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Wintergreen: Suppressed Murders
With the same commitment to exposing Nazi crimes that has made her books Against the Stream and Out of Passau so widely read, Anna Elisabeth Rosmus uncovers the wartime fate of foreign workers, their children, prisoners of war, and Jewish citizens in Suppressed Murders. The renowned human rights activist recounts a horrific story of slave labor, forced abortions, and mass murder that took place in and around her Barvarian hometown. Until Rosmus began her work, the citizens of the region had successfully avoided acknowledging these atrocities for decades.
In Wintergreen, Rosmus documents the treatment of women from Poland, Russia, Ukraine, and other Eastern European countries who were deported to Germany and put to work as forced laborers. She tells how doctors performed abortions - at times without anesthesia - on these women despite the illegality of such practices for German women and strong opposition by the local and highly influential Roman Catholic church. Rosmus describes the mistreatment of infants in so-called children's homes, where they were intentionally fed spoiled food and the mortality rates were notoriously high.
With an impending German surrender, Passau and its environs witnessed additional carnage. Rosmus sheds light on the united effort of the Hitler Youth, secret police, militia, and German Wehrmacht to massacre thousands of Russian prisoners of war who were being held in the region. The Nazis and their sympathizers forced some prisoners to dig their own graves before being shot; others they threw into the Inn River to drown. In nearby Pocking-Waldstadt, Nazis murdered Jews held in a concentration subcamp, dumping some bodies from moving trains and placing others in hastily dug graves. As disturbing as these crimes are, just as unsettling is the local population's ability to gloss over these acts or to believe that they never happened at all.
In Wintergreen, Rosmus documents the treatment of women from Poland, Russia, Ukraine, and other Eastern European countries who were deported to Germany and put to work as forced laborers. She tells how doctors performed abortions - at times without anesthesia - on these women despite the illegality of such practices for German women and strong opposition by the local and highly influential Roman Catholic church. Rosmus describes the mistreatment of infants in so-called children's homes, where they were intentionally fed spoiled food and the mortality rates were notoriously high.
With an impending German surrender, Passau and its environs witnessed additional carnage. Rosmus sheds light on the united effort of the Hitler Youth, secret police, militia, and German Wehrmacht to massacre thousands of Russian prisoners of war who were being held in the region. The Nazis and their sympathizers forced some prisoners to dig their own graves before being shot; others they threw into the Inn River to drown. In nearby Pocking-Waldstadt, Nazis murdered Jews held in a concentration subcamp, dumping some bodies from moving trains and placing others in hastily dug graves. As disturbing as these crimes are, just as unsettling is the local population's ability to gloss over these acts or to believe that they never happened at all.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published October 30, 2004
About the author
Anna Rosmus
12 books8 followersAnna Elisabeth Rosmus, from Passau, Germany, is an author, human rights activist, and the real-life heroine of the Academy Award–nominated film The Nasty Girl (1990). For thirty-three years she has dedicated her life to uncovering the Nazi past of her hometown in Bavaria and to combating neo-Nazis in Germany. The winner of numerous awards for her efforts in Europe, the Middle East, and North America, Rosmus represents to many the legacy of the Holocaust in memory, education, and action in the continuing struggle against bigotry and anti-Semitism.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 4, 2014
Disclaimer: Review copy read via Netgalley and Open Road Media.
Wintergreen is the presentation of facts and oral testimony collected by Anna Rasmus that details the war crimes that occurred in or near her native Passau. It is, apparently, a work that made her fellow residents anger, for she also looks at the lack of memorials or repair of such.
The book is written with a certain level of detachment, necessary no doubt because of the horrors chronicled therein, and the detachment serves very well, and makes the lack of retribution or sorrow on the behalf of residents even more damning.
It should be noted that in addition to damning evidence there are also some stories of add and protest. If you have read Out of Passau first, there is also the memory of Rasmus’ own family to take into consideration. Additionally, this should be read before Passau as it well make some of the passages in that book clearer and more precise.
The crimes that Rasmus examines in detail include the forced abortion and labor of East European women, the murder of Russian soldiers, and two nearby camps. Because the focus is not just on Jewish victims or targets, the book is more encompassing than just a direct look at the Holocaust and shows that the crimes range far beyond the most obvious.
The use of first person accounts –from survivors, witnesses, and actors in the events, makes the events more personal and affecting as well as emphasizing the possible effects on the lives of the citizens of Passau.
Extremely well written and easily read in a day, Wintergreen is a must for anyone reading World War II history.
Crossposted at Booklikes.
Wintergreen is the presentation of facts and oral testimony collected by Anna Rasmus that details the war crimes that occurred in or near her native Passau. It is, apparently, a work that made her fellow residents anger, for she also looks at the lack of memorials or repair of such.
The book is written with a certain level of detachment, necessary no doubt because of the horrors chronicled therein, and the detachment serves very well, and makes the lack of retribution or sorrow on the behalf of residents even more damning.
It should be noted that in addition to damning evidence there are also some stories of add and protest. If you have read Out of Passau first, there is also the memory of Rasmus’ own family to take into consideration. Additionally, this should be read before Passau as it well make some of the passages in that book clearer and more precise.
The crimes that Rasmus examines in detail include the forced abortion and labor of East European women, the murder of Russian soldiers, and two nearby camps. Because the focus is not just on Jewish victims or targets, the book is more encompassing than just a direct look at the Holocaust and shows that the crimes range far beyond the most obvious.
The use of first person accounts –from survivors, witnesses, and actors in the events, makes the events more personal and affecting as well as emphasizing the possible effects on the lives of the citizens of Passau.
Extremely well written and easily read in a day, Wintergreen is a must for anyone reading World War II history.
Crossposted at Booklikes.
April 25, 2014
This is one that I received through NetGalley and it was a digital ARC. I had a few issues with following the storyline and I think that may have been due to poor editing or a faulty transfer to digital. All that aside, I found this to be a very interesting book! I enjoyed reading about the interviews conducted, the newspaper articles, and learning more about how WWII is viewed in Germany. I understand people not wanting to be associated with atrocities. Sadly, it is human nature. I was disturbed that so many did not want the truth to be uncovered. I would rather awful truths be told so that the same crimes would not be repeated. This is a definite recommendation for anyone interested in WWII and peoples actions and reactions during and after the war.
February 11, 2014
Following on from her acclaimed and moving memoirs Against the Stream and Out of Passau, Anna Rosmus, activist and campaigner for all those who suffered in the Holocaust, and particularly in her hometown of Passau and the surrounding area, here turns her attention to the specific crimes perpetrated against prisoners of war, forced labourers, Jews and other Eastern Europeans in the many camps and sub-camps run by the Nazi regime. Often harrowing, this is a tough read, but an important one and another worthwhile addition to Holocaust literature.
August 7, 2016
Not a fun read; a listing of activities of the people in Passau, and the justifications they made, including pretending they never happened.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews