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This bronze monument of a Wehrmacht soldier carrying two children to safety at first glance doesn’t seem too unusual. It is the only known monument to a German soldier that was erected in a territory that the Third Reich occupied. You see, the people of this Dutch town, despite reviling their brutal wartime overlords, put this statue up in honor of a brave young man that was part of that occupation force. The reason why they’ve done so is one of triumph and tragedy.<\/p>\n
The man depicted in this memorial is Karl-Heinz Rosch. He was an 18 year old German Army private in 1944. His unit was stationed at a farm in Goirle on 6 October of that year. As the Allies were victoriously pushing the Nazi war machine back to the fatherland, Rosch and his men were engaged.<\/p>\n
As the battle raged, for some reason two small children who lived at the farm continued to play. Totally desensitized to the war and with no regard of the danger they were in, they continued to frolic in the courtyard. Right between the two warring armies.<\/p>\n
Rosch rushed into the open to save the two tots. Grabbing them each under one of his arms, Rosch carried them to the relative safety of the basement of the farm house from which the Germans were fighting. Moments after ferrying them to some cover, Rosch ran out into the courtyard again. As he was moving to a position where he could fire, a grenade landed at his feet. He was standing right where, mere seconds before, the two Dutch children were playing. The bomb’s burst killed the valiant young man instantly.<\/p>\n
As Rosch was part of the enemy occupying force, the tale of his bravery was covered up. It wasn’t until 2008 that the story was made public. When people started to inquire about making a monument to his sacrifice, the government refused to use tax dollars on a statue of an enemy. Private funds were raised though and the above picture memorial serves to remember that war is not as black and white as it seems.<\/p>\n
The final sentence of the epithet on the monument reads, “This statue is a tribute to him and all who do good in evil times.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"