What are we reading?

[bobarossa]

Neighbor put a sign in his yard a few weeks ago:
April 4, 1945
Ohrdruf, Germany
Never Forget

Talked to him and he said he had recently started reading his father's letters home from WW2.  Discovered his father had been in the unit that liberated the first concentration camp discovered by US forces.  He loaned me a book, Hell Before Their Very Eyes by John McManus. 

It covers the liberation of Ohrdruf, Buchenwald, and Dachau focusing on the reaction of US troops (it also covers the camps in detail).  It has been a very difficult book to read. Troops reacted in horor, revulsion, sickness (General Patton vomited), and hatred of SS(revenge killings of guards).  The details on the way the camps were run was very enlightening.  The SS elevated inmates to perform much of the running of the camps.  These inmates (Communists and Socialists) frequently took on the evil aspects of the SS. 

Highly recommended.

[ArizonaTank]

Neighbor put a sign in his yard a few weeks ago:
April 4, 1945
Ohrdruf, Germany
Never Forget

Talked to him and he said he had recently started reading his father's letters home from WW2.  Discovered his father had been in the unit that liberated the first concentration camp discovered by US forces.  He loaned me a book, Hell Before Their Very Eyes by John McManus. 

It covers the liberation of Ohrdruf, Buchenwald, and Dachau focusing on the reaction of US troops (it also covers the camps in detail).  It has been a very difficult book to read. Troops reacted in horor, revulsion, sickness (General Patton vomited), and hatred of SS(revenge killings of guards).  The details on the way the camps were run was very enlightening.  The SS elevated inmates to perform much of the running of the camps.  These inmates (Communists and Socialists) frequently took on the evil aspects of the SS. 

Highly recommended.

These types of books are incredibly important to make certain the truth is not forgotten. 

I find it incredibly sickening that there are scum out there profiting from a lie by saying that 'none of this ever happened.'

[bobarossa]

Neighbor put a sign in his yard a few weeks ago:
April 4, 1945
Ohrdruf, Germany
Never Forget

Talked to him and he said he had recently started reading his father's letters home from WW2.  Discovered his father had been in the unit that liberated the first concentration camp discovered by US forces.  He loaned me a book, Hell Before Their Very Eyes by John McManus. 

It covers the liberation of Ohrdruf, Buchenwald, and Dachau focusing on the reaction of US troops (it also covers the camps in detail).  It has been a very difficult book to read. Troops reacted in horor, revulsion, sickness (General Patton vomited), and hatred of SS(revenge killings of guards).  The details on the way the camps were run was very enlightening.  The SS elevated inmates to perform much of the running of the camps.  These inmates (Communists and Socialists) frequently took on the evil aspects of the SS. 

Highly recommended.

These types of books are incredibly important to make certain the truth is not forgotten. 

I find it incredibly sickening that there are scum out there profiting from a lie by saying that 'none of this ever happened.'

General Eisenhower specifically requested media/congress people to be brought over from US to see the camps.  He feared exactly what has happened with the denials.

[GDS_Starfury]

and yet here we are

https://twitter.com/i/status/1775891730983952502

[Gusington]

^How is this possible?

[matt3916]

You're not getting the full story from the clip.

From WGME in Augusta, Me -- "Representative Libby was previously talking about the First Amendment right to free speech. Twenty minutes prior, she had spoken about the "neo-Nazis" that were reported this past spring and summer appearing in Portland." and

"From context of the speech- she is not referencing the Nazis of World War II."

I call BS when either side is trying to gain political points by misrepresenting what was actually said.

See https://wgme.com/news/i-team/maine-lawmakers-rhetorical-question-about-nazis-goes-viral-heres-full-context if you're interested in more details.

I despise cheap tricks no matter who is trying to pull them.

[Gusington]

^That makes it much clearer.

[Uberhaus]

Oh good, Libby wasn't talking about dead or ninety year old Nazis, she was only speaking on the behalf of living Neo-Nazis and voting against a bill to ban unauthorized paramilitary training camps.  With the Neo-Nazis doctrine of genocide and both their celebration and denial of the Holocaust, how do they not fall under the limitations of US Free Speech? Specifically, True Threats unless that is limited by time, place and to a person or people, or Fighting Words?

"We will exterminate the X people, just not today, nor tomorrow."  Come on!  My Great Uncle was an Italian Fascist, I am under no illusions as to what the Nazi ideology on their superiority is.  I'm sticking my nose into American affairs as Maine is next door to Quebec and New Brunswick.

Oh and as to books, I finally finished Sam Cooper's Wilful Blindness, I'll reserve comment about how awful it was learning about Project Sidewinder, the Vancouver Model, and the corruption of Canada.  I've bought Maj. Gen. Mick Ryan's White Sun War which I look forward to reading.

[Gusington]

^Also good points. Not sure how much better/worse adding 'neo' is.

[Uberhaus]

I am loathe to make such arguments especially regarding another country.  I am even more loathe to publicly state my relative's political affiliation.

[Gusington]

Eek 

[Toonces]

I remember many years ago I was gifted a book called, Endgame: 1945, or something to that effect.  I literally could not finish it.  The description of the concentration camps was so horrifying that I simply gave up on the book altogether.

True story.

[GDS_Starfury]

growing up with older family members who have tattoos and seeing and listening to them regularly has an effect.

[Gusington]

Also growing up with 2/3 of a family just gone - can do the same.

[ArizonaTank]

3/4 of the way through "The War for All the Oceans: From Nelson at the Nile to Napoleon at Waterloo" by Roy and Leslie Adkins.

This is a great account of the naval aspects of the Napoleonic Wars, mostly from the British perspective. The book is mostly told through first hand accounts, and it brings to life many smaller, lesser known sea actions of the period. The book excels at telling the real-life actions of such great naval heroes as Thomas Cochrane whom Napoleon apparently styled as the "Wolf of the Seas", and Sydney Smith whom Napoleon also apparently said, "that man made me miss my destiny." These stories are so swashbuckling that it is hard to believe they aren't fiction, and that you think they were written about Horatio Hornblower or Jack Aubrey.

Anyway, I think the book is a must read for anyone interested in the era. 

https://www.amazon.com/War-All-Oceans-Napoleon-Waterloo/dp/0670038644/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.lfpqrMyUF8ido3p-drGv2mrE_vsAUIu6gpXQT-MErDYJHVYQHUUQZf20WdujtWOHjasyDxszJmJH0yVCYghLyUJsOgTZk7ZIqq9fGUGusoHhh1-zKSTkNbP6aq3g0IqjowofUvmmVvJFUotS-mc0fQPr0Ci8pq0MZgtbZUV13PMJ8QF28-K95DyR5Y3rbAj4ZZEkhzXWJnz1bUTsZ-RdFllFn0G0Ar51sylU-X8pbqI.VLuoBJqfMsEbqsqbSPr6CDgH77m78d5QKgQPBCIXFh8&qid=1713186539&sr=8-1