It's more or less exactly 60 years since the allied forces were marching into the Nazi camps, beginning with camps on the eastern side (Red army) then also on the western.
Sachsenhausen and Ravensbruck was at the end of april 1945.
Anyway, here's something I came across while doing my endless reading. And it was actually rather a funny coincidence.
BRITISH COMMANDOS IN SACHSENHAUSEN.
I was just reading the autobiography of a former Sachsenhausen inmate from Iceland. Well, he was actually from a Norse origin. Anyway, some unlucky souls from our litttle country did indeed find their way into the Nazi camps.
Being there included all sorts of nastyness, enough to turn ones stomach. Amongst other things was testing shoes. YES, testing shoes with a wooden sole, a leather sole etc etc. The testing was done by marching 40 km a day over various kinds of terrain on a 8 shaped track, 700 metres long. It was sand, gravel, water, small rocks, bigger rocks and concrete.
He ended up there once, and there got to know 7 Englishmen who had been captured on a commando raid in Norway. As a punishment, they did the track daily for a year and a half, from 1943 to 1945, when they finally were executed.
He became a friend of theirs, and it gave him a lot of support to see how they still kept their hopes and spirits.
Now, here comes the end of the story, which he didn't know.
In Martin Gilbert's book, "Second world war" I found more of this.
One fine day in 1945 after doing the daily job, the British were taken, not to the barracs, but to what everybody knew what was, - the execution place. They were actually going to be shot, which could be considered rather nice compared to many other forms of executions at Sachsenhausen.
Anyway, one of them, John Gowwin from the RN managed to seize the pistol from the firing party commander, and put him to death before being shot himself. Needless to say, the other six also got shot.
Well, when reading shelves full of WW2 books, one is bound to come upon some cross references. What struck me is that I have some books in a tool shed for reading while waiting for something, which in this case was the slow inflation of a tractor tire. And PRESTO, I open one and read a bit, open the other, and immediately am reading about the same event!
Do you have similar stories? A bit of a sad subject I am afraid, but after all, should not be forgotten.
