© Institute for Historical ReviewMartin Brech
They never taught this in history classIn October 1944, at age eighteen, I was drafted into the U.S. army. Largely because of the "Battle of the Bulge," my training was cut short, my furlough was halved, and I was sent overseas immediately. Upon arrival in Le Havre, France, we were quickly loaded into box cars and shipped to the front. When we got there, I was suffering increasingly severe symptoms of mononucleosis, and was sent to a hospital in Belgium. Since mononucleosis was then known as the "kissing disease," I mailed a letter of thanks to my girlfriend.
By the time I left the hospital, the outfit I had trained with in Spartanburg, South Carolina, was deep inside Germany, so, despite my protests, I was placed in a "repo depot" (replacement depot). I lost interest in the units to which I was assigned, and don't recall all of them: non-combat units were ridiculed at that time. My separation qualification record states I was mostly with Company C, 14th Infantry Regiment, during my seventeen-month stay in Germany, but I remember being transferred to other outfits also.
In late March or early April 1945, I was sent to guard a POW camp near Andernach along the Rhine. I had four years of high school German, so I was able to talk to the prisoners, although this was forbidden. Gradually, however, I was used as an interpreter and asked to ferret out members of the S.S. (
I found none.)
In Andernach about 50,000 prisoners of all ages were held in an open field surrounded by barbed wire. The women were kept in a separate enclosure that I did not see until later. The men I guarded had no shelter and no blankets. Many had no coats. They
slept in the mud, wet and cold, with inadequate slit trenches for excrement. It was a cold, wet spring, and their misery from exposure alone was evident.
Comment: Further Updates
***
18:45 CET
French riot police are positioned at the Conseil d'État at the Palais du Justice in Paris in anticipation of supporters of Dieudonné protesting there.
20:00 CET
It's interesting to note that the Council of State is France's Supreme Court, but unlike the Supreme Court in the US, where permanent members adjudicate cases that bring up constitutional issues, France's Supreme Court has several functions, including as 'legal advisor' to the government. In this role, it is presided over by the Prime Minister, the Vice-President and other members of the government.
In upholding the French government's ban, the Conseil d'État functioned as an appellate court, and was composed of just one judge, Bernard Stirn, great-grand-nephew of Alfred Dreyfus.
20:10 CET
According to Dieudonné's Facebook page, this decision has been handed down at the very last minute. Thousands of spectators are already at the venue, Dieudonné is inside and has asked to be allowed outside to address the crowd but the police won't let him. The authorities are requesting that people return to their homes and Dieudonné has also pleaded with them to remain calm and sing the Marseillaise...
20:20 CET
Dieudonné is now also asking that people to return to their homes following reports that violence has broken out...
In another Facebook update, Dieudonné has again asked people to calmly leave the scene, explaining that a violent confrontation is what the government is looking for:
Dieudonné fans left the Zenith arena in Nantes peacefully, chanting the Marseillaise. The comedian is set to release a video message via his YouTube channel tomorrow, 10th January 2013.