General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Scherf on October 06, 2015, 08:57:14 PM
Title: The 10,000
Post by: Scherf on October 06, 2015, 08:57:14 PM
It being 2015, most of the WWII anniversaries have been #70 this year, however there is one #60 worth mentioning.
For many years after the war, the Soviet Union held on to thousands of German PoWs, claiming they were war criminals, a point about which I have no comment to make. After Stalin's death, there was a thaw in relations with the then West Germany, and Chancellor Konrad Adenauer made the release of "The Last 10,000" his first priority in dealing with the SU.
He managed to get the USSR to agree to release the men, though Mr. Wiki tells me the move was unpopular with ordinary Soviets (again, I have no comment to make).
Sixty years ago today, the last 10,000 began their return.
You don't need to speak German to "get" this clip - the sense of thankfulness towards Adenauer himself, and the raw emotion of the return, both for those families which were re-united, and for those whose final desperate hope was extinguished.
Title: Re: The 10,000
Post by: Nefarious on October 08, 2015, 10:57:54 AM
Interesting, thanks for sharing.
Title: Re: The 10,000
Post by: zack1234 on October 09, 2015, 02:27:32 AM
I have no sympathy for any Germans held by the Russians.
Germany got off lightly.
If it were not for the start of the cold war Germany as a nation would have been outlawed and the language banned.
The myth of German industry :rofl
Britain is the only real capitalist country in Europe.