German Third Reich Historical Visit 2013

[Karl Welteke]

OERBKE SOVIET CEMETERY, STALAG XID/321

This camp was established in 1941 for the Soviet prisoners. By spring 1942 about 10,000 Russians had died from starvation and sickness. This location is next to the POW camp STALAG XIB and STALAG 357 in Fallingbostel.

The cemetery was started by the Soviets in 1945 but is now under the authority the district Lueneburg.

After we visited the Fallingbostel Military Museum and the Fallingbostel POW STALAG XIB Monument we visited the cemetery and 15 images from this visit are in this album:
www.flickr.com/photos/44567569@N00/sets/72157635533244892/


Here are 12 sample images, 6 are from the www:



Z574-The Oerbke soviet Cemetery is mostly mass graves but there are some individual graves. The Oerbke cemetery is large, the plate in front tells the history of the dead and the cemetery in German.



Z575-The landmarks for this segment of Fallingbostel and the Oerbke Cemetery.



Z576-On this side of the cemetery is a special project, a school has adopted this cemetery and those poles have nameplates attached that the students made and bring here on a annual basis. The name of the project is -Names on Tiles-. Not only the students participate, the community joins and on an annual basis a procession from the railway station to here is made, the route the prisoners had to do when they arrived by train.



Z577-The grave or marker of a Russian POW in the Russian and Latin writing. Lets remember that the war in Russia caused approximately 20 million dead Russians.



Z578-Russians are remembered by name on these three grave markers. The large cemetery monument in back was erected in 1964 and replaced an earlier one.



Z579-The entrance to the Oerbke Soviet Cemetery, we are heading out to the car. A plaque near by tells the history of the dead and the cemetery in German, STALG XID/321.
In STALAG XIB and camp 357 Seven hundred thirty four (734) other prisoners died and were buried separate, then interned, sent home or went to other cemeteries. 127 of those were reburied here and were Poles, Yugoslavians, French, Belgian, Slovakians and other Soviet POWs.



Z580-In Fallingbostel and Oerbke were four camp names: STALAG XIB, 321, XID AND 357 and they were all close together, used at different times for different groups of POWs. This map is from the www and can clear up the confusion a little. There were a total of 100,000 POWs registered here, most were on work details like on village farms, most of these were French and Poles. About 30,000 Russian died and 734 other national death were recorded.



Z581-A picture from the German Commemoration Foundation (Gedenkstaette), a Russian POW in his dugout.



Z582-View of the Oerbke Soviet Cemetery XID/321, in front it seems the Russian POW is trying to clean up. This picture is from the German Commemoration Foundation (Gedenkstaette).



Z583-This building is very close to the cemetery and we drove by there, I added the description on the picture. This picture is from the German Commemoration Foundation (Gedenkstaette).



Z584-The temporary Russian dugouts in 1941 but I believe they were used into 1942 thru the winter. When I first saw these pictures a few years ago I could not believe it and this is in the State of Lower Saxony (now), where I grew up. This picture was copied from the Holocaust web pages.



Z585-I guess there were some barracks in STALAG XID/321 for the Russians in 1941. This picture was copied from the Holocaust web pages.

This is the last segment on our 10th day into the history of the Third Reich and this is the 2nd last day of our trip.

[Karl Welteke]

SANDBOSTAL STALAG XB 2013-04-19

We are on our 11th and last day into history of the Third Reich and this is the 2nd last segment.

Perhaps it was the most notorious WWII POW camp, between 1939 and 1945 one million POWs of 46 nations passed through. Nearly 50,000 (mostly Soviet Soldiers) died there of hunger, disease or were just simply murdered. Quote from Wikipedia. My pictures from our visit this date are in this album, 28 images:

www.flickr.com/photos/44567569@N00/sets/72157635641827076/

Here are 16 sample images but 10 of these images came from the www:



Z607-Sandbostel STALAG XB perhaps has the best preserved POW barracks left., they let us inside and we looked around.



Z608-Where is Sandbostel, it is close…. to… where I grew up, close to the place I called home. On this trip I learned that in the greater area I call home, the area between the Elbe and Weser rivers existed many places of inhumanity, Bunker Valentin, Neuengamme KZ and these STALAGs XIB and XB where especially the Russians were treated most inhumane, so bad that it is beyond description.



Z609-Google Earth image of Sandbostel STALAG XB camp, it is dated Jan. 2008. Some of the roof damages is now fixed! I will refer back to some of the names in this album/set, I used on this image.



Z610-This aerial shot of the former STALAG XB from 2009 will help you also in navigation in following the picture presentation. This picture is from the Sandbostel Gedenkstaette (Commemoration Foundation).



Z611-A British aerial shot of the STALAG XB during the war, it was big size camp. This image is from the German News Magazine “Der Spiegel”.



Z612-This is an information sign that the Commemoration Foundation -Lager Sandbostel- will organize a special Commemoration Event from the 15th April to the 30th of June 2011 to remember many events, like the liberation of the camp in April, the assault on Russia in June etc. A schedule of events is also on this sign.



Z613-This is a concrete pipe shelter which were widely used by the Germans. I like to call them Half-Moon -Shelter, they can be used under ground, above ground or in-between. It is not known who used this shelter. The upper part of this sign is about the concrete shelter, the lower sign says the POWs are milling around and are watching the bomber streams on the 5th of Aug. 1944 from 1000 to 1200 hours. One bomber crashed near by.



Z614-30-This sign tells the history of the Sandbostel STALG XB, gives numbers of the POWs, of the liberation, postwar use and what the Commemoration Foundation is doing now to preserve this place of Nazi Inhumanity.



Z615-In Sandbostel is another War-Dead cemetery for the Allied POWs held here. My friend Steve got one picture but for some reason I did not shoot any pictures. This picture is from the www.



Z616-I got this image is from the German News Magazine “Der Spiegel”. But I actually also seen it on a British video. The inscription reads, escaped from death on the 30th April 1945, shortly after liberation. Only10 days before the SS killed about 300 POW during a hunger rebellion.



Z617-This pictures shows a POW detail hauling fire wood. This image is from the Commemoration Foundation and came from an album of local resident.



Z618-The description says a Ukrainian watchman with an arm band escorts a marching detail of Russian POWs. This image is from the German News Magazine “Der Spiegel”.



Z619-The description says: A gruesome image, this is what the British found during liberation on the 30th April 1945, countless corpses of POWs and KZ prisoners who were brought here from Neuengamme KZ a few days earlier.



Z620-This image is from the German News Magazine “Der Spiegel”. It shows surviving KZ prisoners who returned to Sandbostel for a Commemoration.



Z621-This picture shows STALAG XB Sandbostel at liberation and came from this web page: dercommander.jimdo.com



Z622-This picture shows Italian POWs at liberation in STALG XB Sandbostel at their liberation and it came from the www.

[Karl Welteke]

SANDBOSTEL STALAG XB and KZ (KZ-concentration camp) PRISONER CEMETERY

After we visited the Sandbostel STALAG XB we got aware of the POW War Death Cemetery and visited it. Here are 23 images from that visit.
www.flickr.com/photos/44567569@N00/sets/72157636069030883/

We are on our last day into the history of the Third Reich and this is another place very close to where my family fled to in 1945. Only a few km from Deinste, where I was, 3 years old, people died by the thousands. According to some reports, a million POWs went thru STALAG XB and perhaps as many as 50,000 People are buried here including the KZ prisoners.

Here are some sample images:



Z675-Entrance to the Sandbostel STALAG XB and KZ (KZ- concentration camp) prisoner Cemetery.



Z676-A walk path into the Sandbostel STALAG XB and KZ prisoner Cemetery. I like those trees, they make this place special.



Z677-Rows of Yugoslavian POW graves.



Z678-The new memorial in the Sandbostel STALAG XB and KZ prisoner Cemetery. It says: Your Sacrifice, Our Responsibility, Peace.



A679-A picture of the old Memorial that was erected in 1945 by the Soviet Army. In 1956 the state of Saxony dismantled it and built the new one. The reason given was that number of Russian Dead was not correct.

[Karl Welteke]

HIMMLERS PLACE OF ARREST, BREMERVOERDE 2013-04-19.

This was our last stop on our trip into the History of the Third Reich. We visited Waldstrasse, the bridge at Minstedt and the two islands in the Oste River where a large Mill existed and Himmler stayed here under arrest in the night of the 22nd May 1945. Enjoy the images! This URL is a good source of information: www.deathcamps.org/reinhard/himmlercap.html

In this last set/album of this last stop in Bremervoerde I put 18 images, here is the URL:
www.flickr.com/photos/44567569@N00/sets/72157636387487053/


And here are 10 sample images including 6 from the



Z762-This is the house on the Waldstrasse in Bremervoerde where Himmler and his companions stayed from the 18th May to the morning of the 22nd of May 1945.



Z763-The map from this URL that describes the last days of Himmler journey to his death: www.deathcamps.org/reinhard/himmlercap.html
I also marked our Base of operation on it. I lived about 15 km from here in 1945 as a 3 year old refugee.



Z764-Our next stop was Minstedt, according to the URL referred to in this album there are three options as to how Himmler was arrested. The arrest at the Minstedt bridge is one option and we checked it out. This is the bridge at Minstedt over the river Oste and it is being renewed. We are looking from east, the right bank to the other side.



Z765-The Oste River, the arm that separates the two islands and used to run under the gone Mill structure. This used to be the main bridge over the river. This sign says up to the 17th century all land traffic from Hamburg & Denmark to Bremen and Holland went via this crossing. In a year in the mid 1600s 30,000 oxen crossed here and customs had to be paid to the landlord who was the Bishop of Bremen. That is why this bridge and way was called the Oxen Bridge,-Way.



Z766-All these buildings are gone, one reason was a big fire. Now a hotel sits on the east island and this and other historical pictures were hanging on the wall. The receptionist did not know about Himmler but an other person in the office came out and she knew. The writing on the image is from me and the information came from the URL referred to in this album.



Z767-This image and others came from this URL: www.deathcamps.org/reinhard/himmlercap.html
.This is farmstead on the Waldstrasse in Bremervoerde where Himmler and his companions stayed a few days.



Z768-Again this image is from the same web page and it has a description.



Z769-This is the cover page of this U-tube URL:
5/5 Timewatch Himmler.



Z770-I captured this image from the video in the last image and chose it as a symbolic image to the end of the Third Reich. This is in Lueneburg where Himmler, now recognized, bit on his cyanide capsule in the evening of the 23rd of May 1945. He is dead, laying on the floor and is guarded by a British Soldier.



Z771-This is how those two Oste River islands look today. This picture came from the www.


Note: This is the end of my 2013 trip into the history of the Third Reich. In the future I may present one more segment about the Ost Wall, which I learned on a 2010 trip, run right next to my home village Tempel in the real former East Germany, now Poland.

[Karl Welteke]

My friend Steve sent this to me. He knows that it was an important milestone in my history. This is the URL he sent but the pertinent subject material is posted below it:
www.thelocal.de/national/20131017-52437.html

Thousands to re-enact the Battle of Nations



In front of nearly 30,000 spectators, some 6,000 history buffs from across the continent will act out the Battle of Nations of October 1813, which were among the bloodiest in 19th century Europe.

At the time, the Prussian monarchy with allies Austria, Russia, Sweden and Britain dealt another major blow to Napoleon's forces, who were already weakened by their disastrous Russian campaign.

Nearly 100,000 soldiers were killed out of the 600,000 who were mobilized for the battle from October 16th to 19th that year.

However, the re-enactment on Sunday is dedicated to the "reconciliation" of people, said Michel Kothe, a member of the Battle of the Nations Association which is organizing the event.

"Contrary to what happened at the time, people from 28 nations will peacefully camp together before the battle," he said.

The star of the show will be Frank Samson, a 46-year-old Parisian lawyer who specializes in traffic offences, but regularly assumed the mantle of Napoleon.
Like all the extras, this 19th century aficionado is a volunteer. "It has sometimes been suggested that I get reimbursed, but for me it's a hobby," he told AFP. "In Leipzig I pay for everything."

According to him, the uniform he will wear as Napoleon cost between €1,000 and €1,500 but some other military outfits are more
expensive at around €10,000.

Just like Samson, who takes his wife and two sons to almost all his Napoleonic adventures, many of the rank and file extras have also convinced
women and children to participate in the show.

To perfect his role, Samson has spent a year and half learning Corsican, Napoleon's mother tongue. "I never speak English on a battlefield because Napoleon didn't know the language," he said.

He has also practiced horse riding for seven years. As a lawyer, he said, he is used to "role-playing". He says that to impersonate Napoleon, he has learnt to play a man who is "irritable and choleric" and walks so quickly "that the officers are constantly running after me".

He said Napoleon was often yelling at his officers, for which he was "worshipped by the soldiers".

Samson is at 1.72 metres is two centimeters taller than his historic hero, as recorded by the British doctor who performed the
autopsy.

The victory of Leipzig in 1813 signalled the end of Napoleonic domination of the German states and had a huge impact there.

"It became a powerful national myth," said Martin Schulz, the German president of the European Parliament, who will deliver a speech Friday night in the eastern German city.

Germany, for centuries made up of a multitude of small states, would continue its long march towards unification following the Leipzig battle. This
culminated in 1871 under Prussian leadership after France had again been defeated.

COMMENT FROM KARL:
1871 was the birth of the Second German Reich, in 1813 the road to this reunification started with “Battle of the Nation in 1813”. This 1813 battle was also the birth of the German Iron Cross. Napoleon had caused the end of the First German Reich 800-1805.
Next year is 100th anniversary of that terrible WWI, it spelled the end of Germany we wanted..

[Jimmy Edward Ingersoll]

I am thoroughly enjoying this site. My mother was a Hess.The family came to America during the earliest migration, from Munich. My Uncle Bob Ingersoll Arrived in Normandy on D-Day and in the Battle of the Bulge. He was in the group that first arrived at Buchenwald. He is still alive at 95. My uncles in the Hess family went to the Pacific during WWII for obvious reasons. I am surprised that nobody picked up on my Saxon name.

[Karl Welteke]

Just added this note on page 1 in my entry/reply of the 5th of June 2013.


Note from Karl about the 5 following pictures from the LandmarkScout web pages, they complained and Photobucket is not showing them anymore. I thought I was doing them a favor, but they are right of course.

That web page really has a detailed and well explored presentation about Peenemuende.

[Karl Welteke]

Himmler’s Death Site, forum thread page repair 2017-08-27.

Just looked at today’s entry/reply in this thread by guest Jimmy Edward Ingersoll and that made me review page 1. There I noticed two pictures from member xray are not showing anymore. And I was also reminded that I almost got in trouble with the copyright matter.





Za100. Himmler’s death site, 2 video stills from xray.

These two video stills of Himmler’s death site are not showing in the corregidorprobord.com anymore. That is on page 1 and the posting date was 21 May 2013. This is the URL: corregidor.proboards.com/thread/1471/german-third-reich-historical-visit

I had copies and repost these 2 pictures here and now.

[Autumn]

Deleted as Commercial Spam - identical posts found in numerous boards.

Exo