Hans Noppeney (born 1921), a German veteran of World War II (WW2).."Many years ago I was with my wife in a restaurant in Egmond aan Zee, Holland. At the table next to ours were two Dutch couples of around forty years of age. When they had finished eating, they put their dirty plates with the leftover bones on our table as a gesture of protest. They said nothing and left. I said to my wife: 'Why do they hate us Germans so much?' That was hatred as I'd never experienced it before....
more »Hans Noppeney (born 1921), a German veteran of World War II (WW2).."Many years ago I was with my wife in a restaurant in Egmond aan Zee, Holland. At the table next to ours were two Dutch couples of around forty years of age. When they had finished eating, they put their dirty plates with the leftover bones on our table as a gesture of protest. They said nothing and left. I said to my wife: 'Why do they hate us Germans so much?' That was hatred as I'd never experienced it before. Why?"."We couldn't do anything about what happened, and neither could they. Ordinary people like us didn't have any say about the war. We were led there like lambs to the slaughter. If you refused, you were shot dead. I still have nightmares about it. The responsibility you got as a young lad, that was terrible! People that I had trained were suddenly lying dead at my feet. I can still see their faces. I often go to my home town and my wife once said: 'It's odd that you never meet any of your old school friends.' I said: 'That figures, because they're all lying in Russia or at the bottom of the sea.' The medals that I got were the worst payment of my life. When the war was over I threw them all away. No-one will ever pin anything on me again as long as I live.".. CHECK with MRM/FNA
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