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Möltenort © Arthur Baudzus 2004
Here he reflects on the past, and shares his thoughts from his journey to the memorial at Möltenort.
Arthur is the author of a book based on his experiences at sea, his book is called U-859. |
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For half a century now I have been an Australian.
My son had been an Australian Soldier, killing enemies in Vietnam. When I was his age, I had been a German U-boat man, killing enemies on the high seas until a torpedo of THEM slammed into our hull, sinking our boat and killing most of my comrades. At war it always seems to be a matter of THEM or US, US being the good guys and THEM being evil who must be shot. As time went by, life blurred my vision as to whether I was an US or a THEM and I wondered who had the power to determine that and force people to kill each other.
To clear my mind I made a pilgrimage to Möltenort, a small village north of Kiel in Germany. As time rolled back before my eyes, I walked along the U-boat memorial. Other people were there too, walking like I along the wall. Nobody smiled. All faces expressed grief, which six decades of peaceful living still have not managed to erase, for here on this wall are recorded the names of thirty thousand U-boat men who went out to sea never to return.
They were all men in the prime of their lives, the best a nation had to offer, their dreams and expectations cut short by the cruel events of a war. Three out of every four U-boat men were to lose their young lives while I am one of the one in four to survive and see the end of it. Now those men are gone and the grieving relatives can do nothing more than lay flowers at the bottom of the plaque that bears their loved one's name.