Long tentacles of the Nazis

From: Ken Walsh, Tunstall, Richmond.

LILLIAN Black’s account of her late father’s experiences in Auschwitz (The Yorkshire Post, Magainze, January 25) was extremely moving.

The article focuses on the dreadful events in Poland but may I bring it to the attention of your readers that the tentacles of Nazi Germany’s distasteful regime spread in all directions.

Last spring my wife and I visited Baku in Azerbaijan and crossed the border into Tbilisi in Georgia. Prior to our departure I read the book The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan.

Hitler was determined to pursue the Russian army and acquire the agricultural plains on the fringes of the Caucus Mountains. It has been estimated that, in 1942, 3.3 million souls – peasant farmers and Russian army prisoners of war – were starved to death.

The following extract from the book records what was about to materialise: “Vans were used – the interiors engulfed with carbon monoxide piped from their exhausts. These tests which took place in the autumn of 1941 were conducted in locations that were soon to gain notoriety for using the same techniques on a massive scale: Auschwitz and Sachsenhausen.”

The rich agricultural areas are reminiscent of American prairies – flocks of up to 1,000 sheep rounded up on horseback. My guide and myself ventured over a high ridge to a monastery bordering the edge of the boundary with Armenia – we were approached by border guards who advised us to go no further because an exchange of fire had recently increased the tension. The trip was in order to celebrate our golden wedding – educational and a “must to do” before hoards of tourists discover it.