Digital and Photographic Images Archive
BEARING WITNESS: "Children were crying in school, and when the teacher asked them why they were crying they answered 'They fetched Daddy last night'. That meant that the stormtroopers had been and arrested their father. These political arrests had nothing to do with the judiciary. They were just party thugs, and that meant the father could either come back after three or four weeks or perhaps never; he went to a concentration camp. So these arrests were always carried out about three o'clock in the morning with a lot of boot tramping on the stairs in the apartment houses just for maximum psychological affect, and of course, the kids didn't look too well in school the day after. So that was my earliest childhood memory." Rolf Kruger, born a German citizen in 1924. Family escaped Nazi Germany. Rolf Kruger fled to England where he joined the British Army and fought in World War II against Germany. He is now a resident of the United States.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE: "The night before a jump, they had sandbox images built on tables to show us where the drop zone would be which is where we were going to jump into. And they also had maps showing the area. So, having been a master sergeant in charge of a group of men, I had to study this so that I knew where to take these men once we landed. And while we were doing that, a lot of the paratroopers started getting haircuts, what I term Mohawk haircuts. They cut all the hair off their sides, and they let it stick up about an inch across the top. And they painted their faces with charcoal and their hands and everything. That's how they prepared for the jump the next morning... You see, when you knew you were going to jump into combat and you knew what to expect, you became very nervous and quite scared not knowing if this is going to be 'it' for you. And so in order to not dwell on it, you found something to occupy yourself. A lot of the guys just prayed, and a lot of guys just horsed around and
tried to make a good time, which was meaningless... That's the way it was the night before a jump." Thomas Hashway, World War II Veteran, Paratrooper in 17th Airborne Division.
