A mother’s appeal for peace/Folk Commentary

06.09.2024 | www.kla.tv/30362

Hello, I'm Karina from Torgau. Maybe you remember this photo from the history book. It shows the handshake between Russian and American soldiers in April 1945 on the Elbe in Torgau. It went around the world at the time and symbolizes the end of the Second World War. As a child in the GDR, I saw Joe Polowski and other war veterans here live, because there was a culture of remembrance. I personally believe that every person carries the dignity of the divine within them. That's why I resent the murder and the unspeakable propaganda that incites us against each other. I resist the expectation that I should take sides with one side or the other. Because in every war, sons and fathers die on both sides, but never those who are responsible for the war. The encounter on the Elbe was less than 80 years ago, and Defense Minister Pistorius is once again drumming up support for war. He said: "We must be ready for war by 2029." And I quote former Minister Gabriel: "We need a clear signal to Putin: Stop this war - or we will take it to you." I ask myself: who are "we" anyway? - Certainly not Gabriel and Pistorius. It is more likely that they mean my husband and my sons. That bothers me because... ...I know the events of the war and the end of the war from the accounts of my grandparents and relatives. Here are a few examples: My uncle was drafted into the Wehrmacht at the age of 17. Against his will, because he had finished his apprenticeship and wanted to take over his father's mill. He died in Russian captivity at the age of 19. My mother always remembered crying as he left the farm with tears in his eyes and in uniform. They never saw each other again and she never found out where he was buried. As a little girl, she herself sat on the lap of a Russian officer towards the end of the war. Her name was "Irene" and he liked her very much because she reminded him of his own daughter "Irena" at home, whom he missed very much. She remembered him fondly. At the same time, her older sister (my aunt) hid for days behind a pile of wood in an attic from the Soviet Army soldiers who had committed gruesome rapes in their town. The soldiers repeatedly took wood from this very pile while she tried to pile up new wood from behind. When she was over 80 years old, she told me: "That's where I learned to pray!" And she described to me numerous war crimes that had been committed without exception by all warring parties... The Greek philosopher Antisthenes was probably right when he wrote: "War makes more evil people than it takes away." My mother also told me that the sky glowed red when Dresden was bombed; her family was able to observe this in a neighboring town of Torgau. My father remembered the sound of the shootings that always took place here in Torgau in the morning. In Torgau, German soldiers who had refused orders were executed, among other things. It was probably between 1943 and 1945, when the Reich Military Court was moved from Berlin to Fort Zinna in Torgau. My father was about 13 years old at the time. My grandfather was drafted into the Volkssturm due to an accident. He was taken prisoner by the Americans in Limburg an der Lahn. When he returned, he weighed 54 kilograms and was about 1.80 meters tall. He found his wife, whom he had left as a blonde woman, with gray hair... It is the fact that we as Germans have learned from two world wars and there was a kind of culture of remembrance in the former GDR that today drives people in Torgau to work for peace. Even if it sounds utopian and has perhaps never worked in history, I dream that one day there will be no more war because we humans refuse to be enemies of one another. We are one human family, one large human organism. And I appeal to all mothers worldwide: tear up the draft orders! I appeal to all men worldwide: if they start drumming up war again, don't go! Maybe you can write to them now to tell them that you won't join. And I appeal to each and every one of you: don't let yourself be incited against other peoples! Don't listen to their lies and their propaganda, listen to your heart!

from kbr.

Sources/Links: https://www.n-tv.de/politik/Bedrohung-aus-Russland-Boris-Pistorius-will-Deutschland-kriegstuechtig-https://www.n-tv.de/politik/Bedrohung-aus-Russland-Boris-Pistorius-will-Deutschland-kriegstuechtig-machen-article24991691.html
https://www.tagesspiegel.de/internationales/stopp-diesen-krieg--oder-wir-tragen-ihn-zu-dir-ex-aussenminister-gabriel-fordert-klares-signal-an-putin-11809559.html
machen-article24991691.html