Just now, June 2019, I am reading Giles McDonagh's book AFTER THE REICH: the brutal history of the allied occupation.
Possibly the fact that it is roughly 70 years since the war began has inspired this study, or perhaps because it is the month of my father's birthday and father's day and the second world war was my father's great study since he was a participant as a sailor in the US NAVY serving in both the North Atlantic and South Pacific on troop transport convoys.
Along with the book AFTER THE REICH, I am reading the biography of Martha Gellhorn, woman WWII front lines journalist.
Because alongside my LOVE OF HISTORY has always been a passion to discover the hidden history of my own gender in world affairs.
The opening of the war actually began with the invasion of Austria. I had thought it was Poland but Austria was 1938 and Poland was 1939. What a confusing and muddled situation it was for Austria, because, just as with America today, a portion of the population was belligerent and aggressive and sided with Hitler, about 10%, and the rest was like the rest of Americans, wary, worried and in direct opposition to Hitler and all he represented.
The first thing They did Hitler's underlings in the form of Himmler, for example, was round up the former government members whom they beat to death, executed and put into concentration camps because they were too old for labor camps. They they took over the army and put them in the front lines in the worst combat zones. Very soon, more Austrians began to see the true face of Hitler's Germany as they were treated not as fellow super humans but as the subjects of a victorious conquering force. The Germans despised them and anyone who stood against their aggression got thrown in with the Jews whom they now began to round up an deport to concentration camps.
This odd state of with/against on the part of Austria made dealing with Austria at the end of the war, very complicated and what saved the Austrian nation was an exiled intelligentsia that formed a government in exile to work throughout the war to convince the US that Austria was a victim not a co-perpetrator.
It made me think of how much I learned indirectly from movies about history and the wars that defined our world. When I think of Sound of Music, I think of the exiled intelligentsia of Austria and the daughter's flirtation with Rolf, the Austrian Hitler youth (who kind of represents that belligerent portion of Austria that sided with Hitler.)
There are far far too many WWII movies to note here, although it might be a good task for the future. My most remembered ones would be the tv series. Victory at Sea, and the movies, Bridge over the River Kwai, and South Pacific. I have to say, however that I saw movies on theBattle of Stalingrad from 1. the Russian view, 2. The German view, and 3.Our American view. And I could never eave out THE MARRIAGE OF MARIA BRAUN, the Fassbinder epic that follows an ordinary German woman through to the post World War II period - one of a kind and a masterpiece of film. I think of that movie very often.
For other wars, it goes without saying that GONE WITH THE WIND taught me so much about The Civil War, but the real teacher was Ken Burns epic.
British tv series dealing with the aftermath of World War I are all I can think of at the moment, though I can think of books I read, such as All Quiet On the Western Front. There was a magnificent movie about the Christmas ceasefire on the front, but I can't remember the title of the film. An opera singer sang, and the French shared their food, and the Germans put little Christmas trees outside the trenches for that one night. Makes me cry to think of it.
For all my life, I have been a BIG PICTURE kind of person. I always want to know why! And I have studied my whole life to find the causes for these disasters as well as the best ways to survive them. For survival I have read numerous books about the Russian Revolution, the best movie of which is, of course, Dr. Zhivago.
So many great movies for the Middle East - Lawrence of Arabia, Torah Torah Torah. And of course, for ALL the wars and political events in the 20th and 21st century, the massive library of documentaries. My mother's ghost has just reminded me to mention White Cliffs of Dover for WWII.
I am making a timeline in my journal and it will be rolling into this blog a well. So now we have 1938, the invasion of Austria. Next up is 1939 the invasion of Poland.
Happy trails, whether through the woods or the mind!
Jo Ann
wrightj45Wyahoo.com
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