I’m thinking about history this morning. But in a much different way. Each day, bright and early, I get a newsletter delivered to my inbox, filled with historical events. They often begin in the early 1200s, sometimes further back, and extend to this very date. It is quite a catalog. Along with it is a list of birthdays, of notables from around the world. Past and present.
I can tell by the way the information is written, and the things included that some of the editors must be British. When I searched out the owners, I found the originators live in New Zealand. Their mailing address is Singapore. So, it is a blend of individuals from around the world.
One thing I have noticed. They make sure to include the birthdays and the events that have to do with the rising of Hitler and Nazi Germany. It is as if they don’t want to let people forget about that time in history and its impact on the world.
Today, November 15, for instance, is the birthday of Erwin Rommel. He was a
German WWII Field Marshal. He was born in 1891 in Heidenheim, Württemberg, Germany. He was proud of his country growing up.
His birthplace is 28 miles from Ulm, in the Kingdom of Württemberg, Southern Germany. Back then, way before Hitler came along, Ulm was the center of the Great German Empire. Erwin was nine years old by the time little Adolph Hitler was born.
Anyway, Erwin’s grandfather, Karl von Luz, headed the local government council. Also, Erwin’s father had been an artillery lieutenant in the German Army. So the young version of Erwin Rommel had a lot of military and government influence as he grew up, in a place much different than Hitler’s Nazi Kingdom.
He spent his entire adult life serving in the military, which included fighting in World War I, and much more. Rommel was a highly respected German officer. By everyone. He was one of those “count on them for anything” people. Both his allies and his adversaries knew of his honorable reputation and held him in high regard.
He was nicknamed the Desert Fox because of his command of the Afrika Korps during the North African Campaign. Because of his actions there, he had the reputation as one of the ablest tank commanders of the war. He had a reputation among his adversaries for chivalry and honor.
However, the most notable event came near the end of his life. The year was 1944, and he led Germany’s forces opposing the Allied invasion of Normandy. That same year, on July 20, a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler unfolded and failed. Rommel was implicated in the plot to kill Hitler.
Rommel had been a celebrated national hero. So Hitler did not wish to make his downfall public. Hitler gave Erwin Rommel a choice. Either he could take his own life, or there would be severe repercussions against Rommel’s family.
So Rommel decided to swallow cyanide on October 14, 1944. He was 52 years old.
In public, Rommel’s death was announced to be the result of a strafing attack by an Allied aircraft in Normandy.
There is some debate among historians as to his involvement in the plot to kill Hitler, but to me, it seems plain as day. Rommel knew, and respected, a much different Germany than the one Hitler was dictating.
And so it goes.
As to the beginning of this, and the people who provide these histories moving forward. We are dependent on our sources. We must find our information somewhere. Therefore, we should always choose wisely. And, if we care about the truth, we should do our best to seek it out. I fear many people today have lost sight of this.
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“The world, we are told, was made especially for man — a presumption not supported by all the facts.”
― John Muir, A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf
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“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
― John Adams, The Portable John Adams
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“For every fact there is an infinity of hypotheses.”
― Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values
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“Science, my boy, is made up of mistakes, but they are mistakes which it is useful to make, because they lead little by little to the truth.”
― Jules Verne, Journey to the Center of the Earth
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Finding the truth in our information. If we care about the truth.
