German Veterans' Pension. How are German veterans of World War II treated in Germany? Roses from Smolensk

"The main German TV channel CDF showed the TV series Our Mothers, Our Fathers about the Second World War, which angered people in the countries of Eastern Europe. Poland was accused of anti-Semitism, the peoples of the USSR - of complicity with the Nazis and atrocities on their territory and the lands of Germany. The true victims of World War II Wehrmacht soldiers defending their homeland, soldiers who fought against Polish anti-Semitism and Soviet barbarism are presented.

Well, it seems that the EU needs its own version of history, which suits, first of all, the main country of the large European Union - Germany. Satellites like Greece or Cyprus should not be allowed to throw in the face a reminder of a recent bloody past. This threatens the existence of the legitimacy of German domination.

History has long been tried to be used as the wheel of a propaganda machine. It is doubtful that SS marches in the Baltics would be possible without the blessing of the "elder brothers" in the European Union. The Germans themselves can't afford it yet, but the feature film format seems to have been chosen as optimal for shaping public opinion.

After watching - thanks to the Internet! - you understand that the film aims to achieve several goals: the rehabilitation of the Germans who fought in World War II, the instillation of an inferiority complex in the new EU members, in particular Poland, as well as the depiction of the victims of fascism - the peoples of the USSR, as a stupid biomass hostile to European civilization.

The latter task is simplified by the fact that during the years of the Cold War the image of the Soviet barbarian was successfully formed in the minds of the layman. Therefore, it is only necessary to throw up another myth in order for the Europeans to clearly see the threat from the East.

What myth? The most accessible, already voiced by European historians more than once: the rape of German women by Soviet soldiers. The figure has been named: over two million German women.

Tens of thousands of children born to Soviet soldiers are often cited as evidence. To the question of how this could happen, there is a legitimate answer: they were raped. Let's leave for now stories about supposedly raped German women. Where did children come from? More on that below.

Let's get back to the movie. Frames flicker. Soviet soldiers break into a German hospital. Cold-bloodedly, in passing, they finish off the wounded. They grab a nurse and immediately try to rape German soldiers among the dead bodies. Such is the modern reading of history.

In general, a film shot, as it were, through the eyes of German soldiers, those who see the horrors of the war imposed on them, can evoke sympathy. Clever, intelligent Germans are witnessing how Polish partisans are expelled from the detachment, almost to certain death, a refugee who turned out to be a Jew. Ukrainian punishers exterminate people in front of the taken aback Germans. Russian rapists kill and destroy every living thing in their path.

Such a picture appears before the European audience. The Germans are trying with their last strength to protect their homeland, read - European civilization. And of course, these people could not be to blame for starting the war. A certain top of the Wehrmacht is to blame, which the bulk of the German soldiers, according to the authors of the tape, did not support, and the wild Slavic tribes that forced Europe to defend themselves from them.

But are ordinary soldiers so innocent? So were they in opposition to their commanders? Let's take excerpts from the letters of soldiers from the Eastern Front:

“Only a Jew can be a Bolshevik; nothing better for these bloodsuckers if there is no one to stop them. Wherever you spit, there are only Jews around, whether in the city or in the countryside.”

“Some will be interested that there were theaters, operas and so on, there were even large buildings, but only for the rich, and the rich are bloodsuckers and their hangers-on.”

“Everyone who observes this gloomy poverty understands exactly what these Bolshevik animals wanted to bring to us, hardworking, pure and creative Germans. This is God's blessing! How fair that the Fuehrer is called to lead Europe!”

“I see the Fuhrer in front of me. He saved the enslaved and raped humanity, giving them again divine freedom and the blessing of a worthy existence. The true and deepest reason for this war is to restore the natural and godly order. This is a battle against slavery, against Bolshevik madness.”

“I am proud, extremely proud, that I can fight against this Bolshevik monster, again fighting the enemy against whom I fought to annihilation during the difficult years of struggle in Germany. I am proud of the wounds I received in these battles, and I am proud of my new wounds and the medal that I now wear.”

“Our successes so far have been great, and we will not stop until we destroy the roots and branches of this infection, which will be a boon for European culture and humanity.”

“I am proud to belong to the German nation and to be in the ranks of our great army. Say hello to everyone at home. I am far away. Tell them that Germany is the most beautiful, cultured country in the entire world. Anyone should be happy to be a German and serve a Fuehrer like Adolf Hitler."

“For what it's worth, it's great that the Fuhrer saw the danger in time. The battle had to take place. Germany, what would happen to you if this stupid animal horde came to our native land? We all took an oath of allegiance to Adolf Hitler, and we must fulfill it for our own good, wherever we are.”

“Courage is courage inspired by spirituality. The stubbornness with which the Bolsheviks defended themselves in their pillboxes in Sevastopol is akin to some kind of animal instinct, and it would be a deep mistake to consider it the result of Bolshevik convictions or upbringing. The Russians have always been like this and, most likely, always will remain so.

As you can see, there is not a word of remorse. Around the Jewish Bolsheviks, who need to be destroyed. True, there is sincere amazement that there are theaters and large buildings here. And even the valor of warriors for them is bestial, inhuman. There is no reason not to trust these testimonies. It was written by those whom today they are trying to present as victims of the Second World War.

And yet, what about the raped German women? Surely this question will arise in the attentive reader. War is war, but were there mass rapes and bastards? Perhaps you should also look at the evidence.

The famous director Grigory Chukhrai recalled the entry of troops into Romania: “Under the influence of Russian vodka, they relaxed and admitted that they were hiding their daughter in the attic.” Soviet officers were indignant: “Who do you take us for? We are not fascists! “The hosts were ashamed, and soon a lean girl named Mariyka appeared at the table, who greedily began to eat. Then, having got used to it, she began to flirt and even ask us questions... By the end of dinner, everyone was in a friendly mood and drank to “borotshaz” (friendship). Mariyka understood this toast too straightforwardly. When we went to bed, she appeared in my room in one undershirt. As a Soviet officer, I immediately realized that a provocation was being prepared. “They expect that I will be tempted by the charms of Mariyka, and they will raise a fuss. But I will not succumb to provocation,” I thought. Yes, and the charms of Mariyka did not appeal to me - I showed her the door.

The next morning, the hostess, putting food on the table, rattled the dishes. "Nervous. The provocation failed!“ I thought. I shared this thought with our Hungarian translator. He laughed.

This is not a provocation! You were shown a friendly disposition, but you neglected it. Now you are not considered a person in this house. You need to move to another apartment!

Why did they hide their daughter in the attic?

They were afraid of violence. We have accepted that a girl, before entering into marriage, with the approval of her parents, can experience intimacy with many men. We are told: they don’t buy a cat in a tied bag ... "

And here is the story of the mortar man N.A. Orlov, who was, to put it mildly, surprised by the behavior of German women in 1945. “Regarding violence against German women. It seems to me that some, when talking about such a phenomenon, “exaggerate” a little. I have a different kind of example. We went to some German city, settled in the houses. A "frau", about 45 years old, appears and asks for "herr commandant". They brought her to Marchenko. She declares that she is responsible for the quarter, and has gathered 20 German women for sexual (!!!) service to Russian soldiers. Marchenko understood the German language, and to the political officer Dolgoborodov, who was standing next to me, I translated the meaning of what the German woman said. The reaction of our officers was angry and obscene. The German woman was driven away, along with her "detachment" ready for service. In general, German obedience stunned us. They expected guerrilla warfare and sabotage from the Germans. But for this nation, order - "Ordnung" - is above all. If you are a winner, then they are “on their hind legs”, moreover, consciously and not under duress. That's the psychology...

Herr Commissar,” Frau Friedrich told me benevolently (I wore a leather jacket). We understand that soldiers have small needs. They are ready,” continued Frau Friedrich, “to give them a few younger women for ... I did not continue the conversation with Frau Friedrich.”

The front-line poet Boris Slutsky recalled: “It was not ethics at all that served as restraining motives, but the fear of infection, the fear of publicity, of pregnancy” ... “universal depravity covered and hid the special female depravity, made her invisible and shameful.”

And it was not at all the fear of syphilis that was the reason for the rather chaste behavior of the Soviet troops. Sergeant Alexander Rodin left notes after visiting a brothel, which happened after the end of the war. “... After leaving, a disgusting, shameful feeling of lies and falsehood arose, a picture of a woman’s obvious, frank pretense did not go out of my head ... on principles like “don’t give a kiss without love, but also with most of our soldiers with whom I had to talk ... Around the same days I had to talk with one beautiful Magyar woman (she knew Russian from somewhere). To her question, did I like it in Budapest, I answered that I liked it, only brothels are embarrassing. “But why?” the girl asked. Because it is unnatural, wild, - I explained: - a woman takes money and after that, immediately begins to “love!” The girl thought for a while, then nodded in agreement and said: “You are right: it is ugly to take money in advance.” ..”

The difference in the mentality of Europeans and Soviet soldiers, as we see, is striking. So talking about mass rape, probably, should not be. If there were cases, they were either isolated, out of the ordinary, or they were quite free relations, which the Germans themselves allowed. Hence the offspring.

But all this, in fact, is not decisive. How irrelevant are the objections of the Poles to the television series. Who, after all, in Europe took into account the opinion of the Polish public. The creators of the film claiming, according to the European press, were not guided by the search for historical truth as the main cinematic event of the year in Germany. Ideological stamps do not require thoughtful artistic solutions. Europe has not changed.

William Shearer once wrote that he had two liberal friends in Germany in the thirties. They both became rabid Nazis. So, is history repeating itself?"

Alexander Rzheshevsky. April 2013

The very word "veteran" in Germany has long been a taboo. Soldiers of World War II united in unions of former prisoners of war. Now soldiers of the Bundeswehr call themselves "veterans". However, the word has not caught on yet.

There are unions of veterans in almost all countries. And in Germany, after the defeat of Nazism in 1945, all traditions of honoring and perpetuating the memory of veterans broke off. In the words of Herfried Münkler, professor of political theory at Humboldt University, Germany is a "post-heroic society." If memory is commemorated in Germany, it is not heroes, but victims of the First and Second World Wars. At the same time, the Bundeswehr, within the framework of NATO and UN peacekeeping missions, participates in military operations abroad. Therefore, a discussion began among the military and politicians: who should be considered veterans?

Veterans of the Bundeswehr

After the war, until 1955, in Germany - both in East and West - there was no army at all. Veterans unions were banned. What is the glorification of heroism when the German soldiers participated in the criminal war of conquest? But even in the Bundeswehr, founded in 1955, no veteran traditions emerged during the Cold War. The functions of the army were limited to the defense of their own territory, there were no hostilities.

In recent years, the Bundeswehr has been involved in operations abroad, for example, in the former Yugoslavia, in Afghanistan. In total, according to estimates, about 300 thousand soldiers and officers completed such service. Until very recently, these operations were not even called "war" or "military operations" directly. It was about "assistance in establishing a peaceful order", humanitarian actions and other euphemisms.

Now decided to call a spade a spade. German Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere brought the word "veteran" back into use last September. Speaking in the Bundestag, he said that "if there are veterans in other countries, then in Germany he has the right to talk about" veterans of the Bundeswehr "."

This discussion was unleashed by the soldiers themselves - those who returned from Afghanistan with wounds or mental trauma. In 2010 they founded the "Union of German Veterans". Critics say that the very term "veteran" is discredited by German history and therefore unacceptable.

But who is considered a "veteran"? Everyone who wore the uniform of the Bundeswehr for some time, or only those who served abroad? Or maybe only those who participated in real hostilities? The "Union of German Veterans" has already decided: whoever served abroad is a veteran.

Defense Minister Thomas de Maizière, for his part, is trying to avoid a split on the issue. Many military men believe that military service during the Cold War was also risky, so it would be wrong to assign the status of "veteran" exclusively to those who happened to sniff gunpowder in Afghanistan.

Will there be a Veteran's Day?

For Bundeswehr soldiers who have been in combat, special awards have been established - the Cross of Honor for Courage and the medal For Participation in Hostilities. However, many military officers believe that society does not appreciate their willingness to risk their lives. After all, decisions on participation in operations abroad are made by the Bundestag, that is, elected representatives of the people. Consequently, the soldiers also participate in dangerous operations at the will of the people. So why doesn't society give them the respect they deserve?

Now the possibility of establishing a special "Veteran's Day" is being discussed. This idea is also supported by the influential Union of Bundeswehr Servicemen, which unites about 200,000 active and retired military personnel. But there is also a proposal to honor on this day the work of not only soldiers, but also rescuers, police officers and employees of development aid organizations.

Secretary of Defense de Maizières is also considering establishing a special commissioner for veterans' affairs and, following the American example, special homes for veterans. But there is no increase in benefits for veterans. The Minister of Defense believes that in Germany the social security of active and retired soldiers is already at a fairly high level.

The materials of InoSMI contain only assessments of foreign media and do not reflect the position of the editors of InoSMI.

The losing soldier of the Wehrmacht and the victorious fighter of the Soviet Army - on different lines ... of fate

A few years ago, no one could even imagine that these life stories, these destinies would fit side by side on one newspaper page. The defeated soldier of the Wehrmacht and the victorious fighter of the Soviet Army. They are peers. And today, if you look at it, they are united by much more than then, in the flourishing 45th ... Old age, illnesses, and also - oddly enough - the past. Albeit on opposite sides of the front. Is there anything left that they, German and Russian, dream of in their eighty-five?

Joseph Moritz. photo: Alexandra Ilyina.

80 ROSES FROM SMOLENSK

“I saw how people live in Russia, I saw your old people who were looking for food in garbage cans. I understood that our help was just one drop on a hot stone. Of course, I was asked: “Why are you helping Russia? After all, you fought against her!” And then I remembered about the captivity and about those people who handed us, former enemies, a piece of black bread ... "

“I owe the fact that I am still alive to the Russians,” says Josef Moritz, smiling and flipping through an album of photographs. Almost all of his life is collected in them, most of the cards are connected with Russia.

But first things first. And Herr Sepp, as his relatives and friends call him, begins his story.

We are sitting in Moritz's house in the city of Hagen, this is North Rhine Festphalia, there is a terrace and a garden. He and his wife Magret learn the latest news from a tablet computer donated by their daughters for the anniversary, quickly find the necessary information on the Internet.

Sepp has come to terms with the 21st century. And even, one might say, made friends with him.

“I was called to the front when I was just 17 years old. The father left much earlier. I was sent to Poland. He was taken prisoner near Kaliningrad. Before my homeland, and I was born in East Prussia, there were some 80 kilometers ... ”

The memory almost did not preserve the terrible war memories. As if the black hole swallowed everything. Or maybe he just doesn't want to go back there...

The first bright flash is the Soviet camp.

Sepp learned Russian there.

Once, water was brought to their camp on a wagon to the kitchen. Sepp approached the horse and began to speak to her in his native language. The fact is that he was from a farm and had been managing livestock since childhood.

A Soviet officer came out of the kitchen and asked his name. "I did not understand. They brought an interpreter. And three days later they called me and took me to the stall to the horses - so I got the opportunity to ride them. If, for example, our doctor went to another camp, then I saddled my horse and we rode together. It was during these joint trips that I learned Russian. Probably, that kind commander saw a son in me, he treated me so well.

The Germans were transferred to Lithuania, from there to Brest. They worked in the quarry for a short time, then in the construction of streets. A blown-up bridge was being restored in Brest. “You know, this happened too - ordinary people came up and shared the last piece of bread. There was no malice or hatred ... We were the same beardless boys as their sons who had not come from the front. It is probably thanks to these kind people that I am still alive.”

In 1950, Sepp returned home - with one wooden suitcase and in wet clothes, got caught in the rain. At the station he was met only by a friend who had been released a few days earlier. Family, parents still had to be found. My father was also a prisoner for a long time, but with the British.

The community helped all those who returned and gave them some money. “I was offered to go to serve in the police, but I refused - in captivity we swore to each other that we would never take up arms again.”

There was nowhere to go and no one to go to.

“We were sent to a rehabilitation camp, where we were given free rations and we could sleep there. It was 50 pfennigs a day, but I didn't want to be a freeloader. A friend offered me a job with a farmer I knew, but I also refused - I didn’t want to work as a laborer, I dreamed of getting on my own feet. At the same time, I did not have a profession as such. Of course, apart from the ability to build and restore...”

When Sepp met his future wife Magrete, he was already under thirty, she was only 10 years younger - but another generation, post-war, did not survive ...

By the time he met his fiancee, Sepp Moritz could already boast of a decent income as a bricklayer. 900 West German marks were then a lot of money.

And today, the elderly Magret sits next to her old husband, corrects him, if this or that name does not immediately come to mind, suggests dates. “Without Zepp, I would have had a very hard time, I am happy that I have such a spouse!” she exclaims.

Life finally improved, the family moved to Magrete's homeland - to Hagen. Sepp worked at a power plant. Raised three daughters.

Until 1993, Josef Moritz did not speak another word in Russian.

But when their Hagen became the twin city of the Russian Smolensk, Russia again burst into the life of Herr Moritz.

Hotel “Russia”

He took a phrase book with him to Smolensk on his first visit, as he was not sure that he could even read the names of the streets. He was on his way to see his acquaintances from the work of the Society of the Commonwealth of Cities.

Why did he do this? There is just such an old, non-healing wound - it is called nostalgia.

It was she who forced then, in the 90s, still cheerful German pensioners at their leisure to first talk about: a) the general high cost of life; b) pensions, insurance, German reunification, foreign tourist trips.

And only on the third - on the most important thing, when the hops hit the head - about Russia ...

“I settled in the Rossiya Hotel. I went out into the street, looked around and came back, shoved the phrasebook far away - everything was completely different. ”

The trip in 1993 was the beginning of that colossal activity, at the origins of which stood Sepp Moritz. “Our sister city society has organized charitable transfers from Hagen to you,” he explains very formally.

Simply put, huge trucks with things, products, equipment, which were assembled by ordinary people like Sepp, were drawn to post-perestroika Smolensk.

“When we brought the first cargo of humanitarian aid, we had to urgently deal with customs clearance,” says Sepp. - It took a long time, some parameters did not match, the papers were not drawn up very correctly - we did it for the first time! But your gentlemen officers did not want to hear anything, our truck was to be confiscated and sent to Moscow. It was with great difficulty that this was avoided. When all the formalities were finally settled, we found out that most of the products brought had deteriorated and had to be thrown away.”

Leafing through the album, Sepp talks about Russian old men raking garbage heaps in the garbage heaps. About the peaceful Smolensk roads that were not gouged by tanks. About the children of Chernobyl, whom he and his wife hosted at home.

A nation of winners. Oh mein goth!

“People often ask me: why am I doing this? After all, there are certainly millionaires in Smolensk who, in principle, could also take care of these unfortunate people ... I don’t know who owes what to whom, I can only answer for myself!”

675 bags, 122 suitcases, 251 packages and 107 bags of clothes were sent to Smolensk over the years. 16 wheelchairs, 5 computers, you can list for a long time - the list is endless and also pinned to the documents: for each package delivered, Herr Sepp reports with truly German punctuality!

More than 200 people from Smolensk lived as guests in his family, in his house, someone for several weeks, someone for a couple of days. “Every time they bring us gifts, and every time we ask them not to do this.”

All the walls here are hung with photographs and paintings with views of the Smolensk region. Some of the souvenirs are especially expensive - this is a portrait of Sepp, painted by a Russian artist against the backdrop of the Assumption Cathedral in Smolensk. Right there in the living room is our coat of arms with a double-headed eagle.

Letters of thanks are collected in a separate folder, the governors of the Smolensk region and the mayors of the city succeeded each other throughout all these years, but from each of them there is a letter for Mr. Moritz. One of the messages is especially valuable, it contains 80 autographs of his Russian friends, exactly the same number of scarlet roses were sent to him from Smolensk for the previous anniversary.

In addition, the very first time - in the 44th, Josef Moritz visited Russia thirty more times.

“I was also in Russia,” his wife adds. But now Magret can no longer travel far, she walks with a rollator, a walker for the disabled, yet she is well over seventy, and in the Russian outback it will be difficult to move even with this device - Magret herself, alas, will not climb the stairs.

And it’s impossible for Zepp alone to go on a long journey, although he is also quite strong: “I don’t want to leave my wife for a long time!”

Two monuments to Ivan Odarchenko

In the Soviet Union, everyone knew the name of this man. It was from Ivan Odarchenko that the sculptor Vuchetich sculpted the monument to the Liberator Warrior in Treptow Park. The one with the rescued girl in her arms.

Last year, 84-year-old Ivan Stepanovich had a chance to work as a model again. His bronze veteran will forever keep his little great-granddaughter on his knees on a stone bench in the Tambov Victory Park.

“Bronze, like a flame, doused, / With a girl saved in her arms, / A soldier stood on a granite pedestal, / So that glory would be remembered for centuries,” these poems were read by heart on May 9 in an ordinary Tambov school, where I also happened to study.

Of course, we knew that Ivan Odarchenko, holder of the Order of the Patriotic War of the first degree, the Red Banner of Labor, the medal “For Courage” was our countryman.

Any of my peers of the late 80s, with their eyes closed, could easily mint out this illustrious biography. “I liberated Hungary, Austria, the Czech Republic, ended the war near Prague. After the victory, he continued to serve in the occupying forces in Berlin. In August 1947, on the Day of the Athlete, competitions of Soviet soldiers were held at the stadium in the Weissensee area. After the cross, the sculptor Yevgeny Vuchetich approached the beautiful, broad-shouldered Odarchenko and said that he wanted to sculpt the main monument of the war from him.

The rescued German girl was portrayed by the daughter of the commandant of Berlin, Sveta Kotikova.

From the plaster model created by Vuchetich, a twelve-meter bronze monument was cast in the USSR, transported in parts to Berlin, and on May 8, 1949, the grand opening of the memorial took place.

The usual boyish LJ, year 2011, wolfik1712.livejournal.com.

The day was overcast. Even somehow unusual. My friends and I were going to Victory Park. We took pictures next to the fountain, cannons and other equipment. But that's not what we're talking about right now...

And about who we saw. We saw the front-line soldier Ivan Stepanovich Odarchenko, of course, this name does not mean something to everyone.

I'm the only one who recognized him. In general, we managed to take a picture with him and with his monument.

Our photos with Hero of the Soviet Union Ivan Odarchenko. By the way, a very nice person. I am grateful to all the soldiers who fought for our freedom!

Forgive the teenager that he mixed up Odarchenko's awards - he was not a Hero of the Soviet Union, he ended the war too young. But what does Ivan Stepanovich himself think about the current life?

And I called him at home.

Ivan Odarchenko.

“We are expecting a girl by September!”

“Dad just got out of the hospital, he was there as planned, alas, his eyesight is failing, his health is not getting stronger, and age is making itself felt, and now he is lying,” says Elena Ivanovna, the daughter of a veteran. - And before, it used to be that I didn’t sit still for a minute, planted a garden, laid out our brick house with my own hands, while my mother was alive, everything worked. And now, of course, the years are not the same ... To be honest, I don’t even have the strength to communicate with journalists, he will talk about his youth, as he recalls - and in the evening his heart is bad.

Unexpected fame fell on Odarchenko on the 20th anniversary of the Victory. It was then that it became known that he was the prototype of the famous Liberator Warrior.

“Since then, we have not been given peace. Seven times I went to the GDR as an honored guest, with my mother, with me, the last one was already in the delegation. I learned his story about the construction of the monument by heart, but I have been in it since childhood - I myself am already 52.

He worked as a simple foreman at the enterprise - first at Revtrud, the Revolutionary Labor plant, then at the plain bearing plant. Raised a son and a daughter. He married his granddaughter.

- I can’t complain, but unlike many veterans, our dad lives well, he has two rooms in his house, and a decent pension, about thirty thousand plus in old age, the authorities don’t forget about us. Still, he is a famous person, how many more of these are left in Russia? Ivan Stepanovich is even a member of United Russia, my daughter is proud.

And last year, they unexpectedly pulled me out of the hospital in February. It turned out that on the anniversary of the Victory, you again need to become a prototype - and again yourself, now an old veteran. Order bar on a civilian jacket. And there is no former youthful article. Wearily sat down on the bench, and does not stand with the sword of Alexander Nevsky.

Only the girl in her arms seemed to have not changed at all.

It looks very similar, I think! Elena Ivanovna is convinced. “You can’t get to Berlin now, but dad loves to walk in this park, he’s not far from us - he sits on a bench next to himself and thinks about something ...

Is there anything left to dream about? The woman was silent for a second. - Yes, to be honest, everything came true for him. Nothing to complain about. He is a happy man! Well, I probably want nothing to hurt until September, my daughter, his granddaughter, is just about to give birth - we are waiting for a girl!

Back - East

For the last two years, I have suddenly started noticing something strange. Nameless May old men, crawling out of their winter apartments just before Victory Day, rattling orders and medals on stairwells and in the subway, festive, ceremonial, they are no more. It's just time.

Rarely, rarely do you meet someone on the street ...

Age saved them from the Kursk Bulge and the Battle of Stalingrad, the boys of the 44th and 45th years of conscription, today they are the last of the remaining ...

Instead of them - "Thank you grandfather for the victory!", sweeping inscriptions on the rear windows of the car and St. George's ribbons on the antennas.

“There are so few of us that the government can probably afford to treat everyone like a human being, Putin and Medvedev regularly promise this,” says 89-year-old Yuri Ivanovich. - Beautiful words are said before the sea holiday. That's just really nothing to be proud of. All our lives we have been building communism, we were like on the front line, we were malnourished, we could not afford an extra shirt, but we sincerely believed that one day we would wake up in a brighter future, that our feat was not in vain, so with this blind and unjustified faith we end our days.

Immediately after the anniversary of the Victory last year, 91-year-old Vera Konishcheva took her own life in the Omsk region. A participant in the Great Patriotic War, a disabled person of the first group, she huddled all her life in a village house without gas, light and water, until the last she hoped that, according to the president, she would be given a comfortable apartment, at least some! In the end, she could not stand the mocking promises, she died a terrible death after drinking vinegar and leaving behind a note: “I don’t want to be a burden.”

It cannot be said that German old people live much better than ours. Many people have their own problems. Some children help. Someone has small social pensions from the state, especially in the east, in the ex-GDR. But almost everyone here has their own home - while ours were building communism, the Germans were building their own housing, in which they met old age.

They say they have nothing to be proud of. That on this holiday “with tears in their eyes” they do not wear orders and medals.

On the other hand, these people do not expect anything. They completed their journey with dignity.

Many, like Josef Moritz from Hagen, managed to ask for forgiveness from the Russians, while ours often leave with resentment in their hearts.

And local German newspapers are increasingly publishing ads from funeral companies that are ready to inexpensively organize the funeral of a German veteran - to return his ashes to free Poland and the Czech Republic, to the Bug, Vistula and Oder, where his youth passed. The land is cheaper there.

Hagen — Tambov — Moscow

Veterans of the Bundeswehr

context

In recent years, the Bundeswehr has been involved in operations abroad, for example, in the former Yugoslavia, in Afghanistan. In total, according to estimates, about 300 thousand soldiers and officers completed such service. Until very recently, these operations were not even called "war" or "combat actions" directly. It was about "assistance in establishing a peaceful order", humanitarian actions and other euphemisms.

Now decided to call a spade a spade. German Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere (ThomasdeMaiziere) in September last year returned to use the word "veteran". Speaking in the Bundestag, he said that "if there are veterans in other countries, then in Germany he has the right to talk about" veterans of the Bundeswehr ".

This discussion was unleashed by the soldiers themselves - those who returned from Afghanistan with wounds or mental trauma. In 2010 they founded the "Union of German Veterans". Critics say that the very term "veteran" has been discredited by German history and is therefore unacceptable.

Will there be a Veteran's Day?

For soldiers of the Bundeswehr who have been in combat, special awards have been established - the Cross of Honor for Courage and the medal "For participation in combat. However, many military officers believe that society does not appreciate their willingness to risk their lives highly enough. After all, decisions on participation in operations abroad, the Bundestag, that is, the elected representatives of the people, takes over. Consequently, the soldiers also participate in dangerous operations at the will of the people. So why doesn't society give them the respect they deserve?

I read it, leafed through all these fables in the answers ... Again, another herd of liberals, spreading over a bowl of rice in front of the lousy west and telling the old perestroika bullshit about how supposedly everyone is happy in Germany and how supposedly everyone is "downtrodden and forgotten" in our country. Bullshit! And it's long outdated. Of course, it was like that in Yeltsin's 1990s, but times are different now.
Now, about the attitude towards Wehrmacht veterans in Germany itself - I lived in Germany for a long time and talked on this topic with the Germans. Many frankly did not want to talk about this topic, but there were those who spoke directly. There has never been any honoring of war veterans in Germany, as in Russia, and there is not now. They lost and that says it all. The Germans generally try not to advertise that their grandfathers fought and God forbid that they were in the SS. For the Germans, kinship with the Ssovtsy is a shame. They don’t like to talk about the war, and this is understandable why - IN EVERY German family there are dead or missing in Russia. For them, this is a crossed out page, which they try to forget and not think about. In German society itself, their army has long been treated very mediocrely. The reason is banal - "We feed you, and you screwed up two wars." My father told me about this a long time ago when he served in the Pacific Fleet, and cadets from the GDR came to them for an internship. They also said that in Germany they do not like the army because of the defeats in World War 1 and 2. In some families, their grandfathers are remembered and honored, but in the majority, the page of the war and war veterans for the Germans is crossed out once and for all. The memory of the defeat in the war sits very deep in them, it is still felt when communicating behind all these rubber masks, and it will always weigh on them.
Now for their standard of living. Many sub-Western liberals and Russophobes are trumpeting with might and main about the "heavenly life" of Wehrmacht veterans, although this is absolutely not true. Unlike our veterans, German veterans DO NOT RECEIVE ANY benefits, additional payments, or additional allowances for participating in the war. This was told to me by the German veterans themselves, with whom I had a chance to talk. They receive the usual pension, like ordinary old people. On average, about 1-2 thousand euros. And it depends not on participation in the war, not on awards, not on titles and regalia - all this has nothing to do with pensions - but on seniority, age, social status, disability and many other reasons. Another question is that they still have enough ordinary pension for a normal normal life. No heavenly - but quite ordinary. And they do not go on any round-the-world tours for these pensions. This is all bullshit. Only the rich, who have a strong business, go. And there are not many of them. Moreover, now they complain that life has become much worse than before, in the same 90s or 80s.
I emphasize once again - unlike our veterans, who are loved, honored and remembered - I have not seen anything like this in Germany. The attitude is usually neutral. No special sentimentality or love for them on the part of ordinary German society or the state - I did not see anywhere.
And now about our veterans. - In the liberal 90s, when the pro-Western Yeltsin shobla ruled the ball in Russia - yes, our veterans lived in wild poverty and sold awards, and barely made ends meet to somehow feed themselves. And now - heaven and earth compared to what it was. My great-uncle is a participant in the war, he is already 94 years old, lives in the Moscow region. There are children and grandchildren. Veteran's pension is about 40 thousand rubles. He came from the front as an invalid, 5 years ago he received an apartment in Tver. All benefits and sanatorium treatment - he has everything and is present. He says that he gives everything to his children and grandchildren and that there was no such attention to him as now - even during the years of Soviet power, not to mention the lousy Yeltsin times of general chaos and collapse.
Therefore, leave all these korostovye tales about the "heavenly life" of the Germans and the alleged "poverty" of our veterans to your Yeltsin fosterlings, who brought the people to the handle in the 90s. It's been a different time!
I'm tired of listening to all this lousy lies and all these deceitful monotonous Russophobic nonsense of dumb-headed bots on American allowance.