Manfred Rommel Quotes
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It was very strange, because my father [ Erwin Rommel] received the first call at seven o'clock in the morning. And [Hans] Speidel told my father, "I will call you up in one hour when I see more clearly what's going on." After an hour, Speidel said, "Yes, the landing took place in Normandy." And the German Navy had told my father that it was too stormy. And that the British and the Americans and the French can't come. And my father believed him.
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I remember when I was in the prisoner camp, I was a French prisoner. And I saw the first photograph from the concentration camps, and we discussed it with other prisoners. And our feeling was we did not only lose the war, we lost also our honor.
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[Erwin Rommel] explained why in short words, what the two generals' message and then he explained his position and he gave some reason for his position. And then he said, "The ten minutes are over, and I have to leave now." Then my father said goodbye. He also told that us that in I think twenty or thirty minutes, I don't remember, "You will get a telephone call telling you that I have died of stroke."
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This is our problem, our dilemma, yes? We cannot celebrate and declare ourselves to belong to the victorious nations because our brothers and our fathers and grandfathers died in this battle [in Normandy], yes. I understand that the Americans and the British and French celebrate one of the greatest and most important military victories in history. And I understand this. I don't see a reasonable place for the Germans. We watch everything on the television with compassion and sympathy.
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My father [Erwin Rommel] believed that Germany should have a great interest to leave the war with a peace under conditions.
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So my father [Erwin Rommel] decided during the battle in Normandy, he knew really soon that it wasn't possible to win this battle. But my father decided pretty soon to, if necessary, to surrender on his own responsibility when the British or Americans penetrate the German positions.
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I think my father [ Erwin Rommel] would have given the same answer. The British and Americans and the French were too strong, too strong and the strategy of this battle was too clever. And the war may be - it would have taken some weeks longer before the German front was penetrated. And by the way, today we know that it was better to lose the war than to win it with Hitler.
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[D-Day] means to me a beginning of the freedom of Europe. The freedom was the achievement of the military adversaries of the Germans.
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It may be that [Erwin Rommel] believed it to be possible to convince [Adolf] Hitler to go away and to end the war, but Hitler never dreamed of doing something like that.
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Of course, [Adolf] Hitler was a dilettante, but he was a completely amoral person. Yes, he had no morals at all.
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My father [Erwin Rommel] believed that [Adolf] Hitler has a gift of touching the important points, the essential points.
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Manfred Rommel
- Born: December 24, 1928
- Died: November 7, 2013
- Occupation: German Politician
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