MEMORIES.E33 - Answers Part 2 to Neel Sheeth
Zvonko Springer (zzspri@COSY.SBG.AC.AT)
Wed, 5 Mar 1997 22:45:11 +0100
P.S. to part 1.: The certificate 'MATURA' is equal to INTERNATIONAL
BACCALAUREATE or
UK's certificate for A1 level.
Hello Neel - for 2nd time,
first, thanks for your notification Re: Part 1. Hope you could digests
the six rather long answers of Part 1 already. I got some time now
in-between other chores an elderly gentleman of leisure is busying
himself. Let me try answering few of your questions of yours. I would be
using several lines written to MEMORIES since 1995. I have answered many
questions which were put forward by students from different schools to
certain degree similar to yours ones. Here are my answers to Neel
Sheeth's question
7 through 20.
******
Q7: Where did you get your information about the war?
A7: About 2 years ago, Cottage Grove students have asked: When and how
did you first
hear about the possibility of a war starting in Europe? How did you
find out that
the war was going on? How did you get most of your information on
the war? What
was the view of war you were given by the media?
I have answered in MEMORIES.E18 following:
We moved to a house my parents bought in summer 1936. My father's first
radio was a huge box produced by 'Telefunken' about the same time.
Father, a well known advocate
(attorney) in Osijek, had been cautioning about a looming European War
since 1936, so
far I can remember. [Hitler came to power in 1933 and revoked the Treaty
of Versailles
of May 7, 1919 soon after. Mussolini attacked Ethiopia in 1935. In 1937
Hitler and
Mussolini joined into the 'AXIS PACT'. The 'civil war' in Spain started
in July 1936
and ended in February 1939].
My father was well informed about political and economical developments
in Europe.
Also, we read local newspapers and heard to radio news. [Note: One
cannot compare
present news media's proficiency and potency with the ones of some 55
years ago!]
Please consider, that the NEWS MEDIA were NOT FREE at all. The relevant
information
Ministries were strictly acting according the regime's policy and needs
only. In a
tyrannical and oppressive regime there is <underline>NO PLACE for FREE
NEWS or FREE SPEECH</underline>.
Q8: What part of the war do you remember as being the worst time for
America?
A8: Sorry, cannot reply this question - I was at other side of the Big
Waters then.
Q9: When were you most afraid during the war?
A9: I do remember well the WWII but answering your question would not be
easy at all.
The war had played the most IMPORTANT part in my life. I cannot give
you any
determinate answer to this question as my life history has been a
rather complex
one. There were so many occasions when I have been afraid of - then
something
happened anew and new kind of fear took over. One would need too
many explanations
to understand the background to it. Also, it would a VERY long
answer as well a
very personal one too.
I can remember being afraid of normal cases like any teenager
considering local
and past times when these ones occurred. Later, getting into army's
service and to battle lines the quality of fears changed drastically.
On one occasion, I got so scared that I soiled myself during a night
battle raging for hours. There were about
20 assaults that night and my trust out artillery observation post has
been under constant fire prior to any of attack. After several repelled
attacks I got back my
full senses and my survival instinct took over by 'hunting' down guns
and launchers
which scared me for few hours. After I had led down several perfect hits
of our
cannons from far away my post it had brought down those 'humiliatiors'
of mine body.
Later, the wheel of life turned onwards with new apprehensions more
worse than the
ones before.
I have learned mortal fears, experienced instincts of survival, felt
scythe's
hush over me and have survived the MASSACRES of CROATIANS in 1945. [Was
it not an
'ethnical cleansing' then already?] What should I answer regarding my
<underline>FEARS</underline> or which one of them I have been most
afraid of during the war? Was it one of the primordial
or instinctive fears? Have I been afraid of feelings like of an
imminent danger or disaster or indescribable- pain or injury or even
death at any of the critical
moments? [Fear of imminent death is something incomprehensible to a
young person without one's own experience.] In general, I would say,
that there was not much time
to ponder about feelings or fears which have happened at a particular
moment - in
reality and not as virtual. One had to cope with all of these fears as
they came -
there has not been anything to rely upon or anybody to counsel you. At
your last
hours approach you're alone - you feel being deserted and very
lonesome.
Also, many have asked how was it like living through WWII times.
There was a
lot of sombreness mixed with moments of repose, subdued joys and hopping
for that
all those unpleasant and restrictive behaviors for teenagers would pass
soon. Some
hopes and of more unidentified expectations kept us humoring and having
some fun
at times. Yes, there were shortages of different kind getting worse as
the war had
protracted. Every-body had to find its own way to survive or to abandon
all hopes
by perishing sooner or later anyway. No, <underline>there isn't any
romantic story</underline> to be told
<underline>about a warlike crises.</underline>
Q10: When did you start to feel the war effort was turning to the Allied
side?
A10: I consider as the climax of WWII had been reached when the Rommel's
Africa Corps
had been defeated and when the Battle of Stalingrad ended Germans'
push eastwards
that is the aggression of Russia in 1943. The turning point became
evident when
the so long expected 'D-DAY' became the reality in 1944! I was
certain that the
WWII would end within a reasonable time when the news came that the
Allied Forces
landed in Italy (Sicily) and in Normandy few months later.
Unfortunately, WWII
lasted for many more months of anxiety ending about a year later
only - on May
8th 1945.
Q11: What did you think at the time about FDR? Churchill? Stalin?
Hitler?
Mussolini? The Japanese? The Germans? The Italians? The a-bomb
droppings?
A11: How could I write about what I have thought about say 55 years ago.
Would I not
be expressing my present opinions or observations which have been
'burdened' by
my life's history too much. Instead, I would try explaining some
topics and
dilemmas of a growing up teenager. In my family and in many of our
friends one
knew well enough about Hitler or Mussolini or Stalin. All of these
named were
FASCISTS NATIONALISTS and DICTATORS. Europeans learned quite a lot
from their
history - but not enough to prevent these fanatics to get to such
POWERS. How-
ever, there were MANY who sympathized and lobbied for Hitler and
Mussolini and
Stalin at those times too. Consider some states' policies like of
England (the
Treaty of Munich - Sep 30, 1938) or Russia (Hitler/Molotov 'Bargain
of Poland')
or USA (large business and industry interests or the late entry into
WWII only
after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor) .
What ever kind of believes or feelings one has had (even as a
teenager in those
critical times prior and during WWII) there wasn't much you could do
or achieve
approving or disapproving any course of events. One MUST adjust and
learn fast
how to survive under duress and repression - if one couldn't make it
then there
wasn't much time left for any thinking or feelings. One would not be
surviving
in such currents of events. These are bitter facts and truth about
any crisis.
Any war is one of such human crisis too.
You also asked what a teenager thought about FDR, Churchill, a-bomb
droppings
etc. What could one know about any leading politician in a far country
at times when
information facilities were by far less available than now-a-days? Our
only hopes
stayed with England under Churchill's leadership to defeat Nazis'
Germany. Why did
USA waited for so long and entered into war after those disasters in
Pacific and SE
of Asia down to Australia?
What could a teenager think about any particular nation say Japanese
about which
has learned rather little about in school? Yes, I remember having seen
or met few
Hungarians, Austrians, Germans, Tschechs etc. as tourist during my
family's holidays
in late 1930s (there were by far less tourists at that time). One cannot
expect from
a teenager to have a formed opinion about any nationality without a
reasonable per-
sonal experience, isn't? So, let leave this part of your question
unanswered.
Nevertheless, let me list some of some subjects one has talked about
in secret
or with trustful person(s) only. Topics could be summarized like:
despotism and
dictate; political oppression and persecution; lack or shortage of
merchandize and
many of commodities; hunger and different anxieties; terror and anxiety;
fears of
mutilation and of death. Also, we learned about racism too that some
people are not
liked by the regime. Suddenly you have realized that some of your
friends vanished,
several friendly families and persons had been abducted or arrested etc.
You are
told that Jews, Gypsies or some other nationalities are bad and have to
be extermi-
nated for the benefit of the regime. Like a thunderbolt it hits at your
own family
one day out of blue-sky. Neel, there is hardly any time for thoughts or
feelings and
just get out of this mess - but how you wonder!
Q12: Have any of these opinions changed over the years? Should I
understand your
question whether WWII had made an impact in my life - not only
emotionally - but
in some other ways?
As for myself, the WWII ended only 8 days later - which was May 15,
1945. On that
day early morning, I lead Battery's soldiers into the surrender to
Tito's Armies
- the Yugoslav Army - westwards of Slovenjgradec (Western Slovenia).
Two days
later, some 40.000 P.o.Ws (Prisoners of War) had started a march
eastwards from
a temporary camp at Slovenjgradec. This march had turned into one of
CROATIANS'
DEATH MARCH on so-called route no.2 The topic of 'Croatians' Death
Marches' has
been the <underline>TABOO</underline> during Tito's regime and
communists' dictatorship in ex-Yugoslavia.
Now, some 46 years later, one can talk about 'Bleiburg Massacre of
Croatians and
their Death Marches' in public. There are very, very few survivors
living who
could or would talk about their experiences. As one of Tito's
generals said:
"A Croat is good enough as a dead one only" paraphrasing a say: "A
good witness
is only a dead one".
Most of the survivors don't care talking anymore about those tragic
days - they
have aged being over 70 years now. Their unspoken memories are
buried deep by
tenderness of subconscious spreading a blanket of oblivion over all
horrors they
had passed through. I have met only one other officer who walked on
all the same
route with me. He died some years ago but we never spoke about these
gruesome
days when we met by chance. As for myself, the march's route no.2
stretched over
some 500 km of bare-footed walking in 16 days only. We didn't get
any food or
any other humanitarian help - despite Geneva's Convention valid for
Prisoners
of War. Here's what I got-learned in my life's: <underline>Do not
trust those humanitarian
</underline> <underline>slogans as they result always too late for
those to be affected by or to be of
</underline> <underline>need them</underline>.
Let me also say that one meets a real good friend in peck of
troubles or gets a
help from an unknown-somebody lasting even for a brief instant only.
However,
one couldn't be conscious of this at the time - probably only much
later - when
the friend or the unknown helper is gone for good already.
At last, which of my opinions and attitudes changed after WWII had
ended? Well,
quite a lot as you can gather from the all afore said. In former
Kingdom of Yugo-
slavia existed a relatively private enterprise system and a free
market prior to
WWII. As the whole it had been abolished by Tito's new regime which
introduced
so-called 'socialistic' state ownership and controlled marketing. It
also prohi-
bited any private enterprise. State ruled and owned everything:
agriculture, in-
dustry, all lands and resources, houses and flats. The main social
objective in
a normal society is to instigate and propagate sound families, favor
private ini-
tiatives and guarantee private ownership, free enterprise and
marketing. These
principles had to make way to a 'better' system of a 'General Public
Society'
which favored by all socialistic systems. Peoples had moved from
their native
lands (more than 70% lived outside of cities before WWII), flocked
into towns
trying to find some (proletarian) work there. It also resulted in a
great housing
crisis and even more and many dissatisfactions after WWII ended.
Yes, very many
of my opinions and attitudes changed and I have had to adjust or
accommodate or
compromise to finish my study, get work, create a family etc.
******
It's probably better making a break again and leaving the remaining
questions
13 through 20 for Part 3. I have to help my wife with her garden chores
too and I do
not like leaving her without company for so long too. Good night now -
you will read
more from me asap. Many regards
Zvonko from the Oak Hill alias CROATIAN SOLDIER.