WWII war crimes in the Ukraine

boomchicawawa

Hi...this is a bit of topic...apologies...but if there happens to be any Ukrainian citizen trawling these posts and would be willing to help me dig up some local info about war crimes committed by German units during the run up to the third battle of Kharkov, (in that area during Feb to March 1943 or perhaps onwards until 'Kursk') can you PM me thks.

jonniebgood1

Post moved to new thread.

I would suggest you expand on post. What exactly is the interest. Also it is preferable if any information is kept in the thread rather than PM as this is a discussion forum. This might allow for information that is new to you on the subject that fits in with your original aim.

What war crimes in the battle of Kharkov are you discussing?

boomchicawawa

Tks for moving it, I just didn't want to hijack the thread....but it does concern the Ukraine....time period early 1943/location Kharkov region.


I am investigating suspected war crimes of Jochen Peiper '1st SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joachim_Peiper

during the third battle of Kharkov. I have reason to believe that the villages credited to him as destroying since 1945 are incorrect. (I have evidence for this). But I do believe there are as yet un-named villages that he and his battalion did destroy as his own men have made these allegations.

I have been amazed to find just recently that this is not a subject that has been covered in any of his extensive bio's as the authors have only focused on his western front activity in general and Malmedy in particular (they all do cite the 3 villages as mentioned by the Americans in 1945, but as I have reason to doubt the validity of these allegations).

I have access to details of his movements during this time period, and I have access to dating these movements, what I need are the names of villages that were destroyed and their inhabitants killed by German forces at this time and in this area so I can triangulate these details and uncover new evidence.

Any help or insights welcomed.

ChicagoJoe

By a cruel irony, many Ukrainians understandably welcomed the Germans at first thinking they had come to liberate them from the tyranny of Stalin.

Snickers Man

ChicagoJoe wrote: »

By a cruel irony, many Ukrainians understandably welcomed the Germans at first thinking they had come to liberate them from the tyranny of Stalin.

Not an irony at all. Irony means something unexpected or paradoxical. My enemy's enemy is my friend is an adage as old as human conflict. Very little to be surprised about when fresh examples emerge.

Is it an irony, for example, that Imperial Germany provided greater quantities of weaponry to the Ulster Unionists during the Home Rule Crisis of 1912-14 than to the Nationalists? The Rebels proclaiming the Republic in Easter 1916 paid due acknowledgement to "our gallant allies in Europe." No such public thanks were forthcoming from Lord Carson and his well armed boys. Whose side were the Germans on, after all?

Answer: their own. As always.

is it an irony that Aung San Suu Kyi, who clearly reveres the memory of her father, is lauded by the west despite the fact that her dad was instrumental in kicking the British out of Burma in 1941-42 in support of the invading Japanese? He did change his mind about the Japs later on (no irony there either) because he saw that when they said they were coming "not as conquerors but as liberators" they meant the exact opposite. He was on Burma's side, and the strategic choices he had to make reflected that.

The simple truth is that many Ukrainians, naturally, fought with the Germans and many fought against them, each thinking all the time that they were proper Ukrainian patriots. Such is the fate of people whose countries are invaded.

And that bitter legacy lasts. Yugoslavia is another classic example. Ancient enmities, exploited by invaders in the 1940s, and the indigenous inhabitants recommence the war 50 years after the rest of Europe deemed it finished.