Two of our previous blogs discussed Hitler’s enablers (refer to blogs, Hitler’s Enablers – Part OneandHitler’s Enablers – Part Two [click here to read part one and here to read part two]). Without hundreds of thousands (millions?) of people to carry out his orders, policies, and directives, Hitler would likely never have attained the status of the greatest mass murderer in the history of mankind. For a myriad of reasons, the majority of the Führer’s enablers went unpunished or if convicted, never fully served their sentences (click here to read the blog The Wisemen). For one group of enablers (i.e., war criminals), their post-war stories centered around the “ratlines” (click here to read the blog ODESSA: Myth or Truth?) that guided them out of Europe and in many cases, to South America (in particular, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile). For some (e.g., Josef Mengele, Aloïs Brunner, and Walter Rauff), they managed to either elude capture or were protected by a dictator and ultimately died in their “adopted” country. Others such as Franz Stangl, Josef Schwammberger, and Erich Priebke were eventually extradited to West Germany where they were convicted and died in prison.
Today’s blog is about Adolf Eichmann, one of the most notorious Nazis responsible for the organization and execution of the Final Solution. (Contrary to certain article headlines, Eichmann was not the “architect” of the Final Solution⏤he carried out the orders.) Eichmann’s capture in Argentina by the Mossad in 1960 and subsequent trial in Israel in 1961 were significant events on the world stage. Not widely known for his role in the Holocaust, Eichmann’s trial re-opened the file on Nazi atrocities and provoked a world-wide discussion about the Holocaust and Nazi genocide⏤topics that had been suppressed for fifteen years. Read More The Argentina Papers
Do you remember the 1971 fictional story, The Jackal, written by Frederick Forsyth? It was about an assassination attempt on General Charles de Gaulle and based on the actual 1962 unsuccessful attempt on the general’s life. Today’s story takes place less than twenty years earlier during World War II however, this time, the assassination targets were the Allied leaders, commonly known as the “Big Three.”
The Allied “Big Three” at the Tehran Conference: Stalin (left), Roosevelt (center), and Churchill (right). Photo by U.S. Government (c. November 1943). PD-U.S. Government. Wikimedia Commons.
Did You Know?
Did you know that twenty-two percent of Millennials surveyed several years ago knew nothing about the Holocaust and an amazing sixty-six percent of them had never heard of Auschwitz? Frankly, I find those statistics to be unbelievable and clearly, it is a sad commentary on our education system. I’m the first one to stand up for teaching more of the three R’s (reading, writing, and arithmetic). However, I cannot comprehend that we ignore teaching our children about the Nazis and the twelve years of their systematic murder of eleven million people. Aren’t there some very important basic and fundamental lessons here to be learned?
We will very shortly reach the time when the last World War II participant dies. This is true of Nazi concentration camp and extermination camp survivors. When these people are gone, who will tell their stories to future generations? Allied troops demanded General Eisenhower tour the liberated Buchenwald Ohrdruf concentration camp (the first camp liberated by the Americans). Eisenhower was so appalled that he ordered photographers to come in and document the atrocities. The general later said that one of the reasons he ordered photographic documentation was to prevent future generations from being able to deny the Nazis’ crimes.
General Dwight Eisenhower (center) and high-ranking officers view the charred remains of prisoners who were burned during the Nazi evacuation of Buchenwald Ohrdruf concentration camp. Photo by Colonel Meches (12 April 1945). United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration, College Park. PD-U.S. Government. Wikimedia Commons.
When Sandy and I toured the former Nazi rally grounds at Nuremburg, we had the opportunity to visit the nearby museum. There were no attempts to whitewash what the Germans and the Nazis did during the twelve years of the Third Reich. The museum was organized in such a way as to take you through the journey of how and why these events evolved. The museum is considered so important that after a young man or woman enters the German military, they are immediately required by law to take a tour of this museum.
Thirty-years ago, Jack was a client of mine and he was a brilliant businessman who lost some of his family during the Holocaust. One day on the way out to see his new manufacturing facility, we had a discussion about the Holocaust. At some point, I mentioned it was so horrific that it could never happen again. Jack slammed on the brakes and once he pulled the car over to the side of the road, he turned to me and sternly said, “Stew, don’t you ever think something like this couldn’t happen again. It can and it will should the right circumstances and people present themselves. We must study how and why this happened because that is the only way we have any hope of preventing it again.”
The creation of Holocaust museums and memorials were driven primarily by Holocaust survivors. Education programs have relied on first-hand stories from these survivors. When these people are gone, who will step up and ensure no one ever forgets?
Forgive but never forget.
The Tehran Conference
The Tehran Conference was the first of the major meetings involving the “Big Three” (United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union). Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met in the Soviet Embassy in Tehran between 28 November and 1 December 1943. Despite different agendas, the primary outcome was agreement that a second front would be established against the Nazis in May 1944. This was a “win” for Stalin who had been pushing for this since the Nazis had invaded the Soviet Union in mid-1941. The second front would divert German troops away from the east. One of the overriding factors of the conference was the security of the three Allied leaders. The night before the meetings began, Stalin’s right-hand man, Vyacheslov Molotov, informed British and American representatives that an assassination plot against the Big Three leaders had been uncovered. A Soviet agent, Nikolai Kuznetzov (1911-1944), working undercover while posing as a Wehrmacht officer had been tipped off by a German officer who had had a little too much to drink. Click here to watch the video The Big Three in Teheran (1943).
“Stew blends the dark history of buildings in Paris that are associated with the infamous deeds of the Gestapo with contrasting insights into the bravery of the French people, who, at great risk to themselves and their families, secretly resisted the German Occupation.”
Stanley Booker, MBE, RAF (Ret.), Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur
“Informative and entertaining, Stew Ross’ newest work evokes a difficult and frightening time in the history of the City of Light. The detailed descriptions of sites such as the Vél’ d’hiv’ or Gestapo headquarters reminds us of the choices people made during those years.”
Cynthia Bisson, PhD, Professor of History, Belmont University, French Resistant Expert
