Prit Buttar > Quotes

“In the Vilnius ghetto, the news of German setbacks in the Soviet Union in the opening weeks of 1943 resulted in an upsurge of grim humour, as Herman Kruk recorded in his diary: A German asks a Jew to lend him 20 roubles. The Jew immediately takes the sum out of his pocket and gives it to him. The German wonders: ‘How can this be? You don’t know me at all, and you trust me with such a sum?’ I have the fullest trust in the Germans,’ answers the Jew. ‘You took Stalingrad and gave it back; you took Kharkov and gave it back. I’m sure that you will give me back my 20 roubles.’ What is the difference between General Rommel and a watch? A watch goes tick-tock and goes forward; Rommel goes tock-tick and goes backward … What city is the largest in the world? Stalingrad, because it took the Germans months to get from the outskirts to the centre.6”
― Prit Buttar, Centuries Will Not Suffice: A History of the Lithuanian Holocaust

“Whilst the men and women involved in the July Plot of 1944 are generally regarded as heroes, it should be remembered that few, if any, intended to replace the Nazi regime with anything approaching a modern representative democracy. Stauffenberg and others were in favour of retaining much of the territory that Germany had seized from Poland in 1939 and wished to negotiate an end to the conflict only with the Western Allies – they fully intended to continue the war in the east against the Soviet Union. They planned to insist that Germany would not be occupied by any foreign power at the end of the war, and that prosecution of any war criminals would be a matter purely for German courts.”
― Prit Buttar, Into the Reich: The Red Army’s Advance to the Oder in 1945

“Whilst”
― Prit Buttar, On a Knife's Edge: The Ukraine, November 1942–March 1943

“Zwartendijk issued over 2,000 passports, and between 4,500 and 6,000 Jews were able to travel to Japan using Sugihara’s visas – some accounts give numbers as high as 10,000. At a time when most of the other diplomats in the region did little to help the Jews, these two men took it upon themselves to do all they could to help the refugees escape. But despite the humanitarian efforts of these two men – in the case of Sugihara, acting in direct contravention of the orders he had received from Tokyo – the great majority of Jews were unable to leave, including many who had obtained documentation from either or both men. The Jewish community now comprised the original substantial population of Lithuanian Jews swollen by refugees who arrived from Germany before 1939 and Poland thereafter. They had little choice but to trust that the Red Army would be able to defend the region if war with Germany were to come.”
― Prit Buttar, Centuries Will Not Suffice: A History of the Lithuanian Holocaust

“The k.u.k. Army had lost its professional core, and was perhaps more severely damaged than any of the armies of the other Great Powers; after only a few months of war, many Germans were already looking at their ally as more of a burden than a support. Within a few months, it became increasingly commonplace for German officers to refer to their relationship with Austria-Hungary as being ‘shackled to a corpse’.”
― Prit Buttar, Collision of Empires: The War on the Eastern Front in 1914

“East Prussia had been a German region, in character at least, since the arrival of the Teutonic Knights in the area in 1226.”
― Prit Buttar, Battleground Prussia: The Assault on Germany's Eastern Front 1944-45

“Why did Grand Duke Nikolai, who was a fervent Germanophobe and had advocated the strongest possible attack on Germany as soon as it could be organised, now opt for marking time in the north while his armies attempted to knock out Germany’s ally? It seems that the lack of progress by Ruzsky’s armies played a major part in his thinking. Like all high commands in Europe, the Russians were struggling to come to terms with this war, in which battles stubbornly refused to proceed as pre-war doctrine and planning dictated.”
― Prit Buttar, Germany Ascendant: The Eastern Front 1915

“Petrovich Uborevich, another of those who”
― Prit Buttar, On a Knife's Edge: The Ukraine, November 1942–March 1943

“It is estimated that the Jewish population in the country was about 210,000 immediately before the German occupation, though this figure may be a significant underestimate, not taking into account many unregistered Jewish refugees from Poland and elsewhere. About 8,500 Jews were able to flee east into Soviet Russia before the arrival of the Germans, and between 3,500 and 5,000 either escaped from the ghettos and concentration camps or survived to the end of the war. The rest – at least 196,500, and according to some estimates as many as 254,000 – were killed. The great majority were slaughtered by the Einsatzgruppen and their local paramilitary helpers in the first months that followed the German invasion.”
― Prit Buttar, Centuries Will Not Suffice: A History of the Lithuanian Holocaust

“Accounts vary as to the number of victims, but about 70 murdered civilians were reported to have been found in Nemmersdorf. There were about 95 more dead in the village of Schulzenwalde, some 8km to the southeast. By the scale of German atrocities in the Soviet Union and elsewhere, this was a modest total, but the sight of German women crucified along the road into Nemmersdorf shocked Jaedtke’s battle-hardened men and the other groups that retook the village. Whatever”
― Prit Buttar, Battleground Prussia: The Assault on Germany's Eastern Front 1944-45

“One of the men in Plagge’s HKP 562 who was remembered by many of the Jews for his kindness was a Feldwebel (sergeant) from the city of Chemnitz in Saxony, named Berger – unfortunately, his first name is not known and it has proved impossible to discover his fate. He was standing with a group of Plagge’s Jewish workers when another group of Jews was marched past, on their way to Ponary. Berger exclaimed while watching the Jews being driven to their deaths: ‘What these scum perpetrate here in the name of the German people – centuries will not suffice for us to cleanse ourselves!’49”
― Prit Buttar, Centuries Will Not Suffice: A History of the Lithuanian Holocaust

“The roads of this country defy all description. One has the impression that the authorities have not been accustomed to do anything at all to help traffic. Even the few so-called hard roads between the larger areas are neglected. In this respect, it is readily apparent that our conduct of the war is seriously affected.”
― Prit Buttar, Collision of Empires: The War on the Eastern Front in 1914

“In addition to the Selbstschutz, several Einsatzkommandos (‘task forces’) were deployed in Poland. Their main task was to round up the Polish intelligentsia; it was the intention of Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, to decapitate Polish society, leaving a pliable mass of relatively unskilled workers for German exploitation. Lists of victims had been prepared in advance, and the Einsatzkommandos acted swiftly to execute their orders, in a very real sense. Their”
― Prit Buttar, Battleground Prussia: The Assault on Germany's Eastern Front 1944-45