Five Brothers and a War

Jan’s Liberation

In April 1945, the 1 st and 4 th Groups of Moroccans were tasked with seizing the cities of Pforzeim, Stuttgart and Tübingen. Jan was located just north of Tübingen and was liberated on April 18, 1945 by those Moroccans, acting in concert with the French. As soldiers came into the house in which he was living, they began looking for women to take with them to be raped. There were four women in the house—one married pregnant woman who hid in a toilet room and was not found. The other three young women were nieces of the farmer who owned the house. Jan tried to save one by stating that she was his fiancée. At that point, the soldier unholstered his pistol and pointed it at Jan, who wondered to himself whether it made sense to have survived the war only to be killed by the liberators. He backed off, and the three girls were taken away. They were returned the following day having been raped numerous times, apparently because the soldiers had other assignments and could not take women with them. Of course, they could, and did, find other women.

the war

Moroccan Troops

Five Brothers and a War

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