THE 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF V-E DAY (MAY 8, 1945)

May 8, 2015, 7:37 am

≫ Next: DR. BERNHARD RUST (SEPTEMBER 30, 1883 TO MAY 8, 1945)

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70 years ago on this date, May 8, 1945, Dönitz authorised Keitel to sign an unconditional surrenderin Berlin. Although Germany had surrendered to the Allies a day earlier, Stalin had insisted on a second surrender ceremony in Berlin.

Field Marshall Wilhelm Keitel signing the unconditional surrender of the German Wehrmacht at the Soviet headquarters in Karlshorst, Berlin on 8 May 1945.

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DR. BERNHARD RUST (SEPTEMBER 30, 1883 TO MAY 8, 1945)

May 8, 2015, 7:48 am

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STUTTHOF CONCENTRATION CAMP (LIBERATED: MAY 9, 1945)

May 8, 2015, 10:06 pm

≫ Next: VICTORY DAY (MAY 9)

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            70 years ago on this date, May 9, 1945, Stutthof concentration camp was liberated by the allies. I will post information about this concentration Camp from Wikipedia and other links.

VICTORY DAY (MAY 9)

May 8, 2015, 10:06 pm

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INTERNET SOURCE: http://9may.rt.com/

THE 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF VICTORY DAY (MAY 9, 2015)

May 8, 2015, 10:06 pm

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INTERNET SOURCE: http://9may.rt.com/

NOVOROSSIYA CELEBRATES THE 70TH VICTORY DAY (MAY 9, 2015)

May 8, 2015, 10:07 pm

≫ Next: THE ZYKLON B GASMAN: RICHARD GLUCKS (APRIL 22, 1889 TO MAY 10, 1945)

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INTERNET SOURCE: http://9may.rt.com/

THE ZYKLON B GASMAN: RICHARD GLUCKS (APRIL 22, 1889 TO MAY 10, 1945)

May 9, 2015, 9:52 pm

≫ Next: SS GENERAL CHRISTIAN WEBER (AUGUST 25, 1883 TO MAY 11, 1945)

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            70 years ago on this date, May 10, 1945, a Nazi War Criminal, Richard Glucks who was one of the Holocaust Perpetrators, committed suicide by swallowing a potassium cyanide capsule.

Richard Glücks in his SS uniform

SS GENERAL CHRISTIAN WEBER (AUGUST 25, 1883 TO MAY 11, 1945)

May 11, 2015, 1:19 am

≫ Next: THE DOUBLE SCARFACE SS: ERNST KALTENBRUNNER (OCTOBER 4, 1903 TO OCTOBER 16, 1946)

≪ Previous: THE ZYKLON B GASMAN: RICHARD GLUCKS (APRIL 22, 1889 TO MAY 10, 1945)

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            70 years ago on this date, May 11, 1945, SS General, Christian Weber died in a lorry accident. I will post information about him from Wikipedia.

Christian Weber in 1934

Christian Weber(25 August 1883 in Polsingen – 11 May 1945 in the Swabian Jura) was a German Nazi Party official and Schutzstaffel Brigadeführer.

Biography

Along with the likes of Emil Maurice, Ulrich Graf, and Max Amann, Weber, a bouncer at a seedy bar, was amongst the earliest political associates of Adolf Hitler. Ever ready for a fight, Weber carried a riding crop with him, a habit shared by Hitler in these early years. Otto Strasser would later claim that Weber was also a pimp at this time, although he had a hatred of Weber whom he denounced as an "ape-like creature" and "the most despicable of Hitler's underlings". In late 1921 Weber was one of Hitler's cohorts when the Nazis attacked a meeting of the Bavarian League. Hitler personally beat up the League's leader Otto Ballerstedt, an event that saw the future Führer serve a month in prison. At some stage before 1923 Weber lost an eye and often wore a specially made pair of glasses as a result.

Following the Beer Hall putsch Weber, by then a horse trader, was owed $1000 by Hitler after he had bought the debt from Ernst Hanfstaengl. Weber would insist on Hitler paying the debt in full. The two however remained close and Hanfstaengl later claimed that Weber was one of the few who could make fun of Mein Kampf in Hitler's company.

A city councilman in Munich, he was effectively the boss of the city following the Nazi seizure of power. Weber became something of a hate figure in the city, particularly amongst the middle classes and he became a by-word for corruption as it was regularly questioned how this former hotel bellboy had come to own a number of hotels, villas, petrol stations, a brewery, the city's racecourse and bus service as well as a home in the Munich Residenz. Other titles that he was granted included presidency of the Reichsjagdmuseum and the League of German Riding Stable Owners. On the Night of the Long Knives Weber was amongst those SS men who travelled to Bad Wiessee to purge the Sturmabteilungleadership. Hitler personally rewarded him for his involvement by promoting him to the rank of Oberführer in the SS.

Kristallnacht

Ever on the lookout for a chance to enrich himself, Weber was active on Kristallnachtwhen he took a group of SS men, including a young Hermann Fegelein, to Planegg where they ransacked the estate of Jewish nobleman Baron Rudolf Hirsch. The estate would eventually pass into Weber's possession. Weber also took care of security arrangements for Nazi functions in Munich although he received criticism for this when his plans failed to prevent Georg Elser'sbomb attack on the Bürgerbräukeller on 8 November 1939 which missed Hitler and a number of other leading Nazis including Heinrich Himmler and Alfred Rosenberg by only ten minutes. Despite this Weber remained important in Munich, although Gauleiter Paul Giesler was his rival. The two clashed in 1943 over the continuation of horse racing in the city and the dispute was ultimately brought to Hitler himself, where Giesler argued it should be banned as it was not conducive to total war. Hitler agreed in principle with Giesler but, due to the respect for his Alter Kämpfer comrade, he allowed racing to continue at the Theresienwieseonly.

Death

Weber died in 1945 after being arrested by the United States Army in Berlin. He was one of a number of prisoners being carried in an open-backed lorry when the vehicle overturned. Weber suffered terminal injuries in the accident. His body was interred in a mass grave at Heilbronn.

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THE DOUBLE SCARFACE SS: ERNST KALTENBRUNNER (OCTOBER 4, 1903 TO OCTOBER 16, 1946)

May 11, 2015, 2:30 pm

≫ Next: SS-HAUPTSTURMFUHRER RICHARD THOMALLA (OCTOBER 23, 1903 TO MAY 12, 1945)

≪ Previous: SS GENERAL CHRISTIAN WEBER (AUGUST 25, 1883 TO MAY 11, 1945)

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On this date, 12 May 1945, Ernst Kaltenbrunner nicknamed The Double Scarface SS was arrested was captured and arrested by a U.S Patrol.

Obergruppenführer und General der Polizei und Waffen-SS Dr. Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Chief of the RSHA and President of Interpol. Ernst Kaltenbrunner in an official photo, Obergruppenführer insignias are visible his collars, therefore the photo was taken on or after June 21, 1943 (the date which he was promoted to Obergruppenführer).

SS-HAUPTSTURMFUHRER RICHARD THOMALLA (OCTOBER 23, 1903 TO MAY 12, 1945)

May 11, 2015, 2:30 pm

≫ Next: THE ROADSIDE STRANGLER: MICHAEL BRUCE ROSS (JULY 26, 1959 TO MAY 13, 2005)

≪ Previous: THE DOUBLE SCARFACE SS: ERNST KALTENBRUNNER (OCTOBER 4, 1903 TO OCTOBER 16, 1946)

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            70 years ago on this date, May 12, 1945, SS-Hauptsturmführer Richard Thomalla was reported to be executed by the NKVD. I will post information about this SS Captain from Wikipedia and other links. 

Official portrait while an SS-Obersturmführer (SS Security Lieutenant) c. 1940

Birth name	Richard Wolfgang Thomalla
Born	23 October 1903 Annahof, Upper Silesia, German Empire
Died	12 May 1945 (aged 41) Jičín, Czechoslovakia
Allegiance	Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Schutzstaffel
Years of service	1932—1945
Rank	Hauptsturmführer, SS (Captain)
Commands held	Headed construction of Bełżec, Sobibor and Treblinka extermination camps during Operation Reinhard

Richard Wolfgang Thomalla (23 October 1903 — 12 May 1945) was an SS-Hauptsturmführer (Captain) and a civil engineer by profession who was head of the SS Central Building Administration at Lublin reservation in occupied Poland and was in charge of construction for the Operation Reinhard death camps Bełżec, Sobibor and Treblinka during the Holocaust in German-occupied Poland.

Born in Annahof in the former Upper Silesia region of the German Empire (now, the village of Sowin, Opole Voivodeship, Poland). Thomalla became a member of the Nazi Party in 1932: (no. 1,238,872) and SS (no. 41,206).

World War II

The first death camp to be constructed under Thomalla's supervision was Bełżec. Construction started on 1 November 1941 and was completed in March 1942. He then proceeded to design and supervise the construction of Sobibor in March 1942. Workers employed for building the camp were local people from neighboring villages and towns. During this preliminary stage, Thomalla served as the head of the Sonderkommando at Sobibor. The Sonderkommando consisted of about eighty Jews from ghettos within the vicinity of the camp, brought to Sobibor for slave-labor construction work. A squad of ten Ukrainians trained at Trawniki concentration camp guarded the Sonderkommando. Upon completion of the camp, these Jews were shot. When Thomalla completed his building assignment in Sobibor he was replaced there by Franz Stangl in April 1942. He then proceeded to Treblinkawhich copied the design of Sobibor.

SS-Unterscharführer (Corporal) Erwin Lambertwho had previously been assigned to the Action T4euthanasia program and had constructed the new gas chambers in Treblinka, testified about Thomalla:

I and Hengs went to Treblinka by car. SS-HauptsturmführerRichard Thomalla was the camp commander. The Treblinka camp was still in the process of construction. Thomalla was in Treblinka for about four to eight weeks. I was attached to a building team there. Thomalla was there for a limited time only and conducted the construction work of the extermination camp. During that time no extermination actions were carried out. Then Dr. Eberl arrived as camp commander. Under his direction the extermination Aktionen of the Jews began.

Between July 1942 and October 1943, around 850,000 people were killed in Treblinka. Thomalla was reportedly executed by the NKVD (Soviet Police) in Jičín, Czechoslovakia on 12 May 1945.

OTHER LINKS:

http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/ar/sobibor.html

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007258

THE ROADSIDE STRANGLER: MICHAEL BRUCE ROSS (JULY 26, 1959 TO MAY 13, 2005)

May 12, 2015, 1:38 pm

≫ Next: THE DRUMMER BOY OF CHICKAMAUGA: JOHN CLEM (AUGUST 13, 1851 TO MAY 13, 1937)

≪ Previous: SS-HAUPTSTURMFUHRER RICHARD THOMALLA (OCTOBER 23, 1903 TO MAY 12, 1945)

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            Ten years ago on this date, May 13, 2005 the Roadside Strangler, Michael Bruce Ross was executed by lethal injection in Connecticut. I will post information about him from Wikipedia and other links.

Michael Bruce Ross (Nov. 21, 1998 mugshot)

Born	July 26, 1959 Putnam, Connecticut
Died	May 13, 2005 (aged 45) Somers, Connecticut
Cause of death	Lethal Injection
Other names	The Roadside Strangler
Criminal penalty	Death penalty
Killings
Victims	8
Span of killings	May 12, 1981–June 13, 1984
Country	United States
State(s)	Connecticut and New York
Date apprehended	June 29, 1984

Michael Bruce Ross (July 26, 1959 – May 13, 2005) was an American serial killer. In 2005, he was executed by the state of Connecticut, making it the first execution in Connecticut (and the whole of New England) since 1960.

Early life

Ross was born in Putnam, Connecticut on July 26, 1959 to Patricia Hilda Laine and Dan Graeme Ross. The oldest of four children, having two younger sisters and a younger brother, he grew up on a chicken farm in Brooklyn, Connecticut. Ross's home life was extremely dysfunctional; his mother, who had abandoned the family at least once and had been institutionalized, beat all four of her children, saving the worst for him. Some family and friends have suggested that he was also molested by his teenaged uncle, who committed suicide when Ross was six. He was a bright boy who performed well in school. He graduated from Killingly High School in Killingly, Connecticut in 1977, and graduated from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, where he studied agriculture, in May 1981. He became an insurance salesman. He exhibited antisocial behavior from a young age. Ross began stalking women in his sophomore year of college and, in his senior year, he committed his first rape. His first murder followed soon after.

Crime spree

Between 1981 and 1985, Ross murdered eight girls and women aged between 14 and 25 in Connecticut and New York. He raped seven out of his eight murder victims. He also was alleged to have raped, but not killed a 21-year old woman named Vivian Dobson in 1983. Plainfield police rejected the possibility that Ross had been Vivian Dobson's rapist. They did not press charges and Ross made no confession. Ross confessed to each of the eight murders and was convicted for the last four of them. He was sentenced to death on July 6, 1987 and spent the next 18 years on death row.

Victims

1. Dzung Ngoc Tu (25)  – May 12, 1981. Cornell University student
2. Tammy Williams (17)  – January 5, 1982. Brooklyn, Connecticut
3. Paula Perrera (16)  – March 1, 1982. Wallkill, New York
4. Debra Smith Taylor (23)  – June 15, 1982. Griswold
5. Robin Dawn Stavinsky (19)  – October 23, 1983. Norwich
6. April Brunais (14)  – April 22, 1984. Griswold
7. Leslie Shelley (14)  – April 22, 1984. Griswold
8. Wendy Baribeault (17)  – June 13, 1984. Griswold

Imprisonment

During his incarceration, he met his fiancée, Susan Powers, of Oklahoma. Powers broke up with Ross in 2003 but still visited him until his death. He became a devout Catholic after his arrest in 1984, meeting regularly with two priests through the years and praying the rosary each morning. Ross had accomplishments, such as translating Braille, acting as a "big brother" to other inmates, and sponsoring an impoverished child from the Dominican Republic.

Execution

Though he opposed the death penalty, Ross strongly supported his own death sentence in the last year of his life, saying that he wanted to spare his victims' families any more pain. According to Kathry Yeager, a Cornell graduate, Ross believed that he had been "forgiven by God" and that he would be going to "a better place" once he was executed. She said, "He's not being punished. He's moving on to life eternal. That's what is ironic about the death penalty. He's looking forward to the peace." Yeager also said that Ross had come to believe there was no way his death sentences would be commuted without forcing the victims' families to suffer through more legal hearings; and that he knew his life would be meaningful, even behind bars: "He's had a horrible life, and he's wanted to do good." In spite of this, an hour before the execution was to take place in the early hours of January 26, 2005, Ross's lawyer, acting on behalf of Ross's father, obtained a two-day stay of execution. Ross was then scheduled to die by lethal injection on January 29, 2005, at 2:01 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. However, earlier in the day, the execution was again postponed because of doubts that Ross was mentally competent; having fought against his death sentence for 17 years, he suddenly waived his right to appeal. His attorney claimed that Ross was incompetent to waive appeals, as he was suffering from death row syndrome. In his final days, Ross became an oblate, or associate, of the Benedictine Grange, a Roman Catholic monastic community in West Redding, Connecticut.

Ross was executed by lethal injection on May 13, 2005, at Osborn Correctional Institution in Somers, Connecticut. He was 45 years old. Ross did not request a special last meal before facing his execution, thereby dining on the regular prison meal of the day: turkey à la king with rice, mixed vegetables, white bread, fruit, and a beverage. When asked if he would like to make a last statement, he said, without opening his eyes, "No, thank you." Ross was pronounced dead at 2:25 a.m. His remains were buried at the Benedictine Grange Cemetery in Redding, Connecticut.

After execution

After the execution, Dr. Stuart Grassian, a psychiatrist who had argued that Ross was not competent to waive appeal, received a letter from Ross dated May 10, 2005, which read "Check, and mate. You never had a chance!" Ross's execution was the first in Connecticut (and in all of New England) since 1960. It was also the first and so far only execution in Connecticut administered by lethal injection. As of July 25, 2013, Ross is the most recent inmate executed in Connecticut, although the state's death row houses 10 convicted murderers who are in various stages of legal appeals prior to the abolition of the death penalty in Connecticut on April 25, 2012. Vivian Dobson, whom Ross was alleged to have raped, became a vocal opponent of the death penalty in an effort to save Ross's life. The execution of Michael Bruce Ross was the first in Connecticut in 2005, the first execution in Connecticut since 1960, the 22nd execution in the United States in 2005, and the 966th execution in the United States since 1976.

Pop culture

Michael Ross appeared in a British television series about serial killers in 1995. The filmmakers who produced the segment gave him the nickname "The Roadside Strangler" because the other killers in the series had nicknames. One of the producers of the series said the name may have been the result of a brainstorming session at a motel bar. Ross was not called "The Roadside Strangler" by the Connecticut media or by local law enforcement while he was alive.

OTHER LINKS:

http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/ross966.htm

http://murderpedia.org/male.R/r1/ross-michael-photos.htm

http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-ross-file-pg-photogallery.html

http://cornellalumnimagazine.com/Archive/2005marapr/features/Feature2.html

http://www.crimezzz.net/serialkiller_news/R/ROSS_michael_bruce.php

http://crime.about.com/od/deathrow/p/michael_ross.htm

THE DRUMMER BOY OF CHICKAMAUGA: JOHN CLEM (AUGUST 13, 1851 TO MAY 13, 1937)

May 12, 2015, 1:38 pm

≫ Next: ARYAN BROTHERHOOD MEMBER REPENTED BEFORE HIS DEATH (RICHARD CARTWRIGHT EXECUTED ON MAY 19, 2005)

≪ Previous: THE ROADSIDE STRANGLER: MICHAEL BRUCE ROSS (JULY 26, 1959 TO MAY 13, 2005)

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I will post information about the Drummer Boy of Chickamauga, John Clem from Wikipedia and other links.

John Clem [PHOTO SOURCE: http://trektothetroops.org/2015/01/02/youngest-soldier-to-make-sergeant-john-clem-civil-war/]

 

Sergeant John Clem, age 12, in 1863

Birth name	John Joseph Clem
Born	August 13, 1851 Newark, Ohio
Died	May 13, 1937 (aged 85) San Antonio, Texas
Buried at	Arlington National Cemetery
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Army Union Army
Years of service	1863 – 1864, 1871 – 1915
Rank	Major General
Unit	22nd Michigan Infantry 24th Infantry Regiment
Battles/wars	American Civil War Battle of Chickamauga

John Lincoln Clem (August 13, 1851 – May 13, 1937) was a United States Army general who served as a drummer boy in the Union Army in the American Civil War. He gained fame for his bravery on the battlefield, becoming the youngest noncommissioned officer in Army history. He retired from the Army in 1915, having attained the rank of Brigadier General in the Quartermaster Corps. When advised he should retire, he requested to be allowed to remain on active duty until he became the last veteran of the Civil War still on duty in the Armed Forces. By special act of Congress on August 29, 1916, he was promoted to major general one year after his retirement.

Morris Gallery of the Cumberland, Portrait of a boy soldier, Nashville, Tennessee.

Civil War

Born with the surname Klem in Newark, Ohio on August 13, 1851, he is said to have run away from home at age 9 in May 1861, after the death of his mother in a train accident, to become a Union Army drummer boy. First he attempted to enlist in the 3rd Ohio Infantry, but was rejected because of his age and small size. He then tried to join the 22nd Michigan, which also refused him. He tagged along anyway and the 22nd eventually adopted him as mascot and drummer boy. Officers chipped in to pay him the regular soldier's wage of $13 a month and allowed him to officially enlist two years later. Research has shown that Clem's claims about the 3rd Ohio and running away from home in 1861 (rather than in either 1862 or 1863) may be fictitious.

A popular legend suggests that Clem served as a drummer boy with the 22nd Michigan at the Battle of Shiloh. The legend suggests that he came very near to losing his life when a fragment from a shrapnel shell crashed through his drum, knocking him unconscious, and that subsequently his comrades who found and rescued him from the battlefield nicknamed Clem "Johnny Shiloh." The weight of historical evidence however suggests that Clem could not have taken part in the battle of Shiloh. The 22nd Michigan appears to be the first unit in which Clem served in any capacity, but this regiment had not yet been constituted at the time of the battle (mustering into service in August 1862 – four months after the Battle of Shiloh). The Johnny Shiloh legend appears instead to stem from a popular Civil War song, "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh" by William S. Hays which was written for Harpers Weekly of New York. The song was written following the Battle of Chickamauga in September 1863, and may have been written with Clem in mind because he had already become a nationally-known figure by that time.

Regardless of his entry into service, Klem served as a drummer boy for the 22nd Michigan at the Battle of Chickamauga. He is said to have ridden an artillery caisson to the front and wielded a musket trimmed to his size. In the course of a Union retreat, he shot a Confederatecolonel who had demanded his surrender. After the battle, the "Drummer Boy of Chickamauga" was promoted to sergeant, the youngest soldier ever to be a noncommissioned officer in the United States Army. Secretary of the Treasury, later Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, and fellow Ohion, Salmon P. Chase, decorated him for his heroics at Chickamauga. Clem's fame for the shooting is also open for debate as there are no records of a Confederate colonel being wounded during the battle despite press reports supporting the story into the early 20th century.

In October 1863, Clem was captured in Georgiaby Confederate cavalry while detailed as a train guard. The Confederate soldiers confiscated his uniform which reportedly upset him terribly—including his cap which had three bullet holes in it. He was included in a prisoner exchange a short time later, but the Confederate newspapers used his age and celebrity status to show "what sore straits the Yankees are driven, when they have to send their babies out to fight us." After participating with the Army of the Cumberland in many other battles, serving as a mounted orderly, he was discharged in September 1864. Clem was wounded in combat twice during the war.

John Clem [PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=2284]

 

John Clem in 1865

John Clem with a gun

Later life

Clem graduated from high school in 1870. In 1871, he was elected commander/captain of the "Washington Rifles" a District of Columbia Army National Guard militia unit. After he attempted unsuccessfully to enter the United States Military Academy, after failing the entrance exam, President Ulysses S. Grant appointed him second lieutenant in the Twenty Fourth United States Infantry in December 1871. Clem was promoted to first lieutenant in 1874. Clem graduated from artillery school at Fort Monroe in 1875 and was transferred to the Quartermaster Department and promoted to captain in 1882 where he stayed for the rest of his career. From 1906 to 1911 he was chief quartermaster at Fort Sam Houston in Texas.

Clem reached the mandatory retirement age of 64 on August 13, 1915, when he was retired and promoted to the rank of brigadier general, as was customary for Civil War veterans who retired at the rank of Colonel, becoming the last Civil War veteran to serve in the US Army. On August 29, 1916, he was promoted on the retired list to the rank of major general.

John Clem in fine arts. [PHOTO SOURCE: http://fineartamerica.com/featured/union-drummer-boy-john-clem-war-is-hell-store.html]

 

American Civil War muster records index card for John Lincoln Clem, showing he enlisted named Klem. From the US National Archive

Personal Life

After retirement he lived in Washington, D.C. before returning to San Antonio, Texas. He married Anita Rosetta French in 1875. After her death in 1899, he married Bessie Sullivan of San Antonio in 1903. Sullivan was the daughter of a Confederate veteran, leading Clem to claim that he was "the most united American" alive. Clem was the father of three children. Clem was a companion of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States and the Military Order of Foreign Wars.

He died in San Antonio on May 13, 1937, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, VA.

John Clem

Dates of Promotion

Through his military career Clem held the following ranks:

• Musician and Lance Sergeant, Co. C, 22nd Michigan Infantry – 1 May 1863 to 19 September 1864
• 2nd Lieutenant – 18 December 1871
• 1st Lieutenant – 5 October 1874
• Captain – 4 May 1882
• Major – 16 May 1895
• Lieutenant Colonel – 2 February 1901
• Colonel – 15 August 1903
• Brigadier General (Retired) – 13 August 1915
• Major General (Retired) – 29 August 1916

Awards

• Civil War Campaign Medal
• Indian Campaign Medal
• Spanish War Service Medal

Memorialization

• A 6-foot bronze statue of young John Clem stands near the Buckingham Meeting House in Newark, Ohio.
• A World War II U.S. Army troopship, the USAT John L. Clem, was named in his honor. The ship was scrapped in 1948.
• A public school in Newark, Ohio, is named after him: Johnny Clem Elementary School.
• The city of Heath, Ohio, is co-extensive with Johnny Clem Township.

Major General John Clem in 1922

Graveside of John Clem [PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/jlclem.htm]

Film portrayals

In 1963, Walt Disney produced a made-for-TV film entitled Johnny Shiloh, with Kevin Corcoranin the title role. The film was telecast on the Disney anthology television series.

OTHER LINKS:

http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/biographies/john-clem.html

http://histclo.com/bio/c/bio-clem.html

http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Johnny_Klem

http://www.gacivilwar.org/story/john-lincoln-clem-an-american-legend

http://www.old-picture.com/defining-moments/Boy-Soldier.htm

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/mcnamarasblog/2011/09/johnny-clem-%E2%80%9Cthe-drummer-boy-of-chickamauga%E2%80%9D.html

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/jlclem.htm

ARYAN BROTHERHOOD MEMBER REPENTED BEFORE HIS DEATH (RICHARD CARTWRIGHT EXECUTED ON MAY 19, 2005)

May 18, 2015, 1:47 pm

≫ Next: PRISON KILLER & JUVENILE GANGSTER: ROGELIO CANNADY [EXECUTED IN TEXAS ON MAY 19, 2010]

≪ Previous: THE DRUMMER BOY OF CHICKAMAUGA: JOHN CLEM (AUGUST 13, 1851 TO MAY 13, 1937)

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Ten years ago on this date, May 19, 2005, an Aryan Brotherhood Gangster was executed by lethal injection in Texas. I was satisfied that he apologized and admitted to his guilt before he died.

Richard Cartwright, taken on the day of his execution.

  

Please go to this previous blog post to learn more.

PRISON KILLER & JUVENILE GANGSTER: ROGELIO CANNADY [EXECUTED IN TEXAS ON MAY 19, 2010]

May 18, 2015, 1:47 pm

≫ Next: THE CHIEF OF THE AKTION T4 PROGRAM: PHILIPP BOUHLER (SEPTEMBER 11, 1899 TO MAY 19, 1945)

≪ Previous: ARYAN BROTHERHOOD MEMBER REPENTED BEFORE HIS DEATH (RICHARD CARTWRIGHT EXECUTED ON MAY 19, 2005)

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            On this date, May 19, 2010, a juvenile gangster and prison killer, Rogelio Cannady was executed by lethal injection in Texas.

Rogelio Cannady looks innocent and gentle with a grin, but BEWARE, he is dangerous!

Please go to this previous blog post to learn more.

THE CHIEF OF THE AKTION T4 PROGRAM: PHILIPP BOUHLER (SEPTEMBER 11, 1899 TO MAY 19, 1945)

May 18, 2015, 1:48 pm

≫ Next: DEATH BY WIRE IN PRISON: TERRANCE ANTHONY JAMES (EXECUTED IN OKLAHOMA ON MAY 22, 2001)

≪ Previous: PRISON KILLER & JUVENILE GANGSTER: ROGELIO CANNADY [EXECUTED IN TEXAS ON MAY 19, 2010]

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70 years ago on this date, May 19, 1945, the Chief of the Aktion T4 Program, Philipp Bouhler, committed suicide. I will post information about this Reichsleiter nicknamed, Hitler’s Mailman, from Wikipediaand other links.

Philipp Bouhler as a SS-Obergruppenführer in 1936

Deputy manager of the NSDAP
In office September 1922 – November 1925
NSDAP-Business Manager (Geschaftsführer)
In office 1925 – November 1934
Reichsleiter
In office June 1933 – 8 May 1945
Chief of NSDAP Censorship in the Reichsleitung
In office October 1936 – 8 May 1945
Chief of the Chancellery of the Führer of the NSDAP
In office 17 November 1934 – 8 May 1945
Chief of the Aktion T4 program
In office 1939–1941
Personal details
Born	11 September 1899 Munich, Bavaria, Germany
Died	19 May 1945 (aged 45) Altaussee, Austria
Nationality	German
Political party	National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP)
Spouse(s)	Helene "Heli" Majer
Military service
Rank	Obergruppenführer

                 

Philipp Bouhler(11 September 1899 – 19 May 1945) was a senior Nazi Party official who was both a Reichsleiter (English: National Leader) and Chief of the Chancellery of the Führer of the NSDAP. He was also an SS-Obergruppenführer in the Allgemeine SS who was responsible for the Nazi Aktion T4 euthanasia program that killed more than 70,000 handicapped adults and children in Nazi Germany.

Bouhler was captured and arrested on 10 May 1945 by American troops. He committed suicide on 19 May 1945 while in the U.S. internment camp at Zell am See in Austria.

Philipp Bouhler, Head of the T4 programme

Early life

Bouhler was born in Munich, to a retired colonel, and spent five years in the Royal Bavarian Cadet Corps. He took part in the First World War and was badly wounded. From 1919 to 1920, he studied philosophy for four semesters and in 1921 became a contributor in the publishing house that put out the newspaper Völkischer Beobachter.

Bouhler meeting Hitler, Munich 1938

Nazi functionary

He joined the NSDAP in July 1922 with membership number 12. By autumn 1922 he had become deputy manager of the NSDAP. After the failed Beer hall Putsch in Munich and the subsequent refounding of the party in 1925, he became Reich Secretary of the NSDAP. After the seizure of powerin 1933, he became a Reich Leader and Member of the Reichstagfor Westphalia. He joined the SS on 20 April 1933 with membership number: 54,932.

In 1934, Bouhler became police chairman of Munich, and only a month later, he was appointed chief of Adolf Hitler's Chancellery, a post specially created on 17 November 1934 that was first and foremost set aside for party business. He held that position until 23 April 1945. In this job, for instance, secret decrees might be prepared, or internal business managed, before being brought before Adolf Hitler. Moreover, Bouhler was chairman of the "Official Party Inspection Commission for the Protection of National Socialist Literature" (Der Chef der Kanzlei des Führers und Vorsitzender der Parteiamtlichen Prüfungskommission zum Schutze des NS-Schrifttums), which determined what writings were and were not suitable for Nazi society.

Bouhler's office was responsible for all correspondences for Hitler which included private and internal communications as well as responding to public inquiries (for example, requests for material help, godfathership, jobs, clemency, NSDAP business and birthday wishes). By 1944, much of the functions of the Kanzlei des Führers were absorbed by the Party Chancellery (Parteikanzlei) under Martin Bormann.

Rudolf Heß, Heinrich Himmler, Bouhler, Fritz Todt and Reinhard Heydrich (from left), listening to Konrad Meyer at a Generalplan Ost exhibition, 20 March 1941

War crimes

Bouhler was also responsible for activities involving the killing of disabled German citizens. Together with Karl Brandt, he developed the Nazis' early euthanasia program, AktionT4 in which mentally ill and physically handicapped people were murdered. The actual implementation was supervised by Bouhler. Various methods of killing were tried out. The first killing facility was Schloss Hartheim in Upper Austria. The knowledge gained from the euthanasia program was later applied to the industrialized annihilation of other groups of people, such as Jewish people.

In 1942, Bouhler published the book, "Napoleon – Kometenbahn eines Genies" (Napoleon – A Genius's Cometary Path), which became a favorite of Hitler's. He had also published a National Socialist publication Kampf um Deutschland (Fight for Germany) in 1938.

Death

Bouhler and his wife, Helene, were arrested by American troops at Schloss Fischhorn in Bruck near Zell-am-See on 10 May 1945. Thereafter, both committed suicide. His wife jumped from a window at Schloss Fischhorn. On 19 May 1945, Bouhler used a cyanide capsule while in the US internment camp at Zell-am-See. The couple had no children.

Awards and Nazi Party decorations

• Iron Cross 2nd Class (Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse) 1914
• Wound Badge (World War I) in Black
• Military Merit, 4th class (Bavaria)
• Blood Order
• Golden Party Badge
• War Merit Cross (Kriegsverdienstkreuz) 2nd and 1st Class
• NSDAP Long Service Award in bronze, silver and gold
• SS Honour Ring
• Sword of honour of the Reichsführer-SS
• Honour Chevron for the Old Guard

OTHER LINKS:

http://spartacus-educational.com/GERbouhlerP.htm

http://www.jimsnowden.com/2013/07/30/philipp-bouhler-hitlers-mailman/

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=158067

http://ww2gravestone.com/people/bouhler-philipp/

http://www.chgs.umn.edu/histories/documentary/hadamar/the_occurrence.html

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DEATH BY WIRE IN PRISON: TERRANCE ANTHONY JAMES (EXECUTED IN OKLAHOMA ON MAY 22, 2001)

May 21, 2015, 2:58 pm

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On this date, May 22, 2001, Terrance Anthony James was executed by lethal injection in Oklahoma. He was convicted of murdering his cellmate, Mark Allen Berry on February 6, 1983.

Terrance Anthony James

Please go to this previous blog post to learn more.

THE BAD COP OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA: KARL HERMANN FRANK (24 JANUARY 1898 TO 22 MAY 1946)

May 21, 2015, 2:58 pm

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On this date, 22 May 1946, a SS Nazi War Criminal, Karl Hermann Frank was executed by hanging in public. Please go to this previous blog post to learn more.

Karl Hermann Frank [PHOTO SOURCE: http://reinhardhimmler.tumblr.com/]

CHILD SOLDIER “SLAVA” OF LYSYCHANSK

May 22, 2015, 8:58 am

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THE REICHSFUHRER-SS: HEINRICH HIMMLER (OCTOBER 7, 1900 TO MAY 23, 1945)

May 23, 2015, 1:00 am

≫ Next: THE LAST CAMP COMMANDANT OF MAUTHAUSEN-GUSEN CONCENTRATION CAMP: FRANZ ZIEREIS (AUGUST 13, 1905 TO MAY 24, 1945)

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70 years ago on this date, May 23, 1945, Heinrich Himmler, the head of the Schutzstaffel, commits suicide while in Allied custody. I will post his quotes from Wikiquote.

The best political weapon is the weapon of terror. Cruelty commands respect. Men may hate us. But, we don't ask for their love; only for their fear. [PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.azquotes.com/quote/596585]

Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was the commander of the German Schutzstaffel (SS) and one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany. As Reichsführer-SS he controlled the SS and the Gestapo. He was the founder and officer-in-charge of the Nazi concentration camps and the Einsatzgruppen death squads.

Quotes

• Ich bin Heinrich Himmler.
• I am Heinrich Himmler.
• Last words. Quoted in "Himmler, the Evil Genius of the Third Reich" - Page 257 - by Willi Frischauer - Germany - 1953

• The best political weapon is the weapon of terror. Cruelty commands respect. Men may hate us. But, we don't ask for their love; only for their fear.
• Quoted in "Visions of Reality - A Study of Abnormal Perception and Behavior" - by Alberto Rivas - Psychology - 2007 - Page 162

• I still lack to a considerable degree that naturally superior kind of manner that I would dearly like to possess.
• Diary entry (November 1921), quoted in The Hidden Files (1992) by Derek Raymond

• In the course of history periods of capitalism and socialism alternate with one another; capitalism is the unnatural, socialism the natural economic system...The National Socialists and the Red Front have the same aspirations. The Jews falsified the Revolution in the form of Marxism and that failed to bring fulfilment.
• Speech in Potsdam (13 October 1926), quoted in Peter Longerich, Heinrich Himmler (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), pp. 92-93.

• I know there are some people in Germany who become sick when they see these black uniforms, we understand the reason for this, and do not expect we shall be loved by all that number of people; those who come to fear us in any way or at any time must have a bad conscience towards the Fuhrer and the nation. For these persons we have established an organisation called the Security Service.
• From his treatise The Security Squadron as an Anti-Bolshevik Battle Organisation, 1936

• My honor is my loyalty.
• Formulated as the watchword of the S.S. Nazi elite, as translated in The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), by Hannah Arendt Ch. 10

• In the brief monthly reports of the Security Police, I only want figures on how many Jews have been shipped off and how many are currently left.
• To Ernst Kaltenbrunner. Quoted in "Hitler and the Final Solution" - Page 137 - by Gerald Fleming - History - 1987

• I also want to mention a very difficult subject before you here, completely openly. It should be discussed among us, and yet, nevertheless, we will never speak about it in public. Just as we did not hesitate on 30 June to carry out our duty, as ordered, and stand comrades who had failed against the wall and shoot them. About which we have never spoken, and will never speak. That was, thank God, a kind of tact natural to us, a foregone conclusion of that fact, that we have never conversed about it amongst ourselves, never spoken about it, everyone shuddered and everyone was clear that the next time he would do the same thing again, if it were commanded and necessary. I am talking about the "Jewish evacuation"; the extermination of the Jewish people. It is one of those things that is easily said. "The Jewish people are being exterminated," every party member will tell you, "perfectly clear, it's part of our plans, we're eliminating the Jews, exterminating them, Ha! A small matter." And then along they all come, all the 80 million upright Germans, and each one has his decent Jew. They say: all others are swine, but here is a first-class Jew.
• The Posen speech to SS officers (6 October 1943), original translation from "International Military Trials - Nurnberg Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression Volume IV", US Govt Printing Offc 1946 p. 563 in, "Document 1919-PS Speech of the Reichsfuehrer--SS at the meeting of SS Majors General At Posen, Oct. 4, 1943"

• One basic principle must be the absolute rule for the S.S. men. We must be honest, decent, loyal, and comradely to members of our own blood and nobody else. What happens to a Russian and a Czech does not interest me in the least. What the nations can offer in the way of good blood of our type we will take, if necessary by kidnapping their children and raising them here with us. Whether nations live in prosperity or starve to death interests me only in so far as we need them as slaves for our culture: otherwise it is of no interest to me. Whether ten thousand Russian females fall down from exhaustion while digging an anti-tank ditch interests me only in so far as the anti-tank ditch for Germany is finished. We shall never be tough and heartless where it is not necessary, that is clear. We, Germans, who are the only people in the world who have a decent attitude towards animals, will also assume a decent attitude towards these human animals. But it is a crime against our blood to worry about them and give them ideals, thus causing our sons and grandsons to have a more difficult time with them. When somebody comes up to me and says: 'I cannot dig the anti-tank ditch with women and children, it is inhuman, for it would kill them,' then I have to say: 'You are the murderer of your own blood, because if the anti-tank ditch is not dug German soldiers will die, and they are the sons of German mothers. They are our own blood....' Our concern, our duty, is our people and our blood. We can be indifferent to everything else. I wish the S.S. to adopt this attitude towards the problem of all foreign, non-Germanic peoples, especially Russians....
• The Posen speech to SS officers (6 October 1943)

• Most of you know what it means when a hundred corpses are lying side by side, or five hundred, or a thousand. To have stuck it out, and at the same time — apart from exceptions caused by human weakness — to have remained decent fellows, that is what has made us hard. This is a page of glory in our history, which has never been written and is never to be written.... We had the moral right, we had the duty to our people, to destroy this people which wanted to destroy us.
• The Posen speech to SS officers (6 October 1943) p. 564

• Anti-Semitism is exactly the same as delousing. Getting rid of lice is not a question of ideology, it is a matter of cleanliness. In just this same way anti-Semitism for us has not been a question of ideology but a matter of cleanliness.
• Quoted in "Conscience and Memory: Meditations in a Museum of the Holocaust" - Page 29 - by Harold Kaplan - History - 1994

• We won't waste much time on the Jews. It's great to get to grips with the Jewish race at last. The more that die the better; hitting them represents a victory for our Reich. The Jews should feel that we've arrived. We want to put half to three-quarters of all Jews east of the Vistula. We will crush these Jews wherever we can. Everything is at stake. Get the Jews out of the Reich, Vienna, everywhere. We have no use for Jews in the Reich. Probably the line of the Vistula, behind this line no more. We are the most important people here.
• November 25, 1939. Quoted in "Approaches to Auschwitz: The Holocaust and Its Legacy" - Page 160 - by Ismail K Merchant, Richard L. Rubenstein, John K. Roth - History - 2003

• Some information and observations of recent date have led me to draw up plans that I would like to bring to your attention. This concerns Jehovah’s Witnesses. . . . How are we going to govern and pacify Russia when . . . we will have conquered vast areas of its territory? . . . All forms of religion and the pacifist sects must be supported . . . , among all the others the beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses. It is well-known that the latter have characteristics incredibly positive for us: Apart from the fact that they refuse military service and anything to do with war . . . , they are incredibly reliable, do not drink, do not smoke; they are relentless workers and of rare honesty. For them the spoken word stands. These are ideal characteristics . . . , enviable qualities.
• In one of his letters to Gestapo chief Ernst Kaltenbrunner, cited in Awake! magazine, 1993, 4/22, article: What Hope for an End to War?

• I hope to see the very concept of Jewry completely obliterated.
• March 23 1941. Quoted in "Murderous Science" - Page 48 - by Benno Müller-Hill - History - 1998

• I must really say that he is a veteran Communist, this Herr Josip Broz, a consistent man. Unfortunately he is our enemy. He really has earned his title of Marshal. When we catch him we shall do him in at once; you can be sure of that; he is our enemy. But I wish we had a dozen Titos in Germany... The man had nothing at all. He was between the Russians, the British and Americans for a ride and to shit on them in the most comical way. He is a Moscow man … He has never capitulated.
• Jasper Ridley, Tito: A Biography (Constable and Company Ltd., 1994), p. 247.

Disputed

• Germans who wish to use firearms should join the SS or the SA — ordinary citizens don't need guns, as their having guns doesn't serve the State.
• This quotation has not been confirmed to come from Himmler, its attribution to him on the Internet coming from some point before 2000, as in the Site of the Sentient quotelist

Quotes about Himmler

• In the summer of 1941, I was called to Berlin to see Himmler. I was given the order to erect extermination camps. I can almost give you Himmler's actual words, which were to the effect: "The Fuhrer has ordered the final solution to the Jewish problem. Those of us in the SS must execute these plans. This is a hard job, but if the act is not carried out at once, instead of us exterminating the Jews, the Jews will exterminate the Germans at a later date."
• Rudolf Höss in The Nuremberg Interviews (2004) by Léon Goldensohn, p. 300

• There was also Himmler the crusader and visionary, the man who built a romantic castle in a German forest where the knights of the S.S., many of whom could hardly read or write, were required to repair at intervals to contemplate the glory of their order and establish spiritual contact with the heroes of mediaeval Germany.
• Edward Crankshaw in Gestapo: Instrument of Tyranny (1956)

• For him the Russian war offered a glorious opportunity for comparative anatomy: while immense armies were manoeuvring over the frozen plains and smashing each other to pieces, Himmler set himself the urgent task of building up a collection of skulls of Jewish-Bolshevik Commissars: such things were impossible to come by in Germany.
• Edward Crankshaw in Gestapo: Instrument of Tyranny (1956)

• He had a pale, round, expressionless face, almost Mongolian, and a completely inoffensive air. Nor in his early years did I ever hear him advocate the race theories of what he was to become the most notorious executive.
• Ernst Hanfstaengl in [Hitler: The Missing Years (1957)

THE LAST CAMP COMMANDANT OF MAUTHAUSEN-GUSEN CONCENTRATION CAMP: FRANZ ZIEREIS (AUGUST 13, 1905 TO MAY 24, 1945)

May 24, 2015, 4:09 am

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           On this date, May 24, 1945, Franz Ziereis, the last Camp Commandant of Mauthausen-Gusen Concentration Camp died after being shot while trying to escape. I will post information about him from Wikipedia and other links.

Franz Ziereis, the last Camp Commandant of Mauthausen Concentration Camp [PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.company7.com/bosendorfer/mauthausen/ziereis_testimony.html]

Franz Xaver Ziereis (13 August 1905 - 24 May 1945) was the commandant of the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp from 1939 until the camp was liberated by the Americans in 1945.

SS-Obersturmbannführer (OF-4) Franz Ziereis.

Early life

Ziereis was born on 13 August 1905 in Munich, Germany. Ziereis spent 8 years in elementary school and then began as an apprentice and messenger boy in a department store. In the evenings he studied commerce. In 1922 he went to work as a labourer in a carpentry shop.

Kommandant SS-Obersturmbannführer Franz Ziereis with SS-Hauptscharführer (Master Sergeant) and SS-Oberscharührer (Technical Sergeant) at Mauthausen (91,047 bytes). [PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.company7.com/bosendorfer/mauthausen/ziereis_testimony.html]

Military career

Ziereis joined Germany's Reichswehr (army) on 1 April 1924, for a period of 12 years. He was discharged with the rank of sergeant in 1936 and joined the SS on September 30 of the same year. He attained the rank of SS-Obersturmführerand was assigned as a training instructor to the SS-Totenkopfverbände. In 1937 he was given command of the 22nd Hundertschaft (hundred-man-unit) of SS-Totenkopf-Standarte 2 "Brandenburg". On 1 July 1938, he was transferred to the SS-Totenkopf-Standarte 3 "Thüringen" as a training instructor. 

One of the many photographs taken during a visit of Heinrich Himmler to Mauthausen concentration camp, apparently in April 1941. To Himmler's immediate right is Franz Ziereis, wearing an Iron cross ribbon, four pips on his left shoulder tab, and the Death's Head symbol on his right shoulder tab and on his cap. To the right of Ziereis is August Eigruber, who is identified in this series of photographs as the only person wearing a black uniform, although in this image he appears to be wearing an overcoat over his uniform. Eigruber displays no Iron Cross ribbon, and wears no Death's Head symbols. To the left of Himmler are Karl Wolff and Franz Kutschera.

Concentration camp commandant

Zeireis replaced Albert Saur as commandant of Mauthausen on 9 February 1939 by order of Theodor Eicke, Inspector of Concentration Camps. On 25 August 1939, Ziereis received a promotion to the rank of SS-Sturmbannführer and, on 20 April 1944 he received his final promotion to SS-Standartenführer.

Interrogated by US Army officers while in US custody on 23 May 1945 at the 131st Evac Hospital in Gusen, there dying of gunshot wounds (78,773 bytes). [PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.company7.com/bosendorfer/mauthausen/ziereis_testimony.html]

Post-war flight and death

Ziereis fled with his wife on 3 May 1945. He attempted to hide out in his hunting lodge on the Pyhrn mountain in Upper Austria. He was discovered and arrested on 23 May 1945, by an American army unit. He was shot while trying to escape and brought to a U.S. military hospital set up in GusenI where he eventually died. His corpse was later hung on the fence of Gusen I by former prisoners of Gusen.

OTHER LINKS:

http://www.scrapbookpages.com/Mauthausen/KZMauthausen/ZiereisDeath.html

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Ziereis.html

http://www.jewishgen.org/ForgottenCamps/Camps/MauthausenEng.html

http://digitalassets.ushmm.org/photoarchives/detail.aspx?id=1032443

http://www.company7.com/bosendorfer/mauthausen/ziereis_testimony.html