Thursday, April 21, 2016

Zhukov in Berlin Mitte

Fr Marianus Henneken lives at the Dominican Priory in Berlin's Oldenburger Straße. For many years he was a parish priest in a nearby parish and in recent years has turned the gardens at the priory into a beautiful space.

He vividly remembers how as a 16-year-old he was a boy-soldier 'defending' Berlin. He recalls how his father was opposed to Hitler but that he as a young boy was impressed with the things that were available to young boys.

On April 20/21, 1945 Red Army's Marshal Georgy Zhukov ordered the shelling of the inner city in Berlin to begin.

At the battle of Stalingrad, Zhukov defeated the German Sixth Army, and told his German counterpart Friedrich Paulus he would see him in Berlin. Paulus was taken prisoner and later, it is believed, worked for the NVA - the army of the new East German State.

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