From Ulrichsberg via Crete to Mittenwald 2006

Stop the annual meetings of the alpine troops' comradeship. Bring their meeting to an end! Never forget the anti-fascist resistance! After protests in the last few years, this year's meeting of the alpine troops' comradeship no longer takes place on Whit Sunday but one week beforehand on 28 May.

In the past three years there has been an increasing mobilization to Mittenwald/Bavaria of protest against the scandal of a `monument to perpetrators' at which not only surviving perpetrators (of Nazi crimes) but also the Bundeswehr (German armed forces) officially take part. Protest against the scandal which uncompromisingly weaves a tale of the honorable and virtuous German alpine troops; against the scandal of anti-fascist activists being assailed with criminal procedures and police repression year after year, while at the same time the federal German judiciary until now has still not been able to convict even one single Third Reich officer for participation in war crimes. In contrast to this soldierly spirit overlapping generations, we organize events with survivors of the German alpine troops' massacres and with partisans, which thereby allows them a voice at the present day scene of the perpetrators.

This traditional meeting has changed from an annual, normal procedure to the most controversial theme of local, political debate. The public furor that our protests have created in opposition to military celebration, the downright fascist statements of some Mittenwald citizens to directly into reporters' cameras and investigation procedures against war criminals begun in the mean time, have already lead to cancellations from appalled tourists who certainly no longer desire to spend their vacations amongst such people. Finally, after a number of communal council sessions with the leaders of the alpine troops' comradeship it was decided to postpone the so-called Brendten commemoration. Mittenwald's tourism director, Ronge, commented on this with the words: This is not yet the really decisive move.

We think so too! The traditional meetings in Mittenwald must finally be brought to an end! Celebrations should finally be ceased, in which perpetrators are perjurously turned into victims! Again we shall reinforce our arguments and demands in 2006 with demonstrations and rallies, and we shall evoke remembrance of the resistance to the Third Reich's national-socialism, together with former partisans.

Their Maintaining of the traditions of the German alpine divisions

Wehrmacht veterans are meeting this year in Mittenwald for the 49th time, along with former (and active) Bundeswehr soldiers as well as their sympathizers in commemoration of alpine units. A part of maintaining the traditions of the German alpine troops involves glossing over war crimes committed during the `national socialist' war of annihilation. Under the generic cloak of ``restraining bandits'' as ``reprisal measures'' for (alleged or real) resistance activities of the civil population and of partisans, mountain troops (gebirgsj ger) carried out over 50 massacres in Greece, Italy, France, Finland, Yugoslavia, Poland, Albania and in the Soviet Union. In the village of Kommeno in northern Greece they murdered 317 civilians and on Kefalonia, an island beside Corfu, they slaughtered over 5,000 disarmed Italian soldiers.

Since quite a few years, anti-fascists have confronted the general public with the murderous tradition of Germany's alpine divisions. Reactions range from denial of the facts right up to attempting to legitimize massacres by arguing that it is the only form of protection from partisans. Those individuals who, at the commemorative site for the perpetrators, attempt to demand remembrance for those murdered, are attacked thus it was at the alpine troops' feast in 2002, as some anti-fascists attempted to observe one minute's silence for those killed in such massacres. Time and again the comradeship shows itself for what it really is: a self-help group for war criminals. However, in 2005 and due to public pressure, the 18^th military police-alpine regiment was finally forcibly expelled from the comradeship, after it was found that the participation of this regiment in the deportation of Athenian Jews to the extermination camps could no longer be denied.

The comradeship was thereby compelled to take upon itself a modernization of its commemorations, which the Bundeswehr has been holding for years. It is effective here since 1997 in the so-called `traditions' decree, in which the wehrmacht as an institution is no longer allowed to originate any traditions. A (German) army that is sent to all parts of the globe, cannot be recognized as a successor to the wehrmacht. Historic facts are now no longer denied, but they are distorted and exploited. The military defeat of national-socialism is reinterpreted as a victory of democracy over extremism, and the Germany which today steps up onto the world stage, presents itself as refined and demonstratively on the side of the victors. However this "army in active service" cannot function properly without traditions. Since the Bundeswehr needs soldiers who are brave, comradely and very demanding of themselves in hardship, and achieving high performance. This soldierly junk is passed on through the maintenance of tradition, the inspiring role models come from a generation of perpetrators. Because additionally, if the Wehrmacht as a whole is not allowed to originate any traditions, then individual parts of it are very much promoting traditions for the present-day Bundeswehr and amongst them are the alpine troops (Gebirgsj�ger).

Resistance in Crete

The first large scale deployment of German alpine troops took place 65 years ago in Greece. The 5th division of alpine troops, supported by paratroops began the invasion of Crete on 20th May 1941. During the Second World War in Greece two alpine troop divisions amongst others were deployed at various times, whereby the 5th alpine division with circa 14,000 soldiers was the main military force in the occupation of Crete. During the invasion, the Germans came across unexpected and very strong resistance from Crete's inhabitants. German losses were circa 20 percent higher than with the previous campaigns against Yugoslavia and the Greek mainland together. The German military units reacted to the armed and unarmed resistance from Crete's civil population with an incredible brutality and committed mass shootings and destruction of villages even during the invasion. Major general Ringel, commander of the 5th alpine division ordered: ...for each German killed or wounded, ten 10 Cretans are to be shot, farms and villages in which German troops are shot at, are to be burnt down, and hostages are to be taken in all locations. As a consequence of this order over 2,000 of Crete's inhabitants were brutally murdered within a few weeks.

On 20th May each year on Crete a revisionist remembrance ceremony at the `German Military Cemetery' in Maleme takes place. Uninterrupted for many years, the fascist song of the paratroops "Rot scheint die Sonne" (the sun shines red) is sung and wreaths with texts such as "Treue f�r Treue" (loyalty) are laid down. However, in May 2005 anti-fascists from Greece and Germany occupied the cemetery, dispersed the participants of the military ceremony and gave remembrance to the destroyed villages and to those killed in the massacres.

Resistance in Koroska (Carinthia)

Resistance by the partisans in Koroska is closely knit to the Slovenian population of Carinthia. After the anschluss, which was celebrated by the German nationalists of Carinthia, the Slovenian Carinthians were to be deported en masse according to the ethno-political plans of the Nazis. After the forcible "resettlement" of over 1,000 Slovenian Carinthians in April 1942, the resistance of the liberation front in Slovenia multiplied with large-scale support from Slovenian Carinthians. Through acts of sabotage by the partisans, anti-fascist agitation and attacks on the supply lines, it was possible to tie down large troop contingents of the Wehrmacht. Prisoners from the concentration camp at Loibl-Pass were also freed and hidden. Until shortly before the end of the war, SS and Wehrmacht terror continued against the inhabitants: Farms of those assisting the partisans were burnt down, Hundreds of people were deported, incarcerated and executed. As late as 25th April 1945, SS troops killed eleven members of the Persman family at their farm near Eisenkappel/Zelezna Kapla. However the resistance could never be broken. On 8th May 1945, the day of liberation, the partisans together with British units, moved into Klagenfurt/Celovec.

National socialist continuity and the "Ulrichsberg community" (Ulrichsberggemeinschaft) in Carinthia

The end of the war did not bring with it an end to persecution for the Carinthian partisans. Many Nazis who were directly involved with the national-socialists' annihilation campaign, set up home in Carinthia after 1945. 'Bum bailiffs' such as Ernst Lerch and Helmut Pohl from the Reich's security HQ in Lublin apparently took part in the liquidation of 1.2 million Jews as part of "Aktion Reinhard", and they lead a respectable life in southern Austria right up to the end of their lives. The former police chief of the fascist Ustascha regime, Milivoj Asner who had several hundred Jews deported, lives to this day in Klagenfurt.

Each year in September since 1958, veterans of the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS, of the alpine troops and other units meet, as well as their dependants and their ideological 'descendents' (German and Austrian Bundeswehr soldiers, neo-Nazis from the free comradeship spectrum, right-wing student fraternities, politicians of the FP and others). They meet at the "Europa-Heimkehrer-Gedenkst�tte" (memorial to Europeans returning home) at Ulrichsberg in Carinthia in order to remember their fallen comrades. We are concerned here with probably the largest meeting of former Nazis from all over Europe within the German-speaking regions. Supported by the Austrian Bundesheer (army), paid homage to by almost all political parties in Carinthia and with large participation from the population, tribute is paid to the fallen comrades and the "respectable fulfillment of duty", to the myth of combat and of the highest sacrifice for the "freedom of the fatherland in both world wars". An important function of the Ulrichsberggemeinschaft from the very beginning has been lobbying and participation in the freeing and rehabilitation of Nazi war criminals. Time and again there were manifold protests against the meetings of the Ulrichsberggemeinschaft in Austria, which ranged from the defacing or destruction of some remembrance plaques, to demonstrations and organized events.

Take part this year in the protest actions! To Mittenwald!

Program:

Saturday 27.5.2006

10:00am - 2:00pm conference:
Resistance to the national socialist occupation with former partisans and resistance fighters

envelopment demonstration:

Sun. 28.5.2006

09.00 to 13.00 In Gries - Rally - Scene reading

Current information about the program, nation-wide mobilization events as well as download material is available at http://www.nadir.org/mittenwald

Donations account:
Freie Medien e.V.
a/c no. 470 834 437
Clearing code: 360 100 43
Bank name and branch: Postbank Essen
Keyword: "Mttenwald"and "Mittenwald-Repression"