Posted on 06/14/2005 1:03:46 PM PDT by NonZeroSum
January 13, 1945
MINNEAPOLIS (Routers) The Roosevelt administration reeled today from new revelations of atrocities at German and Italian POW camps in America's heartland, where prisoners have been worked to exhaustion, and many have died. The international community has expressed shock at news of the harsh treatment of the Axis prisoners, eliminating any pretense at moral underpinnings for our war efforts in the Pacific and western Europe.
Produce Farms of Death
For many, the lachrymose terror begins when the prisoners first arrive, as they are housed in an onion-drying shed on the Odegard Farm in Isanti County. Many deaths have been reported, as some of the new arrivals are killed by the veteran prisoners, perhaps while camp guards simply look the other way.
But if they survive the first few days, new horrors are in store for them. There have been reports that prisoners were forced to toil in the fields for eleven-hour days, from seven in the early morning, until the late evening at 6 PM. For this, they get only three dollars a day, with no overtime pay. Thus, the local farmers are benefiting from this cruel war in what many say is tantamount to slave labor. Harvesting potatoes and onions in the fields of despair, many came back to their harsh camps each evening, in tears from the onion fumes (a chemical weapon precursor), dirt and "tater" skins under their fingernails, their lives an unending slog of spud-infested misery.
An Archipelago Of Torture
There is no relief for the POWs when they return to barracks. There have been claims, so far unsubstantiated, that some prisoners have been cruelly tortured, often kept awake at night by camp guards playing the Andrews Sisters on the radio. One poor wretch was reportedly given repeated wedgies by the camp staff until he would reveal the words to all of the verses of "Lili Marlene."
But sadly, in many cases, this goes beyond physical deprivation and hardship--the prisoners' spirituality has often been attacked as well. In many cases, the Germans' beliefs have been ridiculed by their unfeeling captors, with one man's copy of "Mein Kampf" reportedly torn up by an angry prison guard. Some claim that Adolf Hitler's picture is used as a dart board at some of the camps, in plain view of the prisoners.
The situation at the Odegard "Death Farm" isn't unique--such conditions reputedly apply across many camps throughout the upper midwest. Olivia, Owatonna, all the way out to Algona, Iowa--like Manzanar, the formerly bucolic names may now go down in history as a vast network of brutal work camps that will shame America for the rest of its existence.
Good Hamburgers
The administration, of course, attempts to defend the camps.
The commanding officer claimed that "...the Italian POWs in Princeton drew illustrations, carved wood and played sports, including baseball and soccer. The POWs cooked their own meals and some visitors sampling the POWs’ hamburger patties pronounced them the 'best hamburger sandwiches they had ever eaten.'"
"Some of them even were allowed to occasionally sneak out to a county fair, and even mix with some of the local women. And a little more than hugging was going on, if you know what I mean," he said.
But even if true, some say that this just raises even more the issue of cultural sensitivity, with Italian mens' aversion to women being well established.
"Besides," said the head of the ICRC, which has been investigating the situation, "many of these men were irresponsibly allowed access to alcohol and cigarettes with their earnings. Who will take responsibility for the long-term effects on their health?"
Some defenders of the administration claim that the POWs in the US are treated better than any in the world, citing death marches and beheadings in the Pacific, and poor conditions in German camps, in which Jewish prisoners are separated out and shipped off to work camps or worse. But critics say that this is no excuse for our own behavior, and that we must set the highest possible standard.
A World Aghast
The German government expressed outrage at the reported treatment of its prisoners, and their ideology. "National Socialism is an ideology of peace, regardless of all of the warfare and murder perpetrated in its name," sputtered the German ambassador. "We demand that our prisoners be treated in full compliance with the Geneva Conventions, and that the Fuehrer's book be given the appropriate respect." There have been rumors, unsubtantiated so far, that when news of the atrocities reached Berlin and Dusseldorf, there were massive riots, with many deaths.
Senior staffers at the State Department, on background, said that this couldn't help in our efforts to maintain our vital alliances, or in the effort to gain new ones. "This is the kind of thing that makes it necessary for us to go it alone against Germany and Japan, with no allies except for second-rate countries like England, Australia, and Canada," he said. "No decent country, like Soviet Russia, will want to stay on the same side as us when we behave like this."
"We're losing the hearts and minds of the Axis countries, and the war effort is doomed to failure unless we can reverse this."
(Copyright 2005 by Rand Simberg)
That's not so! It is 100% authentic. Mary Mapes and Gunga Dan swear it was found in the Kinko computer archives from 1945.
Oof da! That Isanti County can be a REAL dangerous place!
A lady called Rush's show and made an excellent point: These terrorist scumbags are getting fed better food that public school kids. So where is the outrage?!
Funny!
The town I live in (Montgomery, in Le Sueur County) had a POW camp for German soldiers. Montgomery is one of the "Czech Country Triangle" Czech settlements in MN. The POW's worked in the fields but were treated well, even though there wasn't a lot of love between the Czechs and the Germans. (Czechs called rats "German rats.")
People today forget that many German POW's who were not Nazis, but just ordinary drafted privates in the Wehrmacht, were not released from custody by the Western Allies until as late as 1947 or 1948. And they were not proven "Death to America" types.
The international criminals at Gitmo are lucky to be alive. They are pirates. Under any previous form of international treatment, they would have been hanged long ago, their bodies left strung from the tree as carrion for the birds.
That's all! 11 F'n hours! Living and working on a farm for me ment 12-16 hours minimum! What a bunch of pansies!!
Congressman Billybob
I figured that one out when I read the last paragraph, sounds like the lame-brain lackeys of today, only the names have been changed to protect the ignorant....
The one is a traitor and the other is clueless, or is it vise-versa? Nice non-specificity, but I'd add a third category: the cynically self-interested powerseeker.
No. Too much open country. I was thinking an island is the right place. Not a big island like Cuba. More like a small island that would be less intimidating, and has all the modern conveniences. A small island where there are people prone to identify with their difficulties and offer some sympathy and understanding and compassion, and all that stuff.
I vote for Martha's Vinyard. In exchange for the inconvience to the residents, no unsightly windmills will ever be build there.
BTW. The Gitmo prisoners will need new supplies once they arrive. Warmer clothing for sure --- the evenings can be chilly. Probably some flush-proof Koran's -- just in case. Some big pots for lobster cooking, and some nice, sharp knifes to for the nightly clam bakes.
The US Senate needs to apologize!
"But even if true, some say that this just raises even more the issue of cultural sensitivity, with Italian mens' aversion to women being well established"
He must have meant ugly women. I hear that most of the sota women are about an alaskan 5!
A friend's father had a fellow that worked for him as a mechanic, equipment operator, foreman on heavy/highway work from 1949 to 1983, his name was "Willie".
Willie retired in 1984, he finaly admitted he was 71 years old, married 3 kids, a great guy and a great family, but Willie had a secrete, he was an Italian POW who "forgot" to go home.
He was in Bergen County in a work camp, a local Contractor needed a helper in his shop and the Authorieties sent Willie.
He worked for George M. Brewster & Son until 1949 then went to Jim D'Agostino.
He told me at his retirement party he was sure he would be killed after his capture in Italy. He was 30 years old and had been drafted into the Italian Army, having been told by his superiors that the American's send all POW's to America to work them to death, he said "I was a no lookin foreward to the trip" once he got here he told us, "Ifa dis is bad, whatsa like good? I tinka I stay" and the rest is history.
During World War One, many German POWs were moved to the United States, to make the potential of escape much less attractive. One POW camp was built in Tennessee.
One day, however, after careful planning, a few German officers managed to escape from the camp. All surrounding law enforcement were immediately made aware to watch out for the escaped prisoners and to help round them up.
Soon thereafter, one rural county sheriff got a message at headquarters: an old widow, living out on her own in the hills, had reported in that she had a corpse for the sheriff's department to collect. The sheriff winced, because there was potential Diplomatic Trouble.
So he went out there, and, sure enough, there was a German lieutenant with a giant shotgun wound in his chest. The wizened old widow was still leaning on her shotgun when the sheriff arrived.
SHERIFF: "Cripes, lady, you didn't have to shoot him! You could have just reported in that there was a German POW in the area, and we would have come out and caught him."
WIDOW: (squinting, puzzled, at the corpse) "German? I thought he was one of them Yankees."
During WW2 German P.O.W.'s worked on my Grandparent's farm. My mother told me stories about serving them lemonade and snacks during their work breaks. She told me the prisoners were very grateful and told her their treatment on that South Carolina farm in the summer was far better than what our guys were getting back in Germany.
Hmmm.... They CAN do "that" kind of work.
Italian POWs were housed at the Adam's Ranch, right outside Odebolt, Iowa.
My Dad saw them all the time...the family farm was only about two miles from there.
They were treated well...at least as well as the itinerate farm hands almost every family used to some extent back then.
They had it made...especially compared to our POWs in Asia and in Germany...as this wonderful satire points out.
The Islamos make Nazis look civilized.
That fact speaks volumes.
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