On May 8th, 1945, the Third Reich surrendered. Our local paper recalled an amazing event. Parallels? [View all]

[DFW]

When the American army arrived in the town where I now live, the commander was made aware of a war crime committed by local Gestapo and Düsseldorf police on April 6th. With the newly named mayor of our town, he heard the details about a war crime committed less than two weeks before our town surrendered. Ten men and one woman who were part of the forced labor force here were taken out to a nearby forest and summarily executed, their bodies crudely buried in the dirt. They had been from Russia, Poland and the Netherlands.

The killers had been identified by the population, and the American commander, instead of just jailing or shooting them (no idea if any of that happened later), forced them, with the town's population watching, to go back to the site of their crime, dig up the bodies of their victims with the bare hands, and help bury them in places of honor at the big Catholic church in the center of town. No doubt some or all were seething with hate as they did it, but the whole town was watching as they did, as was the American occupying force. They had NO choice. No one knows if any of them felt any shame or remorse. Since this happened some six weeks after their crime, I suspect not.

As an intentional bit of irony, the building that housed the local Gestapo HQ was turned into the Anne Frank Elementary School, where my own daughters attended over four decades later.

That these monsters felt they had the right to commit such a crime when it was obvious that the war would be over for them within weeks (and that they would lose), is just incomprehensible today. OR IS IT?

I look at the destruction and corruption being attempted by Trump's administration even now, when they know they might be facing hostile grand juries a year from now, and they just don't care. It just doesn't seem to bother them in the slightest that what they are doing is destructive to our democracy, our planet, our rights, and our health. How can this be so? Think of the Gestapo right here in my town that went out and executed eleven forced laborers when it was obvious that they would be called out for their crime as soon as the Allies took their town over. The Russians were pouring in from the East, so there was nowhere to run. And yet, they did it anyway.

So it will be with us and the Trumpanzees. They will leave our society in ruins if we let them, and they will face their fate without remorse if we prosecute them. Well, fuck it, so let's prosecute them anyway. Let's humiliate them like the Gestapo killers in my town were humiliated in 1945. Even if they don't care, at least future generations will see that WE cared. At the Anne Frank school, the kids who go there haven't the faintest idea what the name of the old Gestapo commander was. Nor do I. On the other hand, they ALL learn about the life of Anne Frank and who she was. It is said that the victors write the history books. I would be happy to contribute to the history books written about the sickening Trump years.

In the years after the war, the occupying forces kept a wary eye out to help with their damage control, of course, so that it really got done. If we are successful in de-electing Trumppence in November, the danger is not past. The forces of evil, from McConnell to Republican governors, to bought Republican state legislatures, to big money polluters to corrupt judges installed by Trump, will try to thwart a Biden administration at every step. I wonder who will keep a watchful eye over OUR damage control, so that it really gets done?