European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 8, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sites a amp photos by l. Emmett Lewis or. Nazi Era forced labourers return to Germany by Mary Neth staff writer Joakim Stamboulidis spoke with passion. Quot let the Barbaric evil that happened Here under the nazis never happen again Quot said the dignified elderly greek. A half Century ago As slaves of Adolf Hitler there had been no time for tears. The Only thought then was of survival. But eyes flooded now As Stamboulidis and seven other men All in their 70s and residents of five countries recalled their ordeals in nazi Germany. Their Daylong bus journey through the rolling Hills of the Odenwald and along the winding Bergstrasser in Central Germany brought Back painful memories. A it was Here in this tranquil setting of Lovely forests and clean Meadows that they lost months and years of their youth. While in their 20s and 30s, All became part of the forced labor of ttys Darmstadt Wieburg Region of Hessen. For two years the adult education division of the protestant Church of Hessen and Nassau has been studying this wartime phenomenon. The bus trip in june was part of the project re acquainting those who suffered with one another and with their pasts. It was raining when the bus stopped at the Small Marble Quarry in Auerbach where Stamboulidis delivered his Heartfelt speech. With his Friend Dimitrio Rembas. Head bowed standing silently at his Side Stamboulidis described the treatment they had endured similar to that meted out in the worst of nazi concentration Camps. Rembas and Stamboulidis were part of 1,100 or More people rounded up during a raid on Kokkinis a District of Athens and transported to Germany by Stock car in 1944 to work As slave labourers. It was their misfortune to fall into the hands of Hans Heymann who Tyaan arms production business and Marble Quarry in the area. The Quarry remains. Heymann died Long ago and the firm has changed hands several times since. Heymann a hateful opportunist owed his Success to his loyalty to the party line and his fawning relationship with local nazi functionaries. _ a he followed the Hitler ideology of death through work for Quot undesirables Quot which included Peoples who did not conform to the aryan myth of the nazis. From the fall of 1944 to the Spring of 1945, Strambu Eulidis and Rembas were among 130 greek slaves of the firm. During the period they suffered starvation beatings and work that was further torture. That Winter one out of every nine men died. Quot when a Man died he was not buried but instead Laid next to the toilet Quot recalled Stamboulidis. Quot tomorrow another will die a Heymann would say Well wait and take them together no matter How Many already were piled there Heymann would say  the men worked from Dawn to late night in a dark narrow water filled underground Tunnel. A some 30 of us were crowded there together breaking up stones Quot he said. They were driven to the Edge of madness by starvation disease and the continual beatings by Heymann his daughter and son in Law. Franz Lavisse a Frenchman revisiting the site and whose slave period in the area was broken Only by a year in the Buchenwald concentration Camp stiffened at the greeks words. Folding his umbrella he turned and boarded the bus. Quot it s too terrible Quot he said. Quot perhaps it is better forgotten a during their two year research on forced labor in the Region project directors Fred Dorn and Klaus Heuer were confronted often by a desire to forget a not by former slave workers but by older local citizens. The project resulted in a Book i was always Good to my russian tech War Immer gut Zug Eminem Russen. Former slave labourer Joakim Stamboulidis Center observes a memorial to a fellow sufferer. A similar study conducted by students in Rai Breitenbach resulted in equal local Antipa thy. Teacher Wolfgang Stapp reported that promised financial support of the resulting Book deported for Germany s ultimate Victory ver schleppy fur deutschland a end Sieg was not forthcoming. Quot the Book is already out of print Quot he noted both books have been published Only in German despite the cold water thrown on the project Dorn Heuer and Stapp feel strongly that this is a period of local history that must be confronted. Quot Only by doing so can we work to be sure nothing similar occurs again Quot said Heuer. Quot we also found that though the older generation was seemingly fearful of stigmatization the younger generation was very open to our research. They want to know what Raymond Santolaria holds a photo of himself As a Young French Soldier. Happened Quot Wilhelm Speckhart the recently elected Young mayor of modal has a Point of View very different from that of his predecessor who walked when confronted with delving into this part of local  in a speech at the War victim cemetery in Hochst Speckhart promised to do whatever possible to find the names of the slave labourers buried there. Quot brought Here from different regions in the area they have been robbed in death of their identity Quot he said. Though the local populace could deny knowledge of the Fate of local jews they were confronted daily by these slave labourers. A. Stamboulidis recalled local children jeering As he was marched with others through the streets of Bentheim Quot they shouted and squealed As might be done on seeing a Bear a he said. They had never seen men in such condition covered with sores dirt a Mere skeletons he said. The bus stopped next at Burg Treuberg which was the second largest of the 30 or More forced labor Camps in the area. Quot Quot witnesses from the time give evidence that there might have been More than 400 soviets kept at this Castle Quot said Stapp. Quot most were Young russian women Between the Ages of 13 and 30.&Quot these women Many whose names remain scratched on the Tower room Wall worked at three factories in the area. Pirelli a tire manufacturer had 800 slave workers. Between 150 and 300 worked for the Metzeler and Odenwald rubber plants. Today the three plants Are All part of the Pirelli business. Uncounted other labourers worked at an air plane factory moved from Frankfurt to escape the Allied bombing not All of the foreign slaves which included children were handled As inhumanely As the greeks who toiled in the Auerbach Plant researchers discovered. Not everyone abused the workers. In some cases local Farmers treated them As Well As their own hired hands. In Treuberg a Farmer criticized by the local nazi official answered Quot who sits at my table at my House is decided by me alone and no one else. These Are  like you and i and Good workers besides. When they Fork with us they can also Dine with  Balza Martel of Belgium was placed with such a family. Quot i was Lucky Quot he said. Quot the farm where i worked from 1942 to 1945 was owned by a Nice old couple who treated me almost As a son. We All ate our meals together at the same . A like the jews All poles and russians were forced to Wear signs sewn on their clothing. For the poles it was a Large Quot a Quot for the russians the letters Quot Ost Quot meaning East. Until freed by the americans in 1945, Ivan do Katatsky a russian from Minsk wore his Ost insignia while working As a slave labourer for the Railroad. His Cousin Laboured on a farm. A Quot the treatment was not bad Quot recalled do Katatsky. Quot i was Given 20 reichsmark a month enough to buy such things As soap. Though not mishandled i regret losing those  Trzyna and Josef Pachota of Poland told similar stories. Both worked on farms from 1940 to 1945. Fearful of the russians Trzyna chose to stay in Germany after he was freed. Pachota said he also wished to do so but his Mother and sister needed him so he returned to his Village near Krakow. Ludwig Trumpfheller and his old Friend Raymond Santolaria of Southern France were reunited on this trip after 41 years. At lunch Trumpfheller pulled a photo and faded letter from his pocket. The photo was of a strikingly handsome dark haired Young French Soldier. I found him Santolaria after All these years by writing a letter to his old address with this picture enclosed Quot said Trumpfheller beaming across at his old Friend. Joakim Stamboulidis listens to a speech from a German official. The two work eco together at  bakery during those last War years. Trumpfheller was a regular employee. Santolaria was a slave. A i was a prisoner of War from 1940 to 1945,&Quot explained Santolaria Quot and was kept at a Barracks Camp in the Forest Colony sport Field. I worked from 4 in the morning to late at night at the. Bakery. We All ate together. It was rather an exceptional situation. Trumpfheller and i were  suddenly Santolaria s eyes filled with tears. His voice choked and he could no longer speak. A it s because of Olga Quot Trumpfheller told his companions at the table. During his time As a slave labourer Trumpfheller explained Santolaria became acquainted with a russian girl in the Camp. A Quot she was from Odessa and had a much More difficult time. She had been brought to Germany in a Roundup of the local population by the Gestapo and Here was forced to clean trains Quot Trumpfheller said. He took her to France with him where they were married and had a daughter said Trumpfheller. Olga Wasny table to make this trip. She died Only a few weeks  Lavisse the Man who wondered if All the horror want better forgotten then told his Story Quot i was a 21 year old army Captain when i was captured in 1941,&Quot he said. Quot i was told l could give up my uniform. I continued to . I did not want to be seen As a Collaborator. Quot at first i was in Limburg then later sent with other slaves to Ronsheim. There we had to assemble in a lineup every morning. Local germans came and picked out the labourers they wanted. Quot Quot Quot i was in a Sawmill. The Man was very bad. He beat me and once tried to put my head under the saw  from there Lavisse was sent to Darmstadt to work As a machinist for the Schenck factory which produces Industrial supplies now but turned out War equipment then. Quot i pulled a Little sabotage Quot Lavisse said and smiled. Quot i was intentionally turning out defective  this was discovered however and he was put in the Darmstadt jail for six months and then shipped to Buchenwald for a year of Quot breaking up  he was sent then to a Schattenburg where he worked on a farm for another year before being released by the americans. In contrast to the others who had experienced decent treatment on farms Lavisse s experience was not Good. He was Given Little food. No one was allowed to speak to him secretly however Lisa a Young farm girl befriended him. When they were unobserved out in the Fields she slipped him food and tried to help him with his German. Fourteen years later in 1958, Lavisse returned to Germany with his wife to show her where he had served As slave worker a a the old farm woman who had been so cruel and who had Given me no food saw us and immediately locked her door and began wailing. I guess she was frightened Quot said Lavisse. Someone else in the Village also recognized him and cried out with Joy. It was Lisa. She also had married. The two couples became fast friends. The end of the War did nol end the travails of Many of these slave workers. Most had to find the Way Back to their homelands on their own. Their sojourn in Germany Ollen was met with suspicion. None of them was paid reparations. The result of the study project Quot we believe it has been important for people to think about what happened Here Quot said Dorn. Quot too Little has been reported. This history weighs today upon our relationship with other countries and  in their interviews with older germans project members discovered that memories were generally encapsulated pertaining Only perhaps to a single personal meeting with one or two forced labourers. Those who lived during the time professed to know Tittle of the extent of such slavery though by the end of the War the foreign labor Force numbered 8 million. It was obvious that Many of the slave workers particularly those from the soviet Union and Poland were seen As subhumans and therefore not worthy of attention concluded Heuer. A Forward note in Stapps Book May Well summarize the reason for the local study of this aspect of Germany s fascist history a Quot continually Only a minority seeking a Way out of the dead end of the murderous past allows Itsell the luxury of exact investigation of what happened then and Why it happened. Only if this minority becomes a majority have we a  mayor Wilhelm Speckhart of Odatal Brandau Speaks to a group of former slave labourers and translators during a visit to a Hilltop memorial and graveyard. Page 14 the stars and stripes monday july 8, 1991 the stars Anu stripes a Page 15