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Tragic Discoveries from the Canadian Indigenous Schools and other Events

Khalid Elhassan July 27, 2021 37 min

Painting by Kent Monkman of the tragic seizure of Indigenous children by the RCMP to place in mandatory boarding schools. Pintrest

Edelweiss Pirates about to meet a tragic end at the end of a hangman's noose in Cologne — Edelweiss Pirates about to meet a tragic end at the end of a hangman’s noose in Cologne. Jewish Currents

19. Things Got Tragic For the Edelweiss Pirates Once They Attracted Himmler’s Attention

Although the Nazis began to target the Edelweiss Pirates, local authorities were nonetheless relatively lenient with them compared to how they dealt with adult subversives. For example, penalties for the “delinquents”, who often kept their hair long and their appearance bohemian to set themselves apart from the militarized regimentation all around them, were often limited to a stern warning, after which their heads were shaved. That was not enough for Heinrich Himmler, chief of the SS. He wanted an example made of youths who failed to show complete loyalty, and deemed any half measures to be unacceptable.

Once they got on Himmler’s radar, things were bound to get tragic for the anti-Nazi youths. In 1942, Himmler wrote to his deputy Reinhard Heydrich that he wanted the Edelweiss Pirates to do two or three-year stints in concentration camps: “There the youth should first be given thrashings and then put through the severest drill and set to work. It must be made clear that they will never be allowed to go back to their studies. We must investigate how much encouragement they have had from their parents. If they have encouraged them, then they should also be put into a concentration camp and (have) their property confiscated”.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.