|
Printer-friendly format Email this thread to a friend Bookmark this thread |
This topic is archived. |
Home » Discuss » DU Groups » Science & Skepticism » Atheists and Agnostics Group |
Synnical (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore | Thu Nov-03-05 10:16 PM Original message |
Latest on the Atheists in Foxholes Event - 11/11/05 |
<Major snippage from AANEWS of 11/03/05>
For more info: http://www.atheistfoxholes.org/ Also, Military Association of Atheists and Free Thinkers http://maaf.info/ Some atheists in the military pics: Charles W. Villa Chris A. Williams Deanne Auburn Dice Joshua J. Baker, SSgt LONG OVERDUE: ATHEIST FOXHOLES EVENT TO INCLUDE APPEARANCE, SALUTE TO HANS KASTEN -- A GREATEST GENERATION STORY FINALLY TOLD SIX DECADES LATER! Thousands of veterans, including those from "the Greatest Generation" who served in World War II, are expected in Washington, DC next week for the November 11 "Atheists in Foxholes" Parade and Rally on the national mall. The event is designed to counter the ugly stereotype that "there are no Atheists in foxholes," and salute those Atheists, Freethinkers, Humanists and other nonbelievers who have worn the uniform, or currently serve in the nation's military. But if one required compelling evidence that there ARE "Atheists in foxholes," there is the evocative and dramatic story of Hans Kasten. Now in his 80s and living in the Philippines, Kasten is making the long trip back to America to attend the AIF Veterans Day event, and share his story with anyone who cares enough about the history of that war and is willing to listen. Already his life has been profiled in books, articles, web sites and a stirring documentary by film maker Charles Guggenheim dealing with American soldiers trapped in the midst of the Nazi holocaust. Guggenheim's cinematic opus, "BERGA, Soldiers of Another War," focuses on the plight of U.S. soldiers captured by the Germans during their last-ditch effort to throw back the advancing allied armies, and buy time for the development of "miracle" weapons. Those POWs, including Kasten suffered horrific indignities, everything from beatings and verbal taunts to starvation, imprisonment under brutal conditions, and always the prospect of execution, especially those who were Jewish or "looked Jewish." Many of the camps or Stalags were under the control of the Nazi SS, Hitler's elite corps of shock troops and thugs who were also in charge of the holocaust killing machinery targeting Jews, gypsies, political dissidents and anyone else who stood in the way of the Third Reich. Kasten grew up in Wisconsin, and like many young American men enlisted in the military as the world plunged into war. Fascism and Japanese imperialism had consumed whole nations. Kasten ended up in England working in a transportation unit, and when D-Day arrived, he found himself with thousands of other American troops on Omaha Beach with the 110th Infantry Regiment of the 28th Division. He carried the lethal BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle), a "high priority target" for the dug-in German defenders. American and other allied troops fought their way off the beaches only to encounter determined and often lethal enemy opposition. The Division saw action in the Huertgen Forest, and later hunkered down to consolidate and rest in Belgium. Then came the infamous Ardennes Offensive, the "Battle of the Bulge." In the early morning hours of December 16, 1944 300,000 German troops along with artillery and the infamous Panzer tank units of the Waffen SS ("Armed SS") crashed into the thin allied lines. By the time it was over on January 25, 1945, over 81,000 American soldiers had been 1965 movie starring Henry Fonda, appropriately named "The Battle of the Bulge," while visually compelling was riddled with inaccuracies. The heroic deeds of the American and British defenders would be undermined by the popular misconception that the advancing German armies consisted of "young boys and old men." In truth, while German units did have members of the "Volksgrenadier" (younger and older conscripts), the allies faced superbly trained and highly motivated German forces including the fanatical SS tank units under the command of Sepp Dietrich. American units were outgunned and under-equipped; worse yet, the Germans enjoyed the element of total surprise, and the advantage of having state-of-the-art Panther tanks that could best anything the U.S. could field. To their credit, however, the allies fought back with equal ferocity. The Germans often paid a high price for their territorial gains, and in no encounter with the enemy did the American and British forces -- often "green" to combat -- yield without a concerted fight. And there were atrocities like the horrendous Malmeddy Massacre, where 140 allied troops were captured by a German unit, and 86 executed -- one of the many violations of international law committed by the fascists concerning the humane treatment of POWs. Kasten's outfit was overrun near the Our River. A friend, Joseph Littell who would recount his POW experiences in the book "A Lifetime in Every Moment," was in the 422 Regiment. This unit, too, was taken prisoner by the Germans. On December 25, 1944, several hundred captured American soldiers were taken to the town of Bad Orb, location of Stalag (prisoner of war camp) IXB. Kasten, Littell and dozens of young POWs are herded into cramped, poorly-constructed barracks. With his fluent knowledge of German, Hans Kasten was selected as a "chief man of confidence," the Hauptvertrauensmann, to interpret the instructions to prisoner and do what he can on their behalf. Kasten also became the focus of rage by his Nazi captors, in part because of his full German name, Johann Carl Frederick. He was considered "worse than a Jew," a "traitor to the German race." One of his first orders from the SS overseers was to identify and sort out Americans who were or "looked" Jewish. Kasten refused. The German camp commander then ordered an assembly where all "Jews" were told to step forward. None of the POWs moved. Several accounts, including one written by Littell reveal what happened next: "A German officer stood on a platform, with the guards all around us, their guns at the ready," recalled Littell. "I can still hear these words from that infuriated officer: 'Alle Juden, ein Schritt vorfwarts!' ('All Jews, one step forward!') In view of Hans's earlier instructions, nobody moved. Obviously, this was of his doing. So angered was the officer that he leaped off his platform, grabbed a gun from a guard, swung it like a baseball bat and slammed Hans across the chest. Hans flew backward and hit the ground, gasping. For a moment he couldn't get back his breath...That's when we found ourselves in the boxcars to further hell..." The "boxcars" were part of a transport trainload that took several hundred Americans, including Kasten and Littell, from Bad Orb to Arbeitslager (Work Camp) 650 located in the village of Berga an der Elster. "They had brought us here to be slave laborers," noted Littell. This aspect of the war, until recently, has received little popular recognition or academic scrutiny. In addition to the systematic extermination of millions of Jews, political dissidents, mentally or physically disabled and other populations targeted by Hitler's racialist policies, Russian prisoners of war were frequently placed in slave labor camps and put to work on military construction projects. "Death through overwork" soon because a leading cause in the demise of hundreds of thousands of prisoners. Most of the British and American troops captured by the Germans, however, were unaware of this policy, or the prospect that they, too, might be conscripted into the slave labor brigades and, literally, worked to death. Jewish POWs were among the first targets to be singled out and sent to camps like Berga. The conditions at Berga were far worse than even the deplorable environment at Bad Orb. Littell and other prisoners were set to work hauling carloads of rock from a network of tunnels. Lice, dysentery, the cold and the harassment by their German captors made everyday existence a struggle for the American prisoners. Food and other relief supplies earmarked for POW camps by the International Red Cross were usually appropriated by the Germans. What sustained them the most was news that the Ardennes offensive had been stopped then smashed, and allied armies were rolling deep past the fortified Siegfried Line and into the heart of Hitler's Reich. On March 2, 1945, Kasten was informed by the Berga supervisor, an "Obersturmfuhrer" named Hack, that the camp had received two trained attack dogs. "Try to get a good night's sleep tonight because tomorrow we plan to turn you loose and see if the dogs can get you," Kasten was told. The time had come to escape. Acquiring some meager food supplies, matches, dynamite used in the mines and a small supply of German currency Kasten, Littell and another barracks "man of confidence" escaped from the Berga slave labor camp. For two days they negotiated their way through the forested terrain, and reached the village of Goschwitz. They managed to obtain a meal but were soon discovered as escaped American POWs and turned over to the Gestapo. Eventually, they were thrown into solitary confinement in Stalag IX C, a "Punishment and Control" facility and "subsidiary" of the Buchenwald concentration camp. By April, 1945, allied armies were storming across Germany liberating the POWs. Freedom for those still alive at Berga came in the early afternoon of April 11 as American M-4 tanks of the Sixth Armored Division spearhead rolled by the Stalag, followed by relief and medical units. But there was no sign of Hans Kasten. It would be months later when Joseph Littell finally made contact with his wartime friend that he learned that Kasten had been scheduled for execution -- an event interrupted by the serendipitous American liberation. Kasten "acquired" a Mercedes Benz car that was filled with gasoline and rations donated by sympathetic GIs, and set out to "search for the SOB who had beaten him so badly." He scoured the holding facilities where German troops and SS officers were being detained, but failed to find his tormentors. Collapsing from sheer exhaustion, Kasten was then transported to a medical clinic near Bonn and then to Camp Lucky Strike in France. He weighed just 96 pounds. Hans Kasten compiled a list of those German guards and supervisors who mercilessly beat, tortured and killed captive American POWs at Berga and Stalag IX which he eventually turned over to military intelligence personnel and the war crimes tribunal. He returned to the United States, and then settled in the Philippines to get on with the rest of a life which had already witnessed more than its fair share of brutality and inhumane behavior. Why there? "After winters in Wisconsin and then in the fox holes, plus no heat in the prisons, I'm very happy in the tropics." Hans Kasten married, raised a family, and collected art. Eventually, he made contact with Madalyn Murray O'Hair, the Atheist who helped to end mandatory prayer and Bible verse recitation in the public schools. She had a sense of Kasten's life, no doubt, since she was one of the "Greatest Generation," having served as a cryptanalyst in the European theater of operations. With time, the story of the American POWs at Berga faded from memory. The Nuremburg trials and other tribunals for Nazi-era war crimes punished hundreds of the guilty, but thousands escaped justice or were never prosecuted. World War II soon morphed into a Cold War. Now, each day several thousand members of that "Greatest Generation" who served in the war die. In many cases the story of what they sacrificed and endured perishes with them. While many documentaries, films and books have chronicled the history of the Second World War, it is only recently that the account of the captured American POWs like Hans Kasten has been brought to public attention. New York Times writer Rodger Cohen, reviewing the documentary film, BERGA ("A Filmmaker Remembers GI's Consumed by the Holocaust's Terror," April 17, 2001) rightfully noted, "Time may be needed for an obsession to take hold, time for the half-thoughts, nagging regrets and suppressed memories to coalesce into a determination to act." That may be the motivation and mind-set behind Charles Guggenehim, who coincidentally was with the American 106th Infantry Division ready to depart for Europe when he was immobilized with a foot infection. As a result, he did not see the combat, or fall into the clutches of the Germans at the Battle of the Bulge as they swept up several hundred American soldiers. "I could have been among the captured or the killed," mused Guggenheim. Instead, he put together a revealing documentary on the American POWs who ended up in the slave labor camps, and unveiled the gossamer fabric of time which has obscured this horrific event from public consciousness. The film includes interviews with Joseph Littell, Hans Kasten and other survivors. Kasten's story is also told in several published accounts, including "A Lifetime in Every Moment," and "Soldiers and Slaves" by Roger Cohen. And on the day of the Atheists in Foxholes event -- next Friday, November 11, 2005 -- another book telling part of the story of Berga, "Forever a Soldier" by Tom Wiener, produced by the Library of Congress -- is scheduled for released. And there is in the internet where accounts and pictures are posted. At http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Reinfenrath.html can be found "An American Slave in Nazi Germany" by John Reifenrath, who served in B Company, 423 Infantry unit, 106th Infantry Division. He, too was captured at the Battle of the Bulge and imprisoned at Berga. Kasten is mentioned in many of these stories. Roger Cohen's review can be found at http://www.aiipowmia.com/inter21/in041701k.html . There is a photo set at http://www.lonesentry.com/badorb/ , and at http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Shapiro.html one may read the recollections of William Shapiro, a medic at Berga. One of Many Stories... Ellen Johnson, President of American Atheists and head of the AIF Task Force which is organizing the "Atheists in Foxholes' event says that Kasten's story is one of many that the country should be aware of. "It's something like the account of what happened to Hans Kasten that makes you realize how much of a senseless cliche the claim 'there are no Atheists in foxholes' really is," said Johnson. "The fact is that if you made a remark like that and said, oh, there are no Jews, or Blacks, or Hispanics in foxholes, you would have all sort of people stepping up and pointing out how wrong you really were!" "We're hoping that the 'Atheists in Foxholes' event makes people more aware of just how inaccurate and marginalizing that cliche really is," Johnson added. "We have plenty of accounts of Atheists who served with distinction, who defended the Constitution, who answered the call. But Hans Kasten's story is really exceptional, and it needs to be told. This whole episode from World War II is finally getting the recognition it deserves, and it just goes to show that yes, there ARE, and have been and always will be 'Atheists in foxholes.' " ** ATHEISTS IN FOXHOLES UPDATE November 2, 2005 PRELIMINARY SPEAKERS ROSTER FOR AIF ANNOUNCED! With just over a week before the historic ATHEISTS IN FOXHOLES Parade and Rally in Washington, DC (November 10, 2005 -- see below), the AIF Task Force has announced the preliminary line-up of speakers. Included on behalf of organizations are (alphabetically)... KEN BRONSTEIN (New York City Atheists) ELLEN JOHNSON (American Atheists) LARRY JONES (Institute for Humanist Studies) EDWIN KAGIN (Camp Quest) WOODY KAPLAN BOBBIE KIRKHART (Atheist Alliance) MEL LIPMAN (American Humanist Association) HERB SILVERMAN (Secular Coalition for America JASON TORPY (Military Association of Atheists & Freethinkers) Other speakers include (alphabetically)... GARY BETCHAM KEN BONNELL KATHRYN BROOKS LARRY CARTER JIM CORRENTI CHRIS DAVIS DOUGLAS DIGGENS DONNY JANES HANS KASTEN BART MELTZER GEORGE OSSENKO WILLIAM H. RUSSELL WILLIAN T. SHEEHAN WARREN ALLEN SMITH ARIEL J. THOMANN SPIKE TYSON CHUCK VILLA BILL WALKER RICHARD L. WINGROVE The historic Atheists in Foxholes Parade & Rally will take place on Friday, November 11, 2005 -- this coming Veterans Day. -- The parade is open to all retired and active-duty members of the Armed Forces (for more information visit http://www.atheistfoxholes.org). Form up beginning at 10:30 AM directly east of 14th Street on the Mall. Signs will signify areas where vets of different eras can assemble. You are welcome to bring your own appropriately-themed signs, banners and flags. Be sure to wear appropriate attire for this event! We ask that all participants in the Parade be there no later than 10:45. The Parade will begin promptly at 11:00 AM and proceed down the Mall to the 4th St. Rally location. Marshals will be available to direct the Parade, answer questions and provide for special needs. The Parade itself is restricted to vets and active-duty military! This is their day, their event! Others are encouraged to line the Parade route which runs down the Mall between Madison Drive and Jefferson Drive. The Parade will take approximately 20-25 minutes to reach the Rally stage location. Events there will begin promptly at 11:30 AM. All may assemble in front of the stage. Portable toilets and a First Aid station will be set up. Some may wish to bring folding chairs or a blanket. ******** A note on signs, posters, banners and more... The Atheists in Foxholes event is about the veterans and active duty military personnel who have served our country and defended the ideas enunciated in our secular Constitution. We welcome signs, banners and flags for this event. National Park Service rules prohibit any signs mounted on wooden posts. Also, please note -- this is not about our respective Atheist/Freethought/Humanist or other organizations! (This is NOT the Godless Americans March on Washington, remember that?) This event is NOT a promotion for any group. So, please keep that in mind in respect to the theme of any signs or banners. We encourage you, instead, to use signs and other devices to salute our "Atheists in Foxholes." Also, this is not a referendum on a particular war or the idea of war. It is not about promoting awareness of other issues having to do with nonbelief or the First Amendment. It's about the vets. There will be other forums and venues where you can "blow off steam" about your favorite issues, or promote your particular favorite group -- but this is not an appropriate situation. Please be aware of this. The Atheists in Foxholes event is about our vets and active duty military personnel. If you have doubts about an appropriate sign or message, we suggest that you bring an American flag instead. Thanks! <snip> ********* * If you're an "Atheist in Foxholes" veteran or active duty military, we want to hear from you. Tell us your story! Contact ej@atheists.org ... and send us your photo so we can use it on our web site and during the AIF event! WHAT: Atheists in Foxholes Parade and Rally WHEN: Friday, November 11, 2005, beginning at 11:00 "AM WHERE: The Mall, Washington, DC MORE INFO: http://www.atheistfoxholes.org |
Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top |
Synnical (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore | Fri Nov-04-05 01:02 AM Response to Original message |
1. Could you all at least kick this in GD? Thanks, much appreciated |
Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top |
progressoid (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore | Fri Nov-04-05 01:08 AM Response to Reply #1 |
2. Okey Dokey. |
Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top |
onager (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore | Fri Nov-04-05 06:54 AM Response to Reply #1 |
3. Will do! |
Edited on Fri Nov-04-05 06:55 AM by onager
Thanks again for all your work on this.
:patriot: |
Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top |
Synnical (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore | Fri Nov-04-05 09:18 PM Response to Reply #3 |
4. Thank you! n/t |
Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top |
DU AdBot (1000+ posts) | Sat May 04th 2024, 06:35 AM Response to Original message |
Advertisements [?] |
Top |
Home » Discuss » DU Groups » Science & Skepticism » Atheists and Agnostics Group |
Powered by DCForum+ Version 1.1 Copyright 1997-2002 DCScripts.com
Software has been extensively modified by the DU administrators
Important Notices: By participating on this discussion board, visitors agree to abide by the rules outlined on our Rules page. Messages posted on the Democratic Underground Discussion Forums are the opinions of the individuals who post them, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Democratic Underground, LLC.
Home | Discussion Forums | Journals | Store | Donate
About DU | Contact Us | Privacy Policy
Got a message for Democratic Underground? Click here to send us a message.
© 2001 - 2011 Democratic Underground, LLC