photo by anonymous (13 March 1935). Royal Air Force. PD-Expired copyright.

In 1936, Tilly was recruited to join the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE), a British research organization specializing in aircraft and aerospace issues. One of the immediate problems faced by the Hurricane and Spitfire pilots during the Battle of Britain in 1940 were the aircraft engines. The Rolls-Royce Merlin engines stalled out when the aircraft went into a dive. The negative g-force flooded the engine’s carburetor with fuel resulting in a stall ⏤ German fighter aircraft used fuel injection engines and did not have this problem. Tilly went to work and quickly invented a fuel restrictor to solve the problem of fuel flooding. It was so simple to install that the RAF never had to take their planes out of service. Tilly led a small team to all the RAF air stations and rapidly installed the restrictors on the fighter planes. (Tilly always traveled by motorcycle.) Tilly’s restrictor was used until 1943 when Rolls-Royce began building their engines with a pressure carburetor.

M5A1 tank passing through St. Amand, France. Notice the “teeth” on the front of the tank used to cut through the hedgerows. Photo by anonymous (c. September 1944). PD-U.S. Government. Wikimedia Commons.
M5A1 tank passing through St. Amand, France. Notice the “teeth” on the front of the tank used to cut through the hedgerows. Photo by anonymous (c. September 1944). PD-U.S. Government. Wikimedia Commons.

Tilly worked for RAE until her retirement in 1969. She was responsible for designing the bobsled used by the RAF Olympic team. After the war, Tilly and her husband became involved in racing motorcycles and cars. Despite being awarded the OBE in 1949, her degrees, and joining the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (allowed only under her married name), Tilly faced discrimination her entire career at RAE. As a woman, she was prohibited from entering certain buildings including the RAE Senior Mess and was restricted from working at night. Furthermore, promotions were reserved only for men.

Beatrice Shilling passed away from cancer in November 1990. Her husband, a former World War II RAF bomber pilot, followed in death six years later.


“Operation Cowboy”

We all know about Hitler’s obsession to create the “Master Aryan Race.” However, most people are unaware that he also wanted to create a master race of “Aryan” horses.

After Hitler annexed Austria in 1938 (the “Anschluss”), he ordered the Lipizzaner breeding mares to be moved from the Spanish Riding School in Vienna to an experimental farm in the town of Hostouň, Czechoslovakia. (Today, Hostouň is part of the Czech Republic on the eastern border of Germany.) In 1914, a military horse breeding operation was moved to Hostouň where the studs were eventually evacuated to three farms (Zwirschen, Hassalitz, and Taschlowitz) during World War I. During the interwar years (i.e., the years between the two world wars), the horses born and raised in Hostouň achieved international acclaim including competition in the Berlin 1936 Olympics. In 1938, Hostouň, or Hostau (the German name) was part of the Sudetenland annexed by Germany (the infamous “Munich Agreement”) and between 1938 and 1945, the Nazi government occupied Czechoslovakia with Hostau as part of the German administrative region known as Reichsgau Sudetenland. The Germans immediately took over the Hostau stud farm with the intent of using the horses in their calvary regiments. By 1942, most of the European Lipizzaner horses had been evacuated to the Hostau farm.

Riding arena in the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). https://www.viennaconcerts.com/riding_school_vienna.php
Riding arena in the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). https://www.viennaconcerts.com/riding_school_vienna.php
Military stud farm in Hostau. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). PD-U.S. Government.
Military stud farm in Hostau. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). PD-U.S. Government.

Lipizzaner horses were not unique to Vienna and Austria. Lipizzaners were bred and raised on private farms in Macedonia, Croatia, Italy, Hungary, Slovakia, and Transylvania. However, it was the Spanish Riding School, founded in 1572, that gained world-wide recognition as the hub of Lipizzaner activities. In 1939, Alois Podhajsky (1898−1973) became director of the school and remained in that position until 1965. Under his direction, the Lipizzaner horses and riders were trained in classical dressage. (Podhajsky won the bronze medal in dressage at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.) Podhajsky was an Austrian military officer and after the German Anschluss, he joined the Wehrmacht as a major. Throughout the war, Podhajsky was concerned for the safety of the horses because of the continuous Allied bombings. However, as the war progressed, people began to suffer as food sources dwindled and they turned their attention to horses as a source of food.

Gen. George S. Patton (left) meeting Alois Podhajsky (on horse) after the Lipizzaner horses had been saved. Photo by anonymous (c. 1945). PD-Author’s life plus 70 years or fewer. Wikimedia Commons.
Gen. George S. Patton (left) meeting Alois Podhajsky (on horse) after the Lipizzaner horses had been saved. Photo by anonymous (c. 1945). PD-Author’s life plus 70 years or fewer. Wikimedia Commons.
George S. Patton riding his steeplechase horse, Wooltex, in 1914. Photo by anonymous (c. 1914). PD-Published before 1 January 1929. Wikimedia Commons.
George S. Patton riding his steeplechase horse, Wooltex, in 1914. Photo by anonymous (c. 1914). PD-Published before 1 January 1929. Wikimedia Commons.

During the late stages of the war, the race to Berlin was quite intense. Approaching from the east was the Soviet Army and from the west was Gen. George Patton and his Third Army. Each was determined to be the first to enter Berlin (despite Gen. Eisenhower’s orders to hold back and give the Soviets the green light to take the city). Squeezed between these two massive armies advancing toward Prague was Hostau and its Lipizzaner horses. The German commander of the horse farm, Lt. Col. Hubert Rudofsky and the farm’s veterinarian, Dr. Rudolf Lessing believed the horses would be killed for food by the Soviet troops. (They knew the Russians had killed the entire collection of Royal Hungarian Lipizzaner horses.) By now, they were desperate to feed and care for more than seven hundred horses (350 Lipizzaners, Arabians, and other full-blooded breeds). Unfortunately, the borders were closed, and the last escape route for the horses was blocked by the German army, or what remained of it.

Col. Huber Rodofsky with two Arabian steeds at Hostau farm. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Courtesy of Ulrich Rodofsky. https://www.express.co.uk/news/history/697218/mission-rescue-itters-equine-master-race
Col. Huber Rodofsky with two Arabian steeds at Hostau farm. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Courtesy of Ulrich Rodofsky. https://www.express.co.uk/news/history/697218/mission-rescue-itters-equine-master-race

By chance, a Luftwaffe general staff officer on his way to surrender to the Americans happened to appear at Rudofsky’s office. Lt. Col. Walter Holters, a horse lover, realized the horses were in imminent danger and suggested to Rudofsky that after he give himself up to the Americans, he would try to obtain their assistance in saving the horses. During his interrogation by the 42nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron of the 2nd Cavalry Group, Holters revealed the predicament of the Lippizaners. He met with the commander of the 2nd Cavalry, Col. Charles Hancock Reed (1900−1980), who was also a fan of horses (of course he was, he commanded a cavalry group). Reed ultimately reported to Patton and was under orders not to cross the Bavarian-Bohemian border due to the terms of the Yalta Conference (the Hostau farm was only a few miles across the border). Reed put a call into Patton, explained the situation, and the former calvary officer now the newly promoted four-star general gave the order to “Get them, make it fast!”

Col. Charles Hancock Reed. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Virginia Historical Society. PD-U.S. Government.
Col. Charles Hancock Reed. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Virginia Historical Society. PD-U.S. Government.
Charles Hancock Reed. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Archive Post Bellum.
Charles Hancock Reed. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Archive Post Bellum.

Dr. Lessing made it across the border to meet with Col. Reed where he pleaded for assistance in rescuing the horses. In the meantime, a spit and polish German Wehrmacht officer, Gen. Schulze, took over the horse farm. Learning that Lessing had crossed the border, the general threatened Col. Rudofsky with execution. By this time, Reed realized his only option to rescue the horses was to immediately march on Hostau and get there before the Russians.

Col. Reed was cautioned that a SS unit stood between the Americans and the farm. Knowing he would overrun the enemy, Reed ordered “Operation Cowboy” to commence with the armored cars and tanks of the 42nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron taking the lead to rescue the horses. This squadron was well-known to the Germans as the “Ghosts of Patton’s Army” due to their successful missions behind German lines. Dr. Lessing and Capt. Thomas Stewart (1915−2011), Reed’s adjutant, rode back to Hostau to obtain Rudofsky’s formal surrender. Unfortunately, they did not know a German Wehrmacht general was in charge of defending the farm and Rudofsky was now a subordinate officer forced to take orders including refusing to surrender and transferring the horses to safety.

With light armor and tanks and assistance from artillery barrages by the XII Corps, Maj. Robert Andrews brought his force of 325 men twenty miles through German-held territory (including the 11th Panzer Division) to Hostau and the stud farm. Conflict at the border with the Panzer tanks resulted in minimal casualties and Andrews secured the farm. Enlisting the aid of liberated Allied POWs, captured German soldiers and even Russian Cossacks, a plan was devised to move the horses. However, the farm was attacked twice by Waffen-SS troops. The attacks were repelled, and the SS retreated. The horses were either mounted or herded for the evacuation just before Soviet tanks appeared. Near the border, the horses were loaded into trucks and driven to safety behind American lines.

Evacuation and herding the horses out of danger’s way during Operation Cowboy. Photo by anonymous (c. May 1945). PD-U.S. Government.
Evacuation and herding the horses out of danger’s way during Operation Cowboy. Photo by anonymous (c. May 1945). PD-U.S. Government.

On 7 May, Col. Podhajsky contacted Gen. Patton requesting protection of the Lipizzaner horses. Patton was told that Reed and his 2nd Cavalry “had already taken care of it.”

 When asked why the Americans agreed to save the Lipizzaner horses, Col. Reed responded, “We were so tired of death and destruction, we wanted to do something beautiful.”

Lipizzaner stud farm in Lipica, Slovenia. Photo by Pip (c. 2004). PD-GNU Free Documentation License. Wikimedia Commons.
Lipizzaner stud farm in Lipica, Slovenia. Photo by Pip (c. 2004). PD-GNU Free Documentation License. Wikimedia Commons.
Cover of comic book based on the Disney movie about Operation Cowboy. Photo by anonymous (date unknown).
Cover of comic book based on the Disney movie about Operation Cowboy. Photo by anonymous (date unknown).

“Battle of Castle Itter”

The surrender documents had not been signed but the war was essentially over by 5 May 1945. Hitler had committed suicide five days earlier and within two days, Gen. Alfred Jodl (1890−1946) would surrender to Gen. Eisenhower in Reims, France formally ending the war in the European theater. Despite this, some German forces including the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division, continued to attack enemy forces in Austria.

Click here to watch the video The Battle of Itter Castle.

Castle Itter 

Schloß  (i.e., castle) Itter was built in the 19th-century in Itter, a small village in Austria. Located about five miles from Wörgl and 40 miles from Innsbruck, the castle sits on a hill overlooking the Brixental valley. Prior to the annexation of Austria by Hitler (i.e., the Anschluss), the castle was owned by Franz Grüner (1879−1953), an Austrian politician.

Schloß Itter. Photo by Sammlung Risch-Lau (c. 1971). Sammlung Risch-Lau, Vorarlberger Landesbibliothek. PD-CCA 4.0 International. Wikimedia Commons.
Schloß Itter. Photo by Sammlung Risch-Lau (c. 1971). Sammlung Risch-Lau, Vorarlberger Landesbibliothek. PD-CCA 4.0 International. Wikimedia Commons.

By late 1940, the German government leased the castle from Grüner but in February 1943, SS-Obergruppenführer Oswald Pohl (1892−1951), a key figure of the “Final Solution” and executed for crimes against humanity, was ordered to seize the castle. Schloß Itter was converted to a prison under the jurisdiction of the Dachau concentration camp. Its purpose was to hold high-profile French prisoners as hostages with Dachau inmates used as laborers around the castle. Some of the French prisoners included former prime ministers Édouard Daladier (1884−1970) and Paul Reynaud (1878−1966), former military commanders Maxime Weygand (1867−1965) and Maurice Gamelin (1872−1958), and Charles de Gaulle’s sister and résistant, Marie-Agnès de Gaulle (1889−1982).

Mug shot of Oswald Pohl, former head of the SS Main Economic and Administrative Office. He was the head administrator of the Nazi concentration camps and one of the senior Nazis responsible for the “Final Solution.” Pohl was tried at one of the Nuremberg trials, found guilty, and executed. Photo by anonymous (c. 1946). PD-U.S. Government. Wikimedia Commons.
Mug shot of Oswald Pohl, former head of the SS Main Economic and Administrative Office. He was the head administrator of the Nazi concentration camps and one of the senior Nazis responsible for the “Final Solution.” Pohl was tried at one of the Nuremberg trials, found guilty, and executed. Photo by anonymous (c. 1946). PD-U.S. Government. Wikimedia Commons.
Michel Caillau and his mother, Marie-Agnès Cailliau de Gaulle, sister of Gen. Charles de Gaulle. Photo by anonymous (14 June 1975). Family archives François Cailliau. PD-CCA-Share Alike 4.0 International. Wikimedia Commons.
Michel Caillau and his mother, Marie-Agnès Cailliau de Gaulle, sister of Gen. Charles de Gaulle. Photo by anonymous (14 June 1975). Family archives François Cailliau. PD-CCA-Share Alike 4.0 International. Wikimedia Commons.

Pre-Battle 

As part of an escape plan by the prisoners on 3 May 1945, Zvonimir Čučković, a Croatian forced laborer, left the castle on a mission to contact the Allies and seek assistance. (He was allowed to leave because he convinced the guards he was on an errand for the castle’s commander.) The Croatian carried a letter which was supposed to be given to the first American soldier he met. Rather than walking to German-occupied Wörgl, Čučković changed direction toward Innsbruck where he encountered an American advance party. The castle was located outside the jurisdiction of the army division, but Maj. John T. Kramers (1917−2012) decided to disobey orders and put together a small rescue group.

John T. Kramers. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). https://www.legacy.com
John T. Kramers. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). https://www.legacy.com

Čučković failed to return to the castle and the former Dachau commandant, SS-Obersturmführer Eduard Weiter (1889−1945), fled to Castle Itter where he reportedly committed suicide. The prison’s commander, SS-Hauptsturmführer Sebastian Wimmer (1907−unknown), and his SS-Totenkopfverbände guards (i.e., “Death’s-Head Battalions” in charge of administration of the concentration camps) now feared for their lives and fled the castle. At this point, the prisoners were in charge but couldn’t leave the castle due to the German military presence in the area. Despite arming themselves, the prisoners feared an attack by surrounding SS troops as they retreated from the advancing Allied armies.

Eduard Weiter, commandant of Dachau concentration camp. Photo by anonymous (date unknown).
Eduard Weiter, commandant of Dachau concentration camp. Photo by anonymous (date unknown).

Not knowing whether Čučković had succeeded or not, the prisoners sent out a second emissary, Andreas Krobot, with the same goal of reaching the Allied army and obtaining assistance for liberation. On 4 May, Krobot ran into Wehrmacht officer, Maj. Josef “Sepp” Gangle (1910−1945) and outlined the situation at the castle. Gangle had become disillusioned with the Nazis and led a small group of men alongside the Austrian resistance. He immediately went to Lt. John “Jack” C. Lee, Jr. (1918−1973), a tank commander in an American reconnaissance unit. (Lee would be promoted to captain several days after the battle.) The two of them reconnoitered the castle and returned to organize a rescue party. Together with 14 U.S. soldiers and ten of Gangle’s men, they drove to the castle to “liberate” the prisoners.

Josef Gangl. Photo by anonymous (c. May 1945). PD-US Government. Wikimedia Commons.
Josef Gangl. Photo by anonymous (c. May 1945). PD-US Government. Wikimedia Commons.
Capt. John “Jack” Lee, U.S. tank commander. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Smith & Wesson Forum, May 2013. https://smith-wessonforum.com
Capt. John “Jack” Lee, U.S. tank commander. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Smith & Wesson Forum, May 2013. https://smith-wessonforum.com

The Battle 

On the morning of 5 May, the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division “Götz von Berlichingen” under the command of SS-Sturmbannführer Georg Bochmann (1913−1973) attacked the castle. Lee and Gangle’s small group of defenders were joined by a young resistance fighter named Hans Waltl, several Wehrmacht soldiers, and a German defector, Waffen-SS Hauptsturmführer Kurt-Siegfried Schrader (1916−unknown). The prisoners had already picked up weapons left behind by the former guards and joined in the fight that included Lee’s tank (the “Besotten Jenny”) positioned at the castle’s entrance gate.

A German tank belonging to the StuG IV of the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division “Götz von Berlichingen.” Photo by anonymous (c. 1944).
A German tank belonging to the StuG IV of the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division “Götz von Berlichingen.” Photo by anonymous (c. 1944).
Kurt Siegfried Schrader. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). PD-Expired copyright. Wikimedia Commons.
Kurt Siegfried Schrader. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). PD-Expired copyright. Wikimedia Commons.
SS-Sturmbannführer Georg Bochmann, commander of the SS-Panzer tanks that attacked Schloß Itter on 5 May 1945. Photo by anonymous (c. April 1943). German Federal Archives. Bundesarchiv, Bild 101III-Adendorf-093-20/CC-BY-SA 3.0. PD-CCA-Share Alike 3.0 Germany. Wikimedia Commons.
SS-Sturmbannführer Georg Bochmann, commander of the SS-Panzer tanks that attacked Schloß Itter on 5 May 1945. Photo by anonymous (c. April 1943). German Federal Archives. Bundesarchiv, Bild 101III-Adendorf-093-20/CC-BY-SA 3.0. PD-CCA-Share Alike 3.0 Germany. Wikimedia Commons.

The Waffen-SS troops destroyed the tank, damaged the castle’s wall, and killed Gangle as he was attempting to save the life of Paul Reynaud. By 4:00 pm, the castle’s defenders’ ammunition was about to run out. At about the same time, a column of U.S. tanks from the 142nd U.S. Infantry Regiment appeared. They were part of Maj. Kramers’s rescue force. Lt. Lee and his small band of fighters were able to withstand the attack of seasoned SS men and their Panzer tanks and liberated Schloß Itter’s prisoners. Four days later, Bochmann surrendered his men and armaments to the Americans in the Rottach-Egern region. The French prisoners returned to Paris on 10 May.

Schloß Itter and the damage inflicted by the German Panzer tanks during the 5 May 1945 battle. Photo by anonymous (c. 1945). BBC News. Bethany Bell, “The Austrian Castle Where Nazis Lost to German-US Force” 7 May 2015. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32622651
Schloß Itter and the damage inflicted by the German Panzer tanks during the 5 May 1945 battle. Photo by anonymous (c. 1945). BBC News. Bethany Bell, “The Austrian Castle Where Nazis Lost to German-US Force” 7 May 2015. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32622651
Freed prisoners of Schloß Itter in the castle courtyard after the battle. Left to right: Maurice Gamelin, Michael Clemenceau, unknown American soldier, and Paul Reynaud. Photo by Eric Schwab (c. 5 May 1945). Top War, 10 July 2024. PD-U.S. Government.
Freed prisoners of Schloß Itter in the castle courtyard after the battle. Left to right: Maurice Gamelin, Michael Clemenceau, unknown American soldier, and Paul Reynaud. Photo by Eric Schwab (c. 5 May 1945). Top War, 10 July 2024. PD-U.S. Government.
Schloß Itter prisoners after release. Left to right: M. Daladier, Mme. Weygand, Gen. Weygand, U.S. Gen. McAuliffe, M. Reynaud, and Gen. Gamelin. Photo by anonymous (c. May 1945). “That Should be a Movie.” PD-U.S. Government. https://thatshouldbea moviewebseries.com/index.php/2022/06/20/that-should-be-a-movie-the-battle-for-castle-itter/
Schloß Itter prisoners after release. Left to right: M. Daladier, Mme. Weygand, Gen. Weygand, U.S. Gen. McAuliffe, M. Reynaud, and Gen. Gamelin. Photo by anonymous (c. May 1945). “That Should be a Movie.” PD-U.S. Government. https://thatshouldbea moviewebseries.com/index.php/2022/06/20/that-should-be-a-movie-the-battle-for-castle-itter/

Capt. Lee was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross while Maj. Gangle is remembered as an Austrian national hero and a “Hero of the Austrian Resistance.” A street in Wörgl is named after him.

Next Blog:       “The Butcher of Lyon”


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★ Read and Learn More About Today’s Topic ★

Bell, Bethany. The Austrian Castle Where Nazis Lost to German-US Force. BBC News, 7 May 2015. Click here to read.

Doubler, Capt. Michael D. Busting the Bocage: American Combined Arms Operations in France, 6 June31 July 1944. Fort Leavenworth, K.S.: CSI Publications, 1955.

Felton, Mark. Ghost Riders: When US and German Soldiers Fought Together to Save the World’s Most Beautiful Horses in the Last Days of World War II. Cambridge: Da Capo Press, 2018.

Freudenberg, Matthew. Negative Gravity, the Life of Beatrice Shilling. Taunton: Charlton Publications, 2003.

Harding, Stephen. The Last Battle: When U.S. and German Soldiers Joined Forces in the Waning Hours of World War II in Europe. Cambridge: Da Capo Press, 2013.

Letts, Elizabeth. The Perfect Horse: The Daring U.S. Mission to Rescue the Priceless Stallions Kidnapped by the Nazis. New York: Ballantine Books, 2017.

Olsen, Wade (editor), translated and condensed by Aida Kraus. 1945: Rettung der Lipizzaner, Wagnis oder Wunder? (“Rescue of the Lipizzaner Horses, Venture or Wonder?” (Excerpt of Brigitte Peter’s book). Newsletter of the German-Bohemian Society, Volume 25, Issue 1 ⏤ March 2014. Click here to read the article.

Podhajsky, Alois. Translated by Frances Hogarth-Gaute. My Dancing White Horses: The Autobiography of Alois Podhajsky. New York: Holt Rinehart and Winston, 1965.

Podhajsky, Aloi. The White Stallions of Vienna. New York: E.P. Dutton& Company, 1963

Thompson, David. Castle Itter: The Strangest Battle of WWII. Digital Capricorn Studios. Click here to read.

Note:   The 1963 Walt Disney movie, Miracle of the White Stallions, is loosely based on Operation Cowboy.

Disclaimer: 

There may be a chance that after we publish this particular blog, the video links associated with the blog are no longer accessible. We have no control over this. Many times, whoever posts the video has done so without the consent of the video’s owner. In some cases, it is likely that the content is deemed unsuitable by YouTube. We apologize if you have tried to access the link and you don’t get the expected results. Same goes for internet links.

What’s New With Sandy and Stew?

First of all, apologies for being tardy with the publication of this blog. We had a slight detour due to Hurricane Milton. For the first time, Sandy and I decided to evacuate ahead of the storm and we went to Nashville for the week. Normally, the door-to-door trip is twelve hours. Going up to Nashville took us almost twenty hours and returning wasn’t that much better ⏤ almost seventeen hours. Thanks to everyone who reached out to us to find out how we were doing. No issues with the house or property, so once again, we dodged a bullet. Unfortunately, a lot of other people weren’t so lucky and for many of them, it was a double whammy having been hit by Hurricane Helene a mere two weeks earlier.

Sandy and I recently returned from our two week river cruise from Arles, France north to Switzerland, Germany, and then onto Amsterdam. We overnighted in Lyon, France and gave us the opportunity to visit the former Gestapo Headquarters. Today, the building houses The Resistance and Deportation History Center. Our next blog, The Butcher of Lyon, will focus on the head of Gestapo, Klaus Barbie, and his efforts to eliminate all resistance and the deportation of Lyon’s Jewish population.

Thank you to all of you who subscribe to our bi-weekly blogs. It seems there isn’t a day that goes by where we don’t increase our readership. Please let your history buff friends, and family members know about our blog site and blogs.

Someone Is Commenting On Our Blogs

Thanks to Bill A. for contacting us regarding his father, Robert (Bob), who was a POW at Stalag Luft 3 and Stalag III-A Luckenwalde. It turns out Bob was a fellow prisoner with Stan Booker (click here to read the blog, Last Train Out of Paris). Bob kept a war time diary/log while in captivity and in it, he got his fellow POWs to sign and list their home address. He recorded an “X” next to each of the men who were imprisoned in Buchenwald. Below is an image of the page with Stan Booker’s entry in the upper right corner.

According to his daughter, Stan seems to be in good health. He has been invited to participate in a ZOOM conference with the son of another Buchenwald prisoner. Let’s hope Stan’s up to this. If it happens, I’ll go about trying to gain access with the intent of providing you a link. Stay tuned.

For more information on Robert Anderson, please use these links:

https://dadswarstory.wordpress.com

https://caspir.warplane.com/pdoc/pn/600022261/

Robert Anderson. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum.
Robert Anderson. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum.
Page 63 of Robert Anderson’s war log reflecting Stan Booker’s entry in the upper right hand corner. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Courtesy of Bill Anderson. https://dadswarstory.wordpress.com
Page 63 of Robert Anderson’s war log reflecting Stan Booker’s entry in the upper right hand corner. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Courtesy of Bill Anderson. https://dadswarstory.wordpress.com

If there is a topic you’d like to see a blog written about, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I love hearing from you so keep those comments coming.

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