Posted on 10/31/2024 3:09:09 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The Germany President pictured here with his Greek counterpart flew to Crete on Thursday to apologize for the German atrocities in Crete. Credit: German Presidency President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier has asked the people of Kandanos in Crete for forgiveness on behalf of Germany for the massacres committed by the German Wehrmacht during the Second World War.
“We cannot undo the suffering. We will never be able to properly make up for it. But we must keep its memory alive to ensure that what happened once does not happen again”, he said at a commemoration ceremony.
Visiting Kandanos on Crete which was almost destroyed by German forces in June 1941, the German President added: “The photos give us an idea of what happened in this place, but pictures and photos can only ever convey in part the full dimension of the horror.”
The village was burned to the ground and Nazi troops massacred all its 180 residents. It was one of the worst atrocities committed by the occupiers and has haunted Crete and Greece for decades.
Steinmeier spoke to survivors of the massacre as some demonstrators shouted slogans demanding “justice” and war reparations from Germany.
The massacre site of Crete is a “German shame”
As Steinmeier noted during a ceremony at the village Kandanos was one of the first Cretan villages to be razed to the ground by German soldiers, members of the Wehrmacht, during the Second World War.
“The 3rd company of the 55th Motorcycle Battalion, a paratrooper platoon and two groups of the mountain pioneers committed horrific, brutal crimes,” he said.
“They burned down the houses. They killed the livestock. They shot all the villagers they encountered, primarily women and old people. The only people who managed to escape were those who happened to be away from the village or were just able to get away in time.
“It is with a heavy heart that I, as President of the Federal Republic of Germany, have come to this place. But I cannot come here, to Crete, without visiting this site of German shame,” Steinmeier stressed.
Speaking in Greek, the German president added: “Και γι΄ αυτό θα ήθελα σήμερα να ζητήσω συγχώρεση στο όνομα της Γερμανίας.” (I would like to ask for your forgiveness today on behalf of Germany.)
“I ask you, the survivors and descendants, for your forgiveness for the heinous crimes perpetrated here by Germans. I ask for forgiveness for the fact that over many decades my country failed to punish these crimes. That after the war it initially turned a blind eye and remained silent.”
Greece on Wednesday raised again the issue of German reparations for WWII with Steinmeier.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said, “These issues remain alive and we hope that at some point we will resolve them.” The German guest replied that legally for Germany, the issue is considered closed.
How about Malta and a few other places?
I’m more worried about their fault in pushing the EU to import millions of Islamic savages that will ultimately destroy Europe.
Do something about that current crime, Germany.
The Battle of Crete was one of the biggest British foulups of the war.
Someone has to say it.
I did NAZI that coming!
It’s easier to apologize for the historical misdeeds of others than to apologize for one’s own mistakes. The first doesn’t require any real change.
Exactly.
Yep. This is meaningless without a real action.
Migration is not solely "Germany's crime."
Post WW2 Western "deNazification" pressured Germany into proving it's no longer racist, making them adopt some of the first "hate crime" laws, having their schools pound "anti-racism" into the heads of every German child.
Hollywood and the BBC (among others) have for decades produced an endless stream of German accented villains in entertainment, further pressuring Germans to prove they're no longer like that.
Then there are all the "anti-racists" in Britain, France, and other countries, who (without any German pressure) are welcoming migrants and punishing those who object.
Then there's the American Global Empire and its NATO and CIA, which further pressures Europe to open its doors, threatening a color revolution against countries (e.g., Hungary) which refuse.
No, this is not solely Germany's crime. Not even mostly German's crime.
No question the allies forced the Germans to take in millions of Non-Germans so that another Hitler would never rise again.
Do you remember Berlin Freeper? I have seen a post from him in a long time.
> The Battle of Crete was one of the biggest British foulups of the war. <
Perhaps true on the German side as well. The Crete invasion cost the German paratroopers so many casualties that Hitler (unwisely) prohibited any further airborne actions.
And as a side point, I’m okay with this German apology. There well could be people still alive who knew some of the victims.
What doesn’t make sense is issuing an apology for something that happened a century or more ago. So Crete, yes. Slavery, no.
How do nations apologize for anything? The people who made the decision to commit a massacre in Crete and who carried out the massacre are all dead. Why do modern-day Germans have any obligation to apologize for anything, and who are they apologizing to except Cretans who were not alive when the massacre happened?
Invasion of Crete: a Bloody Mess - WW2 - May 23 1941
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqv3IILkIqQ
I’ve been binge watching these over the past few weeks, and this one was fresh in my mind.
If that idiot Mussolini hadn’t started a war with Greece which he couldn’t win, Hitler would not have decided he had to come to Italy’s rescue and invade Greece. That also led to the German invasion of Yugoslavia.
Most notable thing from the video is that Max Schmelling was a paratrooper who participated in the invasion of Crete.
Something I learned is that the common perception is that the Germans invading Greece and Yugoslavia delayed Barbarossa was not true.
In fact, Barbarossa was delayed because of the rainy Spring season in Poland, which delayed the Germans moving their troops and equipment to the Russian border, and that it had little to do with going into Greece and Yugoslavia.
Mussolini was hostile to Hitler. (Historic animosity between Germany and Italy!) Almost mobilized agianst Germany over the Nazi takeover of Austria. If he just cooled his jets and just concentrated on being a bustard in Africa his regime might have survived the war like Franco’s did in Spain. Also Hitler might have invaded Italy which would have made some interesting team ups!
Perhaps true on the German side as well. The Crete invasion cost the German paratroopers so many casualties that Hitler (unwisely) prohibited any further airborne actions.
Also, it is true that the Cretan civilians were pretty brutal on the Germans when they first landed on the island, so you’d have to think the reprisals would be a foregone conclusion.
Mussolini was hostile to Hitler. (Historic animosity between Germany and Italy!) Almost mobilized agianst Germany over the Nazi takeover of Austria.
Count Ciano was begging Mussolini to turn against Hitler the whole time.
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