Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
This diary is written for the collection of the World War II and Holocaust Library at the Daily Kos.
(This diary is written by an American expat living in the European Union)
As a young US Army soldier serving at Ft Lewis, Washington, while it was the home of the 9th Division, I was aware that during World War II the famous 9th Division spearheaded the liberation of Germany by first freeing the city of Aachen. I wasn't however aware of the extensive allied bombing during World War II that Aachen had been exposed to. So it is on March 31th 2010 while in the city of Aachen I suddenly found myself in the middle of a massive evacuation of the city center, because a construction crew had unearthed an unexploded World War II bomb. So it was that I suddenly found myself by de facto briefly transported back to a World War II life threatening event, which this diary chronicles in some detail, as I found myself evacuated by a train on track one of the Aachen train station.
To my surprise one year later, I found myself back on track one of the Aachen railway station. Suddenly inexplicably at first transported back in time by a World War II exhibit, wherein a German steam locomotive pulled a train onto track one, which unknown to me was closed to regular railway traffic. Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
The steam locomotive was part of a train of remembrance, for during German World War II the Reichsbahn used steam locomotives like the one I was standing in front of, built in 1923 transported concentration camp prisoners often of Jewish and Slavic ancestry to the Nazi death camps. As such I appended near this of diary (in the body portion of this diary)a short one minute video of the aforementioned steam locomotive train, as it is pulled out of Aachen station April 2011 as a piece of living World War II era living history, and a reminder of the tragedy of the Holocaust.
On a separate note lets please remember that the German city of Aachen is located right on the Netherlands border. As such many brave Americans who perished during the liberation of Aachen are buried in Belgium and in the Netherlands American military cemeteries. To these soldiers we own a debt of gratitude to be paid with grateful remembrance! As such I invite you to watch the Armed Forces and Television network report in the video below.
