Part One left our readers in the middle of our visit to the Seelow war musem.
There is a movie. The movie is around 30 minutes long and the language is based on the audience. Since my showing was 100% Amie (me), I received the English version. The movie is well doneβexplaining the situation and battle with lots of both Soviet and German newsreel footage. Small kid warning: They do not sugar-coat the effects of warfare, so there are depictions of lots of wounded, bodies, parts of bodies, and helpless civilians who have lost everything throughout. There is a very good terrain model as well, and several useful maps on the walls. One map showed the locations of almost two hundred war cemeteries in the small kreis (county) of Seelow.
There are just under 200 cemeteries in this small area with several tens of thousand dead. The number of interred goes up each fall as the newly discovered KIAs join their countrymen. German are the dark dots, Soviets the orange, and the lone Polish is purple.
All the cemeteries are segregated. Germans are buried here, Soviets are buried there, and the Poles get one cemetery of their own. Germans being German, they have clubs each summer during which they spend weekends recovering the deadβhundreds to thousands each yearβwho are reburied with military honors each fall. Germans here, Russians there. Interestingly, for me at least, most German dead can still be identified by their name tags, and it is the rare Soviet soldier who can be identified.
After the film was over, an employee asked what I thought of the movie. I told her it was well done, but I thought it was interesting that there was discussion of Germany starting the war in 1939 but no mention that the USSR invaded Poland as Germanyβs ally in 1939 as well. After a short embarrassed look away, I was asked if I had any other questions. I asked where there were some close-by defensive positions and she happily informed me.
These Soviet soldier heroic ideal statues were known generally as the βMemorial to the Unknown Rapistβ by Germans β quietly by non-party members in the DDR and openly by West Germans.
I went outside to the Soviet Monument and cemetery. The statue is in the standard βunknown rapistβ tradition with a heroic Soviet soldier standing next to the turret of a destroyed German tank. Stalin ordered the sculptors to build three identical statues to memorialize this feat of Soviet arms, one at the river crossing site, one here at the breakthrough, and the largest in central western Berlin (since removed).
In front of the statue is a small Soviet cemetery of 61 graves, with several hundred later additional interments of Soviet dead to one side. There is an unadorned 2-meter-tall orthodox cross added in the early 2000s by the Russian government farther on to the side. I passed beyond the far side and entered a kilometer-long wooded area with paths among the defensive trenches. I stopped along several points to envision what happened in front of, and around me in April 1945. I then walked some other old defensive positions farther north. With a practiced eye, you could make out further defensive efforts refashioned into farm and pasture boundaries. Always 20 or so km east were the trees along the Oder River and beyond that the eastern bluffs of the Odertal (Oder river valley). In 1945, it was all German, since Poland starts at the Oder River.
From the cemetery looking east from below the rapist. RS 1 is the straight road left of center, the far treeline is the Oder with the βFestung Kustrinβ barely visible, and the far horizon is the east side of the valley.
The heights of the Oder River that I was sitting on are the last defensible terrain before Berlin, and both sides knew it. The German high command was intent on bleeding the Soviets here for as long as they could, and Stalin was determined to take Berlin in less than a week when he ordered the offensive. Iβll cover the battle more in a future part.
After a quick ride on the VB, I was back in Frankfurt der Oder. Most Americans know Frankfurt der Main since that western German city has the huge international airport. This Frankfurt is almost a direct opposite of that Frankfurt. FdO has a small university and was a Stalin poke in the heart for residents every time they look east. Until the end of WWII, FdO was spread on both sides of the river and Poland lay much farther east. Well, Joe wanted more buffer, so he told Truman and Churchill he intended to keep much of the land he seized from Poland in 1939. But since he was in a giving mood, he was willing to give Poland land from German Prussia. Presto! Poland moved west and now the Oder was the new border, and Frankfurt der Oder was split. The Western part was retained by Germany and the Frankfurt der Oder name, and the eastern part of the city was now Slubice, Poland. As I strolled around the city center, I saw the old socialist public art was still scattered about. I also saw a couple of the same ugly apartment blocks as well. In most respects, the city looks like most other small German cities except there are still scattered piles of WWII ruins and unrepaired buildings here and there. The Soviets made sure that the locals would not forget what happened and that they were not forgivenβdespite all the socialist rhetoric. The most visible FU was the cathedral. It was rebuilt, but the repairs and the replaced steeple are in a much darker-toned brick. One glance tells the observer the story Stalin wanted the Germans to remember. Yes, this was deliberate. Other repaired buildings had matching brick and stonework.
Slubice, Poland was part of Frankfurt Der Oder until the end of WWII. Now it is a bedroom community for FdO because housing costs less. This is causing hard feelings since Poles are being outbid by Germans for housing.
Because Poland was right there, I had to walk across the bridge and do some exploring. I strolled my way into a very German-feeling Polish city. Most commercial signs were in both languages and I heard at least as much German as Polish spoken, especially among the young. Slubice is now a bedroom community for the larger, and more expensive, German brother city. I returned to the train station and soon found myself back in Berlin where I walked back to my temporary residence in a light snowfall. While walking I grabbed an excellent gyro (β¬6.5) and stopped in a grocery for a Berlinkindl Schwarzbier (β¬0.80 for a half liter) for dinner. A sobering but interesting day.
This is the border marker. During the Cold War the DDR regulated (read largely prohibited) their citizens from crossing the river. In summer 1989 the DDR permitted citizens to cross into other Warsaw Pact countries. These East Germans would drive their overpacked Trabants to border crossings into Austria then travel to Bavaria. The moment they crossed the border and told the border guards they wanted to stay PRESTO CHANGO they were West German citizens.
Of all the related things, I am at a veteranβs gathering entirely by mistake. Mostly Vietnam and Gulf War. I may quickly run out of cigars and Johnny Walker Black. A crap ton of motorcycles. A new Indian off road/on road motorcycle is tempting me.
Frankfurt am Main (am = an dem)
π
Appreciate this slice of life in Ossie-land!
OMFG the Pride pandering is fucking obnoxious on the telly. I dunno if I can take twenty-five more days of this shit.
Why do you hate gay people?
LOL
I am Uncle Tom of Finland.
Fabulous.
*throws glitter*
Shut the internet down, we have a winner.
Blow up your TV, it’s the final solution.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oPwq0YoOy4g
lol
But teevee is my constant companion.
#metoo.
And the NYC government is paying for a good number of the most obnoxious ad spots. Your tax dollars at work.
I’m bingeing ST:VOY. This is all CBS/Paramount+.
LOL they just had a “news” update informing us that 1 in 4 Americans have changed their religion since 2022 because of anti-LBGetc. “or other reasons”.
Wow. Propaganda better, people.
#SeeUs – very next commercial.
Holy shit it doesn’t end.
The backlash is coming and it’s not going to be pretty.
Their true religion was always statism. Or progressivism.
The pendulum never stops at the bottom of the swing. Jus’ saying.
Same as it ever was.
Was not expecting that!
Watch βTerrifier 2β on Tubi instead. I think I need to post it.
I think Terrifier 2 would get lambasted around here by this lot of seconders. Too much gore for gore’s sake and the people who take themselves too seriously will turn up their noses at it.
Iβm thinking about a double feature of 1 and 2. Just the titillation of tge advertising saying people vomited in the theaters. I was not overly impressed by the gore. Iβd like to see othersβ thoughts. What say you?
I’ve seen both. The second added more “plot” in the way of the fantasy/paranormal elements to try and offset the extreme gore. The stuff is so over the top that it’s campy, but still offensive to normies.
The first had a particular scene where a body was sawed in two that was a bit disturbing even to someone who has seen a lot of extreme shit in horror. The second had some gore that didn’t really look real which undercuts it.
I still enjoyed them because I’m a basic bitch when it comes to horror. I like my slasher movies.
Perhaps more disturbing than the gore is that movie revels in the killing for killing’s sake. It let’s the killer just enjoy that shit and feels no need to provide reason to it.
Done. I will try to write it up before they expire on Tubi.
Well done. I like the term “unknown rapist.” I’m pretty sure both sides had plenty of those.
It’s too easy to point fingers at those bad guys over there. The real enemy is right here at home, and he’s busy taking everything from you while whipping up your two minutes hate for Emmanuel G.
OTOH, Half-liter of beer for under $1? There is still hope for humanity.
Bring as much back from there as you want. One time I packed my kit bag with 40 bottles (2 cases) of my favorite biers. The customs man just waved me through since the import duty is measured in pennies per gallon. The paperwork for a few cents wasn’t worth it to him.
I was taken by that too. It gives you real insight into what happened.
One overlooked aspect of the decline of the movie star – the rise of social media. That sounds unoriginal at first, but I don’t mean just in the sense that it is competition for eyeballs. There use to be an allure to the rich and famous celebrities in Hollywood. They mostly kept their mouths shut, they had private lives that you knew little about besides what the paparazzi and tabloids would print. Then these assholes got access to Twitter and Instagram and their need for attention caused the vast majority to spew forth every dumb idea that popped into their head and share details of everything they do. There used to be some mystery there.
Most of the actresses who aren’t just mindless whores come off like your crazy left wing Aunt who is divorced or never married and has three cats and no kids. The males, instead of flaunting how much hot pussy they get, basically come off basically the same. They are an emasculated bunch of assholes.
Hat tip to Nerdrotic’s latest video.
It’s emasculated bunches of assholes all the way down.
I was watching fucking Charmed this morning (the old one!) and I was struck by how prominent the alpha girl/beta male phenomenon was even back then.
The Bee strikes again.
The last line made me spit out my drink:
“At publishing time, the protesting group of activists was demanding Dr. Barnhouse perform surgery to turn a human being into a furry.”
That whole saying about throwing stones when living in a glass house and all.
The Germans stuck under Soviet rule are the only ones who kind of earned it. At least the ones alive for the rise of Hitler and through WW2.
The Soviets took rape to such a level that even the Soviet rulers started dialing back the rhetoric before the Berlin offensive started since they realized the rapes were endangering their ability to rule over eastern Germany. Despite the efforts to tamp down on their army, the rapes around Berlin numbered in the 100’s of thousands in the first weeks of occupation. Abortions were numerous, but in the early 1990’s I personally encountered a former Soviet soldier who bragged how “They left over a million Soviet babies in German women.”
The next time Europe encountered systematic rape as a weapon of war was during the breakup of Yugoslavia.
https://archive.is/ugv4P/aab98ad88bb70103287a9edf2a74510e523fb540.jpg
NSFW.
https://archive.is/f6sM6/55f1afdead8f09ce9cadc67f265adcb889688c32.jpg
NSFW.
https://archive.is/ySmZA/02f8ab19fdff5b512b98c9c8666f46e7637f3e35.jpg
NSFW.
https://archive.is/ZGQdg/ad90f376bb0b2f9f5aa38150229ffc4284205b37.jpg
NSFW.
https://archive.is/Ylr8d/f47fc5a88a3a1af8f14eee2a1f7b3dca6c12c256.jpg
NSFW.
“These Soviet soldier heroic ideal statues were known generally as the βMemorial to the Unknown Rapistβ by Germans”
When I was in Budapest in the early 1990s, I saw the Soviet Liberation monument. Apparently the locals called it the “Reoccupation Monument.”
I skimmed parts one and two. Looks like you had a very interesting trip. I will re-read and spend more time on them later tonight. Thanks a lot for writing about your trip!
Hopefully I can get my act together and report on my recent trip to Germany sooner than later. Mainly around DΓΌsseldorf and west to Aachen, although we did take a weekend trip to MΓΌnich. One of the highlights was that I biked the Kall Trail. (I “cheated” and used an e-bike…it was still a hell of a ride)
An aside to DEG: Sorry for the radio silence, but your advice was very appreciated and useful!
Used an e-bike and still came in second.
Nein. “Came in seconds” is your truth.
I laugh at the attempts to mock the efficiency of the Firster’s orgasm.
I’m sure when you finally pay for your First, she’ll be impressed with your efficiency.
Look, fats, I don’t care about her pleasure even when I’m not paying for it. I sure as shit don’t care if I coughed up money.
I want an e-bike.
Does anyone know if the batteries are really dangerous or is the frequent burning down of apartment buildings here just a function of NYC stoopid?
The things are fucking ubiquitous here because of food delivery culture but most of them look like something they cobbled together out of dumpster parts.
Can’t speak to fires, but the one I rented there (and the ones I saw others riding) were damn nice bikes.
The great thing about the e-bike was how it opened up so many miles to me that wouldn’t have been realistically possible on a regular bike. I did about 30 miles two days in a row, and the second day especially was a lot of climbing steep hills. I mean, hiking the Kall Trail in a day wouldve about killed me. Biking it was only a damn good workout.
I’m moving to a hilly area and I’m eyeing a bike that’s combo regular plus e.
It’s just there have been so many scare stories of these thing blowing up.
You’re moving?!?!
I want one, too. For me it’s not hills, but being able to more easily and quickly cover more miles. I have only done very superficial investigating into it, but it appears that you want a Bosch power train.
I have no idea what that is but the idea only struck me the other day so I started thinking, huh, I should get an e-bike.
Bosch brand motor and control.
I was looking on Amazon. All the brands are Chinese stuff I’ve never heard of. Β―\_(γ)_/Β―
It may be my Sinophobia speaking, but I’m guessing those are the ones that burn down buildings. π
Mike! How have you been?
Good, man. Been globe trotting. Firsted the hell outta Germany, Belgium, and The Netherlands.
I hope they aren’t dangerous since my wife’s ebike is in the garage. I think as long as you stick with Shimano or Bosch batteries you should be fine.
Mijn Broer bought one to fit in with his Dutchlandian neighbors. He likes it, and if* he hasn’t set anything on fire yet, they must not require exquisite care.
*he probably wouldn’t have mentioned anything if he had, unless the fire was bad enough to make him abandon his newly-bought Huis.
Thanks, dbleagle, very interesting to look back 75-80 years and see that somethings haven’t been forgotten
Since that time the US has been in so many wars/skirmishes with 10s of 1000s young men and women lost. In retrospect it’s difficult to see what was gained, other than political capital for some.
My time in Germany was spent searching out gasthauses and country frauleins. OTOH I was a lot younger and it’s what some young men do.
Great article to remind us that real war and movies are different.
It is very apparent when you visit the former FRG and DDR how differently the western nations and USSR viewed Germany. Among the western three, France was the most severe for a few years (naturally since they were the only one occupied) but by the 1950 were much more like the UK and USA. The Soviets were very much FU till the bitter end in 1990. It was not until the mid-1970’s that they permitted the DDR to remove the German materiel from many battlefields. The treated Dresden, and other DDR cities much like the treated FaO. In my son’s neighborhood in the former East Berlin there are buildings which were fixed enough to be usable but the wartime scars are clearly visible. All these buildings are on corner lots to maximize the views to passersby people and vehicles. They also left ruins throughout the city. Since unifications many have been turned into small parks.
Outside of Berlin there is the “forbidden city”. It is the former huge Soviet army base which HQ’ed the occupation, woops sorry “fraternal”, Soviet army. Today it is abandoned.
The FRG army became very western to show their new alliance. The DDR retained as many trappings of the former Wermacht to try and show the DDR citizens that the DDR wasn’t just a puppet. Grey uniforms, goosestepping, etc. They did were a different helmet but that was about it. In 2000 I instructed several Captains from the DDR that were permitted to remain in the new unified German Army. They were trying hard to adopt western ways but some attitudes of the recent past were still noticeable.
The DDR might have had the better of it if the Morganthau Plan had been implemented.
I spent some time in the DDR in the eighties and it was remarkable how they were both so different from and the same as the folks in the BRD. What strange times.
They were like mirror images of each other. I remember staring at the DDR from a beach in West Germany, and seeing all the tanks, barbed wire.
It was like looking at a dirty picture of where you were.
I crossed through Checkpoint Charlie in 1987 to visit East Berlin for one day. It was only one day and I will never forget it. That was the best face they could put on Communist rule and it was pathetic.
That Netflix show Kleo did a good job of enweirdening Ossies.
MikeS: Birthday was fine. Shpip was the only Glib that made it after all of you pussies backed out for ‘reasons’. So it was pretty calm. Mostly just family and Shpip. (which still made it a rather large event) As for future events, I don’t know, my liver doctor probably won’t like it, but I probably will.
I decided to give MATCHdotCOM a shot (damn their prices are high, not sure if I want to actually pay) There is a a question about whether or not you are vaccinated in the questionnaire. The world fucking sucks. burn it all down. Kanye 2024.
Back in ’20 I saw a yard sign “Presidents come and go, but the Wu-Tang is forever.”
I am voting for the RZA and the JZA in 2024.
I don’t see how they could be any worse than Biden.
I am so sorry. I was one of those people. I will find some way to make it up to you.
Rabies?
Matthew Tkachuk open ice hit was clean but refs decided this was the game to lay down the misconduct hammer on nearly everyone.
https://twitter.com/Sportsnet/status/1665900239692132352?s=20
I had probably the best ‘fried’ chicken I’ve had in 20 years tonight. Banquet frozen ‘Fired Chicken’ still tastes like how fried chicken tasted in the 90s. #UnhealthyAtAnyWeight
That is a sad state of affairs that you describe.
I got some great fried chicken at several places in small NC towns in the early 2000’s. I am sure that there is still some good fried chicken to be found there.
So, uh….were the 90’s the “Fried Chicken Decade”? I mean, I’d believe it about wings, probably. But I seem to recall ‘late 70’s into the 80’s’ as being (let’s say) closer to a golden age for straight-up fried chicken.
As a Texan, who lived near Mesquite* for most of my life, I’m leave this without further commentary:
https://youtu.be/l12wWUYTBKI
*just wait for Mesquite to be mentioned
Morning, Glibs
Good morning, U – and Diggy, if you’re still around.
I sent you an email question, if you’ve got the time to read it.
Got it and read it – thanks! It’s going to require some thought – and some more caffeine – to respond.
Mornin’, all. Mrs. Patzer will be at the office today, kids are both working. I will be Home Alone. Heh.
Good morning, ‘patzie! I rather think the scene at Chez Patzer will more resemble one from a different movie. π
Nah, I can see him hitting himself with a paint can.
Oh, yeah! When I was a young patzer, our HR director’s secretary had a daughter who worked as a stripper. One day Rhoda comes to me and says her daughter will be working at a party with a mixed audience and will need a male dancer for the ladies – would you like to make some extra money?
Sadly, I passed up that gig. Right up there on the top of my list of great regrets.
oblig: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stqG2ihMvP0
LOL. For the record, I was 5’9″, 145 lb. at the time (boy, did that ship sail).
What a compliment! Clearly, young patzer was quite the hot patzer! π
Indeed. Also highly likely Rhoda was a cougar. I was completely clueless back then.
Itβs just as well that we canβt be young again with what we know now. Most of us would self-destruct in an explosion of debauchery.
Mornin. Having upwards of 25 different processes, methods and ‘tricks’ to update/upgrade our various systems with operating systems consisting of anything from DOS to CentOS to Win98 and upwards certainly weeds out the meek.
That it?
I expected more.
DOS?? Will that actually run on modern hardware?
DOSBox will
Why is medical insurance so expensive?
I think insurance companies should be required to cover rhinoplasty for women.
While men can get along fine with an unattractive nose, for women it can be emotionally difficult and tough to navigate the dating world, etc./sarc/snark
Morning UCS, Rat and GT and all the others that didn’t get up yet (you know who you are)
Fine day, fine day.
All insurance is expensive.
Good morning, 4(20)!
Insurance is a gambling racket that puts Vegas to shame.
Like government programs, private benefits, public costs. Fertility specialists are the winners here.
We had a little family chat about prepaid health plans the other day. The spawn are not pleased that they are forced to pay for the costs of things that no twenty-something man will ever need. The younguns should be able to purchase actual insurance, not subsidize the likes of me.
I knew my grand daughters were grown up when a 16 year old got a job at a big box grocery. She got her first paycheck and asked, “What is FICA plus withholding tax, I never signed up for that?” And of course her hourly efforts were suddenly diminished.
All three lean libertarian now.
πππ
Crepe, it’s time to go to work.
*Turns to look at other monitor*
Time to make the
donutscrepes?I can see my bee box from where I’m sitting, still intact. I’m guessing Mr Bear has been out there but realized that the clicking sound of the transformer is something to avoid (again).
How much does it cost to have one of them turned into a rug?
Bees make terrible rugs.
And you probably need more than one.
I prefer the ones made by Afghans anyway
Those hounds are impressive weavers. I was skeptical until I saw them with warp and weft.
My youngest GD’s husband just shot a bear in Alaska, gonna get a rug made, I think it has to go back to Anchorage or even the lower 48 for processing.
I’ll find out what the estimate is.
Even your small one could make a spiffy hat.
My youngest GDβs husband just shot a bear in Alaska, gonna get a rug made
In his pajamas?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NfN_gcjGoJo
Once again, the Russians have blown up a strategic asset for no apparent reason other than to hurt themselves and the world.
https://twitter.com/paulmasonnews/status/1665941809682423810
War crime and ecocide with genocidal intent
Look just because the words exist and technically you can string them together, doesn’t mean you should.