The 1933 - 1945 Tour

Posh Pete

Still got a pulse.
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The 1933 – 1945 Tour. (Happy Days are Here Again!)
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After organising the visit to the battlefields (with help from Micky), I made a snap decision to combine this with a visit to Berlin to meet up with the wife and some friends. They got cheap flights via Easyjet. I was going to ride there (and back, hopefully!) However, there was over two weeks of time between the two. How to fill that up? I decided eventually to head for Silesia (German before 1945 but now in Poland). I ended up taking in a fair few locations connected to WW2 and events before it so I thought I’d do a ride report linking these together in this report. The 1933 – 1945 Tour!

After saying cheerio to the others, I headed for Wewelsburg, just east of the Ruhr. My route took me by autobahn and right through Dortmund and the most heavily congested parts of the German road network! And the weekend was coming up! Is filtering illegal in Germany? One German guy on a Kawa 1400 seemed to think so. Every time I passed him by filtering through the jams, he caught up with me, flat out, several minutes later! None of the drivers seemed to object to me filtering, many even moved over to let me past but he seemed to find it irritating!


There were two reasons for choosing Wewelsburg:

1. The castle there is now a youth hostel. OK, I admit it, I’m a cheapskate but German hostels (jugendherbergen) provide reliably good accommodation, showers etc a decent breakfast (always loads of cold meats, boiled eggs, fruit etc and PLENTY of coffee) and you can book them ahead on t’internet.
2. The castle at Wewelsburg has a history. More about that shortly.

When I arrived, it was snowing! Did I mention how cold it was? Much the same here apparently, or so the wife told me. However, I was not the only biker there. A group from Dortmund arrived. They were out for the weekend (the roads are good in the area) and I spent some of the evening having a drink with them and watching them wince at my attempts at German. Unusually, there were no English speakers among them.
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So why Wewelsburg then? Remember the plot of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark? Mad Nazis in search of antiquities and the Ark of the Covenant in particular? Well, Speilberg was not so far from the truth. Have a look here …
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Spot anything above the door of the guard post? Yep. SS runes. Shortly after the Nazis took over in 1933, Reichsfuhrer SS, Heinrich Himmler chose Wewelsburg as the very epicentre of his empire. Imagine a combination of Camelot and the Knights of the round table, castle Dracula and David Icke, yon weird guy who wore the lilac track suits and you have got Wewelsburg. The SS used it as a training academy cum racial research station, complete with its own “round table” room in the basement of one of the towers.

This is what the whole complex might have looked like, had the Nazis won the war. Horribly overpowering architecture but of course, that was the whole point:
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One of the residents was Dr Walther Darre, the SS chief racial theorist. He wrote this little best seller about how the Aryan race grew in the past …
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The SS sponsored archaeological digs aimed at proving the link between the German people (or those among them who were Aryans) and a pre-historic master race. The SS organisation responsible for this was the Ahnenerbe. The Ahnenerbe organised archaeological and anthropological jollies to Tibet. So you see, Spielberg was not far off the mark!

In short, these people were bonkers! But dangerously bonkers.

In case you were wondering, there was a local concentration camp which provided slave labour for the planned re-construction of the castle and the village of Wewelsburg. Hundreds were worked, starved or beaten to death. One of the Commandants was this wee beauty, Adolf Haas
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Anyway, you can find out all of this and more, if you visit. The former SS guard barrack has been turned into a museum detailing all this. Some interesting stuff there. For example, the SS re-settled 900 000 Aryan settlers into conquered areas of Eastern Europe by 1944. It’s not a big stretch of the imagination to work out what happened to the original inhabitants! Nor what was likely to happen to these settlers once the Red Army re-captured the territory.

And that's my one nagging doubt about the museum. It does not actually focus on these realities. As a result, I suspect it has become a bit of a shrine for Neo Nazis. When I was there, a couple of guys with short hair and bovver boots nipped through the various exhibits, presumably on there way to Himmler’s round table. That would explain why photography is banned there and the CCTV monitoring within.

There is a reminder however, in the form of a war cemetery a couple of miles from the village. As you can imagine, the castle was a target for Allied forces and fighting took place between them and SS and Wehrmacht units. The castle was gutted by fire, started by the SS themselves of course, to cover up what took place there.

Some of the combatants were pretty young, little more than schoolboys, most of whom would have been dragooned into service although some might have been ardent Nazis. Of course, civilians were caught up in the fighting too. Think of the movie "Fury" and you might get some idea, I suppose.

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The top ribbon says : "When all bothers are silent."
More to follow.
 
Very interesting Peter, you certainly put your 'free time' to good use :thumb

Thank you

:beerjug:
 
Very good, thanks for posting. Looking forward to more piccys.

Yes, lane splitting is illegal in the BDR. Points and Fine for locals. Could be an on the spot request to empty your wallet for foreigners?

"The German organization of public prosecutors has opposed the ban of lane splitting* with/for motorcycles in Germany. They see such rule collide with the prohibition of right-side overtaking of another vehicle while driving on roads. Performing lane splitting when driving for instance in a traffic jam or when sneaking between cars to the front of the traffic light will be punished by a 100 Euro fine".

*Is this a typo?

Like always, not every law enforcement officer will bother, and there seems to be less of them about than here to see you in the first place.

Being a noob, there may be ++++ threads about this. Rules about rightside overtaking, leftside overtaking, 1 metre clearance etc etc. Other Germanic contries. So I will stop.

Sorry. Carry On.
 
Been riding over there for over twenty years, solo or with groups, done absolutely thousands upon thousands of miles .... never ever had a problem, at all, whatsoever :D
 
To be honest I was a little disappointed by the lack of go pro footage accompanied by fancy rolling titles and a rousing rock track :(


;)

Just for you Rushy ...:D

Incidentally, playing or singing that at a public gathering these days in Germany would be an easy route to a comfy cell and a hefty fine. Just displaying the Swastika is banned.
 
Been riding over there for over twenty years, solo or with groups, done absolutely thousands upon thousands of miles .... never ever had a problem, at all, whatsoever :D

Ignorantia juris non excusat.

Lived there, done that. Continue to do it. You can be lucky a thousand times, they need to be lucky once.
For those that care, they could if they so choose, avoid doing it in front of a bunch of German rozzers. Just saying...
 
The Mohne and Eder Dams

Now chaps, let's stick to the script.:D

I have to admit it. There was another reason for choosing Wewelsburg for a first stop. As well as the SS connection, the youth hostel is placed pretty much half way between the Mohne (to the west) and Eder (to the east) dams. Like most lads of my generation, I watched the Dam Busters on the telly on wet Sunday afternoons when fitba in the park was a non starter. I can even remember writing about the raid for a primary school writng exercise. I built the Airfix 1/72 scale model Lanc and painted it earth brown and green and applied the decals, almost correctly, after soaking them in a saucer of water! I also had a personal interest since my uncle had been a Lancaster navigator. He was not involved in the dams raid of course but he had completed two operational tours with 61, 630 and 97 squadrons – and he had survived. One of the lucky ones. On another note, he had contributed to a fair amount of the damage I was to see and hear about in German cities in the east, where some of it has still not been made good. A sobering thought.

This is him when training in Canada
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And this is him now, wearing cool shades! (For eye problems actually, but doing very well for 93.
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My first morning at Wewelsburg was spent in the museum referred to above. I was pretty tired after the 300 odd miles from Belgium and the jams through the Ruhr. In the afternoon, I got the bike out and rode the 20 miles or so west to the Mohnesee. When I got there, I was a little surprised to see that the locals are starting to tap into the tourist potential of the dam.

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Surpised, because of the substantial civilian casualties which resulted from the raid. (Plus Russian, POWs and slave workers of various nationalities). International law now prohibits the targeting of infrastructure which delivers services to civilians. Hmmm …

To actually stand on the dam is to appreciate just how difficult and dangerous a job the crews of 617 squadron had signed up for. The dam itself is massive ....

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and the approach to it was not straight forward either. This is the view you would have had from the dam wall as they came in. They were flying at about the height of the trees in the distance and they had to make a sharp turn from the right to line up for the dam ...

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And all that in the dark (albeit with a full moon) and at the correct speed required to prevent the bomb skipping over the dam. Following a low level dash over several hundred miles of occupied territory, risking flak and night fighters.

Les Munro was a Kiwi pilot in 617 squadron and I recall that, at the time, he did not even have a driving license and had to cycle everywhere, but one of his crew commented: “He could fly the arse off a Lancaster!”

I walked across the dam, joining local Germans taking a constitutional and one bunch of rather old looking Army types in combat fatigues. Some kind of reservists’ re-union? A German Dad’s Army? I wish I had stopped to ask. Dressing up in fatigues is not exactly the modern German way! The grilles at either end of the dam were festooned with padlocks testifying to undying love. I wonder if they come back with bolt cutters if they divorce?:rolleyes: This pair very nerarly made the 70th anniversary of the raid. That's the trouble with yung people today: no sense of history!:D
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The next day, I planned to head east and take in the Eder dam en route to Saxony. I had the usual continental breakfast, bade farewell to the Dortmund bikers and set off into flurries of snow and the frost warning light flashing on the RT’s dash! +02 C! This was NOT in the plan. Later that day, I met a German guy and his burd on a 12GSA. He warned me of snow ahead also. Fortunately, it did not materialise for me. He may have been headed in another direction.

En route to Saxony, I planned to visit the museum at the Edersee. I arrived to find a UK registered Discovery with two guys planning a HOG ride to the Dams. They would be staying in top hotels of course and escorted by a support van. Well … it would have been rude NOT to engage in a bit of gentle micky taking surely! (This from a pipe smoking, slipper wearing RT rider!) Instead of taking the usual banter in good part, and stopping for a chat, this pair buggered off PDQ!
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Hey ho …
I was going to visit the museum but took it ssemed to be late in opening so with one eye on the weather closing in and, deciding I could probably be used as an exhibit myself, headed east.

By the way, if you do visit the Mohnesee, an ex BAOR Scouser I met at my next destination told me the Bratwursts etc at the Imbiss (snack) stall there are the best in western Germany.

And that next destination is ...


More to come!
 
We visited the dam raid sites last June and looking at the local topography it would be difficult enough to find the dams and line up a large four engined plane at the heights required over water to drop the bombs in broad daylight never mind navigate there in darkness using dead reckoning (we struggled using a bloody Garmin) and then accurately drop the bombs .

It provided a real insight into the skills and bravery involved by the pilots and crews
 
Ignorantia juris non excusat.

Lived there, done that. Continue to do it. You can be lucky a thousand times, they need to be lucky once.
For those that care, they could if they so choose, avoid doing it in front of a bunch of German rozzers. Just saying...

Spent most of my thirty years on traffic motorcycle 'plod' patrol as a rozzer, and so well aware of that thanks :D

Just saying like :thumb

:beerjug:
 
The OP asked if it was legal. It seemed only polite to provide an answer. Leaving people in ignorance is a denial of choice.

Sorry Scotboxer for the OT content.
 
Saxony

All right gentlemen, now that we’ve sorted out the legal position re filtering in Germany, let’s move on. Leaving the Eder and heading East with heated grips on max, I filled the bike with 100 Ron unleaded (much better!)and eventually breasted a hill to see this quaint wee town in eastern Saxony.
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Half timbered houses …
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Locals with a sense of humour …

Oh, and Colditz Castle!

Plus the youth hostel which forms part of the castle! I love it when a plan comes together! I spent three nights here, relaxing and catching up on my sleep, easing my back which had become a bit sore. However, the first full day was spent in the museum part of the castle and taking the extended tour. If you go there, I recommend the extended tour. It’s delivered by an English speaking guide and in my case, I got one to one attention! (You may not be so lucky, later in the season.)

The Germans planned Colditz as a “super prison” for high risk and high value POWs. The son of Earl Haig who commanded the BEF in WW1 was placed there, as were various relatives of Churchill and the royal family. French, Dutch and Polish prisoners were placed there also.

All British officers at Colditz were entitled to orderlies to act as servants! Some of you may remember an edition of the BBC One show in which comedian Arthur Smith spent a night at Colditz?

His dad had been an orderly at Colditz. His dad was an enlisted man. Enlisted men were expected to work. Likewise in other camps populated by enlisted men, conditions could be harsh and the work was demanding and knackering. Officers did no work and had the time to plan escapes.

Leaving aside the class system which operated at the time, a visit to Colditz leaves you astonished and full of admiration for the tenacity, ingenuity and, sometimes, sheer bloody cheek of the would be escapers.

Some examples

A Canadian prisoner, already in the cooler for a previous escape attempt, was allowed to exercise on an adjacent terrace. [/IMG]
He jumped over the wall, broke his fall by grabbing at the bars on these windows ...
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... and made a run for it. He had been an Olympic gymnast! He was caught and returned to the cooler for a longer stay!

This is me and Airey Neave.
Neave and his mates fabricated a German uniform and he tried to walk out wearing it! Unfortunately, he got as far as the first gate when the guards spotted the serious mistakes in the copied uniform and fell about laughing! The camp commandant told Gefreiter (corporal) Neave he was lucky not to be sent to the Russian front. Neave had the last laugh though. He later made a successful escape and reached London via Spain. He sent the CO a postcard expressing regrets that it was not from the Eastern front! Cheeky bugger! (By the way, Neave later became a Tory MP and an ardent Thatcherite and was murdered by the IRA via a bomb planted under his car IN the House of Commons. A sad end for a man of courage. )

Not forgetting the other nationalities: one Polish prisoner, Lieutenant Lados, made a break for it and broke his ankle in the attempt. He got as far as the Swiss border! With a broken ankle! The Dutch made a uniformed dummy which could be brought out for roll call. The idea being to fool the guards while someone was away making an escape bid.

A group of four British officers broke out by hiding and getting into this cellar.
How they squeezed out via this window Outside view), god only knows ..
but they got out of the castle and made it to Switzerland!

Another French prisoner made it to Switzerland on a single speed bike which he nicked.

French prisoners dug a tunnel in the air! That is, they started in this clock tower …

Went down a vertical shaft. Then started digging under various floors and through walls …

And planned to emerge on the outside. They shifted tons of rubble in doing so and under the noses of the German guards! Unfortunately, they were rumbled before the tunnel could be finished.

Maybe the craziest attempt was the Colditz Cock. This photo was taken by a US army photographer in the attic where US troops found it when they captured the castle in 1945. ...
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Andere’s a replica (made for a C4 prog a few years ago)



And me with it ...(Labelled "Me and cock" on Photobucket!:eek:)

If you get the chance, go to Colditz. It’s a remarkable and inspiring place. This dedication, written by a German, one would suspect, says it all ...
 
Good one Peter ... very interesting. Colditz has been on my list for a few years :thumb

Thanks
:beerjug:
 
Leipzig (Pics from t'internet. Forgot my camera that day!)

My second day in Colditz was spent in Leipzig in a wee break from the Nazis! I first tried to find the “Stasi bunker” on the outskirts of town. No wonder the Stasi put it there, it proved almost impossible to find! When I did, it was closed!!!!! Grrr! I then headed for stadtmitte and parked on the pavement at the Hauptbahnhof . I later found an extensive bike only parking bay, right next to the tourist info office in the centre of the old town. Worth remembering for the future.
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First, I visited the St Thomas kirche. This is the place where Bach worked as Kapelle Meister. When I went in, someone was giving Bach’s organ a serious work out (don’t you dare snigger!) : definitely one of those “hairs on the back of your neck moments”. Bach’s mortal remains are now interred in the St Thomas Kirche. They were previously in another church which was destroyed in bombing but they were taken there after the war. The guy who brought them did so in a wheelbarrow after digging them out of the rubble. A rough and ready sort, he dropped them out of the barrow and said to the waiting officials : “’ Tag (pronounced locally as “Tach”), Ich bringe Bach!”. So much for mortal or even immortal glory!

I then took the walking tour of the town which was led by a comely blonde of a certain age and in both German and English. She switched effortlessly and impressively from one to the other. Well practiced of course but impressive nevertheless. Leipzig has always been a centre of trade and even in the DDR days was used as a portal for hard currency trade deals to the west. Very little of that was spent locally. Our guide told us that she got her first flat in 1989: shared and no hot water.

The town is definitely on the up though. Porsche and Mercedes have set up plants (no doubt helped by hefty federal subsidies) and the universities are well respected and attract huge numbers of students. Angela Merckel got her Physics degree there. There’s a good vibe to the place and lots of cultural events and plenty of eating and drinking places. I’d go back to Leipzig!

The walking tour transmogrified into a bus tour, one of the highlights of which was the monument to the Battle of the Nations. (The 1813 Napoleonic battle which helped to bring the little Corsican down.) It’s another memorial out of the “German gigantic” school. Supposedly dedicated to peace, it was opened by Kaiser Bill just before World War One.
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Poland next.
 
It's worth visiting the town of Colditz just to sit in a cafe on the square below the castle and either have beer, ice cream or both. I had both because I'm greedy but each to their own.

If you're riding through to Poland tomorrow and aren't on a strict time scale time an hour or two out to visit the motorbike museum at Augustusburg Castle, it's not far out of Chemnitz (avoid Chemnitz) so kind of on the way to Poland depending on where you're aiming for. There's also the added bonus of beer and ice cream at one of the bars in the castle grounds so even if you hate East German 2 strokes there's some compensation.

Nice photos by the way, I'm looking forward to the next instalment.
 


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