[WWI] Pilots of No Interest Interest Whatsoever - Galland

[Helen and Chris]

Oh wow, hasn't this got complicated.  And perverse.

To a certain extent, Shane is right and we are verging on an argument about Nazism.  But, if it is true that the terms ending WW1 led to the start of WW2, then that makes the second bash oT.

Whilst it has got me into hot water before, I will encourage any and everyone to present the horrors of whichever war in the hope it may help to prevent the next one.  And on that basis, Shane, I think this site may benefit from the current exchange of opinions.

Bob Pearson has brutally brought home to me how little I know about my fathers war.  But one of the few things I do know is that my father spoke of Galland with respect (my father was a Spitfire pilot).

The respect was probably for an accomplished pilot and an aerial knight. But, by the time he was talking to me about him, his political history was known.  That, and the then current propoganda, did not deter his opinion.

And this brings me to the perversity.  All the "allied" contributors are saying that Galland was one of the good guys.  Michael, our one "axis" voice, is saying the opposite.

Michael, may I suggest you are mistaken?  These are my reasons.

Firstly, when he surrendered, Galland was held by the Americans until 1947.  No charges were brought against him. But he was still held as a prisoner of war until two years after the war ended!

When he was finally released, he went to Argentina - a popular destination at the time for ex-Nazis.  So did Oskar Schindler. I don't think anyone would accuse Schindler of being a Nazi.

The Americans, bless them, only ever saw things in terms of black and white.  Grey did not exist to them.  Therefore, the Yanks assumed that because Galland fought for the German regime, he supported Nazism! 

Was this why he was denied (if he ever sought it) the position of Inspektor der Luftwaffe?

 How delightfully naive. No thoughts of expediency.  And then, as now, no inclination toward sophisticated thought.

As he was not re-arrested on his return to Germany in 1954, but went on to hold various positions as an advisor to the aircraft industry, perhaps he was, after all, just an ordinary man doing his duty and fighting for his country.

Whatever it stood for.

Michael, check the sources, and the motivation behind those sources, before you believe what you read.

Chris.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.wwi-models.org/pipermail/wwi/attachments/20090317/41cc05b7/attachment.html