Austreibung - 2 / The Atrocities of Ethnic Cleansing!
Expulsion - 2
| The Day I Will Never Forget May 17, 1945 By Hermine Hausner THE DAY I WILL NEVER FORGET MAY 17, 1945 By Hermine Hausner I was at that time, eleven years old, my sister Gerlinde was seven years old and my mother Hermine Schwab was seven months pregnant. The Soviet troops were about one week in our village OberJohnsdorf, near Landsksron. Since my grandparents, Julius and Hermine Kreuziger, had not just a farm and a guesthouse, but also ma butcher shop, my grandfather had to butcher cattle for the troops. All of the young women were in hiding including my mother, because the Soviet troops were still raping women. Thus, we children were in our grandparent's house. My grandmother was severely handicapped, even crippled by arthritis and thus, the soldiers did not bother her. My father, Robert Schwab, was not drafted during the war due to a problem with his legs. He worked in Landskron in the City Hall. My uncle, Reinhard Schwab, had finished his engineering education and worked in a factory also in Landskron. Our families did not feel in any way guilty of having harmed our Czech neighbors. That is why they did not flee before the Soviets and Czech partisans arrived. On May 17, the situation had somewhat normalized and thus, my father and uncled went to Landskron to work. Later in the morning a few truckloads of Czech partisans went to the nearby villages and collected all of the men between sixteen and sixty and even older and drove them on foot to Landskron. During the journey they were beaten and rifle shots were fired over their heads to prepare them for the tribunal. My grandfather, Julius Kreuziger, who was at that time sixty-five, was also among those who had to go to court. By early afternoon, hundreds of men were at the city square and the tribunal started. My father and uncle were among these. They also had to appear before the tribunal during which time they were beaten with rifles, and they had to salute "Heil Hitler". Others had to kneel down in front of these judges and Czechg partisans would kick them in their genitals and knock them to the ground. My father was so severelly beaten with rifles that his eyes were knocked out of his head. Half dead he was then hung on a lantern in the city square. My uncle Rheinhard was equally beaten and then, half dead, was thrown in the village fountain, whereby, he drowned. During the late afternoon, the tribunal resumed. Over forty men laid dead on the square or were hanging from the lanterns. The German men, who were not killed, were ordered into custody overnight and the tribunal continued the next day. On May 19, these dead bodies were thrown on wagons and hauled to the cemetery. Among those who came to view the tribunal were many Czech persons, who either wanted to see "justice" or felt sorry for these men. My uncle, Emil Pelzl, also was among those at the City Square. Since my grandfather and uncle Emil were known by many Czech farmers due to their cattle trading, they were, without knowing of each other, taken by the Czech farmers, removed from the square, sent home and told to hide during the next few days until all this terror ended. At the cemetery, the other German men had to dig a mass grave. The dead bodies were thrown into it with a very ugly disrespect by the Czech partisans, urinating on them. Before my grandfather came home, we had heard of the terrible crimes and massacres which were committed at Landskron. My grandfather, in total frustration, decided to destroy the whole family, as he told ud years later. During that night, my grandfather wanted, while we were sleeping, first to shoot us children, then the rest of the family and after that himself. My grandmother, obviously suspicious of this, did not rest and kept us children awake. Thus, one hour after another went by. As morning broke, my grandfather gave up his plan. Terrible days and nights followed this massacre at Landskron. On August 2, my sister Marlies was born and thus, my mother and grandparents and Aunt Anni Kreuziger among others, were expelled from our home, put in freight cars and shipped to Germany. We arrived in Kaufbeuren, Bavaria, at the expellee camp and a new life started. In the summer of 1964, my husband, Karl, and I traveled for the first time to Czechoslovakia on the occasion of a medical conference in Prague (note: Remember that Prague was originally an important German city in the Sudentenland). We already were American citizens and hoped to be safe. During this trip, we also visited Landskron and the cemetery. Near the wall of the cemetery, where the mass grave was, we saw a pile of dirt and weeds of all kinds covering it. In this mass grave, where my father and uncle, along with the other men who been wantonly murdered, were buried, nothing was ever placed on the grave, like a plaque or monument. When we revisited that gravesite in the spring of 1992, we could not find the mass grave. The dirt was leveled and grass was seeded. Thus, nobody knew that this was once a mass grave. At this time, not one of these criminals were brought to trial and the Czech Government even now, under a so-called democracy, has never found it necessary to investigate and punish those responsible. Many of these Czech criminals are still alive and still protected by the Benes Decrees (GAWHS NOTE: This fact makes the entire present Czech government an Accessory after the fact, and thus a partner with the Partisans, the Benes decrees, and the ensuing murders of innocent people)! On September 17, 1995, we dedicated a chapel at our farm in Sauk City, Wisconsin in memory of all the expellees. In this chapel a plaque was installed in memory of my slain father and uncle and all of the others, who suffered at the hands of these brutal (unconscionable and pathological) criminals. The Memorial is under the motto: "O GOD, FORGIVE THEM AS THEY DID NOT KNOW WHAT THEY WERE DOING". So far my personal experience. In the following is a direct quotation from the book entitled "Documents on the Expulsions of the Sudeten Germans", published in 1953 by University Press, Dr. C. Wolf & Sohn, Munich, Germany, pages 31 through 36, "Landskron Massacre on May 17th, 1945", reported by Julius Friedel, report of February 22, 1951. On May 9, 1945 the last combat on the hills above the valley at Landskron began. The invading Russians did not pay much attention to the frightened German population during the first days. They looked for alcohol, they plundered and they organized regular hunts for women at night. One could hear all night long the cries of the victims of this pursuit. At first the few Czech residents did not know themselves what to do, they were also worried about their possessions. The German Male inhabitants of the town, who had to work at clearing the streets, were suddenly sent home, without reason, in the morning hours of May 17th. About 11 o'clock of the very same day hundred of armed Czechs, so-called partisans, arrived in trucks. They gathered in the market-place for a demonstration; a Russian officer made a fervent speech, which was greeted with roars of approval. As if by previous agreement, then Czechs then dispersed in all directions. It was not long before we knew what was going on. The German men and with them many women anc children were driven in larger or smaller groups to the market-place, the houses were thoroughly searched to insure that all of the men were present, old and young, also invalids and those seriously ill. The individual groups of Germans were escorted by yelling Czechs, heavily armed, who shot blindly in all directons and knocked down anyone who came in their way. Meanwhile, other troops.of Czechs drove to the surrounding villages and brought the men back to the town. More than a thousand German men were rounded-up in the market-place in the early hours of the afternoon. They were ordered to fall in and they stood there with their hands above their head, waiting for what would happen next. There followed the most horrifying scenes which human beings ever devised (from whence did these partisans acquire the names of human beings, as you will see below).The men were forced to lie down on the pavement, fo stand up quickly and then get in line again. The Czechs passed down the lines, kicked the men preferably on the shins or in the genitals. They hit them with whatever lay convenients to their hands, they spit on them and loosed off wildlly with their rifles. Many men were too badly wounded to get up again and lay in great pain. But this was still not enough. There was a large water tank for air raids in front of the town hall. Into this, the victims of this terrible madness, were finally thrown one after the other. As they came to the surface, they were struck at with sticks and poles and kept under water. The Czechs even shot into the mass and the water slowly reddened. Whenever anyone tried to scramble out of the tank, they stamped on his fingers; some of the men were fished out of the water, but they were already dead (GAWHS - upset with this because they could not hurt the victims anymore - they went into overkill). Others, who were prostrate on the ground, were squirted with the fire-hose, which had been fetched in the meantime, or were tortured in indescribable ways. While all of these atrocities were taking place, the so-called People's (Kangaroo) Court established itself on the si'dewalk in front of the Districk Council Building. Behind the tables, which had been set up, the Czechs seated themselves; among them were the following persons: Hrabacek, owner of a saw-mill at Weipertsdorf, Wilhelm Pfitzner, clerk to the workmen's sick fund, Landskron, Franz Matschat, weaver in the firm of Thoma, Magdalenen Str., Landskron, Bernhard Wanitscheck, Shoemaker, Karl Str., Landsdron, Stefan Matschat, weaver in the firm of Thoma, Landskron, Friedrich Bednai, carpenter for the tobacco-factory, Landskron, Polak, officer of the gendarmerie, and a woman, probably, Mrs. Lossner from Landskron. (GAWHS - The above probably acted as the judge and jury.) Around the table stood a number of Czechs, who functioned as prosecutors and who selected the individual Germans out of the rows. One behind the other, with their hands above their heads, the Germans had to appear before the tribunal. The first man in each row had to carry a Hitler picture, covered with excrement, which the man beside him had to lick off. The last 20 or 30 paces up to the tribunad had to be made in a creeping position. Arriving there, each one of them received his sentence, which was written on his back with a piece of chalk. About 50 to 60 meters (167 to 300 ft) distant from the tribunal, on the opposite side, was a gate; up to this the victims had literally to run the gauntlet. Many of them collapsed on their way, even before the sentence could be carried out. The brutality which took place there cannot possibly be written down. (There is more, so this will be continued on Austreibung 3) But Wait - let us have a mock trial to deal with the perpetrators; after all they have committed a crime of genocide against humanity - A Capital Crime that deserves a Capital Judgement. You, the reader, be the judge here; against the perpetrators named above, and lets have your comments. Send to webmaster@gawhs.org or fill out the following form and hit the feedback button: |
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