Germany quietly loses last WWI vet

[MikeNearMcChord]

DAVID RISING; The Associated Press
Published: January 26th, 2008 01:00 AM
BERLIN – A German believed to have been the country’s last World War I veteran has died at age 107, a death that almost went unnoticed in a nation that lost both world wars and doesn’t track its remaining veterans.

Erich Kaestner, who was sent to the Western Front to fight in France, died Jan. 1 in a nursing home in Cologne, his son said Friday.

When France’s second-last surviving veteran from World War I, Louis de Cazenave, died Jan. 20, the news made international headlines. But in Germany, which lost both world wars and has had to cope with the shame of the Nazi genocide for more than six decades, no organization keeps track of the remaining veterans.

http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/nationworld/story/265290.html

[JanMichael]

1. I re-read "All Quiet on the Western Front" before x-mas...

...and it's amazing how fast the last century just skipped by and how much we've simply forgotten. The man was in WWI...damn.

[DavidMS]

3. We don't colectively remember our history

unless its a nicely romanticized version dealing with the antibelium south.

I saw the movie in 7th grade and it made a huge impression on me. Briliantly antiwar but without harping on it. Same with the movie Downfall and November 1918 by Doeblin.

I keep thinking that the issue with history education is that it teaches events and dates as opposed to a story about how things got to be the way they are today.

[DianaForRussFeingold]

4. K&R War Is A Racket

Do you remember learning about these two Historic figures in school- Smedley Butler and Nicola Tesla?
-I learned about these two from the internet!
Smedley Butler
"He joined the Marine Corps when the Spanish American War broke out, earned the Brevet te Medal during the Boxer Rebellion in China, saw action in Central America, and in France during World War I was promoted to Major General. Butler served his country for 34 years, yet he spoke against American armed intervention into the affairs of sovereign nations.
Major General Smedley Butler Audio Documentary-War is a Racket...A speech delivered in 1933 - Runtime 29 Minutes - Produced by Andy Lancet for Hearing Voices.com " http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4377.htm

Good info. on Nicola Tesla;
History made him out to be eccentric to say the least--
he invented the poly-phase AC electric current, we use today.
Radio,Radio Control, computers, satellites, microwaves and much more....
Physicist, inventor, and electrical engineer--
he lived during the time of Thomas Edison-- http://www.pbs.org/tesla/ll/index.html

[MikeNearMcChord]

5. That is one book, I recommend to everybody.

And the movie version is good(The 1930 version with Lew Ayers is a timeless classic)

[Hand]

2. ...

[doc03]

6. Isn't Hitler alive and well in South America? I think I

saw him in the Enquirer not long ago.