US soldier killed because he was Jewish?

[Peter H]

Southern France,1944.From wehrmacht-awards,com.poster Jean-Loup.

First Airborne Task Force,Michel de Trez.

[PF]

Pvt Wilkins ABMC memorial at:
http://www.abmc.gov/search/detailww.php
{This spells his name as Wikins and dod as 16 August 1944}


Probably-a similar case happened near Bastogne in December 1944-a US Army transport plane was shot down; of the 4 man crew-1 escaped; 1 POW; 1 missing {thought to have been struck by flak} and 1 murdered. The Murdered crewman was Co-Pilot Lester J. Epstein of Massachusetts. He was found in a shallow grave in 1945-his hands had been tyed with wire and his head had been smashed in with gun butts.

[Penn44]

Pvt Wilkins ABMC memorial at:
http://www.abmc.gov/search/detailww.php
{This spells his name as Wikins and dod as 16 August 1944}


Probably-a similar case happened near Bastogne in December 1944-a US Army transport plane was shot down; of the 4 man crew-1 escaped; 1 POW; 1 missing {thought to have been struck by flak} and 1 murdered. The Murdered crewman was Co-Pilot Lester J. Epstein of Massachusetts. He was found in a shallow grave in 1945-his hands had been tyed with wire and his head had been smashed in with gun butts.

IIRC, the Individual Deceased Personnel File on Epstein does not support this allegation. Certainly no war crimes file was opened on the case.

Penn44

.

[PF]

An account of Epstein's death can be found in book "The Glider gang" by Milton Dank. Lester J. Epstein b. 19 Nov 1918-killed 27 Dec 1944 6 miles west south west of Bastogne, Belgium. He served with the 91st Troop Carrier Squadron/9th Troop Carrier Command.

Another case of a POW murdered because he was Jewish-see following:
http://www.ushmm.org/lcmedia/viewer/wlc ... efId=5916W

[Penn44]

An account of Epstein's death can be found in book "The Glider gang" by Milton Dank.

If you have access to that book and to a scanner, if you could, please scan the paragraphs on Epstein's alleged murder, and post within this thread.

I would like to see if it matches the account I received from a squadron member.

Penn44

.

[Peter H]

Thanks for the info.

The murder of Wilkins(and his mutilation) was most probably done by Heer soldiers of either the 148th or 242nd Division.Its chilling that such hatred has been exposed in the ranks of such second rate Wehrmacht units here.

[michael mills]

It's chilling that a member of the Forum staff would jump to such conclusions in the absence of reliable evidence.

The only official evidence seems to be that a Private Henry Wikins of the 596th Engineer Company, 517th Parachute Regiment, died on 16 August 1944.

Before jumping to conclusions, further information is required. For example, how do we know that this individual was Jewish? The only indication is the claim that his body was found with a Star of David on a chain around his neck; that is a rather odd formulation, which does not make it clear whether this person wore such an object while alive, or whether it was placed on the body.

If it is true that the body of this person was found mutilated, it is unclear whether the mutilation was perpetrated before or after death, or whether this person was killed by other persons who found him, or whehther he succumbed to his serious wounds. It is also unclear who carried out the mutilation.

[Peter H]

We will let the members who read this topic determine themselves the chilling nature of Wilkin's death.

From my neck of the woods the mutilation of even a dead body by such a manner shows a contempt and hatred for an enemy beyond the norm.

Steven Weiss who served with the US 36th Division during Operation Dragoon also mentions "Germans killing abandoned American wounded" in his sector of the invasion of Southern France.("A GI in France 1944",Time to Kill).However none were found mutilated.

[michael mills]

Readers cannot be expected to make up their minds in the absence of reliable evidence.

Let's see some hard evidence for the following:

1. That this individual was killed rather than dying of his wounds.

2. That the body of this individual was found mutilated in the way described.

3. If point 2 is proved, the identity of the person or persons who carried out the mutilation.

[David Thompson]

Michael -- You wrote:

Readers cannot be expected to make up their minds in the absence of reliable evidence.

Let's see some hard evidence for the following:

1. That this individual was killed rather than dying of his wounds.

2. That the body of this individual was found mutilated in the way described.

3. If point 2 is proved, the identity of the person or persons who carried out the mutilation.

For the past 2,000 years or more, there has been a Latin saying for this kind of incident -- res ipsa loquitur (the thing speaks for itself).

I think we can safely rule out accident as an explanation for how the man's genitals ended up in the mouth of his corpse. As between mutilation by an enemy and mutilation by his fellow soldiers, the former is far more likely than the latter. Mutilation of the dead is hardly more creditable than mutilation of the living, and the identity of the individual perpetrators is incidental to the question of whether or not the mutilation occurred. You may be dissatisfied with the evidence in this thread, but then, so what? The rest of our readers can draw their own conclusions from the facts presented here.

[Mark in Cleveland, Tn.]

I do not know anything of the incident being discussed here, but i have read , and seen in documentarys...several 1st persons accounts from american soldiers stating similiar incidents.
Of course the books, and the documentarys that i have also seen giving such stories are the word of that person,.. so in reality our ''guard'' should be up....
I do remenber the 1 prevailing theme in most of these eye-witness reports is that...'the other soldiers knew ''what would happen to the '''jewesh'' soldier if''found out by the germans who captured them,, the soldier in question would most likely be ''executed'' in short fashion....
so they would ''conspire''to hide the religious ''name'' of the soldier in question...

And if not mistaken, if you read in real hard core depth of jewesh american soldiers captured, read of their fate in concentration camps such as Mauthausen?? (spelling correct??)))) and stalags in the reich...

[Mark in Cleveland, Tn.]

Let me continue... I have read a tremendous amount of ''concentration camp'' holocaust themed books amd papers, and the most detailed are the ones written by eye-witnesses at the end of the 40's. there is a huge, multi-volumn set of books translated from german, polish, french and russian historians pertaining to the mistreatment of ALL prisoners of the TR, and in these books are many accounts of the mistreatment of American pow's, and in particular pow,s of the jewish faith, in camps such as Mauthausen, and I tell you guys that do not believe things such as this never happened, i still remember passages, pictures, and accounts of what I read, 20 years ago, and it makes me SICK!!!!...
I collect German ww2, but there are times when i see something like what is being discussed here, and I want to toss all the crap out!!!!
and what pisses me off more than anything is people not believing the holocaust, and all the other evil things never happened...

[David Thompson]

Readers interested in this topic may find these other AHF threads of interest:

Allied PoWs of Jewish/Slav descent
viewtopic.php?t=51354
US PBS special on Berga -- US Jewish POWs
viewtopic.php?t=23431
Berga POW camp documentary
viewtopic.php?t=23334
Nazi executions of Black soldiers
viewtopic.php?t=29177
German atrocities against "colored" POWs
viewtopic.php?t=1431

[Penn44]

I think we can safely rule out accident as an explanation for how the man's genitals ended up in the mouth of his corpse.

A desperate act of suicide?

Penn44

.

[coburg22]

Hello,

I am not sure if this is the correct place to mention my question, but I remember seeing footage of liberated KL's that contained American POW's most likely airmen and was wondering if that was policy or did it just depend on who captured you? If for example you were captured by the Wehrmacht you would be placed in a POW Camp, or if by SS or Gestapo your journey would take you to a KL? The American Officer who was interrogated said that other US POW's had been executed in the Camp.

Best,

James