I don’t recall who said, “Soldiers aren’t police officers.” I picked it up a couple of weeks ago from one of the many news sources I read about the protests in Los Angeles and around the country.<\/p>\n
I do remember the Wehrmacht general. His name was Hermann von Hanneken; he was the head commander of German troops in Denmark during World War II.<\/p>\n
In the spring of 1940, Denmark, occupied by Germany since April, had managed to negotiate a qualified and subtle agreement with Hitler. Among several unusual stipulations — Denmark retained its sovereignty and its government; the Danish government and its king were intent on not becoming a collaborative Danish Vichy — Hitler agreed to leave the Danish people alone during the occupation.<\/p>\n
That meant the Nazis would not conscript Danes into the Germany military. It also meant they would not round up and deport Danish citizens (among whom were nearly eight thousand Danish Jews).<\/p>\n
In return, Denmark agreed to supply Germany with foodstuff from its rich agriculture, and would “discourage” acts of sabotage by Danish resistance groups. (How well did discouragement work? The powerful Danish movie, Flame and Citron<\/a>,<\/em> might answer that question.)<\/p>\n This agreement allowed Hitler to keep only a minimal army in Denmark, of great benefit to Hitler since he needed his soldiers for other ventures, like attacking the Soviet Union. The German troops in Denmark would guard the coasts against potential Allied attacks.<\/p>\n But in August 1943, the Nazis breached the Danish agreement by declaring martial law, in preparation for a round-up of Danish Jews on Rosh Hashanah.<\/p>\n General Von Hanneken was ordered to supply soldiers to assist the Gestapo. He refused angrily, stating it was not an appropriate role for his soldiers. Berlin furiously ordered him to comply, which he did, although with great reluctance. (In my reading of this history, I’ve found little indication that German soldiers helped the Gestapo. In fact, I’ve read of incidents of German soldiers deliberately not “noticing” dark-haired Danish citizens making their way to the coast.)<\/p>\n “Soldiers aren’t police officers.” Right. Nor are municipal police officers ICE “soldiers.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I don’t recall who said, “Soldiers aren’t police officers.” I picked it up a couple of weeks ago from one of the many news sources I read about the protests in Los Angeles and around the country. I do remember … Continue reading