The evidence that backs up World War II stereotypes 


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The evidence that backs up World War II stereotypes



Stephen Evans

BBC News, Berlin

We all know the clichés of World War II − which the German military was ruthless and brutal, for example, and Italian soldiers gave up without a fight.

But sometimes clichés are true. New evidence published this month in Germany indicates that the stereotypes were not mere propaganda but accurate pictures of reality.

The evidence comes from recorded conversations between prisoners of war in bugged cells. The British had special camps near London for prisoners from Germany and Italy and the Americans had similar camps in Virginia and in San Francisco for Japanese prisoners.

All had been selected because they were thought to have useful information, and informers were inserted among them to prompt them to talk.

The transcripts of those conversations, buried in British and American archives, reveal the private voices of prisoners talking to each other. They show very different attitudes towards fighting − and dying.

One of the authors, Professor Sonke Neitzel, cites, for example, a captured Italian admiral who tells a fellow prisoner that “everyone was running away and I couldn't defend Sicily”. Then he adds tellingly, “I had the idea of running away as well”.

Professor Neitzel says no German officer would ever have said that.

He told the BBC that the attitude of the Italian soldiers revealed in the transcripts was that they thought their state was corrupt and that their leadership was corrupt, so their view was:

“Why should we, small soldiers, risk our lives for this corruption?”

Accordingly, Professor Neitzel said, “they decided it might be better not to fight to the last shell. So they surrendered very soon”.

Shame

Professor Neitzel’s work is published as Soldaten − Soldiers − with the subtitle, Transcripts of Fighting, Killing and Dying.

He and his fellow author, Harald Welzer, examined more than 150,000 pages of transcripts of recordings made secretly by their British and American captors, and now stored in the British Public Records Office in Kew in London and in the National Archives of the United States.

Professor Neitzel says attitudes to the state and authority determined what a soldier did at the “point of surrender”. Italians were most likely to surrender and the Japanese least. The German attitude, as revealed in the conversations, was: “I fought well but I lost so now I go into British captivity”.

In contrast, the Japanese attitude was one of deep shame to have been captured, a shame which British and American intelligence exploited.

ProfessorNeitzel described the interrogators' technique: “They would say: “If you don't tell me military secrets, I will tell your family you are here in this camp'. They would respond: “Tell you everything, but don't tell my family”.

 

German “certainty”

Professor Neitzel told the BBC he doesn’t believe any nation had soldiers, who were

“naturally” more brutal than any other. The Allies, he said, took no prisoners in the early days of the Normandy landings.

 

But the transcripts reveal a picture of brutality that is uncomfortable for Germans today.

This, Professor Neitzel thinks, may stem from the great certainty about the worth of their cause that the German soldiers revealed in their private conversations.

“German society had a special attitude to military behaviour which was, “Never be weak”.

You have to obey orders, so German counter− insurgency depended on extreme violence at the beginning in the belief that this would save German blood in the long term. Only winning matters.”

In the transcripts, ordinary German soldiers relate how they raped and then killed their female victims, for example.

They tell of the casual way in which they killed civilians, in one case simply shooting a man to get his bike.

The accounts express joy at the death of civilians. A pilot tells of a raid on Ashford in Kent in south-eastern England: “There was an event on the market square, crowds of people, speeches being given. We really sprayed them! That was fun!”

In another transcript a submariner boasts of how a ship carrying children had been sunk.

Another captured pilot told of a raid on Eastbourne on the coast of the South of England. He spotted a castle where a party was taking place: “We attacked and really stuck it to them. Now that, my dear friend was a lot of fun”.

 

Реферат

The article by S.Evans “The evidence that backs up World War II stereotypes” describes Professor Nextel’s work “Soldiers”. Transcripts of Fighting, Killing and Dying recorded Japan. Professor compares different national military behavior on the basis of the recorded conversations between prisoners from Germany, Italy and Japan. According to his examination German military was ruthless and brutal; they considered captivity as objective necessity. Italians were most likely to surrender and the Japanese least. On contrast the Japanese attitude was one of deep shame to have been captured. The author of the article concludes that the stereotypes “were not mere propaganda but accurate pictures of reality.”

Аннотация

The article by S.Evans “The evidence that backs up World War II stereotypes” describes Professor Neitzel’s work”Soldiers. Transcripts of Fighting, Killing and Dying recorded Japan. Professor compares different national military behavior on the basis of the recorded conversations between prisoners from Germany, Italy and Japan. The author of the article concludes that the stereotypes “were not mere propaganda but accurate pictures of reality.”

Wikileaks: Many at Guantanamo 'not dangerous'

Files obtained by the website Wikileaks have revealed that the US believed many of those held at Guantanamo Bay were innocent or only low-level operatives.

The Tiles, published in US and European newspapers, are assessments of all 780 people ever held at the facility.

They show that about 220 were, classed as dangerous terrorists, but 150 were innocent Afghans and Pakistanis.

The Pentagon said the files' release could damage anti-terrorism efforts.

 

The latest documents have been published on Wikileaks, the Guardian, the New York Times and in other newspapers, although it was not clear whether the papers had co-operated with Wikileaks in their release. The Times said they received the files through “another source”.

The Detainee Assessment Briefs (DABs) also give details of alleged plots, revealed under interrogation, against US and European targets.

They included unverified claims that al-Qaeda had hidden a nuclear weapon in Europe for detonation should Osama Bin laden be captured.

Other alleged plots include plans to put cyanide into the air conditioning systems of US public buildings and attempts by al-Qaeda to recruit workers at London's Heathrow Airport.

But the files give little information on the allegations of harsh treatment and, interrogation techniques at the camp.

The BBC's Jonny Dymond in Washington says many of the details have been heard before in various forms, but never from an official US source.

 

Mistaken identity

There are now just under 180 detainees at the US naval base in Cuba. Most are deemed to pose a high risk threat to the US if released without adequate supervision.

But the files show that US military analysts considered only 220 of those ever detained at Guantanamo to be dangerous extremists.

They include Khalid Sheikh Mohammed the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks on the US, and Abd al- Rahim al-Nashiri, a Saudi accused of planning the 2000 bombing of the destroyer USS Cole in Yemen.

Another 380 detainees were deemed to be low-ranking guerrillas.

 

At least 150 people were revealed to be innocent Afghans or Pakistanis − including drivers, farmers and chefs − rounded up during intelligence gathering operations in the aftermath of 9/11.

The detainees were then held for years owing to mistaken identity or because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, the memos say. In many cases, US commanders concluded there was “no reason recorded for transfer”.

It described the assessments as snapshots that may now be outdated and said reviews of all inmates in 2009 had in many cases reached different conclusions to those in the DABs.

“Both the previous and the current Administrations have made every effort) to act with the utmost care and diligence in transferring detainees from Guantanamo”, said the statement.

Both Administrations have made the protection of American citizens the top priority and we are concerned that the disclosure of these documents could be damaging to those efforts. The “779 documents” were part of a cache often of thousands of secret US military files leaked to Wikileaks last year. Bradley Manning − the US soldier accused of being behind the leaks − was arrested in May last year and is currently detained at a military prison in Kansas pending a court martial.

The founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange, is battling extradition from the UK to Sweden, where he is wanted over allegations of sexual assault.

His supporters say the case is politically motivated.

The Guantanamo Bay detention facility was set up in 2001 under the Bush administration.

President Obama pledged in January 2009 to close it within a year. I1

However, in March this year he announced he was lifting a two-year freeze on new military trials for detainees there.

The White House says Mr Obama remains committed to the eventual closure of Guantanamo Bay.

 

Реферат

The article “Wikileaks: Many of Guantanamo not dangerous” is taken from BBC News of 25 April 2011. It is focused on files obtained by the website Wikileaks. These files include information on Guantanamo Bay’s detainees and some alleged information on different plots. It says that about 220 detainees were classed as dangerous terrorists but 150 were innocent Afghans and Pakistanis. The author also inform on people accused of being behind the leaks – the founder of Wikileaks Julian Assange and the USA soldier Bradley Manning. The author concludes that President Obama pledged in January 2009 to close the prison but he remains committed to the eventual closure of Guantanamo Bay.

 

 

Аннотация

The article “Wikileaks: Many of Guantanamo not dangerous” is taken from BBC News of 25April 2011. It is focused on files obtained by the website Wikileaks. The author considers information on Guantanamo Bay’s detainees and some alleged information on different plots.

 



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