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August 25, 2004
[Have an opinion about the issues discussed in this article?
Sound
off in our Discussion Boards.]
By Kevin Dougherty,
Stars and Stripes European Edition
RÜSSELSHEIM, Germany — Over a cup of coffee in a makeshift art
studio above a busy intersection near the Main River, a bag lady
points to the street below and recounts for her painter-host a little-known
story about her town and World
War II.
That chance encounter 13 years ago between the woman and artist
Hans Diebschlag helped inspire an effort that will culminate Thursday
with the dedication of a memorial to an American B-24 bomber crew
beaten and stoned by an angry mob on the morning of Aug. 26, 1944.
The heart-wrenching saga of 2nd Lt. Norman J. Rogers Jr. and his
eight crewmen is an extraordinary story — but one that has been
largely forgotten on both sides of the Atlantic.
“It’s a very dramatic story,” said Peter Karle, the German architect
who designed the monument in Rüsselsheim, where the attack took
place.
There are many layers to it, too. Historically speaking, the landmark
trial of 11 Rüsselsheim citizens in July 1945 marked the first proceeding
of its kind in the American zone of occupation. It also served as
a guide for the Nuremberg war crimes tribunal that started four
months later.
And, in an ironic twist, the remembrance in Rüsselsheim is occurring
the same week the U.S. military is holding preliminary hearings
for four terrorism
suspects at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The proceedings
are the first U.S. military tribunals since Nuremberg.
A central figure in the Rüsselsheim trial was the U.S. Army prosecutor,
Lt. Col. Leon Jaworski. Thirty years later, Jaworski gained fame
as the special prosecutor in the Watergate investigation of President
Nixon.
Jaworski’s prosecution in the 1945 case led to the conviction of
10 of the 11 conspirators, though it was later determined that scores
of other people were involved. Five of the 10 who stood trial went
to the gallows. A sixth, a German soldier, was convicted and executed
in 1946.
The attack on the U.S. aircrew happened the morning after the city
was heavily damaged in a massive bombing raid by the Royal Air Force.
While the city was home to a sprawling auto plant, converted to
produce aircraft parts for the German air force, much of the damage
occurred in residential areas.
In his book “Wolfsangel,” Augusto Nigro noted that Rüsselsheim
had been bombed before and that residents, like others throughout
Germany, had come to refer to Allied air crews as Terrorflieger,
or terror fliers.
Large-scale “strategic” bombings, in which cities and civilians
well behind enemy lines were pounded from the air, was a precept
first accelerated by Britain in early 1942, the American professor
wrote. Germany adopted the tactic a few months later, leveling cities
such as Coventry, in England. The tactic, a tenet of the “total
war” concept, “introduced a new kind of terrorism into an already
terrible war,” Nigro wrote.
 |
| German architect Peter Karle (second from
left) shows Rüsselsheim residents Dagmar Eichorn, left, and
Martin Schlappner a monument honoring seven U.S. airmen killed
by a mob in Rüsselsheim, Germany, 50 years ago this week during
World War II. (Raymond T. Conway / S&S ) |
 |
| Herbert Schaefer puts the finishing touches
Tuesday on a monument honoring seven U.S. airmen killed by a
mob in Rüsselsheim, Germany, during World War II. (Raymond T.
Conway / S&S ) |
 |
| From left, Thomas Poth, Ulrike Jurig, Dagmar
Eichhorn and Martin Schlappner get their first look at a monument
Tuesday honoring seven U.S. airmen killed by a mob in Rüsselsheim,
Germany, during World War II. (Raymond T. Conway / S&S ) |
It was against this backdrop that Rogers’ crew parachuted into
northern Germany on the night of Aug. 24 after their B-24 Liberator
was shot down following a bombing run on an air base near Hanover.
All were captured and transported to an air base near the city of
Münster.
One of the nine airmen, Staff Sgt. Forrest W. Brininstool, was
taken to a medical clinic where he was operated on for shrapnel
wounds. He remained behind while the others were loaded onto a train
for a trip south to the prisoner interrogation center in Oberursel,
near Frankfurt.
The RAF raid on Rüsselsheim in the early hours of Aug. 26 damaged
the train tracks in town. When the train carrying Rogers and his
crew neared the city, the eight Americans were taken off the train
and escorted through town by two German soldiers. The idea was to
cut through the city on foot and catch another train on the opposite
side of town.
During the “death march,” as Nigro called it, residents of Rüsselsheim
took their anger out on the crew, thinking they were Canadian fliers
from the previous night’s raid. What began as taunts escalated into
accusations, and before long a mob descended on the crew, attacking
them with building material, stones, bricks, lumber and even hammers.
The German soldiers disappeared.
“There were more than 100 people involved in the murders, in the
massacre,” said Dagmar Eichhorn, a principal proponent of the memorial.
The bodies were loaded onto a farmer’s cart and taken to a local
cemetery. While one of the residents swung a 2-by-4 to quiet the
groans of those men still alive, an air raid siren sent everyone
scurrying for cover.
William M. Adams and Sidney Eugene Brown, both sergeants, managed
to pull themselves off the wagon and slip away, avoiding capture
for four days before their luck ran out. They spent the rest of
the war in POW camps, never revealing to their captors what had
happened to them.
After the war, Adams and Brown told Army
officials what transpired in Rüsselsheim, but, amid all the postwar
chaos, word didn’t reach Jaworski until after the trial. Instead,
the Army learned of the mob’s attack from French and Polish slave
laborers.
Over the years, the story has resurfaced from time to time, but
it largely has been forgotten, especially by the people of Rüsselsheim.
Eichhorn explained that most simply wanted to put the episode behind
them.
Given that U.S. authorities were able to prosecute only a fraction
of those involved, Eichhorn said, “It was dangerous for people in
Rüsselsheim to talk about this.”
That explains why Diebschlag, the artist who is also a native of
Rüsselsheim, though he later moved to England, didn’t know the story.
When the bag lady told him the story, he incorporated elements
of it into the painting commissioned by the city. The painting,
a satirical work that drew plenty of detractors, hung in an assembly
hall for four years before a new mayor ordered it removed.
The decision led to a public forum about the painting and the city’s
wartime past, which spurred Eichhorn and others to lead the effort
to build the memorial.
Of the three airmen aboard the B-24 that was shot down who survived
the war, only Brown is alive today. He is expected to attend Thursday’s
dedication, along with Rogers’ daughter and granddaughter. Eichhorn
credits Brown’s forgiveness, Nigro’s book and Diebschlag’s painting
for helping the city face its past and heal wartime wounds.
The war, Eichhorn said, “was a very hard time for all of us.”
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