January 12, 1998

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

I am pulling a short reserve ZGram because I just came home from having done a television program on the Zundelsite that will run globally on the Discovery channel. We had to fly through a horrific rainstorm, and I feel queasy inside, so please forgive me for this shorty.

It came from Norway from a reader whom I don't know at all. I plan to do a whole week's worth of ZGram from readers from different countries and their observations of the current landscape, so consider this one a "sneak preview." Please keep in mind that the writer is not a native English speaker.

She writes:

"The black and white times are over. Recently the 2 main TV-stations in Norway announced in their textpages that German soldiers had been treated wrong after the war.

As a German speaking woman I trust that you understand my sailorenglish. The Morgenbladet had a whole page about it saying : Tyskere som levende minesveipere. Meaning : Germans as living minesweepers.

And further : Apropos the Peaceprice. After the war the Germans had to clean up the landmines in Norway. Many lost their lives in contrary to the Geneveconvention rules for the treatment of prisoners of war.

The article was written by a Kristian Elster. He writes about the coming Nobel-concert in Oslo 10 and 11 December with worldstars like Jodie Williams, Mariah Carey, Sinead O,Connor and Emmylou Harris. I am not good at writing but I can send you the whole article if you want it(in norwegian)?

He say among other things that this is a job for the historians, and that it «probably» was illegal to force the soldiers to do this job and if that is the case then the allied have committed a warcrime in Norway.

«Jodie Williams will receive the peace-price for the international anti-minecampaign» And they showed a clip from their newspaper 17 September 1945. Saying : Norway minefree. Except East-Finnmark.

1.5 million landmines is dug up in Norway. Except certain places in east-Finnmark all the minefields are now cleaned up. 5000 Germans have cleaned the fields under allied control. 184 Germans is killed and 252 is wounded during this work.

The allied control have also had losses. 6 Norwegians is killed and 6 is wounded. 2 Englishmen is killed and 3 wounded.

After the minefields was declared cleaned, the Germans had to go shoulder by shoulder trough the minefields as a last guaranty that there had been no negligence."

A telling story, isn't it? And this happened after all the shooting had stopped.

Ingrid

Thought for the Day:

"The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding."

Justice Louis Brandeis

Comments? E-Mail: irimland@cts.com

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