Germany

Background: Leopold Wenger and his best friend Gilbert Geisendorfer read in a newspaper that there were openings for young men in the National Political Educaton Institute at Köslin in Pomerania. They talked about it and decided to apply. Together, they reasoned that if they did not pass the entrance exam the world would not end and they would have seen Berlin, the capitol city of the Reich.

They traveled by train from Leoben to Berlin-Potsdam, where the evaluation and testing took place. Both did pass and were then transported from Potsdam to their new school at Köslin. Leopold was 18 years old at this time. In the following letters to his family, he describes his first month in this new and different environment. More of his letters, up until November 1939, will be posted here as they are translated.

copyright 2013 Wilhelm Wenger and Carolyn Yeager 

Translated from the German by Wilfried Heink

Letter of April 20, 1939: Based on my excellent performance in science and sports, I was admitted to NAPOLA (National political education program) in Köslin. Only 230 of the 800 applicants were admitted for testing; 60 youngmen (jungmännen) were selected for grades 7 and 8 and, because of my test results, I was accepted into grade 8 even though I had never completed grade 7. 

The tests were not what I had expected. They were regular classroom lessons and each one of us was evaluated based on performance. High-ranking SS officers were present, as well as a General of the Luftwaffe. Medical examinations were performed three times: a general assessment; fitness for flying (a turnstile and a catapult); and suitability for the SS (racial). 

I travelled to Berlin a few times and was able to visit the Garrison church in Potsdam, the grave of Frederic the Great as well as the castle Sanssouci. On the 18th we drove to Berlin via the Avus, then on the Autobahn to Stettin [close to the Baltic Sea], and to Küstrin, and our new home.

June 17, 2013

Carolyn says we are in a political struggle, and this political struggle dominates every search for  truth that we may sincerely be engaged in. “Democracy,” as represented by Barack Obama, has brought about a border-less world, rampant “terrorism” and total 24-hour surveillance. What does truth mean in such an environment?

• The God-like status of Barack Obama in Germany and the extraordinary security measures taken for his June 18-19 visit;
• New testimony at the totally political National Socialist Underground “murder” trial is both surprising and meaningless;
• Pasquale di Fabrizio should be “truth researcher” Jim Fetzer’s worst nightmare;
• Two Jeff Baumans:  curly-haired tall guy in picture (right) and straight-haired stockier guy as amputee hero;
• Selective evidence at Clues Forum–and truth mixed with mis-direction–that’s disinfo;
• Reader says the solution to “Elie Wiesel in Buchenwald” is to find Lazar Wiesel–or at least traces of him;
• Questions on the Questionaires from Buchenwald do not bring anything conclusive;
• Only real solution is to put people on the witness stand, under oath, with cross-examination.

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Adolf Hitler proclaimed June 18, 1935 the happiest day of his life. It was because the naval agreement his government sought with Great Britain, the A.G.N.A., was signed. Hitler saw it as the beginning of an alliance between the two nations against France and the Soviet Union—the beginning of the partnership that he was seeking between the “leading” nations of Europe: Germany and England. These two, Great Britain by sea and Germany by land armies, would share the burden of defending Europe from all enemies.

It also released Germany from the Treaty of Versailles in the area of naval rearmament. Under the 1919 treaty, Germany was allowed no submarines, no naval aviation, and no battleships. The total naval forces allowed to the Germans were six each heavy and light cruisers, 12 each destroyers and torpedo boats. 

Germany had continued through the years to protest these restrictions, demanding that either all of Europe disarm down to German levels, or Germany be allowed to rearm to their level. Every German government of the Weimar Republic , preceding Hitler's Third Reich, had been implacably opposed to the terms of Versailles; the British were well aware that the terms were unjust, unstable and indefensible. It was France that always vetoed any relaxation.

The following article was published on June 7, 2013 in Der Spiegel Online.

Right-Wing Terror: Neo-Nazi's mother sheds light on his disappearance
 

By Julia Jüttner in Erfurt, Germany

The murderous (how do they get away with this?) neo-Nazi group National Socialist Underground vanished from sight in 1998. On Thursday, the mother of one of the group's members told investigators her version of the events leading up to her son's disappearance.

Peter Böhnhardt was just 17 years old when his lifeless body was deposited outside the door of his parents' house in the eastern German city of Jena. The circumstances surrounding his death have never been completely solved. Jürgen and Brigette Böhnhardt suspect that their son fell while climbing on castle ruins nearby and that his friends, afraid of any consequences, dropped his body off on the asphalt during the night.

That happened in 1988. On Thursday, a quarter-century later, Brigitte Böhnhardt sat in Room 101 of the parliamentary building of the eastern state of Thuringia, in the capital city of Erfurt. A tall woman, she speaks in a soft but surprisingly high-pitched voice. The 65-year-old teacher is the first relative of a suspected member of the National Socialist Underground (NSU), the neo-Nazi terror cell that killed 10 people from 2000 to 2007, to be questioned in public.

Welcome back to the battle, Günter!

Above: Sylvia Stolz was among those waiting to greet Günter as he was released after serving his 5-month prison sentence for 'violating' Germany's strict holohoax laws. Sylvia and Günter are under umbrellas at right.

Below: Part of the welcoming party for Günter outside Mannheim Prison on a rainy day. Günter leaning on sign at right.

From Leopold Wenger's Trip Diary

The Great Ride to Nuremberg

for the N-S Party Convention of 1937

copyright 2013 Wilhelm Wenger and Carolyn Yeager 

Translated from the German by Wilfried Heink

Sunday, August 29, 1937. My buddy Franz and I left Leoben at 6am. When passing the train station I suddenly discovered that I had left my canteen, full of tea, at home. I had no choice but to turn back.

We then continued. It was still cold, and also foggy; our clothes were soon damp. But the fog lifted and at Mauten we stopped for breakfast. Then a headwind picked up, making travel up the Schober Pass difficult. At the top we stopped at a farm to drink some milk; Franz encountered a little mishap but at 11:30 we arrived in Trieben. We did not stop, passed the Wörschach airport and at noon we were already passed Steinach. We rode through an open forest; later in open country with the sun beating down and stopped at an Inn in Diemlern for lunch. The ride from then on was boring, up to Gröbming when I noticed that the houses were different, almost flat roofs with boulders on them. We had climbed quite a ways up and now traveled downhill, the road condition changing. Passing Haus, we had our first glimpse of the Dachstein, with the peak hidden in clouds. At 4pm we arrived in Schladming; the town was celebrating the completion of a new church tower and we had problems getting through the crowds. Uphill from there, and at 4:30 we passed the border between Styria and Salzburg. We already had the Mandling pass behind us.

In half an hour we made it to Radstatt, having to push our bikes up a hill along the way. We looked for the hostel, found it outside the town and registered at 5:30. The pool was a welcome addition and in the evening a youth from Vienna joined us.

The following is an editorial commentary by Gisela Friedrichsen in Spiegel Online International dated May 13, 2013 titled "Victim's Lawyers Should Stop Fanning Outrage."

Relatives of the victims of the NSU terror cell were furious that the trial was adjourned last week so the judge could consider a defense motion of bias against him. But the victims' lawyers criticized this legitimate instrument. They are giving their clients exaggerated expectations and should know better.

A scandal! An insult! Another slap in the face of the victims! Such was the language that accompanied the decision by Munich's Higher Regional Court to cancel two sessions of the National Socialist Union (NSU) trial and not resume proceedings until this week. This came on the first day of the trial, when the defense entered two motions alleging bias: one directed at chief judge Manfred Götzl and the other against him and two fellow judges.

May 19, 2013

Taken from Spiegel Online International (by Gisela Friedrichsen) which is doing a fair job of covering this trial for English readers. Pictured right is Beate Zschäpe on Day 3 of her trial, May 15. Highlights:

The trial resumed on Tuesday, May 14 "after an eight-day adjournment during which the court considered - and rejected - a defense motion to replace the judge on the ground that he was biased because he had ordered defense lawyers to be frisked before entering the courtroom."

Carolyn - No participant in the trial, including the Turkish "victim families" and their attorneys was searched - ONLY the three defense attorneys. Wow, talk about totally unnecessary, but it does serve to give the German people a sense of the bias of this court. On this 2nd day, the charges against the defendents were read out. The media plays up that there were "emotional gasps and sobs," etc. from the "victim family members" in the gallery.

New Motions

"On [the[ third day of the trial, the morning [was] focused on a purely legal problem -- who sits on the judge's bench. Motions against the judges are difficult. They have to be made straight after the charges have been read. A defense that botches this aspect of the trial is doing a bad job."

By Willy Wenger
May 5, 2013

I was in the final battle for Berlin - from the Seelow Heights up to the last bitter street fighting in the vicinity of the bunker of Adolf Hitler. All Berliners participated in this, the bloodiest battle on German soil. The city had already included for some days troops of the Red Army.

Knowledge of the possiblity of being liberated by the Twelfth  Army under the command of young General Walther Wenck must have been what gave us the hope and the courage to endure. But General Wenck came up only as far as Potsdam.

"Then was the terminus." Those were his words as I heard them from him in Geneva in 1966, a time that I was able to talk to him about it.

The Odyssey of Fahnenjunker Wenger

Part Two - Conclusion

From the Seelow Heights—April 1945

Back Home to Leoben, Austria—July 1945

By Willy Wenger