Movies and Films
This is the forum for Movie and Film discussions. Again, our topic is naval warfare in WWII for the most part.
Re: About IWO in Das Boot.Help
Posted by:
Volker Erich Kummrow
()
Date: November 10, 2005 02:51PM
Hello Mr. von Funk and All,
I could not agree more, Mr. von Funk, with your comment concerning this fictional “figure†IWO. As a German serving twelve years in the West German Air force (antiaircraft – missiles = happy fail save) in the sixties and seventies we, as I assume more or less all armies in the world, have this soldier - character, so well described by our charming lady, Mrs. Rosenfeld, as the spit and polished soldier. “Arschbacken zusammenkneifen mit dem Glauben an den Führer im Blickâ€, as Thomsen tells der Alte in the Bar Royal, or as we used to say as the so called “citoyen in uniform†in a Bundeswehr more or less integrated in a democratic Federal Republic of Germany in these years, “ der kneift die Arschbacken zusammen, bis ein Fünfmarkstück seine Prägung verliert.†One could argue most of such characters were leaning, politically speaking, more to the right but that doesn’t qualify them automatically as being “worshippers†of a “fascist†dictatorship.
So just being a spit and polished service man does not necessarily put this IWO in the category of being a Nazi per se. On the other hand, from my point of view, we have to keep in mind that in 1941 the crews of the uboats were fighting the UK in the sense of the UK having declared war on Germany and not vice versa. So it might have been helpful for LGB as being a contemporary of this time to elaborate on what the “peoples†were thinking when on patrol against the UK taking said “political situation†into consideration in 1941 instead of having der Alte responding to the IWO “alles andere müssen Sie die Leute fragen, die diesen Krieg angefangen habenâ€, thus being “politically†rather vague.
And in 1941 even the “political neutral†German Navy had not any mayor access to what we call nowadays a free press.
You all have a nice day.
Sincerely Yours
Volker Erich Kummrow
I could not agree more, Mr. von Funk, with your comment concerning this fictional “figure†IWO. As a German serving twelve years in the West German Air force (antiaircraft – missiles = happy fail save) in the sixties and seventies we, as I assume more or less all armies in the world, have this soldier - character, so well described by our charming lady, Mrs. Rosenfeld, as the spit and polished soldier. “Arschbacken zusammenkneifen mit dem Glauben an den Führer im Blickâ€, as Thomsen tells der Alte in the Bar Royal, or as we used to say as the so called “citoyen in uniform†in a Bundeswehr more or less integrated in a democratic Federal Republic of Germany in these years, “ der kneift die Arschbacken zusammen, bis ein Fünfmarkstück seine Prägung verliert.†One could argue most of such characters were leaning, politically speaking, more to the right but that doesn’t qualify them automatically as being “worshippers†of a “fascist†dictatorship.
So just being a spit and polished service man does not necessarily put this IWO in the category of being a Nazi per se. On the other hand, from my point of view, we have to keep in mind that in 1941 the crews of the uboats were fighting the UK in the sense of the UK having declared war on Germany and not vice versa. So it might have been helpful for LGB as being a contemporary of this time to elaborate on what the “peoples†were thinking when on patrol against the UK taking said “political situation†into consideration in 1941 instead of having der Alte responding to the IWO “alles andere müssen Sie die Leute fragen, die diesen Krieg angefangen habenâ€, thus being “politically†rather vague.
And in 1941 even the “political neutral†German Navy had not any mayor access to what we call nowadays a free press.
You all have a nice day.
Sincerely Yours
Volker Erich Kummrow
