Germany before the war

Heroes Remember

Germany before the war

Transcript

Well the first time I really remember anything I was at, we were staying in the Hotel Metropole I think it was, in Wiesbaden, I think it was, I'm not positive. And I look out the window and my dad was staying there, and he said, "What are you looking at?" And I said, "I'm just looking at those people down there, they look exactly like us." I mean, you couldn't tell by looking at them that they weren't Anglo Saxon. And he said, "Well, you'll learn in time, they're a lot different." And, of course, we were, we soon found that out. Well that was in Cologne, and that was when I was about fourteen I guess. And I was with my aunt and my mother, and my father was going to join us later and I walked into the town square, and as I did the black shirts went by, they may have been brown shirts, I'm not sure. And everybody gave the Hiel Hitler sign and salute, and I didn't. And this captain came up, and he blasted me and he was going to put me in jail. My aunt came around the corner, and she was a lot like my mother, fiery. And, the one thing the Germans understand is when you get face to face and scream at them, they'll listen. And she got face to face and she gave him, she used every dirty word in the English language. She knew some German and she eventually called him (inaudible) and that caught his undivided attention. And she said, and here's my passport, and he has not a a passport because he is a minor, and he's a Canadian. And the guy didn't apologize, but he saluted and walked away. But it was, it was rough times, you couldn't, you know riding in a train or something like that, they didn't stand aside from, they pushed you. If the, a lot of troops on the train, you didn't get a seat. Especially if they knew you weren't German. I was rather naive, so it struck, I remember it naturally, but I didn't find it fascinating, I just found it was, well, this is the way it is over here and thank God I don't live here.

Description

Mr. Weir talks about encounters in Germany prior to the war.

John Weir

Mr. Weir was born in Toronto on July 22, 1919. His father was DSO MC in the First World War, a colonel. He was machine gunner in the 19th Battalion, and was gassed at Vimy and suffered from then on with asthma. After seeing the horrific pictures of the trench warfare from his father's service, Mr. Weir decided to join the Air Force rather than serve in the trenches. He joined the service the day after war was declared and began his training in Winnipeg. He started off as a pilot officer-provisional but wanted to be a fighter pilot. During his service, Mr. Weir was shot down in Barth and captured. He was a prisoner in a Gestapo jail, and was involved in "The Great Escape from Stalag Luft III". He was moved to various prison camps and witnessed atrocities of the Holocaust. He eventually escaped on a forced-march from Bremerhaven to Lübbecke by bribing a German guard.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 02:30
Person Interviewed:: John Weir
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Europe
Battle/Campaign:: Battle of Britain
Branch:: Air Force
Units/Ship:: 401 Squadron
Occupation:: Pilot

Language selection

Germany before the war

Heroes Remember