Post
by krichter33 » 16 Nov 2007 08:07
I agree with you one hundred percent Coburg22!!! I'm reposting my original post earlier on this thread to reiterate my opinion. Because to me this is a very important issue, and I don't like to fact that someone sixty years after the fact is trying to rewrite history and negate these men these awards, just because they might not have followed absolute bureaucratic red tape, especially at the end of the war. Anyways here's my post: And I frankly could care less what the Scherzer fans say to this....
Scherzer's research is interesting, but I still accept the findings of the ODR. If one man can come after sixty years and feel justified in stripping these awards because of bureaucratic reasons, at a time when there were basically no bureaucracies left in Germany, then I guess he is entitled to do so. But as far as I'm concerned the ODR has the final say on this matter, because they are the organization that represents Knight's Cross winners. I think some of Scherzer's bureaucratic nitpicking is quite hilarious as well. Especially the fact that he tries to use such 'rules and regulations' at a time in the Third Reich where the rule of law had pretty much disappeared, and any notion of bureaucratic order had ceased to exist. For example, General Dietrich may have 'officially' awarded these awards, though technically according to the old Fuhrer order he was not one of the original generals in a particular zone that was entitled to do so. Frankly I could care less. First of all, HITLER WAS DEAD by this time. Second, the zones changed shape, command structures, ect... So, If one of the highest ranking Generals in the Waffen SS deems a particular soldier worthy of the Knight's Cross, then I accept that. I could care less about a long dead order. The same goes with Scherzer negating any Knights Cross awards by Doenitz. This I find to be hilarious. Yes the war ended on the 8th, however, Doenitz government technically lasted a few weeks longer. Oh yeah, and he happened to be the FUHRER at this time. So according the Scherzer the very Fuhrer himself could not award these medals, and thus they are cancelled!!! What a joke. Overall, I think Scherzer's research in the bureaucracy of the awarding process, and its breakdown towards the end of the War, is sound and important. But when all of a sudden he feels that it is up to him, sixty years after the fact, to come in with a black marker and "cancel" certain awards because they didn't fit into this nice little bureaucratic box at a time when any such box had ceased to exist, I find that behavior repulsive. And by the way, I'm not taking about outright cheats who lied about their award, that's a different matter, and those cheats should be exposed. But overall I'm glad the ODR has rejected Scherzer's work. My only fear, is in the future, publications of Ritterkreuztrager books, like the Biblio Verlags, or other upcoming ones, that the author's might feel 'pressured' into removing Knight's Cross holders from their works. For this I suggest a compromise. Any future book dealing with Knight's Cross holders should include all holders listed in Fellgeibel's list. However, if the author wants to, he can add an asterisk to any of the cancelled Knight's Cross holder, and mention this as a footnote. This is actually what Florian Berger did in his last book: "RITTERKREUZTRÄGER AUS ÖSTERREICH UND DEN K.U.K. KRONLÄNDERN." He included all Austrian Knight's Cross holders in the book. The ones "canceled" by Scherzer he placed a small footnote mentioning this. Anyways, thats all I have to say. So all you Scherzer people out there can flame away at me as much as you like, I'm done discussing this topic.
