…Swedes have long enjoyed the illusion of innocence, of freedom from Nazi-related guilt, but now, amid a welter of revelations, the country is slowly coming to terms with an historical truth that is more complicated than the idealistic neutrality thought to have been maintained throughout the Second World War.
Some Swedes were in fact engaged in close collaboration with Nazi Germany and their government deliberately chose to draw a thick veil over their activities when the war ended.
What has particularly shocked and disgusted many people in the run-up to the Stockholm conference on the Holocaust is a television documentary exposing how several hundred Swedish soldiers volunteered to fight on the German side during the war. Some worked as guards at Treblinka, the concentration camp where 900,000 Jews were murdered.
The Swedish authorities, it has now emerged, never attempted to investigate the deeds of these soldiers when the true horror of Nazi Germany came to light.
...
It happens that I am of Swedish descent as was my father, of course. My old man was just one generation removed from Sweden. All of my grandparents were born in that country, emigrating to North America in the late 1890s and early 1900s.
Dad, two of his brothers and one of his sisters enlisted in the Canadian Army in WW II. Dad and one of his brothers were in the midst of some of the Canadian Army's most bitter combat during the war. Neither one of them had any qualms about despatching krauts to well-deserved early deaths.
There were Nazi sympathizers all over Canada and USA during the war also, not just in Sweden. You guys had Charles Lindbergh fawning all over Hitler and his Nazi regime. Canada had the mayor of Montreal at the time, Camilien Houde, lauding the Nazis to the heavens during the war.
In my mind, the krauts and the japs can never be forgiven for the atrocious crimes their country, their leaders, and their soldiers committed from 1933 to 1945.
A number of the Portuguese were from Cape Verde or other islands as well as Brazil. The French are either Cajuns or Creoles in Louisiana or Quebeckers whose ancestor moved to Northern New England. Maine now has more French speakers than Louisiana. But, in this polyglot world of ours, there are more Lusophones than there are Francophones. The Portuguese were late to give up their empire, and the language emerges in strange places like Goa, India, or Macao, China.
If the Irish didn't speak English they would probably hold the majority. As it is, I would bet the vast majority of those speaking German were in the US before 1900.
Out of those almost 5.6 million Asian Americans in California there are 1,474,707 Filipinos, 1,349,111 Chinese, 647,589 Vietnamese, 590,445 Indians, 505,225 Koreans, 428,14 Japanese, 109,928 Taiwanese, 102,317 Cambodians, 91,224 Hmong, 69,303 Laotians, 67,707 Thais, 53,474 Pakistanis, 39,506 Borneons, Sumatrans, Kenyans and Indonesians, 17,978 Burmese, 11,929 Sri Lankans, 10,494 Bangladeshis, 6,231 Nepalese, 5,595 Malaysians, 4,993 Mongolians, 1,513 Singaporeans, 1,377 Okinawans, and 750
lopaw- I recall seeing Tagalog as a language option (amoung 5-6 others) on a
L.A. area ATM machine. A good informal poll would be to see how many language options are on area ATM machines.
@farmerart: "Charles Lindbergh fawning all over Hitler and his Nazi regime".
Really, art, where do you get this crap from ? Yes, Lindbergh spent some time in Germany before WW2, much of it touring Luftwaffe facilities with German brass ( and evaluating German aircraft capabilities, gathering intelligence data to bring back to USA). Yes, Lindbergh was against US involvement in early stages of WW2, and spoke/wrote against it. But, once the hostilities started, he served well as a consultant, teaching Air Corps and Marine pilots in the Pacific Theater long range flying techniques that enabled the forces to extend the combat radius. He also flew combat missions (as a civilian), and even shot down at least one enemy aircraft. That doesn't sound like a Nazi apologist to me.
I've never been to California, so I never realized the Filipino population was so large. My general perception from the news is that Koreans or Vietnamese were more dominant.
First of all, I thought it was Henry Ford who was the Nazi apologist.
Second of all, I had a college roommate whose mother was born in Nazi Germany and he always said many of the people who were in the German army (like his grandpa) were so embarrassed not only by losing the war but by what the Nazis did that they felt their only real choice was to come to America. He said his grandpa really wanted to go to Canada, but Canada wouldn't take him in. I suspect a lot of the German speakers are like that.
Third of all, I'd like to know how the Vietnamese made it here to Nebraska. I don't honestly remember ever seeing any other than at the one Vietnamese restaurant I ate at once. Maybe they're in Lincoln.
Michigan would be German as well if not for Dearborn and Henry Ford recruiting in Syria for Foundry workers in the twenties. Most Germans came in the 1840's and more Germans served in the Civil War then any other group. Next largest was the Irish. Portuguese in New England go back to the 1600's as they were the fish supplier to Western Europe for four hundred years and fished on the Grand Banks. Both Henry Ford and Lindbergh were Nazi sympathizers. Lindbergh attempted to repent but Henry never did. He was just silenced by his P.R. people after the war.
Although, I do have a problem with those that automatically try to start a conversation in anything other than English! Let's face the facts, English is the native language of this country, and if you are in a foreign country guess what the mostly official international language happens to be?
Clubber - English is required by all international air traffic controllers and pilots and most air lines require it for their employees that work in customer contact jobs.
My point is that many organizations have their own "official" language. Of course the only ones we are speaking about are the international ones. English is IT!
29 comments
seems he didn’t kill enough swedes either. the only good socialist is a …well you know the rest.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/…
…Swedes have long enjoyed the illusion of innocence, of freedom from Nazi-related guilt, but now, amid a welter of revelations, the country is slowly coming to terms with an historical truth that is more complicated than the idealistic neutrality thought to have been maintained throughout the Second World War.
Some Swedes were in fact engaged in close collaboration with Nazi Germany and their government deliberately chose to draw a thick veil over their activities when the war ended.
What has particularly shocked and disgusted many people in the run-up to the Stockholm conference on the Holocaust is a television documentary exposing how several hundred Swedish soldiers volunteered to fight on the German side during the war. Some worked as guards at Treblinka, the concentration camp where 900,000 Jews were murdered.
The Swedish authorities, it has now emerged, never attempted to investigate the deeds of these soldiers when the true horror of Nazi Germany came to light.
...
Are these new Brazilian immigrants, or old school folks that have held onto their roots?
Makes sense – Haiti is in the Caribbean and close to So. FL – subsequently So. FL has a very large Haitian population.
It happens that I am of Swedish descent as was my father, of course. My old man was just one generation removed from Sweden. All of my grandparents were born in that country, emigrating to North America in the late 1890s and early 1900s.
Dad, two of his brothers and one of his sisters enlisted in the Canadian Army in WW II. Dad and one of his brothers were in the midst of some of the Canadian Army's most bitter combat during the war. Neither one of them had any qualms about despatching krauts to well-deserved early deaths.
There were Nazi sympathizers all over Canada and USA during the war also, not just in Sweden. You guys had Charles Lindbergh fawning all over Hitler and his Nazi regime. Canada had the mayor of Montreal at the time, Camilien Houde, lauding the Nazis to the heavens during the war.
In my mind, the krauts and the japs can never be forgiven for the atrocious crimes their country, their leaders, and their soldiers committed from 1933 to 1945.
Famed TV chef Emeril Lagasse might be closely associate with New Orleans, but was from Fall River, Mass.
His dad was French Canadian and his mom Portuguese.
Didn't know the French took over the south if you exclude all the Spanish speakers.
Out of those almost 5.6 million Asian Americans in California there are 1,474,707 Filipinos, 1,349,111 Chinese, 647,589 Vietnamese, 590,445 Indians, 505,225 Koreans, 428,14 Japanese, 109,928 Taiwanese, 102,317 Cambodians, 91,224 Hmong, 69,303 Laotians, 67,707 Thais, 53,474 Pakistanis, 39,506 Borneons, Sumatrans, Kenyans and Indonesians, 17,978 Burmese, 11,929 Sri Lankans, 10,494 Bangladeshis, 6,231 Nepalese, 5,595 Malaysians, 4,993 Mongolians, 1,513 Singaporeans, 1,377 Okinawans, and 750
L.A. area ATM machine. A good informal poll would be to see how many language options are on area ATM machines.
@farmerart: "Charles Lindbergh fawning all over Hitler and his Nazi regime".
Really, art, where do you get this crap from ? Yes, Lindbergh spent some time in Germany before WW2, much of it touring Luftwaffe facilities with German brass ( and evaluating German aircraft capabilities, gathering intelligence data to bring back to USA). Yes, Lindbergh was against US involvement in early stages of WW2, and spoke/wrote against it. But, once the hostilities started, he served well as a consultant, teaching Air Corps and Marine pilots in the Pacific Theater long range flying techniques that enabled the forces to extend the combat radius. He also flew combat missions (as a civilian), and even shot down at least one enemy aircraft. That doesn't sound like a Nazi apologist to me.
I've never been to California, so I never realized the Filipino population was so large. My general perception from the news is that Koreans or Vietnamese were more dominant.
Second of all, I had a college roommate whose mother was born in Nazi Germany and he always said many of the people who were in the German army (like his grandpa) were so embarrassed not only by losing the war but by what the Nazis did that they felt their only real choice was to come to America. He said his grandpa really wanted to go to Canada, but Canada wouldn't take him in. I suspect a lot of the German speakers are like that.
Third of all, I'd like to know how the Vietnamese made it here to Nebraska. I don't honestly remember ever seeing any other than at the one Vietnamese restaurant I ate at once. Maybe they're in Lincoln.
ki sousye, de tout fason?
Agreed. :)
Although, I do have a problem with those that automatically try to start a conversation in anything other than English! Let's face the facts, English is the native language of this country, and if you are in a foreign country guess what the mostly official international language happens to be?
My point is that many organizations have their own "official" language. Of course the only ones we are speaking about are the international ones. English is IT!