Master’s Thesis on WWII souvenir hunting

gunnertwo · 05-17-2019, 11:37 PM

In doing a quick scan through the document I will share this:

"As Sergeant Donald Burgett of the 101st Airborne reported, “At the end of the first day, we had a stack of pistols of all description well above six feet high, and about twelve feet in diameter. Troopers constantly picked through this pile for choice Lugers, Walthers, Berettas, P-38s, old ‘Broomstick’ models, and so on. By the end of the war, GIs found numerous opportunities to acquire a prized pistol. Whether through taking the weapon from a dead or surrendering soldier, bartering, or selecting just the right one from a disarmament pile, any type of pistol the soldier had wanted was in vast abundance".

Yep, The American serviceman was a great souvenir hunter. I do object to the term "looter". "To the victor belongs the spoils". This has been true of the winning army since war began. The Germans were viewed as an Evil, with the capital "E". Viewed from the vantage point of past history all beliefs have mellowed. "War is Hell" and all sides have done acts that would not be condoned in peaceful times. That is the nature of conflict. My relatives fought on both sides in both World Wars. There are conditions during wartime that require the moral norms to be changed. That's just the business of war.

With apologies to our friends here that had relatives that fought on the "other side", the souvenirs brought home by Allied victors are trophies of the victorious over the vanquished. When I speak to many of the young that question why I collect German artifacts I remind them on what it symbolizes.

G2

05-17-2019, 11:37 PM	#6
gunnertwo User Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Nampa, Idaho Posts: 643 Thanks: 854 Thanked 958 Times in 374 Posts	In doing a quick scan through the document I will share this: "As Sergeant Donald Burgett of the 101st Airborne reported, “At the end of the first day, we had a stack of pistols of all description well above six feet high, and about twelve feet in diameter. Troopers constantly picked through this pile for choice Lugers, Walthers, Berettas, P-38s, old ‘Broomstick’ models, and so on. By the end of the war, GIs found numerous opportunities to acquire a prized pistol. Whether through taking the weapon from a dead or surrendering soldier, bartering, or selecting just the right one from a disarmament pile, any type of pistol the soldier had wanted was in vast abundance". Yep, The American serviceman was a great souvenir hunter. I do object to the term "looter". "To the victor belongs the spoils". This has been true of the winning army since war began. The Germans were viewed as an Evil, with the capital "E". Viewed from the vantage point of past history all beliefs have mellowed. "War is Hell" and all sides have done acts that would not be condoned in peaceful times. That is the nature of conflict. My relatives fought on both sides in both World Wars. There are conditions during wartime that require the moral norms to be changed. That's just the business of war. With apologies to our friends here that had relatives that fought on the "other side", the souvenirs brought home by Allied victors are trophies of the victorious over the vanquished. When I speak to many of the young that question why I collect German artifacts I remind them on what it symbolizes. G2